Augason FarmsEmergency Food Supply Bucket, 307 Servings, Dehydrated Meal Kit, Variety Pail, Long Shelf Life Just-Add-Water Meals for Prepping, Disaster Survival, Camping, Hiking, and More

When I was deciding which freeze-dried foods to buy for my emergency food storage, I wanted to compare prices. In order to do this, I looked at the total number of calories in each product and divided by 1,800 to find out how many days it would last. Don't be fooled by how many "servings" the manufacturer says it contains. A "serving" is not a MEAL. It is only a part of a meal.Most products price out at a cost per day of $5 or $6. This product prices out to cost only about $3.60 per day. Therefore, it is definitely the best buy for your money. (Keep reading because I'm going to tell you how to do your food storage for LESS THAN $1 per day!)The only problem with this product is the problem that All of these freeze dried products have - the calories come from carbs and veggies and they don't contain nearly enough protein. Although Augason says that their product contains 46 grams of protein per day, the problem is that all protein is not created equal. The protein provided by carbs and veggies is a low quality protein and your body is not able to absorb it. (I'll leave it at that and not bore you with a discussion about essential amino acids.) Therefore, it is important to supplement your diet with a high quality protein. A 150 pound person needs about 50 grams of protein per day. Happily, this is the same amount of protein provided by one medium size egg - an extremely high quality protein. Therefore, I purchased a can of Augason's powdered Scrambled Egg Mix. Two table spoons of this equal one egg. My plan is to mix in with other foods I eat to get the protein I need.DOING IT FOR CHEAPThe Augason 30 day food supply is probably all I will ever need. (In fact, I hope I never need that.) However, the general consensus is that you should have an emergancy food supply that will last for a minimum of 2 weeks to a maximum of 6 months.Well, it's one thing to spend a few hundred dollars on an emergency food supply. But it's quite another thing to spend a few thousand dollars on a food supply that you will probably never need. So, here is how I solved this problem.I bought four basic food items in bulk - rice, pinto beans, instant mashed potatoes, and dried lentils. Next, I purchased some food grade 2 and 5 gallon paint buckets and their lids at Home Depot. (The food grade buckets are the white ones.) Then, some paper plates.Lastly, some dry ice.Here is how to store this food; place a couple of ounces of dry ice in the bottom of the bucket. Turn a paper plate up side down and place it on top of the dry ice. Then, fill the bucket with your food item. Place a paper plate on top of the food and place a couple of ounces of dry ice on it. Then, place the lid lightly on top of the bucket.As the dry ice evaporates, it turns into carbon dioxide. Because carbon dioxide is heavier than air, it fills the bucket forcing the air out through the top of the bucket. When the dry ice has completely evaporated, hammer the lid down. (Place a couple of pieces of dry ice where you can see them to know when the dry ice inside your bucket is completely evaporated. Because all of the air has been removed, your food is good for 20 to 25 years.I bought this food at a store called Smart & Final. It is a national chain that caters to restaurants. Their prices on these bulk items are way better than the supermarket.This store also carries bulk powdered sauces like brown gravey, alfredo sauce, hollandaise, and country gravey. You can use the same storage method for these using smaller plastic food storage containers.Another item you might want to get is Knorr's bullion powder. It comes in 3 or 4 different flavors. You can use it to make bullion broth or just sprinkle it on your food for flavor. The shelf life for this is infinity because the main ingrediants are salt and msg.My plan is to eat all of my freeze dried food first. After that, I have a 5 month supply of the bulk items I told you about. However, if money is tight, there's nothing wrong with just buying the bulk items. At the very least, you can buy a 25 lb sack of rice for $10 at Costco. You don't even have to go to the expense of buying the plastic buckets and dry ice. Rice has a two-year shelf life. So, every two years, just buy a new sack.ONE LAST PIECE OF ADVICEDo not tell anyone that you have long-term emergency food stored. If a situation arises where you actually need to eat your emergency food, it means it many other people will be starving. When people are starving, and especially if their children are starving, there is nothing they will not do to get food. And, that includes killing you and taking your food. So, find a good hiding place for your emergency food and remember that this information is on a need-to-know basis.

After trying a lot of other products, I've decided to make this 5 stars.Alright, so I went ahead and opened this and started eating them.The oatmeal is pretty good. Close to what you'd expect if you were buying Quaker's oatmeal packages. There's only one flavor they offer, but honestly brown sugar is the best flavor, and I usually don't buy the multi-flavor packs. You'd eat one every morning.The milk is actually good. It's better than canned milk that you might buy for long term storage. It's great to add to the oatmeal when you want to have a bit of a change. You'll be taking one to two servings per day. There's only two bags, so be careful not to A) spill the bag or B) let moisture get inside it.The meals are a lot of noodles and rice. That explains the calories and price. The food comes in multiple packages, and each package suggests opening and cooking the entire package at once. I didn't do it, and I wouldn't do it in a survival situation, throw some sandwich bags in the bucket. The creamy chicken is probably the best, I like to mix it with the potato soup. The hearty vegetable mix was the worst part and it's acceptable for a bad day. I seasoned the first few hearty vegetable mixes because the flavor was clumped up in the bottom, and when I did eat the flavoring, it still didn't overpower the dish. The meals vary per day, but do end up feeling bland about ten days in. Ten days is as long as I went without breaking the pattern and it was not fun, but I've managed to keep about three days on and one day off this food source without feeling suicidal. I'd suggest getting onion, garlic, something hot, salt, and pepper to add to this. Makes it significantly better in terms of breaking monotony.If you're not going to eat it, do not remove anything from the bucket. You will not get it back into the bucket. I took out one bag of each product and put the remaining back into the bucket. It was full again.When you plan to actually use it in a dire situation, you wouldn't want to rely solely on this bucket, but it would greatly increase your odds of survival. Hunt and forage, supplement with this. You should consider stocking up a vitamin of some sort, any decent multi would work. If you are going to have a lot of physical activity you're going to want to eat more food. This contains a reasonable low calorie diet amount for an adult male of average size, but you would lose weight. Maybe pick up some protein powder, with fats in it too.