I am looking to put away a month or so worth of food for four people. I am looking at either MREs or a item such as Mountain House. Ive had many of both of them and would have zero issue living off of them. In my mind, I like the MREs better for a few reasons. You get a few different things to eat per MRE and they take very little water to cook a meal, unlike the Mountain House. With those, you have to boil 16oz of water and you only have that one meal to eat. They also reduce the amount of water on hand over a period of time due to the increased amount of water it takes to cook the meal.

What would you pick?

MRE, IMHO

Layer 1- fridge/ freezer
Layer 2- pantry/canned goods/ rice/beans/pasta,etc
Layer 3- MRE
Layer-4 Freeze dried.

Combine 1/2 as long as you have power or make jerky/can meats

2/3/4 can be combined for variety.

I use both probably 70/30 mre/mh.

MREs do not have an expiration date.  Checked the net and it seems to me that about 10-14 years would be max storage.  However, buying them, have no idea of date of manufacture? Any other info on this?

MREs do have expiration dates and they will vary greatly depending on how you store them. Most people say you can virtually keep them and eat them forever but overtime the food will break down and change colors ect.  If you buy them by the case ( and even some by the package) there will either be a date code or a code printed on it with the manufactured date.

What I like MRE's is ease of preparation. They can be eaten cold if necessary. From an OPSEC perspective, not having any smoke or smell is a big plus.

ETA. I really like theepicenter.com

Good points as well.

Ill have to try them out. Ive always ordered some from thereadystore.com or off of Amazon.

I agree with the pantry stuff coming first, it only lasts a few years in some of today's week pop top cans.  I am having more and more issues with the pop top cans unless I absolutely baby them, and even then I have to worry if they were abused on the loading or unloading or shelving parts.



Next comes mre stuff, I see it as several years and can see running further towards 5 years maybe but I keep em in a cool and dark place.



Freeze dried is playing with 20 year shelf life and right now there are a lot of folks buying what is out there and there will be shortages again of mountain house so watch what you pay for stuff.



If you don't have a middle ground like some of the mre stuff I would go there.



I also am a fan of the rice and beans and other simple stuff that keeps for decades if packed and stored properly but it is a boring meal.



I much prefer the mre stuff other than purchase price.

General rule of thumb on the MREs, if the package seems bloated, it's contaminated with bacteria. Still looks vacuum sealed, ok to eat.

I have eaten a 20 yr old C Ration and it was delicious.

One way around the smoke issue is to use a small camp stove or esbit cubes.  Neither have any noticeable smell or smoke.  I've used both while backpacking and you can boil a quart of water in 4-6 minutes.  

The negatives I have with mountain house is that their portions in each bag were huge and I personally never could eat more than 1/2 - 2/3 of a pouch.  Lot of food wasted.

I stock both MH and MRE cases..

which ones are the best?  i see several different style/manufactures..  surepak..sopak..mrestar..eversafe..Apack... could anybody rate these by chance?  best to worst

I've only eaten the Ameriqual version CASE VIEW and PACKAGE VIEW

Does anyone know a freeze dried brand that makes scrambled eggs without adding bacon, ham, etc?

Due to medical conditions, my wife has to stick with "soft" foods.  Scrambled eggs are OK, but MH adds bacon and other items to its mix that she can't eat.

just sift the bacon away from the eggs.
prior to re-hydration, it's actually pretty easy to pick out the large pieces(eggs) and let the bacon fall to the bottom.


she's not allergic to the bacon, just cannot process it due to it's texture (right?)

I don't like MRE's, just personal taste.

For hurrican supplies I like Mountainhouse #10 cans of various tasty goodies supported by 150# white rice stored in freezer and 50# white flour in #10 cans from LDS for fry-bread, plus canned veggies or dried peas, spam & tuna, salt, sugar, coffee, cooking oil, and baking powder.  All is very reasonably priced, except for Mountainhouse.  Actually Mountainhouse isn't really necessary, but I like that it lasts for 25 years or so.  The LDS #10 can flour costs about twice as much as local store flour in paper bags, but lasts 10 years and LDS shipping rates are very low, $3 or so for #50.

Each everything listed above has it's pro's and con's.

MRE's are great, but would not want to have to live on them.  The same could be said for Mountain House.

Tailor you food preps based on your normal diet.  I have about 2 years of food storage to support my wife and I.  If my sons are at home with their families that diminishes that time frame drastically. A little extra every payday and you could have a pretty decent pantry setup.  Knowledge is you friend.  Learn the lost are of home canning and food preservation.  I've gotten into doing my own canning,  EVERYTHING!  Homemade, soups, spaghetti sauce, chili, chicken, beef, vegetables, etc.   Dehydrating as well.    It takes a little effort to learn the process and do it right, but well worth it in the long run.  Just the other night I had chili that was canned over 2 years ago!!!  Tasted just as good as if it was just made.  In the last 5 or so years, I've only lost one quart jar to spoilage and that was caused by a bad seal on the jar.

Get a copy of the 2012 LDS Preparedness Manual.  It can teach you bunches!!!

Back to the original question.  Which is better.  My thoughts would be, It would drive me insane to have to eat either for a few months straight.  I would want a variety.... plus fresh foods as well.

Just my 2 cents worth..

Wise Foods used to, they recalled them about a year or 2 ago though, not sure if they are back out again or not.

What does your normal diet consist of? Any of that stuff have long shelf life or canned versions?

Pretty huge difference in shelf life between the two.  Sounds like you should go with the MREs, though, since you're more likely to enjoy using them.  Keep them for 3 or 4 years past their expiration date and then start using them up on camping trips and the such.

Both. If you need to eat while on the move, freeze dried or other stuff you need to cook means stopping. On the other hand, you can carry a lot more dehydrated etc than anything ready to eat. I also keep a variety of cans, pasta, rice, etc. Diversify.

Here's another egg option. http://www.nutriom.com/#all-natural-egg-crystals

Anyone have any experience to confirm or dispel their marketing hype?

Just a reminder, but Mormon food stores rocks,  I filled my explorer for about $6-800 with #10 candidate all dehydrated food.

By filled, I mean back seats down, floor to ceiling, back to just behind front seats.

Look them up.  Available in most large cities.

Txl

I carry a couple of empty MH pouches. That allows me to prep half a package at a time. Works out well for me.