GROUP BUY of Freeze Dried Food

T

ThisIsJoe

Active Member
Silver Stacker
Hi all,

I've been posting in the members only section about this topic, but thought it a good idea to open it up to the public now.

I will soon be making a bulk purchase of freeze dried food for prepping purposes. There are big discounts for buying in bulk from the company I'm going with, so I'm putting it out there to anyone who may be interested in purchasing so we hit the maximum volume discount bracket.

The company I've chosen to go with is Back Country Cuisine. I've been doing some research into various companies and it came down to these guys and WISE foods.

Here's a quick comparison:

WISE

- Based in U.S
- Official shelf life of up to 25 years
- Ready made meals (only the vegetarian options available in Australia)
- Come packed in polyurethane buckets

Back Country Cuisine

- Based in New Zealand
- Official "best before" of 3 years with testing lasting much longer (more info below)
- Ready made meals (with meat) plus you can buy staple ingredients such as freeze dried beef mince, vegetables, cheese, rice, etc
- Polyurethane buckets available with some products

I contacted Back Country directly to ask them about the 3 year best before shelf life and I received the following response from the Managing Director:

859_back_country_cuisine_shelf_life_email_from_md.png


My personal thoughts (and please do your own research) is that I won't need to keep this food in storage for much longer than 10 years before needing to use it. The price of food is rising every year and will increase exponentially as the years go by, so getting some long-life food now at a great price is a good idea. Plus if we get to the SHTF "nothing in the supermarkets" stage, my opinion (again DYOR) is that this would be coming within the next 10 or so years and not 25 years from now. I'm 100% comfortable purchasing from BCC, confident it will be used up within a 10 year timeframe. And if I don't end up using it, its a small price to pay for some insurance.

The other advantage is the discount on offer. There are volume discounts for 200+, 500+ and 1000+ units. 1000+ representing the best value at approximately half of retail price per unit. If enough of us go in together, we could easily get the 1000+ unit discount.

I recently purchased (at retail price) 3 different packets to try out. I made a video of the first try.

This is the Easy Cook Scrambled Eggs, which requires a pan and external heat. Most BCC products only require water (boiling or cold depending on product) that you pour into the packet for reconstitution. The next video will be one of those sort.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JanuEKpH2Gw[/youtube]

So if you've been contemplating purchasing bulk food for preparedness reasons, please do your own research on Back Country Cuisine, do your own comparisons, etc and then contact me via PM if you would like to go in for the group buy!

Cheers :)

Joe
 
ThisIsJoe said:
Hi all,

I've been posting in the members only section about this topic, but thought it a good idea to open it up to the public now.

I will soon be making a bulk purchase of freeze dried food for prepping purposes. There are big discounts for buying in bulk from the company I'm going with, so I'm putting it out there to anyone who may be interested in purchasing so we hit the maximum volume discount bracket.

The company I've chosen to go with is Back Country Cuisine. I've been doing some research into various companies and it came down to these guys and WISE foods.

Here's a quick comparison:

WISE

- Based in U.S
- Official shelf life of up to 25 years
- Ready made meals (only the vegetarian options available in Australia)
- Come packed in polyurethane buckets

Back Country Cuisine



- Based in New Zealand
- Official "best before" of 3 years with testing lasting much longer (more info below)
- Ready made meals (with meat) plus you can buy staple ingredients such as freeze dried beef mince, vegetables, cheese, rice, etc
- Polyurethane buckets available with some products

I contacted Back Country directly to ask them about the 3 year best before shelf life and I received the following response from the Managing Director:

http://forums.silverstackers.com/uploads/859_back_country_cuisine_shelf_life_email_from_md.png

My personal thoughts (and please do your own research) is that I won't need to keep this food in storage for much longer than 10 years before needing to use it. The price of food is rising every year and will increase exponentially as the years go by, so getting some long-life food now at a great price is a good idea. Plus if we get to the SHTF "nothing in the supermarkets" stage, my opinion (again DYOR) is that this would be coming within the next 10 or so years and not 25 years from now. I'm 100% comfortable purchasing from BCC, confident it will be used up within a 10 year timeframe. And if I don't end up using it, its a small price to pay for some insurance.

The other advantage is the discount on offer. There are volume discounts for 200+, 500+ and 1000+ units. 1000+ representing the best value at approximately half of retail price per unit. If enough of us go in together, we could easily get the 1000+ unit discount.

I recently purchased (at retail price) 3 different packets to try out. I made a video of the first try.

This is the Easy Cook Scrambled Eggs, which requires a pan and external heat. Most BCC products only require water (boiling or cold depending on product) that you pour into the packet for reconstitution. The next video will be one of those sort.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JanuEKpH2Gw[/youtube]

So if you've been contemplating purchasing bulk food for preparedness reasons, please do your own research on Back Country Cuisine, do your own comparisons, etc and then contact me via PM if you would like to go in for the group buy!

Cheers :)

Joe
Click to expand...

There's a members only section? Some things have just become much clearer.
 
i was afraid of this when i saw the thread title
have you eaten back country meals?
it is the $hittest food in the world. i survived on them once for 2 weeks straight while in the wilderness and by day two you are pooing foam. want extra $hit? get the chana masala. i wouldn't feed that slop to my worst enemies rabid dog.
the only backcountry meals that are any good are their desserts, apple pie and apricot crumble.

if you want freeze dry meals get the 'absolute wilderness' brand. also made in NZ. they are light years better than backcountries. vac packed too for more compact storage.

i can't stress this enough, backcountries are $hit. take it from someone who has spent two weeks trekking in wilderness in NZ each year for 6 years. that's over 60 meals of experience.
 
I'm sorry to hear that you had a bad experience with the meals Ag Bullet!

As mentioned in the OP, I have purchased some BCC and I'm currently in the process of trying them. I recently made a video about the Easy Cook Scrambled Eggs and posted it in the OP (see above). I think it tasted fine and did not experience any negative side effects. That being said, it was only one product and not eating it for 2 weeks straight. However, experiences will differ from person to person and I can't say for sure what it (or any other brand for that matter) would do to me over a longer period of time.

I think a key point you made though is that you survived. Sounds gross, but I'd rather have food that could POSSIBLY make me "s**t through the eye of a needle" (as my grandma used to say), rather than having no food at all. And of course, the plan is not to have to eat ONLY the freeze dried meals. A vege garden is also part of the plan. And instead of buying only the ready made meals which have more preservatives and more potential for upset stomachs, I would buy the staple ingredients like the beef mince. Pair that with some homegrown veges and bobs your uncle.

Along with the scrambled eggs, I bought a packet of freeze dried beef mince and a ready-made meal. Will try the ready-made meal next and make another video. Might do it today if I have time.

I have inquired with Absolute Wilderness and they do not ship to Australia.

Update coming soon!

Ag bullet said:
i was afraid of this when i saw the thread title
have you eaten back country meals?
it is the $hittest food in the world. i survived on them once for 2 weeks straight while in the wilderness and by day two you are pooing foam. want extra $hit? get the chana masala. i wouldn't feed that slop to my worst enemies rabid dog.
the only backcountry meals that are any good are their desserts, apple pie and apricot crumble.

if you want freeze dry meals get the 'absolute wilderness' brand. also made in NZ. they are light years better than backcountries. vac packed too for more compact storage.

i can't stress this enough, backcountries are $hit. take it from someone who has spent two weeks trekking in wilderness in NZ each year for 6 years. that's over 60 meals of experience.
Click to expand...
 
Today I tried the Chicken Tikka Masala ready-made meal which just requires boiling water.

Review below:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfEJCFlcc60[/youtube]

If anyone is keen to go in for a group buy (read the original post), please get in contact via PM.
 
Au-mageddon said:
Can you give us a rough idea of cost range per pack ?
Click to expand...

To buy retail at Aussie Disposals, the double serve of the Chicken Tikka Masala (175g dry weight) was $16.95. If enough of us buy and we get over the 1000+ unit mark, then the price would go down to $8.24 per pack. Halve that to make a per serving price of $4.12. This is for an 87.5g (dry weight) serving. To compare with WISE foods, their per serving dry weight varies from 51g to 75g depending on the product.

The Easy Cook Scrambled Eggs (5 serve pack) would be $5.67 ($1.14 per serve) and the beef mince (5 serving pack) is the same. I think buying mostly these staple ingredients (called Meal Compliments on the BCC website) works out really cost effective. I'd buy a combo of the double serve ready-made meals like the Chicken Tikka and a whole bunch of the Meal Compliments, to mix with fresh ingredients (vege garden!).
 
or buy wheat, whole oats, sprouting seeds, seal in mylar, maybe freeze at -18c or less for atleast 3 days / and/or use oxygen absorbers and moisture absorbers at op ends of large myar bag / d.earth etc , dyownresearch.

sprout said grain to consume gaining broader range of nutrients. or atleast soak 12hrs for greater nutritional absorption.

i'd probably begin to rotate at 7 yrs to feed chooks etc.
rotate 'oil' ie peanut butter, linseed/flaxseed stocks earlier.

pennies on the dollar in comparison, member section must make you feel special
 
I think doing all that too is a great idea! Please keep the ideas coming!

I'm time poor unfortunately and just want to start off with a stop-gap solution. I won't be buying a whole years worth of supply, but enough as an insurance policy. When I have time, I'll be looking into the less expensive options like you mentioned.
 
I like it, but couldn't you buy a food dehydrator and cryovac packing and make it yourself? would be a lot tastier and cheaper.
 
Golightly said:
I like it, but couldn't you buy a food dehydrator and cryovac packing and make it yourself? would be a lot tastier and cheaper.
Click to expand...

Yeah for sure! Again though for me, its a time and effort thing. I'm happy to pay more for the convenience. Particularly for the Meal Compliments, that work out to $1.14 per serve.
 
Golightly said:
I like it, but couldn't you buy a food dehydrator and cryovac packing and make it yourself? would be a lot tastier and cheaper.
Click to expand...

I dehydrated some watermellon once!
 
Roswell Crash Survivor said:
Would you consider other long-life pre-packaged foodstuffs, like MRE-style self-contained meals?
Click to expand...

Depends on the cost per serving, shelf life and nutritional info but sure :) I'm happy to diversify if its worth it! Is there a brand you want to recommend?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top