All About Long Shelf Life Food
Water, food, shelter, and safety are the biggest parts of dealing with any sort of disaster or catastrophe that might befall you or your family. In this post, I want to talk about food. When preparing to go without a grocery store for any period of time, there are obviously lots and lots of ways to go about that. The smartest, and easiest, of course, is just stocking a lot more of what you already eat. This is often referred to as the FIFO model. First In = First Out. Just buy extra of anything your family already east that is shelf stable, and slowly build up a pantry. I cover that topic elsewhere, so in this post, I am going to talk about how to store food for a LONG time. As in more than 5 years. And in some cases, 25 years.
Here’s a picture of part of my pantry. This isn’t the “long term” stuff, but shows some of what I like to stock for general “long life” normal food. Notice I have the signs for organizing that are made with the trusty label maker and easy to move around.
Now, it is true you can buy a commercial freeze dryer (I don’t have one) or preserve certain foods like rice in mylar bags for a long time. And I do some of that. But the easiest way to be super sure, is to buy commercially produced long life products.
These fall in to a few different categories:
Freeze Dried whole meals This is basically “camping food” that you boil water and rehydrate. They are generally complete meals in a single bag, and they last a LONG time.
Freeze Dried or “Long Term” ingredients This includes things like pre-packaged rice, freeze dried meat or fruit, dehydrated butter, eggs, salt and the like.
MRE’s Meals Ready to Eat. These are from the military, and have a much shorter (5 year-ish, depending) life span, but are very portable and have an immense number of calories. They are literally designed for soldiers.
General Food With very long shelf lives Things like Tuna Fish in a can, or certain granola bars. I am not going to cover this category much here (except you can see some of it in the picture above), because it is hit and miss, and the shelf live is still usually less than 5 years. Basically just buy lots of what you like. Every time you go to the store, buy two instead of one of each thing you like, and you’ll slowly build up a nice stockpile.
Let’s discuss each of these types of food in order. I will likely do more in depth reviews of each in different topics, but for now, let’s do a cursory overview.
Freeze Dried Whole Meals - Camping Food
If you are new to prepping and working on being more prepared and trying to make a kit that gets you a little bit of a 72 hour buffer, this is where to start. I buy a LOT of different kinds, and not all of these meals are created equally. This next picture shows a whole assortment of different kinds and manufacturers of freeze dried meals.
A (small) sampling of the freeze dried meals I like.
As you can see, I like all sorts of different kinds of freeze dried meals. The way these work is really quite simple. You boil water (there are a few, like the granola, that you can make cold, but they are usually lots better hot) and pour the water in to the bag itself, Stir a bunch, and let it sit for about 15 minutes, and you are ready to eat, usually right out of the bag.
I chose a couple of examples here for you to see the instructions. I chose my kids’ two favorites, the Three Cheese Mac and Cheese from Backpacker’s Pantry and the ever delicious Chocolate Mudslide desert from Alpenaire. Those links take you to see the current pricing, and you usually get a better deal if you buy in packs.
If you zoom in on those, you can see the basic instructions:
Open Pouch and remove oxygen absorber
Do some special thing (like remove the chocolate crumbs that get sprinkled on top later)
Add 1 cup of water (either boiling or cold, depending)
Stir a lot and let it sit for 8-10 minutes
Eat
Pretty easy. Now, there are all kinds of different meals and recipes to try. As a rule, you are going to get meals that are some sort of “one pot” thing. Think stews, pastas, scrambles, etc. I have never seen anything like a “burger” or a “pizza”. For those, you have to do MRE’s (see later on in this post)
Where Do You Get Freeze Dried Meals?
There are Many Places to get them, and you should certainly try different places. If you are new to all of this, I might recommend trying 4Patriots. 4Patriots is a company that makes lots of different freeze dried meals, and they are very cost effective. As an example, I bought the 4Patriots 4 Week Survival Kit and it came in a sweet stacking tub and had a whole bunch of different food in it. I took some pictures of that here (the top of the bin is under the bin to make the picture easier). I actually ate one of the Alfredo Pasta meals, I think, so the number in the picture isn’t probably exact. Click the link to see what’s in the kit.
You can see you get a very nice assortment of both what I’d call “camping meals” as well as some “ingredients” like Rice and milk. Because this section is all about complete freeze dried meals, here’s a close up of what 4Patriots calls “Frank’s Favorite Alfredo. I don’t know who Frank is, but he makes some delicious Alfredo Pasta.
I will say that 4Patriots, to its credit, is more like “actual food”. The meals are less fancy sounding, and more basic. They often require more water than some of the other types of meals (which works great if your plan is to eat this stuff at home in a power outage). But compare the sizes and calories to find a match for your needs. I would not be as likely to take 4Patriots camping on a long trip, because it is a little heavier, but that is a good thing if you are cooking at home. Plus, the simplicity of the meals makes them a very good deal.
The next place to get complete freeze dried meals is at a camping store like REI, or Sportsman’s Warehouse. You can also sometimes find them at WalMart as well, but I REALLY love excuses to go to either Sportsman’s Warehouse or REI. Last time I was at REI, I took a few pictures of the Freeze Dried Camping Meal Aisle. Check it out.
There are dinners, deserts, breakfasts… you name it. However, I STRONGLY recommend you actually try to EAT a few of them before buying a whole bunch of one kind. Different people like different ones, and some of them are DELICIOUS. So I recommend you buy an assortment of a bunch of different ones and try some out to see what you like.
Pro-Tip: If You Have Kids, Teach Them Freeze Dried Meals are a HUGE Luxury
One of the very best things my wife and I try to practice is not just to take our kids camping, but to cook a freeze dried meal once every few months for the kids. We let them pick, and we cook a couple different ones. We let them eat with their Camping Sporks and let them boil the water and measure it and pour it in. They get to rate the meals, and they try to remember their favorites. This came in SUPER handy when we actually needed to eat them for a few days in a power outage, because instead of being nervous, the kids saw it as a big treat. This took a lot of stress out of things. I will note, that some of the freeze dried meals have more salt than I normally like giving kids (or myself). So I am not trying to live on these things full time.
Things to Consider When Choosing Freeze Dried Meals
As with everything, not all meals are created equal. As you choose, you should take the following things in to consideration.
Read the Calories. The important thing is that these meals are supposed to keep you alive and healthy and functioning. And for that you need CALORIES. So make sure to choose meals that are actually filling. Pay attention to how many servings are in each one, too.
Choose Something You Will Actually EAT. Yes, if you are hungry enough, you will eat almost anything. But let’s not try to get there. Choose meals that are close to things you or your kids might actually order at a restaurant. You are more likely to be glad to have it, and more likely to eat it.
Figure out How much Water they need. Some of these meals take more water than others (for example, the 4Patriots meal is very hearty, but requires 8 cups of water). And when you are doing calculations of how much water you need to store, take this in to account. For example, let’s say you have a year’s worth of freeze dried food for a family of 4 (which would be a BIG investment, btw). You would need hundreds and hundreds of gallons of water just for that.
TRY the meal before you buy a case of it. Not all Mac and Cheese meals are the same. Buy a few and try them to see what you’d like. Then get more of those.
Pay Attention to the Protein. Protein tends to be one of the harder things to store and have a lot of. Yes, meat has lots, but unless you are some sort of mighty hunter, finding reliable protein in a disaster is harder than finding sources of carbs that store a long time. So think a lot about how to store protein in freeze dried format.
Read the Expiration Dates. Some of these meals are guaranteed to last 25 YEARS. Mountain House, in particular, has very long shelf life. Some are closer to 5 or 10, so read up on each. Note that the longer shelf life stuff usually takes longer to “cook” because it has less water in it (makes it last longer).
Long Term Ingredients
The next part of very long term storage is storing the ingredients to cook or make what you might normally make. The companies that make this type of food tend to be a little different, so let’s cover a couple types.
Regular ingredients, like Wheat Berries or Rice that can store for a long time
Commercially packaged long term ingredients
For the first type, my wife really likes baking, so I invested in a super nice Flour Mill (so nice it will probably outlast me and my grandkids will use it with no visible signs of wear) and we store lots of Wheat Berries. Wheat Berries are the things that you grind to make flour. The more fine you grind, the finer the flour, and you can store wheat berries almost forever if you keep them dry and sealed and cool. At least they last a LOT longer than regular flour.
Lots of stuff happening in those pictures above. This is in my pantry, and you can see the absolutely incredible Grain Maker Model 116 Flour Mill (seriously a work of art that will last a lifetime) along with some Wheat Berries from Amazon (though you can get them lots of local places as well) and a bunch of the beans and flour I store for medium term use. Medium term here means we actually eat and cook that stuff, but I keep it in sealed Gamma Buckets to keep it fresh. If you have never heard of Gamma Buckets, they are food save versions of a regular bucket with a special lid that seals tight and unscrews to access what’s inside. Gamma Lids are magical, and they seal so well, you can bury them in your yard if you want. I bought those white Gamma Lids and Buckets on Amazon and I also use them to store dog food. That little short square bucket in the picture is actually called a Vittle Vault which uses a Gamma Lid to store dog food. I also keep larger buckets with Gamma lids in the garage for longer term storage of dog food as well (so the mice don’t chew in to the dog food bag).
For prepackaged ingredients, however, the gold standard is pretty much Augason Farms. Augason farms is a company that has been making long term ingredients for a LONG time. They are no-nonsense, and you can buy things in baggies, #10 cans (think the giant cans that restaurants use for tomatoes and ketchup), and large pails. You can get EVERYTHING. Freeze dried berries, salt, sugar, eggs, butter. You name it.
I stock a LOT of their stuff, especially the milk. We wound up using up a LOT of that milk during the first few weeks of Covid lockdown, because milk was one of the few things we sort of needed outside of our pantry. Saved us from going to the grocery store a lot.
In those pictures above, you can see a few different types of “ingredients” that I store. Butter Powder, Sugar, Dried Eggs, Diced Chicken, Milk, Pineapple, Whole Raspberries and black beans. Most of it comes from Augason Farms, but the Chicken came from Mountain House, and the Beans actually came from the LDS Church.
I personally recommend getting some of the basics to store in the back of your kitchen cabinets. Some salt, eggs, sugar, flour, etc. And if your budget allows, consider adding some number 10 cans of chicken or beef. They really add a lot of calories and protein to other, cheaper meals, and can make a big difference.
Important Notes on Availability
I am writing this in April of 2023, and frankly, the freeze dried “staples” industry is just now recovering. I always stocked a lot of this stuff before Covid, and when Covid hit, it was ALL GONE. Augason Farms stopped taking orders. Mountain House was 100% sold out. You couldn’t get ANYTHING. I used to check every week to see if anything came in stock during 2020, and there was virtually nothing. As a result, not all products are available from all places, and if you see something in stock for a good price, you should jump on it. Things are also simply more expensive than they used to be. For example, I looked back at my order history, and in January of 2020, I bought an Augason Farms “Baking Kit” which included a #10 can (each, total of 6 cans) of Eggs, salt, milk, butter, shortening powder and sugar for 84.10 delivered. Click HERE to see what just a number 10 can of eggs costs today. I think it is more than all 6 cans 3 years ago! So for me, it paid off to buy a lot of this stuff back when it was cheap. And mind you, it didn’t seem “cheap” back then. But it seems like a screaming bargain now!
MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat)
I saved the most interesting (not necessarily the best, but certainly interesting) for last. The mighty MRE. MRE’s are what the US military uses to keeps its troops fed during war time, and as a result, they are INCREDIBLY calorie dense and engineered to be complete. Meaning if you eat the whole thing, the nutrients are specially designed to work together. They are “one stop shop” meals, usually including a flameless heater (a bag with a chemical that reacts with water to heat up your food) coffee, a meal, deserts, even tiny Tabasco Sauce bottles and chewing gum, sometimes!
That picture above is of a REAL US Military issue MRE. You can get all sorts of them, but not all are actually US issue. I personally like the US army issue ones, because they have the heater in them. But you could try other types as well. All Military MRE’s were once owned by the US, so you cannot get them “new”. You have to get them used, which usually means they were in a warehouse somewhere for a while before being inspected and sold by the government. You will see a few things/trms to be aware of when shopping for MRE’s:
Menu - Some people like specific foods, and if you like that thing, you can usually look up its “menu number”. For example, the Beef Ravioli above is Menu 18. Many people really like Menu 23… PEPPERONI PIZZA!
Inspection Date - This is NOT the date they were packed. This is the date they need to be checked to make sure they are OK. For real army issue rations, you are looking for inspection dates in the 2018 range if you are buying in 2023.
Flameless Heater - Also known as a FRH (Flameless Ration Heater) or simply an MRE Heater, these generate heat through an oxidation-reduction reaction. Usually with Magnesium and Iron in a salt suspension that when you add water to, allows the reaction to generate heat. They are built to get to about 200 degrees F and can raise the temperature of food put in the bag by about 100 degrees F. You can read a little more about Flameless Ration Heaters here on Wikipedia if you are curious about the science.
Here’s a couple pictures of the FRH from the MRE I took pictures of. You can see my favorite part of them, the “Rock or Something”. I simply LOVE that whoever designed these decided to write that you should lean this heater on a “Rock or Something” to keep in inclined. Hilarious!
When you buy MRE’s (at least the official ones) they come in two different “cases”. Case A or Case B (usually). Those are code names for different sets of rations. Case A has Menus 1-12 and Case B has menus 13-24. You can see below the different menus from a Case B (I opened a case to take these pictures).
And below, you can see the case they came in. Very sturdy, and I usually leave them in the box, because you can see the inspection dates.
Case B (see the Upside Down B B B B B printed?) or US Military MRE’s.
Now, what’s actually IN one of these things? I opened one to show all the contents. Let’s go through it in detail, but start with the photo.
Here are the contents of this particular MRE:
Flameless Heater (green thing in the middle)
cardboard pouch to hold heater (on the left)
Wheat Snack Bread (top left) - This is sort of like a bread wafer. Good with the Ravioli
Chocolate Banana Muffin Top (Top second from left)
M&M’s - Yes, real M&M’s. Peanut ones too!
Plastic cutlery
Plastic bag with coffee (instant, salt and pepper, hand wipe, gum, etc.)
Liquid heater. That clean bag towards the right is for mixing up coffee (or tea, etc) and putting in the FRH to warm up.
Beef Ravioli (the squishy looking green bag). That is the “meal” and you slide that in the FRH to heat up.
Tropical Punch Juice Mix
Cheese Spread (lower left). The cheese stuff comes in most MRE’s and you can spread it on the meal, or the crackers (or bread thing in this case). Not as bad as it sounds, but certainly not gourmet.
OK, so the idea here is that you eat the whole thing. These will definitely fill you up, but if you are expecting gourmet, you should look elsewhere. These are NOT gourmet. They are edible, with lots of calories, and VERY convenient. But they likely don’t taste as good as some of the other pre-made freeze dried meals. I’ll also add that I wouldn’t rely on eating these for long periods of time. They are pretty dense and not exactly designed so you.. well… go to the bathroom a lot. These are for soldiers when there is no other option. So use these sparingly. They also are not cheap.
The prices vary on these, and you can get them different places. I have had luck buying from this vendor on Amazon. Check below for current price for a case of both A and B menus (one of everything). There are 12 MRE’s in each case.
Is There a Difference Between Civilian and Military MRE’s?
Well, sorta. The main difference is packaging, and often the non-military ones don’t have the Flameless Heater. But there’s nothing wrong with civilian MRE’s at all. In fact, they might even be better is some cases, because you can buy them fresh, as opposed to after having been stored on a military base some place.
The exact guidelines vary, but I have read that if you store an MRE above 80 degrees F for more than a couple years, they are at the end of their shelf life. Otherwise, they could last up to 10 years. So definitely NOT something to keep in the trunk of your car or your bugout bag.
Lastly, the military MRE’s have a LOT of Fat and a LOT of salt. This makes sense if you are a soldier carrying heavy gear and expending tons of energy. It makes much less sense for civilians living a sedentary life. I like MRE’s for a winter kit in the trunk for the car, though. The fat and salt would come in handy if you got stuck in a snowbank, so I often pack them for that. See my thoughts on a great winter emergency kit for the trunk of your car!
If you are interested in a lower sodium Civilian MRE, check out the nice ones from Sopakco (you can get them on Amazon). Pretty reasonably priced, too.