[kev]

The plan is to organize two serving Mountain House freeze dried pouches in five gallon buckets. Then label the buckets with a piece of duct tape.

• Breakfast
  
• Side dishes
  
• Main entrees

Thoughts, suggestions?

 

[T-Rex]

I agree and like what you are doing. There are some flavors that I really don't care for, so I don't buy them. Right now my stash of FD/Dehydrated is in #10 cans. The cost difference of pouches is significant, and they are not mouse proof....

I have considered putting together buckets like you are doing as a grab-and-go for hurricane season. Historically the pouches had a shorter shelf life, but I think lately I was reading that they have been extended which is a plus for the plan. I'll have to give it more consideration and start taste testing the breakfast items. Worst case, they can be rotated out every couple years using them for camping.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[stratbastard]

I have a great many buckets of individual freeze dried meals. Ditto individual MRE's (for example, a bucket of chicken fajitas, a bucket of tortillas, a bucket of choco peanut butter and snack bread).

 

[Nomad 2nd]

Be better off mixing them up and then saying "4 days" "5 days" or whatever.

Voice of experence here....

 

[tractorfarmer123]

I would get the square buckets to save space. And I think the Mtn House meals would fit better in them. They are not as sturdy as the round buckets but would be decent for freeze dried food.

 

[Writer's Block]

I often collect pouches and such into days rather than meal types.

Basically, I make up a week long menu to make sure I have variety and such; Day One breakfast, lunch, dinner... add in some snacks, drink mixes, condiments, matches for lighting a fire, and such, and then package it (usually in a small box) as a 24 Hour Meal Pack. Some times I add water pouches for drinking and making the food as well.

In my experience, like with MREs, if you sort them by meal type (breakfast, lunch, dinner) you are more likely to eat all your favorites first then the end of the week gets steadily less and less liked...

Sure, you could get ONLY your absolute faves, but that usually ends up with a very limited number of meal varieties...

 

[whirlibird]

Personal preference here, mixing them up with some additional things such as canned fruit, vitamins and the like, would seem to make more sense.
Some plastic camping utensils and plates are a handy addition.

First that whole 'eggs in one basket' thing.

Second, you can hand one bucket to a kid or neighbor and they're fed for a full 3,4 or 5 days. Without breaking into other buckets or storage. Or letting them know exactly how much you have.

Adding some peanut butter and crackers in some of the "short term" buckets may also be an aid.
An el cheapo saucepan for boiling water and some tea might also make sense to add to a few buckets.

 

[ForestBeekeeper]

We have a lot of stuff stored in 5-gallon buckets. They stack nice. They are easily transported. They are generally rodent-proof.

 

[radiofish]

Like others that posted above, I went with the making of several days worth of meals in a bucket using freeze dried foods and MREs. I made my own vacuum sealed breakfast packs for a weeks worth of items such as instant oatmeal, coffee/ tea/ hot chocolate/ hard candies, spices, and such.

That way if I have to grab and go, I am sure that I have a variety of food for several days.

I did buy several of the Mountain House square buckets with pouch meals advertised as 72 hour kits which are added to the other 5 gallon buckets/ and a few boxes set up for 3 meals a day with some other comfort items - for several days worth of food. I did add either a P-38 or P-51 manual can openers, some utensils, and matches inside each container.