Matthew Stein: How Prepared Are You?

Peak Prosperity ^ | 9/7/12 | Adam Taggart

[JoeProBono]

Food Storage Jambalaya

[ChildOfThe60s]

Wasa bread is marketed as having a 10 month shelf-life. I can state from my own experience that even here in humid south Louisiana, it will store safely for at least twice that amount of time.

I just don't find Wasa bread very palatable. Yeah, it's good for you, but....

Anyway, with a 30 year shelf life (and considering my current age) the pilot bread crackers are the SHTF fall back for bread. It's not that much money so I won't be upset if they never get eaten. Although, I ate one can before ordering a second and larger amount. Long as you have something to put on them they are fine. Or dip in your soup, etc.

That BEGA cheese in a can looks promising, price and numerous reviews are all good.

[Tuanedge]

There is a prof, a Mr. Pianka, at UT Austin (Texas) who preaches to his students that ebola should be released so 90% of mankind will be killed off. Nowhere have I seen that he will be at the front of the line.

AFAIC these demonic preachers of mass genocide are the ONLY ones in line, and what they preach should be practiced upon them, with the quickness.

[Kartographer]

PING!!!

[Docbarleypop]

ive been making cheese for awhile now, i have over 100 pounds of cheese in various stages of the aging processes. i have some that i intend to eat in 5 & 10 years time. If the shtf we might be needing a trade!

[CodeToad]

Learning to use what you intend to store is a very valuable lesson about those stores. Anyone thinking prepping is about hoarding then if the SHTF opening those preps is in for a number of surprises since they never learned about them and adjusted accordingly.

Besides, Yoder’s Bacon is awesome, especially for a BLT! For the cost, consider the cost to cook and clean up after regular bacon and you will find the cost nearly equal.

[CodeToad]

One good thing about prepping: Wait a few weeks after a serious crash and you’ll know real well who prepared!

[CodeToad]

“That canned stuff is for when there is literally no other choice. lol.”

www.mredepot.com also sells beef, chicken, turkey chunks and hamburger, and...hotdogs! Yay! Seriously, though, the canned meats are excellent and way above Spam.

One thing about eating what we store is that I don’t want to go from my current diet to a completely different diet at some point, so I work in a little here and there to verify the food is good and we know how to use it properly and make it a matter of routine. No shock later.

[CodeToad]

"Have any of you eaten that canned bacon? If so, how is it?" Yoder's Bacon is every bit as good as you will make yourself. It is thin sliced, not thick, and excellent for BLT's, breakfast, on salads, anywhere you would normally eat bacon. I prefer the real thick, butcher's cut of bacon as my all time favorite, but this Yoder's bacon is without question an excellent bacon worthy of prepping. I also find it less salty by far over most grocery store bacon. We eat it often and not just keep it as a prep. It is also excellent for backpacking and other outdoor activities were cooking might less available.

Here is an excellent review of Yoder's Canned Bacon: Yoder's Canned Bacon Review

Here is an image of it after warming:

[GeronL]

good idea

[Marcella]

OK, I've searched prices for Yoder’s canned bacon. This stuff is expensive. The cheapest price I found is $159.95 for a case of 12, which is $13.32 per can - at mredepot. Have to buy the whole case for that price. I know I spend a lot on preps but I'm careful to think of the expense and could I use something cheaper. I don't think $160 for bacon is worth it. I'll look for that Spam with Hormel Bacon in it at Walmart, Kroger, and HEB groceries.

Canned pilot bread at mredepot is $7.45 for a 2.5 can, $42.95 for a half case (6) and $79.95 for a case (12). These prices are cheaper than on Amazon. I'll have to think about this purchase.

My last time at the grocery, I bought a box of Zatarain’s Red Beans and Rice and one of Black Beans and Rice. I have plenty of various canned meats to put in each one and it takes 3 1/4 cups of water for the Red Bean one and 2 3/4 cups water for the Black Bean one, plus 25 minutes to simmer at low heat. I will have plenty of water and plenty of fuel to make this food and it's a fairly fast one dish meal that will spicy/tasty. I'll get more boxes of these. Don't remember the price, a little over $2.00 I think. That would be three meals for me. If there is no power for the fridge, then I would eat it within one day or also the next day based on whether it's summer or winter.

[CodeToad]

AS an MREDepot customer, and maybe you can simply sign up and get the same, I get emails for free shipping and $15 off a case, etc, nearly weekly. So, $150 is the latest price but you rarely would pay that full cost.

[CodeToad]

Here are a few key parts of their (MRE Depot) latest email. I think his comments reflect on all of our efforts throughout all food sectors and come as a direct warning from someone that does significant business in the food sector.

“This is one of those times - unfortunately I have to announce that we’re looking at a significant price increase on all of the Yoder’s Meats. Some meats will be impacted more than others - bacon for example could take a 35% to 40% hit (pork sausage and pork in general will likley be hit hard), whereas chicken may not be as bad. Turkey will likely increase, but beef / hamburger products will increase more. The truth is, I don’t even know the extent of the increase yet, as we’re still negotiating delivery agreements for the next 6 months.

think you have probably already seen the news on the impact that the drought has had on the corn crop - and of course, corn is a major feedlot item for most meats, so we knew that we would be looking at an increase soon.

However, being so close to the supply chain side of most of the meats that we purchase, it was my understanding that we would see an actual reduction in meat prices in the near-term, BEFORE we saw an increase. I was hearing that this is because farmers would try to rush their livestock to market early in order to try and avoid paying much higher costs on the feedlot/grain market. The increase in supply SHOULD have driven prices down for a little while.

This just has not materialized. Much like news of gas refinery interruptions can bump gas prices without actually having any impact on supplies whatsoever (like the two refinery fires this past week in California that even though combined represent an impact of less than a quarter of a percentage point of the entire US supply, has still caused a sharp increase in gas prices nationwide in the last 48 hours), the meat market appears to be doing the same thing.

Even though supply looks stable for now, like most other industries, it is a handful of massive producer-level conglomerates that set pricing trends, and everyone else follows suit out of greed, fear, or any number of other issues (some legitimate - I don’t want to imply that they are all crooks, even though it feels that way to me right now...). We see this in the airline industry a lot - one airline comes out with a price increase, and the rest jump on the bandwagon within 24 hours - and we wind up taking the brunt as consumers.

Something tells me that the rest of 2012 is going to be a bit of a wild ride - but we’re going to ramp up for it and still plan on same-day shipping all of the meats and everything else that we stock,”

[ChildOfThe60s]

www.mredepot.com also sells beef, chicken, turkey chunks and hamburger, and...hotdogs! Yay! Seriously, though, the canned meats are excellent and way above Spam.

I have bought several cases of meats from keystonemeats.com.

I had found a can of their beef chunks at Jungle Jims in Cincinnati and bought several to try. As it always is when you buy something new from a store 3 hours away, yep, turns out to be a good product. So, I found them online and just ordered it by the case.

We've use it now and then because it is good quality & pretty handy stuff. So, I'm sure we'll have no trouble eating it in a crisis. BTW, the ground beef is pretty good also. A little fine for some uses, but it made quite acceptable tacos.

[CodeToad]

Thanks! I’ll be sure to check them out as well. Multiple sources is always a good thing. First blush says their prices are competitive. I’ll order some products and check their quality, which looks good.