I want to stock a 6-month supply of emergency food for 6 people, but everything is ridiculously expensive online!

If you wanted to purchase emergency food online, which website has the best prices?

Thanks!

I guess if you were willing to invest some money on equipment, a vacuum sealer (for meat and things) might be a good way to add further shelf life to dehydrated foods... makes the packaging waterproof too. You could pick up a dehydrator and a vacuum sealer plus the bags, it'd be an expensive outlay but it'd be a good way to preserve alot of meat plus fruits and vegetables for many people. You could make plenty of jerky and fruit leathers, etc very cheaply if you were able to hunt the meat yourself or pick up fruit and vegetables on sale or grow your own. it'd be fairly light and easy to transport in a backpack, etc.
Just an idea anyway. It's probably not totally realistic or even worthwhile for most people, but to buy food for 6 people for 6 months, that's going to be very expensive, shipping costs alone will be quite large. For example, MREs seem to be atleast $5 a pop... $5 x 6 people = $30, x 180 days... something like $5000... very expensive. And that's if you're rationing one meal a day per person.

I have MRE's, gardening supplies and lastly bought some dehydrated food. Out of all of them, I say invest in Dehydrated foods. Dehydrated foods last much longer than most MRE's, they taste better, and you can eat them at anytime because of it. MRE's last 5 years or so and have little taste, and I would probably throw them away before eating them if they expired. Gardening? I figure why garden if I have enough food to last 2 years on. I'll trade some for seeds if it got that bad.

I looked at "survival" foods several years ago. I found out real fast if I don't eat it now, I'm not really going to enjoy it given a harder time. This is why I stocked up with food I eat regularly. An MRE is great for a day or two, then reality sets in.

If your serious about a survival pack. I'd start at the local grocery store. Compare what you can buy online and then locally. Beans are beans, it's just packaging now. Buy Granola Bars at Cosco or Sam's in the vending machine area.

SerialLurker had a great idea about the vacuum sealer. Do it yourself saves a lot of money.

As others have indicated, the primary allure of "survival foods/emergency foods" is the long shelf life. With a little research, you can probably emulate those storage ideas and put away foods you use, or at least some of them.

For example, I store flour, beans, dried pasta, and other goods in ziplock bags, using a straw in the corner to remove most of the air, and those bags in 5-gallon plastic pails. I mark each bag with the date I brought it home, and same for the storage of the pails. I group like things together, and use the FIFO method (first in, first out) to be always using the oldest goods.

If you life in a warm climate, I've found it useful to freeze flour and other grain materials for 24-hours before storing them; This kills the weevil eggs that are often shipping with the foods as a part of processing.

Canning is a good method, as well as pickling, although a relatively short shelf life (<2 years, depending upon the method and food).

Without vacuum sealing you'll probably not reach the incredible shelf life of MREs, however I don't think a whole lot of the nutritional value of MREs. I've used them a fair amount in the past, and they fill a hole, and provide some basic nutrition. For me, for the cost of MREs plus shipping/duties, I could store away much more for the same cost.

Sort of related....... I've spent a good deal of time and research figuring out what is edible in my own environment, and learning how to prepare and use those plants.

Originally posted by argentus
As others have indicated, the primary allure of "survival foods/emergency foods" is the long shelf life. With a little research, you can probably emulate those storage ideas and put away foods you use, or at least some of them.

Shelf life is the key IMHO.

We have a mixed variety.

We have MRE's (I know alot of people roll thier eyes but consider the following)

1) They have a long shelf life
2) They are wet packed and pre cooked. Thus need no water and can be eaten cold, saving potable water for drinking
3) easy to carry if you have to go mobile.
4) Cheap if you shop arround ($2-2.50 per entree) (esp if compared to freeze dried foods)

We have MRE for 7 people for 20 days (we figure we will take in the old lady next door plus family) we can go longer if we stretch them out.

I buy the MRE's in batches of 3. and every year rotate one batch out. The local food bank is really happy to have them. Because they are stored outside, I could go longer given our mild climate but stay conservative

We also have bulk supplies that do require water. a 20 lb bag of beans costs $10-15 at Costco and if stored water tight will last for a long time, same with rice. You also want salt etc.

A previous poster brought up pemmican. It does last, but Id rather eat MRE's as its really really nasty and hard to keep down. MRE's are no picnic either but not as bad.

I'll say it again. I've said it before. Store what you eat and eat what you store. Times of high stress are not the moments you want to start drastically changing your diet. That $3,500 could buy a lot of flour, sugar, cornmeal, canned food, rice, beans... These you rotate through normal use. The CostCo package also either gets used in 20 years or you are out $3,500. Dehydrated food almost always tastes processed too. That's a lot of food to have and not like...