Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Freaking out for freeze-dried food
The Mail Tribune ^ | 4/22/11 | Mark Freeman

Posted on 04/22/2011 10:35:49 PM PDT by Kartographer

People freaked out about surviving world disasters and economic meltdown have made a run on freeze-dried food in the past month. As a result, Albany-based Oregon Freeze Dry Inc. — the country's largest supplier of freeze-dried camp food — won't accept any new orders through the 2011 camping season.

The company produces the widely sold Mountain House line of food pouches popular among everyone from overnight wilderness backpackers to Pacific Crest Trail devotees.

Oregon Freeze Dry officials say they have never seen this level of consumer panic over emergency preparedness in the company's 48-year history.

In the industry, the emergency-preparedness crowds are called "preppers," and they literally are taking food out of the mouths of hikers nationwide.

(Excerpt) Read more at mailtribune.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: bhoeconomy; dsj; economy; food; foodstorage; preparedness; preppers; prepping; preps; shtf; survival; survivalping; tshtf; urbansurvival
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-92 next last
To: samtheman

Hard to tell, but well beyond the “sell-by” date printed on the can.

There are plenty of online resources with great advice, but the best early-warning system for spoiled food is your eyes and nose. If a can is bulging, throw it out; if it smells rotten it probably is.


41 posted on 04/23/2011 7:25:15 AM PDT by snowrip (Liberal? You are a socialist idiot with no rational argument.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: samtheman; ChocChipCookie
In an emergency, is it possible to soak rice in water to make it edible (if there is no heat source for cooking)? If so, how long must it soak?

Not that I am aware of, Cookie?
Look into getting or making a volcano stove. There are plans for on in my Preparedness Manual and a link to one you can get premake on Cookie's Blog: Survival Mom or just Google Volcano stove. They are very efficant and will burn just about anything and will allow you to cook your food.
42 posted on 04/23/2011 7:27:14 AM PDT by Kartographer (".. we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: acapesket
I am a little bit crazed when it comes to chemicals in food.

Better not eat anything then. Every thing you eat, breath, drink and touch is made of chemicals. Including you.

43 posted on 04/23/2011 7:27:21 AM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (When all you have is bolt cutters & vodka everything looks like the lock on Wolf Blitzer's boathouse)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Kartographer
the emergency-preparedness crowds are called "preppers," and they literally are taking food out of the mouths of hikers nationwide

Of course, it's the preppers' fault.

nothing says "buy freeze-dried food" louder than a 9.0 earthquake in Japan

Or the Soros puppet out to destroy the free world.

44 posted on 04/23/2011 7:30:17 AM PDT by bgill (Kenyan Parliament - how could a man born in Kenya who is not even a native American become the POTUS)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kartographer

Freeze dried chow is a ticket to constipationville. I’ve switched to canned food. I think it’s more nutritious and better tasting. A can of pineapple chunks in juice is much better than gnawing like a mouse on freeze-dried apples.

And if you prefer freeze-dried, the local grocery stores can provide pretty much everything you want, except the exotic stuff like taco flavored TVP, about the only recycled shoe leather I ever found tolerable.


45 posted on 04/23/2011 7:31:48 AM PDT by sergeantdave (The democrat party is a seditious organization and must be outlawed)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Smokin' Joe
No mention of the huge government orders for long term storage food?

No, mention of that at all. If nothing else, we can all be thankful Moochelle will be well fed while the rest of the country starves.

46 posted on 04/23/2011 7:32:35 AM PDT by bgill (Kenyan Parliament - how could a man born in Kenya who is not even a native American become the POTUS)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: samtheman

“In an emergency, is it possible to soak rice in water to make it edible (if there is no heat source for cooking)? If so, how long must it soak?”

http://www.solarcooking.org/plans/

There’s always a heat source. Make a solar oven with the kids using a cardboard box and a roll of foil. Fold it up and store it away for that emergency.

http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Pasta_%26_Rice

Solar cooked rice is very easy and has a good nutty taste.


47 posted on 04/23/2011 7:47:39 AM PDT by bgill (Kenyan Parliament - how could a man born in Kenya who is not even a native American become the POTUS)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: KoRn

Do you see the mistake in your thinking?
Don’t stash your wealth in dollars!


48 posted on 04/23/2011 7:47:55 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter knows whom he's working for)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Uncle Ike

OTOH, if the canned fruit ferments, it’s party time.


49 posted on 04/23/2011 7:52:31 AM PDT by bgill (Kenyan Parliament - how could a man born in Kenya who is not even a native American become the POTUS)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: Uncle Ike

When I was in the Navy, on a 6 month tour at sea, we were very low on food. They broke out the canned bacon and other foods canned during WW2 and that was all we had for several weeks. Wasn’t bad as I recall. The stuff was over 20 years old at the time.


50 posted on 04/23/2011 7:59:01 AM PDT by antisocial (Texas SCV - Deo Vindice)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: suthener

I agree. We can’t afford the fancy stuff so I try to pick up a few canned goods when I do the regular grocery shopping. We only have one store in town so there’s never a good sale but I can still find one off brand of corn, peas, and green beans for 50 cents so a few of those get added every couple weeks. It’s hard to do on a tight budget but in these days it’s a necessity, imo. But I worry next time to the store they’ll have rasied the price.

Kiddo is moving out so that’ll free up a closet that I’m looking hard at.


51 posted on 04/23/2011 8:02:24 AM PDT by bgill (Kenyan Parliament - how could a man born in Kenya who is not even a native American become the POTUS)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: MrB
"Don’t stash your wealth in dollars!"

That was exactly my point..... (guess I should have added the /s tag)

52 posted on 04/23/2011 8:07:16 AM PDT by KoRn (Department of Homeland Security, Certified - "Right Wing Extremist")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]

To: antisocial

” They broke out the canned bacon and other foods canned during WW2 and that was all we had for several weeks. Wasn’t bad as I recall “

The canned cheese (with dates on the cans in the ‘40s) was excellent....

;)


53 posted on 04/23/2011 8:08:54 AM PDT by Uncle Ike (Rope is cheap, and there are lots of trees...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: bgill

“Solar cooked rice is very easy and has a good nutty taste.”

That works, but so does a camping stove and 5 gallons of gasoline (my strategy). I realize that gasoline has a shelf-life (but that can be extended to 2 years with Stabil), and that the 5 gallons will run out...but it will cook A LOT of rice before it starts getting low, and I mean A LOT of rice. That’s my plan...although I have more than one stove and lots of spare parts (and about 40 gallons of gas sitting in containers...LOL).


54 posted on 04/23/2011 9:29:38 AM PDT by BobL (PLEASE READ: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2657811/posts))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: sergeantdave
Freeze dried chow is a ticket to constipationville.

I view freeze-dried foods as something to throw in with my beans and rice to make it more edible. This also greatly stretches out the freeze-dried dollar.

55 posted on 04/23/2011 11:05:01 AM PDT by The Duke
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: acapesket

No chemicals, its freeze dried and sealed in an oxygen free container.


56 posted on 04/23/2011 12:20:19 PM PDT by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: FunkyZero

I’d suggest putting more thought into the process if you really want to prepare. It takes a great deal more food than you would think.

Store what you eat, eat what you store and you don’t throw anything away.


57 posted on 04/23/2011 12:23:20 PM PDT by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: suthener

I agree and canned foods are part of my preperation. They won’t last as long in storage as other forms though.


58 posted on 04/23/2011 12:28:20 PM PDT by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: driftdiver
Well I have a lot more into this than initially meets the eye.

I live in the burbs. That won't cut it in the worst of times, this place will be immediately abandoned. There is no way to buy and store enough food to feed 4 people for any extended length of time.
I have 25 acres with 15 tillable, but it's 120 miles from the city where I live. I bought it from my parents who still live on the ground. The plan is to have enough gasoline, food and supplies on hand to load the trucks, drive there and live through one winter. Already have seed stocked up at dad's in dry storage. I'm banking on workable gardens the first summer, otherwise we are toast.
Dad has 500 gallons of bio-diesel stored up and a single-cyl 5hp converted diesel generator, several wells down and one is on a windmill pump so he's got a horse in this race too. We have enough land to support all of us I believe. I think we will also have enough short-term electricity to help build anything we may need.
I come from a long line of Kentucky hill dwellers so we know how to survive. As much as it would suck, it'll be a family effort and I believe we will do ok. My real hope is to die and old man wishing I'd never wasted the time and money on all of it.

59 posted on 04/23/2011 1:41:51 PM PDT by FunkyZero ("It's not about duck hunting !")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 57 | View Replies]

To: PA Engineer
"Is the freeze dried infrastructure limited as the shortages would indicate or is the prepper community much larger than one would think? "

This old interview piece from Forbes might lend a hint. Remember that it's Steve Forbes talking in a discussion with others in economics/investments. It appears that many "upscale" folks were ahead of most of us on what could happen.

From Going Great Guns, (Forbes, David Serchuk, 04.23.09, 04:00 PM EDT)

"Forbes: I was in Colorado, and I knew people who had 200, 300 guns. And they'd stash them in various hidden places around their compound. This wasn't all that uncommon out west."


60 posted on 04/24/2011 2:24:43 AM PDT by familyop ("Don't worry, they'll row for a month before they figure out I'm fakin' it." --Deacon, "Waterworld")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-92 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson