My intention wouldn't be the use it during a moment of need, but to hedge against that need and use it before. A lot of things we currently own will be useless in the future, but that doesn't make them useless now. So I would argue your syllogism is flawed.

Freeze dried food retains more nutrients and a lot of stuff reconstitutes to its pre-dried texture, or close enough.

As for trusting Mountain House, their stuff is fine (though over salted and not really meant for long term consumption, and way overpriced for what you get), but the effort isn't just about prepping in the end of the world/social collapse sense. It can also allow hedging against price rises. For example, if one finds a bunch of ground beef or steak, etc., on sale and at a great price they could FD it and it will be stable for years and years without needing to use a freezer to keep it. And it's unlikely one will be able to make that purchase at that price in 5 years.

Yeah, one can buy a lot of beans and rice for 3k. But back to your point about morale and emotional health...