My Experience with Dehydrated/Freeze Dried Entrees

Purchasing Powdered Eggs in the infamous #10 cans led me to look at other powdered and freeze-dried options and the companies that offer them. I have had experience with 3 local brands.

My first purchases were at the grocery store which feature the Augason Farms brand. Their selection is more limited than the others, but you are free to purchase as many or as few cans as you desire. Everything I have purchased from them has been dehydrated and I honestly don’t know if they provide freeze dried products (dehydrated items have a much shorter shelf life whereas freeze dried products usually last up to, and sometimes exceed, 25 years. They also taste better). Generally speaking Augason Farms is also cheaper than the other brands I have tried. I found Macey’s grocery store to have a wider selection and their prices were less. 

Next I attended a “party” that allowed me the opportunity to try some freeze-dried items. Shelf Reliance which features “Thrive” products has introduced a plan that allows you to buy a certain dollar amount of products each month in the form of belonging to a food storage club. They allow you to select exactly what you want over a period of time so the cost is a little more manageable. Their slogan is “Pay as You Go”. You have your own personal consultant who is very knowledgeable and helpful. You also have access to recipes using their products.

 

Lastly, I had a representative from Daily Bread visit our home. Their main focus is providing freeze-dried entrees in a pre-packaged format. I had the opportunity to try two different entrees from this company and found them to be very good. They are extremely easy to prepare--just add boiling water, wait a few minutes and your main course is ready to eat. Because they are freeze dried, they will last at least 25 years if unopened. Their slogan is “25-year worry-free food storage”. Once opened, the shelf life is considerably less depending on the entrée. They are very easy to store, very easy to prepare and very good. They truly are worry-free storage. When we were young-marrieds with a bunch of children, we would have had a difficult time purchasing from this company. Their cheapest package is around $1500.00 for a 3 month supply of 2 entrees/day and goes up to almost $9000.00 for a 12 month supply of 3 entrees/day. They do have bonus’s that you can take advantage of such as a 10% discount for paying up front. They also have a payment plan where you can pay for your package over a 9 month period. Since you receive multiply #10 cans of any given entrée, you could purchase a package with others and split the product and the cost.

I have always thought of these kinds of products as long term storage and had not thought of them as part of my “3 month supply of things we typically eat”. I have changed my thinking. 1. I want to be familiar with what I might have to eat during a crisis. When everything else in my world may be upside down is not the time for me to try and figure out what to eat and how to prepare it. 2. Some of the freeze-dried products I have tried, i.e. celery, have become items I use all the time. Celery is hard to always have on hand. You can’t refrigerate it very long, you can’t freeze it or can it and this is one way for me to always have it if I want it in a certain dish. 3. If there were a situation where I couldn’t get to a store for several days or the delivery trucks couldn’t restock a store I would still be able to prepare the recipes I typically eat because of the dehydrated or freeze-dried products I have on the shelf. 4. Trying products from these different companies has helped me know which ones I like and would use and which ones I don’t want to purchase further.
I have purchased products from all three companies and all three are part of my food storage.

One last comment. I now know that I will not purchase any entrée’s that are dehydrated. May I share why. I purchased 3 entrees from Augason Farms. The one I prepared was spaghetti marinara. When I opened the can there was a handful of spaghetti and a package of dehydrated marinara sauce with some dehydrated meat. It took as much time to prepare as the spaghetti I already have on my shelf and the sauce was similar to the can of Hunt’s spaghetti sauce I also have on my shelf and the cost was considerably more. I returned the other two cans and was glad I hadn’t waited until an emergency to try them.