Hi,

Went online looking to purchase some more Mountain House canned supplies; Eggs, Lasagna, etc. It seems like there is quite a back-order. One site is saying it may take up to 160 days to ship.

Has anyone found another brand that they feel is of similar quality and good taste, that is more readily available?

Appreciate any suggestions.

Buckeye

I suggest going to the supermarket buy a bunch of Food that you like,& Can it yourself in Mason jars,Afterall You aren't going to be bugging out with a Pallet of #10 cans,Might as well make the most of it,Homemade is Certainly better than factory/processing plant could Ever hope to be!

My first thought was the same as Richlacal's.

Are you looking for that type of food for its light weight, or for store-and-forget qualities, or just because you like it? Were you looking for a lot or a little?

Canning produces a heavy product, and it isn't without some initial expense, but the how-to knowledge could be invaluable if the economy goes south, and just about everything except the lids are reusable (and there is one brand of lid that is reusable).

Sue

I haven't tried it, but as far as availability, this brand is offered at costco:
http://www.shelfreliance.com/

http://www.costco.com/Common/Search.aspx...&lang=en-US

I just checked REI and the entire Mountain House line is currently available with no waiting, including both eggs and lasagna, as well as the Mountain House "72 hour emergency kit." The food in in foil/mylar packets, not cans.

I obtained canned MH food a few years ago. I eventually opened them up out of curiosity, since they were approaching their due date - the cans contained the normal foil packets. The cans simply provided a bit of extra durability.

Remember that the chief virtue of freeze dried food is light weight. This is useful if you are carrying the food on your back. If you are in any situation where water is not plentiful, freeze dried items do not work so well. Backpacking in desert conditions, I have often just carried canned goods, since you will be packing water anyway.

In my emergency stash, I do keep some freeze dried stuff, packets not cans, but most of my stash is normal canned food. I figure water will be at a premium in most disaster situations.

as Basecamp commented...I don't use the stuff, but have been watching a lot of YouTube by beast12101 as I like his presentation and mind set most of the time.... he did a couple of presentations on the THRIVE brand... I believe he now has a vested interest

I've bought a lot of Shelf Reliance stuff through their website. Their food is really good but their customer service is LOUSY. I'm still trying to get them to fix an order from January.

-Blast

HI,

Thank you everyone for the responses.

Re: Richlacal
Was looking to add to my longer-term shelter-in-place storage. Have a bit of canned goods we rotate through, but wanted to have a bit more longer shelf life items on hand.

Re: Susan
Like the taste, but looking to add to my longer-term SIP storage. Like all of us, pretty limited resources so given the cost, it seemed a bit more economical to buy the cans, especially with two teenagers who go through food like it grew on trees (Ha, I crack me up).
Good observation, the cans themselves will always come in handy if dealing with a longer term issue.

Re: Basecamp
Thanks for the lead. Might order one to try it out. Wish I had a Costco membership -- may consider. I guess $50 isn't the end of the world.

Re: hikermor
Thanks. I have used the individual foil packs that I bought one-off for camping but never opened my cans (I only have four). I assumed (yes, I know what that means) it was just bulk packaged, not in individual bags. Since I've read MH is good 5-7 years in bags and 10-15 in cans, it never occurred to me that putting up the bags in a better sealed (probably oxygen depleted / sealed container might provide the extra shelf life. Duh. Hopefully, that's a lesson learned for me.

Re: LesSnyder
Thanks for the pointer and review. Will take a look at that.

Re: Blast
Thanks for the warning/review. I guess it's always buyer beware. I still may try a can or two.


All:
Thanks for the guidance. Just feeling in my gut a need to ramp up my food storage. It's weird how these feelings come over me at times.

Good to know...

The Costco in the area also currently has MH Premium Meal Assortment [this includes 10 entrees (for two) - (3) Chicken Teriyaki, (2) Beef Stew, (3) Beef Stroganoff and (3) Lasagna w/ meat sauce. Usually, these are in the $5.90 apiece price range.] for just under $40.

If it's all you want from Costco and you know someone with a membership, you can have them get you a gift card. That gift card acts as your membership card while there is money on it... saves you the membership cost.

Not nearly as good a deal as Costco, but still better than nothing - REI takes 10% off the list price if you buy 12 or more MH items. I am not sure if you get a patronage dividend if you get the discount, but I doubt it. In effect, you get your divident right away...

Thanks,

That is good to know. I think I have an acquaintance or two who I think are members.

buckeye

Hi,

Do you buy the AlpineAire foods and/or their MRE products?

Do your packages have any guidelines on shelf-life? I looked on the website, but not finding that information.

Thanks,

buckeye