^ Honey is one of those wonder-things. I wish I had a place for bees. To be honest, we don't stock enough: really just for the usual seasonal flu and cold.
I also wish I had a place to keep chickens.
^ Yup. The wifey (and the dog, come on, the dog!) likes the good stuff, and that won't keep long, but the ones with preservatives can last over a year, which is pretty amazing for something that nutritious.
The sodium hit is huge with a lot of the freeze-dried "prep" stuff. Definitely worth it to keep an eye on that.
The thing to remember for anyone new to this stuff is that this isn't by "brand," but rather, for specific foods within that brand. As with anything else, read the labels, particularly if you have any outstanding health issues (and even if not, given that you might be subsisting on your stocks for some time, in case of a protracted event).
Finally -
-and-
And this is what I do as well - as with both Talyn and Peglegjoe, it's worth it to take the small amount of time to rotate one's pantry stock of just the "everyday" stuff that you can buy at the grocery or big-box.
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FWIW, a few years ago, I had a "party" with my daughter (the wifey is not into this at all, so we tell her that when the time comes, she's just gonna have to suffer through it because she didn't join us for the fun) and taste-tested a few of the offerings on the market.
From this, Mountain House became our selected staple and dominates our freeze-dried menu. It's been very reasonably priced, and there's good availability virtually always. We use it both for long-term storage as well as have individual pouches for camping - and even using it as the occasional "OMG we got home *really* late tonight and there's no good leftovers in the 'fridge" alternative to both instant ramen and microwave meals.
The other brand we really liked is Backpacker's Pantry.
I also wish I had a place to keep chickens.
And peanut butter........
^ Yup. The wifey (and the dog, come on, the dog!) likes the good stuff, and that won't keep long, but the ones with preservatives can last over a year, which is pretty amazing for something that nutritious.
The sodium hit is huge with a lot of the freeze-dried "prep" stuff. Definitely worth it to keep an eye on that.
The thing to remember for anyone new to this stuff is that this isn't by "brand," but rather, for specific foods within that brand. As with anything else, read the labels, particularly if you have any outstanding health issues (and even if not, given that you might be subsisting on your stocks for some time, in case of a protracted event).
Finally -
-and-
And this is what I do as well - as with both Talyn and Peglegjoe, it's worth it to take the small amount of time to rotate one's pantry stock of just the "everyday" stuff that you can buy at the grocery or big-box.
-------
FWIW, a few years ago, I had a "party" with my daughter (the wifey is not into this at all, so we tell her that when the time comes, she's just gonna have to suffer through it because she didn't join us for the fun) and taste-tested a few of the offerings on the market.
From this, Mountain House became our selected staple and dominates our freeze-dried menu. It's been very reasonably priced, and there's good availability virtually always. We use it both for long-term storage as well as have individual pouches for camping - and even using it as the occasional "OMG we got home *really* late tonight and there's no good leftovers in the 'fridge" alternative to both instant ramen and microwave meals.
The other brand we really liked is Backpacker's Pantry.
