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Still reading and enjoying this.
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I have to add that my wife, who is having some nausea, discovered the black bean soup is good for her nausea.
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I purchased a few of their 72 Hour Emergency food packs but yet to open and try them.
From the reviews I’ve seen they are pretty good. I’ll open one up soon and order more for sure. |
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I’m reading all of this.
Waiting for you to try the pizza. You have to have pizza in the Apocalypse, right? I’ll give you some deer sausage to spice it up a tad. |
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I would LOVE to take you up on that, but I haven't seen a Ready Hour pizza for sale on MPS yet - I'll double check.
Aaaaand, edit to say, I AM wrong...but DAYUM that is expensive! $97 for 6, 10" cheese pizzas.... https://mypatriotsupply.com/products/survival-pizza?variant=39994080526429 |
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Great reviews. I will be honest in that I have never heard of that brand before. I will have to check them out. BTW, the freeze dried fruit from Emergency Essentials is outstanding. My wife really likes the strawberry slices. So far we have used them in oatmeal, cereal and adult beverages.
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Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
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I KNEW I wasn't the only one to do that! The strawberries did make a halfway decent strawberry daquiri but I needed more of them to do it right.
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Originally Posted By GTLandser: So basically their buckets (presumably the best value) are around 1/3 of one cent per calorie? That seems decent I guess, considering you get all the packaging and an industrial, controlled process. Are there other items for which it makes more sense to have your own freeze drier? View Quote My wife wants a freeze drier for us, but I have no idea what one would cost, and I have no idea how to use one. |
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Just bumping this again, to solicit feedback from anybody who has ever had a freeze dryer or dehydrator. Or pressure canner, for that matter!
I don't have one of either type, but I am always interested to learn what others have discovered by personal experience. Also, super thanks to OP for posting their honest feedback for the Patriot Supply stuff. It sucks to go on Amazon these days and try to sift through so much GARBAGE marketing, fake reviews, and other online shopping nonsense. Just as a little teaser, let's hear what Travis Haley had to say recently about the ways of the world. Self-reliance pitch from about the 7:30 mark. Think on this my dudes. THE IRAQ WAR : PUPPETS & PUPPETMASTERS - BATTLE OF NAJAF - TRAVIS HALEY |
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No worries, this is educational and fun, mostly, really surprised how good most of them really are. My mother-in-law, (the saint), took the rest of the cornbread, and she liked them. Hard to impress a grandma with food.
I had to take a break for a minute, but there are others I am going to try out. Travellers Stew might be next, but it might not - it's heavy in lentils, and lentils make me fart. |
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Thanks for posting all this. It's a fantastic post.
I've been wanting to add freeze dried food to really up my food storage and was going to get a lot of MH, but looking at the website Ready Hour comes out to about $6-8 per packet. That's a pretty good deal considering the taste you mentioned and the serving sizes. I recently made a large purchase form the LDS food prep facility near me. And while the prices are great, there are very limited menu options. I'm really interested in the ready hour diced beef. |
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There are some others I want to try out that are only available in the #10 cans. The case packs, at least you have the other packages to last forever, but when you pop open a #10 can, you started the one year clock. Of course, nothing stopping me from buying MORE of the stuff...except money. But a lot of it really is cheaper than people think.
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What's funny is Ready Hour hasn't even noticed this yet. You'd think they would haunt places like this.
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OP- thanks for doing this "experiment". Always on the lookout for decent FD foods for long term storage. Your honest reviews are appreciated.
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LET'S GO BRANDON.
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Your welcome, it's kinda fun, too.
BTW, that Travelers Stew/rice/black bean burger mix stuff is pretty darn good reheated. Made good breakfast "gruel". |
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Originally Posted By GTLandser: Just bumping this again, to solicit feedback from anybody who has ever had a freeze dryer or dehydrator. Or pressure canner, for that matter! I don't have one of either type, but I am always interested to learn what others have discovered by personal experience. Snip… View Quote I don’t have a freeze dryer, but I am told they are far superior to a dehydrator for very long term storage, although the quantities you can process at one time are generally smaller. I have made extensive use of a corsori dehydrator and am very pleased with it. Lots of fruit, veggies, eggs, and some jerky. Once dehydrated, I vacuum seal them up in 1 servings sizes with a Food Saver and store in a plastic tub at rooms temperature. I know they won’t keep for 20 to 30 years like freeze dried foods. But I just rotate them out at a year or two so they never have a chance to go bad. The packaged meals discussed above seem really good. Don’t discount the amount of time and electricity it will cost you to process your own foods. Unless you have plenty of time on your hands, purchasing packaged like these will likely be your best option. Quality dehydrators are a couple of hundred dollars. Freeze Dryers are in the thousands. I have used a pressure canner too. I don’t use it much because it takes a sizable commitment in time to run a batch. It really makes a lot of sense if you’re canning your own garden. My brother does that with his big garden and has all the kids and friends come help in exchange for some of the food. They make a big afternoon out of it. But for small quantities and casual use by myself, it doesn’t get a lot of use. |
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Armoredman, nice writing style. Reminds me of Old Aimless’ posts in the Box Of Truth series.
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Thank you, appreciate it, especially being compared to Aimless. I think...
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Originally Posted By armoredman: I was bored, decided to do another one. https://i.imgur.com/tWgj5KA.jpg It has to be hard to screw this one up. Will I be the one... https://i.imgur.com/BMr5boZ.jpg Enough room to mix it in the bag, if needed...I don't need to. https://i.imgur.com/LdP0kXy.jpg 1.75 quart bowl. 1.5 cups warm water. 3 shots of tequila. OK, just kidding, only two shots of tequila. https://i.imgur.com/82hqwy4.jpg Mixed smooth easily, even just using a spoon. https://i.imgur.com/OU5ZKmq.jpg Cheating with muffin cups, left over from another long ago failed experiment. https://i.imgur.com/50Pz1ee.jpg There has to be a trick to this, because I suck at it. https://i.imgur.com/6RtscN4.jpg Taking no chances https://i.imgur.com/nFnFB13.jpg That doesn't look too bad! Minus the burned spots, of course... https://i.imgur.com/8GEpfob.jpg I handed one off this plate to the wife unit to try - after she ate the first one she seized control of the plate. I got one little half...Honestly these were pretty darn good with just butter. Then she said how well these would go with chili and I said..."Beans or no beans?" And that, Yer Honor, is when the fight started... https://i.imgur.com/9ODA2tG.jpg Edit to add, after trying to have the Strawberry Flavored Creamy Wheat for breakfast, (see edited post above), I decided to heat up some corn bread with butter, simple breakfast fare. They were great. I had mine with butter, she had hers with honey. This stuff I will probably buy a #10 can of to stash. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Originally Posted By armoredman: I was bored, decided to do another one. https://i.imgur.com/tWgj5KA.jpg It has to be hard to screw this one up. Will I be the one... https://i.imgur.com/BMr5boZ.jpg Enough room to mix it in the bag, if needed...I don't need to. https://i.imgur.com/LdP0kXy.jpg 1.75 quart bowl. 1.5 cups warm water. 3 shots of tequila. OK, just kidding, only two shots of tequila. https://i.imgur.com/82hqwy4.jpg Mixed smooth easily, even just using a spoon. https://i.imgur.com/OU5ZKmq.jpg Cheating with muffin cups, left over from another long ago failed experiment. https://i.imgur.com/50Pz1ee.jpg There has to be a trick to this, because I suck at it. https://i.imgur.com/6RtscN4.jpg Taking no chances https://i.imgur.com/nFnFB13.jpg That doesn't look too bad! Minus the burned spots, of course... https://i.imgur.com/8GEpfob.jpg I handed one off this plate to the wife unit to try - after she ate the first one she seized control of the plate. I got one little half...Honestly these were pretty darn good with just butter. Then she said how well these would go with chili and I said..."Beans or no beans?" And that, Yer Honor, is when the fight started... https://i.imgur.com/9ODA2tG.jpg Edit to add, after trying to have the Strawberry Flavored Creamy Wheat for breakfast, (see edited post above), I decided to heat up some corn bread with butter, simple breakfast fare. They were great. I had mine with butter, she had hers with honey. This stuff I will probably buy a #10 can of to stash. I handed one off this plate to the wife unit to try - after she ate the first one she seized control of the plate. I got one little half...Honestly these were pretty darn good with just butter. Then she said how well these would go with chili and I said..."Beans or no beans?" And that, Yer Honor, is when the fight started... Attached File I'm getting some of that. I love cornbread and pinto beans |
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I've tried the potato soup. I was really good. But I had to boil it quite a while to get the little potato chunks soft.
The Creamy Alfredo Pasta was really good. Wife loved it a lot. This is a great post. Buying more. I want to add freezer dried Mears to my stock pile. Plus I read you can buy mylar bags with 02 absorbers and store rice, floor ect in them for 15 years or more. I need to find an effective way to distill salt water and remove all impurities also. |
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Originally Posted By Sandbowl1980: I've tried the potato soup. I was really good. But I had to boil it quite a while to get the little potato chunks soft. The Creamy Alfredo Pasta was really good. Wife loved it a lot. This is a great post. Buying more. I want to add freezer dried Mears to my stock pile. Plus I read you can buy mylar bags with 02 absorbers and store rice, floor ect in them for 15 years or more. I need to find an effective way to distill salt water and remove all impurities also. View Quote The Potato Cheddar Soup or the Homestyle Potato Soup? The first only comes in #10 cans and the second comes in pouch or can, which is weird. Speaking of which, anyone notice that the Travelers Stew only comes in a #10 can...which is really inconvenient to "travel" with? More on that later. Friends, I very much appreciate the kind words - I don't think Ready Hour or My patriot Supply will be doing any assisting since I am giving 100% honest reviews. Besides, this is fun. |
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if you plan t stock this in qty for actuall preps you are better off buying your own freeze dryer.
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FYI Costco seems to be having their annual $20 off cases of Mountain House variety pack of pouches. (79.99). Only available online here but if you are following this thread...
https://www.costco.com/mountain-house-emergency-meal-kit-15-pouch-assortment-(28-total-servings).product.100642273.html |
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100%-PureBlood-100%
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Originally Posted By The_Beer_Slayer: if you plan t stock this in qty for actuall preps you are better off buying your own freeze dryer. View Quote So far I have a couple hundred bucks sunk into this effort, and this stuff was purchased over a period of time in small chunks. The smallest freeze dryer I found actually in stock with a quick Google search is $2,600, and that's the countertop small version from HarvestRight. I cannot justify that expense right now, as I do have some other expenses - I am also learning to make my own black powder. However, it is a great idea if you can do it. Until then I try to make sure we have something put aside for bad times. |
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Originally Posted By RR_Broccoli: FYI Costco seems to be having their annual $20 off cases of Mountain House variety pack of pouches. (79.99). Only available online here but if you are following this thread... https://www.costco.com/mountain-house-emergency-meal-kit-15-pouch-assortment-(28-total-servings).product.100642273.html View Quote |
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I think this was what you were referring to?
https://www.costco.com/mountain-house-emergency-meal-kit-15-pouch-assortment-(28-total-servings).product.100642273.html |
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And the mystery is SOLVED! The recipe was not at fault, it was the loose nut behind the spoon! While we were looking at the pictures, it became painfully obvious that because I was doing three things at once, I got my numbers turned around. It is 1/2 cup of mix to 2.5 cups of water, not 1.25 cups of mix to 2 cups of water. So, I screwed it up, NOT the manufacturer...betcha money it's a LOT better the right way. So, we will call the above recipe, "How to turn potato cheddar soup into potato cheddar mac and cheese". Oops...
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OP - I really enjoyed this thread. Everyone posts threads about these ready made survival foods but you are the first one to actually take the time / effort to cook all these meals and give a report. Thank you!
Regards |
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You are most welcome, I'm having fun doing this, too. BTW, the reason I did not delete the whole string above when I discovered I was the screw-up is two fold. One, people make mistakes, and in highly emotional and stressful events like, oh, survival in weird times, better to see it here and know what to avoid.
Second, my ego is not too big to poke fun at myself for a goofup. Ask my staff - I'll be the first person to say, "well, I jacked that up, anyone got any ideas?" |
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Call me crazy, but I think really thick cheesy potato goop would be more enjoyable than thinner potato soup. Assuming of course, that the extra water wasn't of critical importance to the person consuming it during emergencies.
Reminds me of cheese grits! Now add shrimp or crab meat, and that would be delicious under any circumstances! Side note: if bread isn't working out quite right for you, try making your own naan. Super simple and fluffy and bubbly like pizza dough. That's one thing I would like to see these food companies branch out into...what if they had a variety pack of freeze dried international foods? Variety could expand their customer base, and variety could be an important psychological factor for survival food. |
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His name was armoredman, and he was THE star of post apocalypse culinary greatness.
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Well, not a title I ever expected on my tombstone...
I did the smallest batch for breakfast, since I hate leaving a job half done. Reducing heat to medium still had the mix boil off a lot of water. I did add some diced baby bellas to the mix. Attached File Thick soup, still tastes great. Added shrooms at the last 5 minutes, not sure if it helped anything or not. Still a solid winner to me. |
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A small care package arrived today, so we are about to branch out a wee bit from just Ready Hour items. They never called me, anyway.
Stay tuned for more developments tonight. |
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BTW, dessert was in a bag, too. Found this local today. Very dry, but tasty little lumps. Very expensive for what you get, but cookie bites that last five years ain't a bad thing.
Attached File Speaking of that, I couldn't find the expiration date on the ReadyWise bag, weird, but not bad. |
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Originally Posted By armoredman: BTW, dessert was in a bag, too. Found this local today. Very dry, but tasty little lumps. Very expensive for what you get, but cookie bites that last five years ain't a bad thing. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/360589/20230505_184548_jpg-2807177.JPG Speaking of that, I couldn't find the expiration date on the ReadyWise bag, weird, but not bad. View Quote Those look like the hunks of cookie dough you get in cookie dough ice cream! |
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LET'S GO BRANDON.
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That Ready wise doesn't look bad.
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Not at all, and tasted quite good.
Back to work very soon, so next one might be a few days. |
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I didn’t feel like cooking a couple weeks ago so I made this. It was very good. Attached File
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