The cheapest way to store food is to get beans, rice, wheat berries, etch stored in Mylar in super pails. It will last decades. The foods to go with those come in #10 cans.
I think of the prepared meals you just add water to as junk food/fast food survival-style. Full of chemicals, most likely. Some is good to ward off appetite fatigue but I wouldn’t want to have only that on hand.
I have a few prepared stuff in #10 cans, but mostly I store the ‘makings’. I dehydrate a lot of my own vegetables and vacuum store them in canning jars.
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