Condiment packs for survival

Okay, I don't recall as we've ever broached this topic before, but maybe I just missed it somewhere.

looking in my cupboard and my packs, I realize that I am hoarding up all my condiment packs. Specifially, I look for ones that contain either dried ingredients or stuff in foil and plastic packs like MREs.

Right now, I am stocking about 5 lbs of the various flavors of Taco Bell Hot sauces. I also have about a pound of Gulden's mustard packets, about 2 lbs of mayonaise, about a lb of splenda packets, about 1/2 a lb each of salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes, about 2 lbs of soy sauce packets, and at least 2 lbs of ketchup packets, all freebies, all in foil and plastic packets (except the dry stuff). I also have maybe another 5 pounds or so of miscellaneous, like tabasco packets, parmesan cheese packets, tea packets, peanut butter cups (smuckers), jams and jellies, and other odds and ends.

Twenty pounds of condiments. Anyone else here as bad as me?

Lol, I do the same but haven't accumulated quite the amount you have!

I also hang onto the sealed packets with plastic forks, knife, spoon, napkin, salt and pepper that come with some takeaway meals. In certain situations, the condiments and seasonings can make the difference between "feeding" and "dining." Plus, free is good.

My name is Wildman800 and I am a restaurant condiment and utensil packet SAVING JUNKIE! I feel so much better now that I have gotten that out into the open!!!!!

Yes I save all restaurant condiment packs. I watch dates on the mustards and mayonnaise packets closely, and keep those in my fridge. Everything else is separated and in organized storage in the house (climate controlled).

When it's time to go camping, I will eat well, not just feed as has already been mentioned.

Yes Benjammin,,,,I am in your league of condiment savers.

I used to be, but moving from a stick home into a home on wheels brought that to a screeching halt. No room to store that much stuff...

I haven't been hoarding. But I do have those tendencies. Also, I am sure it will get worse over time. I am convinced I have no control over it because it is genetic or a disease. We all know that if it is either of those you are free of all responsibility. Hoard away my friend!

By the way...If you kill a big animal, say a deer/elk, you can mix all your liquid condiments and make a whale of a marinade/basting sauce. When you do I'll bring the cole slaw.

Some of those things do go bad after a while. I don't know if all of them do. Nor how long it takes. The wife and kids save them, I mostly throw them out when I find them and have no idea how old they are (the family saves them, but doesn't label them with dates, not all come pre-dated). Doesn't matter if I throw them out, there will be 500 new ones tomorrow! Just yesterday I went to Arbys and brought back a Junior sandwich for the wife. I asked them to put a sauce packet into the bag. When I got home there were no less than 23 sauce packets - I'm not kidding! That would have been one drippy sandwich with all that sauce. Do people really eat them that way?!

I don't do this at home but at work, I have at least a pound of condiments hoarded from many take-out lunches as well as a lot of napkins and plastic cutlery.

I've never considered the nutrition of these but now that you think about it, the mind boggles at the possibilities

• Honey - Sweetener/First Aid
• Ketchup - Sugar/Salt/Calories (though not as many as you'd think)
• Soya Sauce - Salt/Electrolytes
• Hot Sauce - Flavor (most hot sauces don't have much of any nutritional value)
• BBQ Sauce - Sugar/Calories
• Mustard - Fiber/Vitamins

Unfortunately you'd need to eat a lot if you happened to be trapped in your office with nothing but a big bag of Arby's Sauce packets. They're only 15 calories each and really have no nutritional value beyond containing Iron. The thought of downing 100-150 a day to meet my BMR makes me feel ill.

I collect condiments as well. I also toss in some peanut butter ones as well (thank you healthcare job). I typically keep a much lighter load of them (less than 20 lbs for sure) but to keep them fresh i rotate them out yearly-i just toss them in zip locks with the date on them and after a year rotate them out with fresh which i collect along the way.

The peanut butter cups, the jellies, and the taco bell sauces are probably my favorites. Those Smuckers peanut butter cups have a whole tablespoon of peanut butter in them. They aren't quite as well sealed as most of the other condiment packets, but they stack well in my crystal light plastic cannisters and would travel thus quite well I think.

Man, I am getting hungry now.

Working in the healthcare industry (ER)I are subjected to all of the above, we keep honey packets, jelly (grape only),peanut butter,salt,pepper,ketchup,mustard,.............(it's like the song that never ends.
sorry I digress, yes I too am subject to the cravings of collection


Mike

Hi All, this is my first post for a long time. I posted way back a few years ago when we didn't have to be registered.

I also like to save the condiments and keep them in various places like my car, purse and salt in the first aid kit, etc. I do put dates on some of them. But I usually go through them every 2 or 3 years and throw out ones that might be old.

One thing I have discovered is that some health food stores have free samples for vitamins, teas and stuff. One store (Whole Foods), has a basket that they put all their free samples in for the customers to help themselves. I love to go through it and look for things that I can add to my BOB's and first aid kits. I try to not be greedy and only take 2 or 3 samples each time I visit, which is only about once every 3 weeks or so.

I don't think all Whole Foods do this, because another one I visit has their free samples in a basket on a desk. So it isn't for customers to go through to take what they want.

I find mens and women's supplements, creams for dry, itching and cracking hands, shampoos and conditioners, etc. I always picture people in survival situations with burnt peeling skin and lips and am so happy to have these little individual packets to add to my emergency supplies! I am especially happy when the sample is a brand I use and love and can add a small packet to my kits.

I have gotten samples for my grandson too! I send them to him in the mail! He loves some of the ones I send him, so I ended up buying him 2 different kinds of children's supplements. The samples save me money by testing them first!

One thing about these samples is that they usually do have an expiration date on them. If not, I use a sharpie and quickly jot the date I got it on. So far I haven't found any out of date samples.

Joy

Yeah, I too tend to squirrel these things away, although primarily for hiking/backpacking/camping/BoB use as opposed to using them at home. Like most of us I always bring the extra freebies home with me, although I have purchase several of the more eclectic ones from Minimus.

Jim

Ditto figtree.

Love the little mayo packets for backpacking and have put a ziplock baggie of them in the hurricane box as well.

Snagged a few of the Tony Chacere's seasoning packs as well.

Worst case, they turn into barter goods.

Welcome back Joy.

Thank you LED! It is good to be back! I really enjoy reading and learning from everyone. There is so much great information here!

Joy

This is great! I thought it was just me! Wait 'til I tell my wife. She will be, um, pleased.

A

Ketchup seems to go bad really quick outside the refrigerator. I opened up a packet and I found that the bright red color had dulled. I didn't eat it, so I don't know if it was really "bad" or not. Does someone know if that color change is acceptable or edible or whatever applies? Does anyone have a list of the shelf lives of these packets outside the refrigerator? I don't have enough space inside the fridge for 5 pounds of condiments. Soy sauce sure seems to last a long time, though.

Thank you

Ketchup doesn't require refrigeration. read the labels on the side of the bottles of the product in question & you'll find those answers.

All food items need to be stored in cool places (room temperature).

Most bottles of ketchup I've read DO require refrigeration...however real ketchup won't go bad if not refrigerated...same with real mayo. I keep mine in the chill chest just because I don't use them very often and they stay 'fresh' longer if you do.

Guilty

I have many of the above listed items stashed! They are great for the hurricane kit, or for when we get a snowflake here in Alabama and they shut our roads down and our power goes out for 3 days or for camping trips!

I also have honey from Chick-Fil-A, chili sauce from Wendy's, Tabasco from Krystals (I thought those little packs were cool), and I have HEARD that Subway has olive oil in little packets...ooooooh the joy! I also heard that KFC has a butter that doesn't have to be refrigerated in little packets, but I've never seen it.

It's the little things in life!

KFH does have "butter" but it is suspect, very suspect

I also have this problem. I stash lots of the lemon juice packets too. It's good for seasoning and when you add honey it also makes a good hot drink for a sore throat.

Anyone in the UK know of curry flavouring that can be kept out of the fridge? Apart from the obvious curry powder which tastes powdery if you can't fry it in some oil.
The Sock