The everything about food thread.

[jerrymrc]

Speaking of food storage, and thank you Jerry for the info, what about Mountain House? I was looking today and have never tried it. Is it good? How long does it last? I was just browsing around at Gander Mountain today and was looking at the cans there. One can did not take up that much space, was light weight, and had 16 servings.

Your thoughts?

It's good, It's expensive. Now if you just want a variety of stuff that everyone will eat for the short term then OK. There may be a vendor in the links that sells it by the case. Used to offer group buys on the files a couple of years ago.

[KevDen2005]

It's good, It's expensive. Now if you just want a variety of stuff that everyone will eat for the short term then OK. There may be a vendor in the links that sells it by the case. Used to offer group buys on the files a couple of years ago.

I did notice that it was pretty expensive and was planning on shopping around for the best price. I was certainly thinking short term or bug out with these items. My thought is that I would continue to keep normal canned and dried goods that I bought at the store for long term.

[Batteriesnare]

Speaking of food storage, and thank you Jerry for the info, what about Mountain House? I was looking today and have never tried it. Is it good? How long does it last? I was just browsing around at Gander Mountain today and was looking at the cans there. One can did not take up that much space, was light weight, and had 16 servings.

Your thoughts?

Its good stuff, decently tasty, kinda pricy. One big downside that I see is they require boiled water for most entrees. This means you have to have some capacity to boil water (I like the MSR Pocket Rocket, $40 at REI plus fuel. Great little stove, downside is shorter fuel cell life.) I'f you're looking for something that is size and weigh efficient and (in my mind a big plus) self contained (cooking ect) I like military (not civilian) MREs. Similar concept, but they come ready to cook with the materials necessary, some extras (tp ect), have similar shelf life and are more cost effective. Just my .02.

[KevDen2005]

Its good stuff, decently tasty, kinda pricy. One big downside that I see is they require boiled water for most entrees. This means you have to have some capacity to boil water (I like the MSR Pocket Rocket, $40 at REI plus fuel. Great little stove, downside is shorter fuel cell life.) I'f you're looking for something that is size and weigh efficient and (in my mind a big plus) self contained (cooking ect) I like military (not civilian) MREs. Similar concept, but they come ready to cook with the materials necessary, some extras (tp ect), have similar shelf life and are more cost effective. Just my .02.

I used to have a number of real MRE's. The ones that didn't get eaten got thrown away. I was advised by some people whom I think are experts on the matter that if they go through many temperature changes they will go bad...and they had gone through quite a lot of severe changes just from moving all over and having to store things differently.

I actually have three different back-packing stoves. One I bought runs on gasoline, kerosine, or white gas. I looked a lot of different ones that could run on more than one fuel, this was one of the best I thought. A friend of mine had one in the army that he would run Diesel Fuel through, which I thought was pretty neat because we were so close to a lot of diesel trucks...but I haven't been able to find one that will run off of diesel

[cowboykjohnson]

How does the food saver vacuum sealer compare to sealing in mylar?

[KevDen2005]

You need to re-wrap most items to prevent freezer burn. I can attest to the life of Bacon. I bought a bulk pack once and all was fine for the first 3-4 months. Then I pulled some out at the 6 month mark and had to throw it away.

Jerry, forgot to ask, what are your thoughts on storing and freezing home made soups and sauces?

Anyone else can answer to, Jerry is the only one that has thus far.

[jerrymrc]

How does the food saver vacuum sealer compare to sealing in mylar?

For short term it is ok. almost any plastic will pass 02 at an alarming rate. The thicker the mylar the better. There is a reason that MRE's last as long as they do.

[jerrymrc]

Jerry, forgot to ask, what are your thoughts on storing and freezing home made soups and sauces?

Anyone else can answer to, Jerry is the only one that has thus far.

This is one area where home canning shines. Soup's and prepaired foods 30-60 days in the freezer.

[Seamonkey]

Hard wheat, honey, salt, powdered milk.

About 50% of the nutrition of wheat is lost in 2-3 weeks after it is made into flour. So you need a non-electric way to grind it. A 5 gallon bucket will hold enough of the fab 4 to keep a family of 4 going for about a week or so. Add canned meat, fruit and veggies and you can stretch it to a month easily. Add a one a day multi-vitamin and you can survive, in good health, for years.

Try making some campfire biscuits using the fab 4 BEFORE you may need to for real. They actually taste pretty good.

If you have a dog, make sure to keep a month worth of food for them.

Honey, honey and more honey!
Glad you mentioned the nectar of the gods! Great as a sweetener, natural sugar boost, good for long term storage, antiseptic, antibacterial, sore throats, coughs and, if you're the last one standing, use some to make mead!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey

And I kept my dogs for the other other white meat... shh, don't tell them that

[KevDen2005]

Honey, honey and more honey!
Glad you mentioned the nectar of the gods! Great as a sweetener, natural sugar boost, good for long term storage, antiseptic, antibacterial, sore throats, coughs and, if you're the last one standing, use some to make mead!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey

And I kept my dogs for the other other white meat... shh, don't tell them that

I got a Need for Mead!!!!