Sorry, long post...
There are many posts on these forums from people with varying ideas on what to do and what not to do. I don't agree with a lot of them.
I do agree that you should look at package contents and ingredients, just like buying anything else.
Whenever I see the large bulk items for sale, I think to myself don't be in a hurry to put all of your eggs into one basket (ie. all of your food into one purchase). The reasons are below.
Personally, I recommend having way more basic ingredients than entrees (ie. pre-made meals), at least 10 to 1, the basics typically have longer shelf life and nutritional value.
When buying basics, buy the cans or pails of individual vegetables and fruits and grains and proteins (beans, meat subs, etc.), also sugar, salt, honey etc., don't stock up on massive amounts of entree meals. The packagers tend to not do a well-balanced entree meal set, plus you may be stuck with some meals you don't like. I only rely on the entrees for any short-term outages, such as the typical 72 hour emergency kit.
I also recommend storing a wider variety of food storage types when starting out and if limited by funds, with smaller purchases of each type, in other words don't put all your eggs in one big mylar
.
So I don't recommend buying the massive bulk packages for $1500+ unless you already have a massive stock of other food and storage types, instead you should pick and choose from a variety of food and storage types with each purchase. Every month I do some food, health and medical, and gear, with the money I have available to budget.
I don't fully agree with many of the comments that I see, and I do things different than many posts for (what I believe to be) simple logical reasons.
No one knows what's coming. That is the reason why we prep. People who lean on one type of food storage, or one method, may be in for some rough times depending on what disaster they run into.
I believe in mixing smaller containers (#10 and 1 gallon max size) of a wide variety of food types and storage times (MRE, bulk food in 1g mylar, cans, jars, freeze dried, dehydrated, etc.).
- I don't agree that 25yr FD/DH supplies are a waste to buy.
Situations may occur where you can lose one type of storage medium.
Just because it says it will last 25yrs doesn't mean you have to wait that long before you can use it. But if you only stock up on 5 year food, MREs etc. and lose a lot of them to a heat-wave or other disaster, then you are in trouble (every +10 in storage temp typically cuts the shelf life in half).
- I don't single mylar a 5 gallon bucket of beans, rice, wheat, etc.
You lose a seal, have a bag puncture, insect or mice issue, whatever, that is now one large bucket of throw away food. Result: the loss of a year of one staple.
I only package basics into 1 gallon mylars max and have them in a number of smaller buckets or large bucket mixes. Larger buckets contain a mix of various mylar basics, if you have to flee it would be better to grab a 5 gal with a mix of basics (sugar, salt, grains, veges, fruit, etc.) than a 5 gal of nothing but beans.
For many people, having a single mylar 5 gallon bucket of beans may also mean that once opened they go bad before consumed, with possibly no electricity to use your iron to reseal it in between uses.
I have
no items at all in a single 5 gal mylar.
- I don't agree that doing it all yourself is better or cheaper versus buying pre-packaged FD/DH.
By the time you consider the cost of the can or bucket, the mylars, the absorbers, the food, the dehydrator, the bag crimper, your time and electricity to prepare and package all of it... then what happens if you made a mistake or packaging issue: bad seal, contaminates in the food preparing, etc.
I do about a 50:50 combination of self-packaging and professional packaged FD/DH (Mountain House, Thrive, etc). If months into a disaster I find some of my packages spoiled, chances are the others packaged by the pro's are still good.
- I don't like the idea of buying the big bulk sets.
I buy my pre-packaged foods: MRE, FD/DH, canned, etc. in small purchases and from a number of stores local and in other cities.
What happens if you bought a 5 year massive supply and later there is a recall on all that food created on that date from that factory. Or worse, what happens if you don't find out until in a disaster when you open them to find them all black and non-edible.
By spreading out your purchases to multiple stores and smaller purchases over a long period of time, the chances of you getting any food that you have to discard becomes less.
My goal is to have a minimum of 5+ years of a wide variety of everything possible in the basics and canned/jarred, and 3-6 months of MREs and entrees.
Every week when I go to the grocery store, I pick up a few additional packages of whatever I need for canned and basics, making sure that I have lots of stock for the types of food that I actually eat. If you like milk and eggs and spuds, always make sure your food stock has plenty of them in dried/flaked/etc., in both self-packaged
and pro-packaged.
Every couple of months I put in another order for pro-packaged FD/DH basics and maybe some MREs, along with the packaging supplies I need (mylar, o2, etc.).
As I use up any jar preserved and pickled (from my mommy and our local farmers garden outlet) I replace them.
Congratulations, you made it to the bottom of this wall of text.
Hope my opinions helped someone...