Best tasting emergency food

[Carcassonne]

4 Patriots is the worst. I had mixed results from emergency essentials: mostly bad.

Mountain House is good.

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[jyo]

Good info on this thread! As I've said before, We, the wife and I, plus our dogs ain't going nowhere---too old and settled-in to really bug-out... So most of our stuff is geared towards staying here---lots of canned food (loaded with salt) and dried food, plus FD emergency type foods, plus lots of water and as much meds as our HMO will allow us to accumulate... Several months of dog food too! NOT an "End of the World" plan, or stash---we probably wouldn't survive such a situation anyway! But a workable plan for limited events... And remember, add spices and things like hot sauce around to adjust the taste of the food to keep things interesting!

[user120312]

Bumping this up to add a thumb's up for Nutristore freeze dried grated Pepper Jack cheese. Can had very little empty space in it and I eat the cheese as is for a snack, or add a bit of hot water to rehydrate. Rehydrated, it melts pretty much like ordinary cheese. Tried some on a Mexican style pizza I made a few days ago and also last night mixed with some Icelandic smoked sprats as a quick protein snack. Adds a nice spicy bite to the smoke. IMO, worth a try.

Will report back on how well it keeps. I got some imported fresh cheese, as comparison, from Spain over the holidays, a 7 pound wheel, and just finished the last of it about a month ago and it kept fine in the fridge. However, my fridge space is limited so it's handy to have shelf stable alternatives.

I also have a can of their Cheddar product that I'll try next.

[jyo]

Any of the FD food is less than ideal, but I do agree MH tastes decent, and I've heard that Peak is also good, but I haven't tried it yet... Keep a good stash of spices and hot sauce on hand to help things out---and if you're plaining on bugging-in, canned food and dry food (pasta, rice, beans, lentils, etc) are probably going to be better... BTW, I've eaten canned food that was put away many, many years ago that was just fine if stored properly... But remember---CLEAN WATER is most important!

[user120312]

On a whim, noting my portions have decreased markedly in old age, I tried checking out a new to me fish product from Beach Cliff, fish pieces in oil with green chiles, 12 - 3.75oz cans for about ten bucks. Surprisingly good; I added some cut up artichoke hearts to the first sample, and that was a whole meal yesterday.

I was concerned that the low price meant close to expired but nope, 2029 date code on them.

Nutristore sausage crumbles and pepper jack cheese have become a staple now. Opened #10's have no problem staying fresh for a couple months in cool storage until used. This morning I had pancakes made with Bisquick, which needs eggs and milk, so I used some Augason egg powder and shelf stable whole milk. Easy and tasty. The egg powder has now been open close to a year and is nearly empty. No problems. Two more in storage.

As another member mentioned, condiments and spices are important. I buy supplies and make and store particular condiments I like. I added sesame oil and soy sauce to the bulk condiment item list recently and have a food service can of Japanese sesame oil coming this week to try, after liking the brand in the dispenser container size. I kept the dispenser for daily use.

What I've noted lately, with a large variety of menu items, is I eat less, not more. I did the starving experiment to examine the psychology of limited resources and felt the pull of survival and physical discomfort. Now, with a variety of tasty emergency food in inventory and able to eat it daily for months on end, food has become less a focus.

I make my own water, either from the well or the creek, or rainwater if need be, and experimented with adding a bit of potassium iodide (Lugol's) for storage. I've noted it helps flavor and water stored months has no adverse effects. I compare that to treatment with ozone or hydrogen peroxide. I do the experiments because I expect creek water to be unsanitary.

IMO, if prepping seriously for an emergency food/water supply, it pays to live like one preps, perhaps not full time, but periodically for training and to adjust nutrient/taste/freshness parameters. Do a SHTF weekend and see how it goes.

[user120312]

Since my emergency stash is augmented with shelf stable everyday foods, I decided to take advantage of Campbell's $10 off for 30.00 last week and try out five new soup types since the net worked out to under two bucks a can, a price that matched or was less than I'd paid the last time I stocked soup during Covid. So I ordered 15 cans.

The clear winner so far...

Screenshot 2025-10-15 at 9.35.52 AM.png

The current deal isn't as good but not bad at two bucks each for three. Good date codes, well into 2027 on what I received and no need to buy cases to try, particularly those the local store doesn't stock.

It doesn't hurt that the State of Oregon and Amazon are kind enough to pay for them and ship them at no cost to me to try.

Just another useless old eater living and prepping in comfortable poverty. Variety is a cornerstone of effective prepping in the food department IMO. Oh, I added some freeze dried brocolli and bell peppers to the soup to stretch it. Very spicy.

ETA, this is part of my commitment to 'five bucks a day' food budget that started during Covid. The soup gives me two meals that, with the add-ins of freeze dried vegs, comes to just over one dollar per serving. My scale says I'm not getting skinny on that budget; another consideration for prepping. Maintaining body weight and health. The experiment has been going on full-time for over two years now.

[RAMCLAP]

Well, the Mountain House Ice Cream Sammiches are pretty damned good.