Next up: Freeze Dried - Peach Slices

From: Shelf Reliance/Thrive Foods
Sealed Shelf Life: 25 Years
Opened Shelf Life: 1 Year

Last week I opened a mylar pouch of this product. It was Freeze Dried in September 2010, so it was just over a year old.

In its Freeze Dried State it was simply awesome. The product was sliced into wedges and tasted like Peach Candy.

This was so good in its Freeze Dried State that I never bothered to try and reconstitute it.

I'm not normally a big Peach Fan, but this stuff was pretty darn good. Thumbs Up 🙂

Would I buy it again? Definitely!

Next Up: Freeze Dried - Fuji Apples

From: Brothers International Food Corporation
Sealed Shelf Life: 2 Years
Opened Shelf Life: Unknown

This product is marketed as a Lunch Snack, primarily meant for Children's School Lunches. Being a Fan of Freeze Dried Food Storage I decided to give it a shot. Big Mistake!

This Product is meant to be consumed in its Freeze Dried State and not reconstituted.

This Product tasted like a Crunchy Paper product with a Slight Apple Flavour. Extremely low quality and explains its low price and why its available from your local 7 - Eleven.

It should also be noted: although the packaging lists Brothers International with an American Address, the Product clearly states: Product of China.

Its low quality gives it a Thumbs Down 🙁

Will I buy it again? Definitely NOT!

Next up: Freeze Dried - Sliced Strawberries & Banana's

From: Brothers International Food Corporation
Sealed Shelf Life: 2 Years
Opened Shelf Life: Unknown

These Fruit Crisps (thin sliced Fruit product) are marketed as a Child's Lunch Snack with Disney Charaters on the packaging, but again as a Freeze Dried Foods Fan I had to give them a shot.

As a lunch snack this product is meant to be consumed in its Freeze Dried State and not reconstituted.

These weren't bad. They look like Slices of Strawberries and Banana's and the taste isn't half bad. It's definitely not very high quality product, but over all it made for a nice snack food, definitely one of the better products I've tried from Brothers International.

Again, although the packaging gives an American address for Brothers International the package reads: Product of China

Would I buy it again? As a novel, alternative, slightly healther Snack... Yes. As an addition to my Emergency Foods Supply? NO! Its mere 2 year shelf life and low quality, I think disqualifies it as a real Freeze Dried Product.

Next Up: Dehydrated - Cheesy Broccoli Rice

From: Food For Health International
Sealed Shelf Life: 20 Years
Opened Shelf Life: N/A

Food for Health offer many Entree/Meals that are 100 percent vegetarian with high nutritional values and no hydrogenated oils, trans fats or added MSG.

Not sure if this product really is Dehydrated, but due to its long shelf life I suspect it must be.

This sample of Cheesy Broccoli Rice came from my Food For Health Bucket, it was a 5 serving Mylar Pouch. I cooked it for 20 minutes in two cups of boiling water. I wasn't expecting much out of it, but to my surprise after 20 minutes of cooking the result was mouth watering cheesy rice dish with a hint of Broccoli.

This 5 serving package took me 3 sittings to consume myself. It was a filling and satisfying entree style meal. I could easily enjoy this dish a few times a week.

This definitely gets a Thumbs Up 🙂

Would I buy it again? DEFINITELY!

The above posts are all the products I've sampled from my own Emergency Food Stores over the last eight months. I'll post more of my thoughts and reviews of various products as I try them.

Please feel free to offer your own reviews or any input you may have on any of the above or on any Emergency Supply food you have tried.

Let's learn from each others experiences 🙂

What an excellent post, thanks!! I have been doing some reading on Thrive and it was my first choice ... I was glad to see the positive review, particularly on a product that was 10 years old. I had originally planned to order it from the US but seeing it is available in Alberta, ( my thanks to you for alerting me to that) I will be placing my order there... no border tie-ups and hopefully reduced shipping!

As I have been re-building my pantry and emergency supplies, I have found myself dwelling a great deal on shelf life, particularly with dried goods (pastas, barley, flour) and tin goods, Thrive continues to become more appealing.

I would be interested to hear any reviews on Thrive "meat" dishes involving TVP if anyone has tried these, I am strongly considering these for my first shipment.

I bought dehydrated TVP from Lifestyles Market for my shtf pantry.

Came across this article about the safety of TVP, regarding how it's processed. I'm not sure how concerned to be about it, but thought it worth passing along. Anyway, I plan to use my supply in soups over the course of the apocalypse.

http://www.naturalnews.com/033728_TVP_textured_vegetable_protein.html

I bought dehydrated TVP from Lifestyles Market for my shtf pantry.

Came across this article about the safety of TVP, regarding how it's processed. I'm not sure how concerned to be about it, but thought it worth passing along. Anyway, I plan to use my supply in soups over the course of the apocalypse.

http://www.naturalnews.com/033728_TVP_textured_vegetable_protein.html

Bloody he** (double hockey sticks)... lol
I really believe there is so much engineering going on with so many foods, it is almost impossible to track! That article was a little scary...hadn't seen that in my reading yet, good to know. Since they say trace amounts, I weighed the pros and cons and would probably still be pro TVP since I am looking at the TVP for a long term emergency food solution.
I plan to use the Thrive meats for the same thing, soups and stews...

Next up: Datrex Blue Ration 3600 kcal

From: Datrex Technologies
Sealed Shelf Life: 5 Years
Opened Shelf Life: Subpackaged for ease of rationing so N/A

These Emergency Food Bars (crisps) came from an old B.O.B. and were 4 years 11 Months old (30 days from their expiry date). They are small, compact and light wieght. Because they don't require any water or preparation they make a great addition to any B.O.B. and can easily be stored for long periods.

The texture of these Emergency Bars reminded me of a thick crisp chip, and tasted a lot like a Power Bar (dry, chalky) with a light Coconut flavour.

I'm not a big fan of Coconut, so I really didn't enjoy these at all.

The big selling point for these Emergency Bars is there compact, light weight, portability. They have been studied by various Governmant agencies and approved for use by both the U.S. and Canadian Coast Guards.

Would I buy them again? For my B.O.B.'s, Yes. For my Bug In Supplies, No. The taste just wasn't there for me. They would do for Emergency "I have no choice" Survival, but otherwise not for me, coconut is just not my thing.

Next up: Dehydrated - Beef TVP

From: Shelf Reliance/Thrive Foods
Sealed Shelf Life: 10 Years
Opened Shelf Life: 1 Year

This Beef TVP came from a #10 Can that was produced in May of 2011 so it was 7 months old when I opened it (Tonight).

When I first opened the can I was struck by the fact that it smelled like Bacon, so I looked at the label thinking I had accidently opened the wrong can but sure enough the label confirmed that I had indeed opened a can of Beef TVP. Looking at the TVP in its dehydrated state it looks almost identical to Bacon bits.

Out of curiosity I tasted the product in its dehydrated state and not to my surprise it tasted like Bacon.

The suggested serving size is 1/4 cup so put 2 servings in one cup of boiling water.

The directions on the can indicate that the product should be reconstituded for 5 - 10 minutes in hot water. After 5 minutes in the hot water I took out one serving (1/4 cup) and sampled it. It now resembled a finely diced string beef. It now had a light beef taste but was a little tough with a slight crunch to it. so I now took this 1/4 cup and added it to some eggs and made an omlette with it.

The Beef TVP Omlette tasted fine, anyone eating it would have never known that the beef in it was actually TVP and not real beef.

After a total of 10 minutes in hot water I drained the water off the second 1/4 cup of TVP. This TVP now looked exactly like a stringy beef and tasted almost like the real thing.

Overall, it wasn't bad. I was expecting the rather vile and disgusting taste of soy burgers I have had in the past, but this stuff wasn't bad. If I didn't know it was actually soy, I would have just assumed it was real beef.

Would I buy it again? Undecided. It was pretty good, but as mentioned in this thread there are issues with too much soy, not to mention most of it is GMO these days. Cost wise though TVP certainly gives you the best bang for your buck versus buying actual Freeze Dried Meats.

Next Up: Dehydrated - Instant Skim Milk Powder

From: Safeway
Sealed Shelf Life: 2 Years
Opened Shelf Life: Unknown

This product has an expiry date of Aug 2012 so is eight months from expiry at time of opening.

This was my first experience with powdered milk. I have a couple #10 cans of powdered Milk and rather then open one of them up I decided to try a bag of Safeway powdered milk just to see if this stuff was any good.

The directions called for 100 grams of of powdered milk to be mixed with one Litre of cold water. Without a scale I opted to make a rough call of one cup of Powdered Milk to one litre of cold water. I found a 2.5 litre jug and mixed appoximately 2.5 - 2.75 cups of powdered milk to 2.5 litres of cold water, shook it up and put it in the fridge one hour.

After giving it an hour to cool a bit more in the fridge I grabbed a glass and gave it a shot. It wasn't bad I was expecting a chalky water kind of taste but it was almost like cool glass of regular 2% milk. Granted I didn't mix it exactly to the instructions, but over all it wasn't all that bad.

Would I buy it again? Definitely.

They sell TVP, dehydrated in other places as well;
bulk food barn
7 day adventist store
sometimes at Almost Perfect

I do like the stuff too. I have a tendency to put it in with my Ramen noodles, or other noodles to give it some protein and bulk it up a bit.

As I am allergic to milk, I will take your word for it. Recently I have found some Dehydrated instant; Soya Milk and did find some Instant Almond milk but forgot where it was, damn.

Wilderness...try Bulk Barn, I think I saw something like that there...also, unflavored TVP.

The above posts are all the products I've sampled from my own Emergency Food Stores over the last eight months. I'll post more of my thoughts and reviews of various products as I try them.

Please feel free to offer your own reviews or any input you may have on any of the above or on any Emergency Supply food you have tried.

Let's learn from each others experiences 🙂

hmmm this is a very informative thanks

mutton recipes