After these last few years of Hurricane this and that, I was slowly being indoctrinated into "Prepping" and the usefulness of emergency foods like military and freeze dried long term storage rations. Has anyone else tried any of these things? Any recommendations as to taste vs cost vs storage life? I've been trying the Mountain House #10 sized can (storage life, min 25 years) and the stuff doesn't seem bad at all. Slightly bland, but if you're starving and there is no other access to food then the stuff is literally a bountiful feast. Comments? Suggestions?
Though the closest to a natural disaster that Toronto can get is being snowed in, my family does have contingency plans for an ice storm blackout. Our plans and supply aren't as hardcore as having to rely on military style rations, long term frozen dried goods, but we do have enough preserved food for a maybe a few weeks, as well as other survival resources. My family was lucky we moved to Toronto before the 1998 Montreal ice age, but even though the chances of Toronto getting blacked out and frozen to the same degree as Montreal in 1998 is low, we have enough to survive a few weeks, should it ever occur. I'll tell you this, a week of no power, the outside being a white desert, with trees enveloped by 2 inches of ice.. is not cool. Sucks when your only source of heat is hovering around your fireplace while wearing (and sleeping) in snow gear, and if you don't have a fire place, well you're shit out of luck lol.
On the top of my head, we got the hotpot stove. If the tap doesn't work, hopefully we did prepare a tub of water. Then instant noodles!
And they would have to prepare their legal department's aynoos for the biggest lawsuit girth in the history of law.
http://www.waterbob.com/Welcome.do;jsessionid=123E1831F406240B2439654DFD31 B196 [video=youtube;7qvE8pQz4P4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qvE8pQz4P4[/video] A lot cheaper than buying gallons upon gallons of bottled water; for the cost of $20 or so, use it as a one shot deal to save and hold water until the emergency is over. Then chuck it. If you continue to need water after 100 gallons, then the world has gone to shit anyways, and you'll have a lot worse problems on your hands, LOL... With snow and ice, at least you can have water if you can generate heat. Since you have a fireplace, you won't go thirsty; well, at least until you run out of burning fuel or matches, LOL... Oh, and something interesting about the freeze dried foods. Most places say that once opened, they can last about a week or two. On the following video however, it has been noted by some (the experience of workers in those companies that sell this stuff) that these things can last for up to a year even after opening if kept correctly. [video=youtube;Im_S69c2DGQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Im_S69c2DGQ[/video]
That just prevents outside bacteria from contaminating water? So it doesn't necessarily filter it? I guess that should be fine cause most people drink from the tap anyways (most people (asians) buy an extra filter for drinking water just in case)
Go freeze dried with supplies for water purification. Freeze dried meals can be supper yummy and nutritious. It's also a benefit that they are super light for traveling. I've eaten freeze dried food while out backpacking.
Perhaps might be an option as a last resort lol. Drinking brown slush water, even after being distilled, doesn't seem like a good idea lol. But hey, whatever you need to survive I guess. Anyway, I lol'd:
I remember most of the problems I've encountered with trying to "store" water for these types of events is that I have to use all my pots, pans, or plastic containers and then leave them in the bathtub. There's also a lot of wasted space between all the containers. This product, even half full (50 Gallons) would be more than twice the amount of water that I bought for the last hurricane and is about a third of the cost. Thus, this device not only prevents contamination of the water, but allows one to more productively utilize the bathtub space AND realizes a cost savings for having extra water on hand during an emergency situation. As for how much weight it can take? That's another question, but I doubt that it would be of the same strength as a water bed, LOL... My suggestion is, if you're going to keep this stuff on hand for emergency situations, to purchase small quantities and taste test before buying a large stock. Also, one doesn't need to purchase a lot of this stuff right away, but intermittently add a few cans whenever there's a sale or discount period. In that way, at the lowest possible cost, over time, one builds a closet full of emergency food. I tried the Lasagna With Meat Sauce last night and it was actually quite good. One other point, one has to be selective as to where to purchase as it can impact your wallet. The Mountain House website sells their Lasagna item at full price for $34.49 plus $9.18 shipping (total $43.67); I bought the exact same Mountain House branded Lasagna product from an independent seller on Amazon for $21.11 (freshly manufactured, 2037 expiration date) with free shipping (more than 50% combined savings). This tells me then that Mountain House sells its products wholesale to third parties, who then offer discounts from list price. Another brand is Saratoga Farms, though I suspect that they're actually the same manufacturer (under a different label) as Mountain House, LOL... According to this video, it may be more cost effective to buy from Saratoga Farms, as they seem to offer twice the value: [video=youtube;4CoYPqBDmFM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CoYPqBDmFM[/video] In terms of preparation, I followed the instructions for reconstitution of the meal, using boiled water and then allowing it to sit for 5-10 minutes (similar to what one does with cup of noodles). While this adequately re-hydrated the product, it rendered the food rather luke warm as the water cooled. Putting it into the microwave for a minute or two afterwards got it boiling hot. I also sprinkled a bit of grated cheese on it, and it tasted great. Even my adult son (who is normally picky about his food) said it was really good. Another thing that I'd noticed with their Chile Mac & Beef, is that even after reconstituting, the elbow macaroni noodles and chunks of beef tended to stay a bit dry. I added more boiled water and placed it into the microwave for an additional two minutes; both the noodles and beef seemed to get a bit more tender. I would suggest that interested parties try out each brand and then individualize cooking methods after using the basic instructions as a starting point.
