Anita,

The Chef's Banquet ARK is indeed our product, brand spanking new into Canada a few days ago.
I am going to be introducing the ARK this Friday on my first ever post for the CPN blog:
http://www.canadianpreppersnetwork.com/

So if you can hold on till Friday, I'll spill all the beans then! We are very excited about this one! And yes, I've tried it!

tagged

That price is usually only for one week worth of food for 4 people. Are you sure that is the right price?

I can wait - sorry to ruin your surprise 🙂

I just got permission from the better half to buy one of these. When it comes in, we'll try a couple packets and let you know what it tastes like. It looks very convenient and compared to the healthyfoodforlife bucket the costs are the same quantity wise.

So...the costco in the US is selling it for around 80 bucks but almost double in Canada? what gives with that? Before I order one of these (most likely early next week) I want to see if there is a better deal out. 80 bucks in the states....

http://www.costco.com/.product.11649759.html?cm_sp=RichRelevance-_-categorypageHorizontalTop-_-PopularProductsInCategory&cm_vc=categorypageHorizontalTop|PopularProductsInCategory

p.s.-If its a Briden product...my hopes are high its gonna taste good. They have pretty good quality stuff.

I'm going to wait till Friday - Dwight will give us the lowdown and if it's on Briden's website I will patronize a fellow prepper before I buy from Costco.

So through Briden directly its $160 plus about $40 shipping = $200 for this bucket.
http://www.bridensolutions.ca/ark-emergency-food-supply

Through Costco Canada: $150 bucks shipping included.
http://www.costco.ca/Chef%E2%80%99s-Banquet-Emergency-Food-Storage---ARK-%28All-purpose-Readiness-Kits%29.product.100075390.html

And Costco in the States: $85 bucks shipping included.....
http://www.costco.com/.product.11649759.html?cm_sp=RichRelevance-_-categorypageHorizontalTop-_-PopularProductsInCategory&cm_vc=categorypageHorizontalTop|PopularProductsInCategory

What is with the pricing???

Agree with Briden's comments on the foodforhealth bucket on Canadianpreppersnetwork. We bought one last year and the quality was definitely "meh."

The new post introducing the Chef's Banquet ARK is up on the CPN homepage: http://www.canadianpreppersnetwork.com/

p.s.-If its a Briden product...my hopes are high its gonna taste good. They have pretty good quality stuff.

It does taste good! I put up some of our reviews on the CPN post above.

Let me know if you have questions.

The new post introducing the Chef's Banquet ARK is up on the CPN homepage: http://www.canadianpreppersnetwork.com/

p.s.-If its a Briden product...my hopes are high its gonna taste good. They have pretty good quality stuff.

It does taste good! I put up some of our reviews on the CPN post above.

Let me know if you have questions.

Question: Why are you $50 dollars more than Costco? If you can beat there price, I'll buy from you today.

Question: Why are you $50 dollars more than Costco? If you can beat there price, I'll buy from you today.

Concerning pricing - a few points to consider:

A) The Costco USA bucket is not the exact same bucket as what we have here in Canada. Our Canadian bucket has different varieties and different servings amounts. So there is no pure apples to apples CA to US.

B) There is always costs to factor in when working with the border and bringing in US product. Transport, duties, and brokerage are the big ones. I'm sorry, I'm Canadian too and hate when I'm at Chapters and there are two prices on a book and we pay way more here, but as a business operator I see those border bills once in a while and its not cheap. Same thing if you order the bucket in the states and have it delivered to your grandma's house in Montana, then go pick it up and bring it across yourself. Factor in your fuel and drive time and you've got a deal with our price.

C) I just fixed the weight on the bucket on our retail site so that the shipping calculates properly. Thanks for that heads up. For one bucket its $20 - $30 shipping depending on where you live in Canada. Buy two or more, and its Free Shipping, as you are over our $200 free shipping threshold. Or get a bucket and two cans of Thrive and your over the $200 and get free shipping.

D) If you are comparing Costco.ca to our retail product, all I can say is that to get a product onto Costco, we always have to make some price concessions. They take a good chunk out of our margins, and we hope that we can recover that difference by reaching a bigger market. We of course would prefer if people would buy on our retail site, but this is the game we have to play.

Hopefully I've helped a little on the pricing concerns. Biggest point is that the US bucket is not the same and we have shipping costs to consider.
Let me know if you have more q's!

We have nut and peanut allergies in our house. What can we get for long term storage?

Girlcancan,
I've been poking around. It looks like it's going to depend on how sensitive the allergies are.

Almost all of the "just-add-water" bucket companies package in plants that also handle nuts. THRIVE's response to my questions was the most positive, but still: "Please note that our allergen-free foods are processed in the same facility as foods that contain gluten, dairy, soy, nuts, and other food allergens. Our machinery, tools, tables, and workspaces are thoroughly cleaned and sterilized before each new production run. However, in the interest of the safety of those who have serious food sensitivities, Thrive Life and THRIVE cannot guarantee that trace amounts of allergens will not be present."

Otherwise, you can look into packaging your own and building your own "just add water" meals. You'll almost always have to rotate more often.

You can use a blender and a dehydrator to make basically "fruit" leathers and dryer chips with things like beans, pasta and sauce, graham crackers and bananas, and other "dinner" foods. Chop them, put them in the blender, add water, and spread them on leathers sheets or waxed paper. You want low-low-low oils and fats because they don't store as long. When you're ready, you eat them like jerky or chips or you add a little hot water. Dairy-including items will go bad faster, too. You'll only get 3-12 months out of them depending on how they're packaged and where they're stored.

Mix up your own soups and casseroles from home-dehydrated veggies and toss in quick-cooking grains (quinoa, parboiled rice) or pasta. That's all a lot of those buckets are: soups or rice/noodle casseroles.

For longer storage, package yourself. Find the grains and pastas you're eating now, and package them with O2 absorbers. I rarely fill a 3- or 5-gal bucket with the same thing in one big bag anymore. I have a big Mylar bag, then smaller Mylar bags in sizes we'll move through in <7 days even in our smallest numbers. The smaller and the larger bag each get O2 absorbers and the bigger one gets bay leaves (pests) and a satchel of rice (moisture). Most people and most commercial buckets only go with one layer of Mylar, but I'm spastic and if we're going "just in case" I'd rather go all the way. You can also, if you're just getting started, store the grains and other dry goods (stock powder, pudding and Jell-O bags, etc.) in big canning jars. The O2 absorbers will create a vacuum to seal them. It's best if you have the old-style boxes that cover the jars or if you find a way to block them from light.

Dairy will go bad first, 4-10 years, sometimes, and then flours, so I don't pre-mix a ton of stuff. If my milk for a soup is in a smaller container inside the pouch or jar with the dry goods, I can open the pouch or jar and pull it out, replace it, and reseal those. If it's just in the same box, I don't have to open the other at all.

Good luck!

thanks for the info!
My Son is expected to grow out of his allergies in the next 3 to 8 years, thank goodness. Having some options for him in the meantime has been a lot of work and worry.