Results 1 to 19 of 19

Thread: Costco Freeze Dried Food on Sale

  1. #1
    Administrator Rick's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Central Indiana
    Posts
    58,832

    Default Costco Freeze Dried Food on Sale

    Costco has a sale running right now on freeze dried food. I've posted these before but this one is just a bit different. More meals for the same cost as the earlier ones. This one is 330 meals and the previous ones were 275. If it's something that interests you here 'tis.

    http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product...ketingItemName
    Tracks Across the High Plains...Death on the Bombay Line...A Touch of Death and Mayhem...Dead Rock...The Griswald Mine Boys...All On Amazon Books.


  2. #2
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Great Northwest
    Posts
    15

    Default

    Thanks Rick. Its going to be cheaper then buying MRE's. Going to buy it and let you guys know.
    Never forget the six P prinicipal "Prior Planing Prevents Piss Poor Perfomance"

    Improvise, Adapt, Overcome!

  3. #3
    Administrator Rick's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Central Indiana
    Posts
    58,832

    Default

    I have a few of the 275 meal buckets. They are vegetarian but most versions are not too bad.
    Tracks Across the High Plains...Death on the Bombay Line...A Touch of Death and Mayhem...Dead Rock...The Griswald Mine Boys...All On Amazon Books.

  4. #4
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Great Northwest
    Posts
    15

    Default

    So adding some kind of dried/canned meat would be a good idea?
    Never forget the six P prinicipal "Prior Planing Prevents Piss Poor Perfomance"

    Improvise, Adapt, Overcome!

  5. #5
    Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Virginia
    Posts
    55

    Default

    As is typical, these survival "foods" will fill your belly but come nowhere close to satisfying your nutritional requirements.
    Code:
    item	servings	A	C	Ca	Fe
    Oat meal	60	0	0	1	7
    chicken veg	30	8	0	2	4
    ched broc rice	30	1	4	2	14
    hearty potato	60	4	0	15	8
    instant potato	60	2	8	5	2
    mixed veg	30	4	12	1	7
    veg beef	30	0	0	5	8
    mac cheese	30	2	0	4	7
    					
    days worth		8.1	9.6	16.8	22.2
    If it does so poorly on the nutrients they are required by law to put on the label, the other nutrients are probably even worse.
    Omega 3, D, and B-12 content will be negligible. Other B vitamins undocumented and what is there is likely largely from artificial sources (enriched pasta), though some should come from the potatoes. But if those 120 servings of hearty and instant potatoes were plain potato flakes or granules as tested by USDA they would provide 19 to 38 days RDA of Vit C and they clearly don't so they must be low quality. E and Vit K undocumented. Potassium undocumented, Minerals other than Ca/Fe/Na undocumented. White trash rice and pasta.

    The following will add 33 days omega 3, 28 days A, 57days C, 14 days Ca, 8 days Fe, 6 days B-12, 20days Vit K, 8 days potassium and 3 days calories:
    1. MILK,DRY,NONFAT,REGULAR,WITHOUT ADDED VITAMIN A 900.0 g (calcium)
    2. PEPPERS,SWEET,RED,FREEZE-DRIED 170.1 g (A,C)
    3. SEEDS,FLAXSEED 500.0 g (omega-3)
    4. SPICES,PARSLEY,DRIED 100.0 g (Iron)
    Plus add:
    1 B-12 supplement pill, 30 5000IU Vit D capsules


    Code:
    Calories(2000)     337%     Total Carb         260%     Protein            940%
    Carb/Prot/Fat  45/27/28     Fiber              813%     Non-Fiber Carb     578g
    
    Total Fat          297%     Vitamin A         2836%     Calcium           1428%
     Sat Fat           118%     Thiamin            945%     Copper             474%
     Mono Fat          126%     Riboflavin        1060%     Iron               817%
     Poly Fat         1837%     Niacin             222%     Magnesium          880%
      Omega-6          704%     Panto. Acid        379%     Manganese         1316%
        LA             735%     Vitamin B-6        520%     Phosphorus        1283%
        AA               0%     Folate             364%     Potassium          840%
      Omega-3         3395%     Vitamin B-12       605%     Selenium           583%
        ALA           4130%     Vitamin C         5697%     Sodium             239%
        EPA              0%     Vitamin D          747%     Zinc               448%
        DHA              0%     Vitamin E           76%
    Cholesterol         60%     Vitamin K         1970%     Omega-6/3 Balance 26/74
    One of the principle advantages of dehydrated andfreeze-dried food (besides weight and shelf-life) is that it is very good at preserving the nutritional content. Fat lot of good that does if you don't start with adequate quantities of quality ingredients.

    It would take 4.1kg wheat germ or a bit over 2kg of almonds or sunflower seeds to provide 30 days worth of vit E (plus some of the B vitamins and minerals). Would add significantly to calories.

    3 pint cans of turnip greens would provide 31 days Vit K, 10 days Vit A, and 2 days folate and C.

    Sams club has a brand of dehydrated veg mix (potato, cabbage,onion, carrot, celery,and red/green bell peppers) which supplies about 20 days vit A and 30 days Vit C in one #10 can. About half as nutrient dense as freeze dried red bell peppers.
    http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/pr...tion=#shipping

    They never seem to provide a full nutritional analysis for these survival rations. This makes it impossible to do a full analysis.

  6. #6
    Administrator Rick's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Central Indiana
    Posts
    58,832

    Default

    Why do you assume that's all you'll eat? I have canned meat that I can add to the meal as well as canned veggies, cheese, butter and canned fruit. I don't assume it's the only thing I'll eat just a convenient way to store some of my food.

    Rice is pretty much rice and rolled oats is pretty much rolled oats no matter where you buy it.
    Tracks Across the High Plains...Death on the Bombay Line...A Touch of Death and Mayhem...Dead Rock...The Griswald Mine Boys...All On Amazon Books.

  7. #7
    Super Moderator crashdive123's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    North Florida
    Posts
    44,846

    Default

    Thanks for the update and link.
    Can't Means Won't

    My Youtube Channel

  8. #8
    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    SE/SW Wisconsin
    Posts
    26,866

    Default

    I see the offer is good till Nov, 13th...Kinda liking the price and mix.
    Have to wait till get home, at "The Place" right now.....Thanks for posting.
    Geezer Squad....Charter Member #1
    Evoking the 50 year old rule...
    First 50 years...worried about the small stuff...second 50 years....Not so much
    Member Wahoo Killer knives club....#27

  9. #9
    Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Virginia
    Posts
    55

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Rick View Post
    Why do you assume that's all you'll eat? I have canned meat that I can add to the meal as well as canned veggies, cheese, butter and canned fruit. I don't assume it's the only thing I'll eat just a convenient way to store some of my food.
    Because that is how it is marketed. It is sold as a 30 day supply of food, not a component in a 30 day supply of food. Worse, bigger kits are are sold as a year's supply. 30 days you might get away with. And it has empty calories which make it that much harder to satisfy your nutrition requirements from other foods.

    Rice is pretty much rice and rolled oats is pretty much rolled oats no matter where you buy it.
    Brown rice is food, white rice is junk food.

    Code:
    RICE,WHITE,LONG-GRAIN,REGULAR,COOKED,UNENRICHED,WITHOUT SLT    Grams    226.80
    Serving:  8 oz                                                 Ounces     8.00
                                                                   Water     68.44%
    Percentages of "Daily Values" in this serving:                 Refuse     0%
    
    Calories(2000)      15%     Total Carb          21%     Protein             12%
    Carb/Prot/Fat    90/8/2     Fiber                4%     Non-Fiber Carb      63g
    
    Total Fat            1%     Vitamin A            0%     Calcium              2%
     Sat Fat             1%     Thiamin              3%     Copper               8%
     Mono Fat            1%     Riboflavin           2%     Iron                 3%
     Poly Fat            2%     Niacin               5%     Magnesium            7%
      Omega-6            3%     Panto. Acid          9%     Manganese           54%
        LA               3%     Vitamin B-6         11%     Phosphorus          10%
        AA               0%     Folate               2%     Potassium            2%
      Omega-3            1%     Vitamin B-12         0%     Selenium            24%
        ALA              1%     Vitamin C            0%     Sodium               0%
        EPA              0%     Vitamin D          (nd)     Zinc                 7%
        DHA              0%     Vitamin E            0%
    Cholesterol          0%     Vitamin K            0%     Omega-6/3 Balance 64/36
    
    RICE,BROWN,LONG-GRAIN,COOKED                                   Grams    226.80
    Serving:  8 oz                                                 Ounces     8.00
                                                                   Water     73.09%
    Percentages of "Daily Values" in this serving:                 Refuse     0%
    
    Calories(2000)      13%     Total Carb          17%     Protein             12%
    Carb/Prot/Fat    85/8/7     Fiber               16%     Non-Fiber Carb      48g
    
    Total Fat            3%     Vitamin A            0%     Calcium              2%
     Sat Fat             2%     Thiamin             15%     Copper              11%
     Mono Fat            2%     Riboflavin           3%     Iron                 5%
     Poly Fat            9%     Niacin              17%     Magnesium           24%
      Omega-6           15%     Panto. Acid          6%     Manganese          103%
        LA              16%     Vitamin B-6         16%     Phosphorus          19%
        AA               0%     Folate               2%     Potassium            3%
      Omega-3            1%     Vitamin B-12         0%     Selenium            32%
        ALA              1%     Vitamin C            0%     Sodium               0%
        EPA              0%     Vitamin D          (nd)     Zinc                10%
        DHA              0%     Vitamin E            0%
    Cholesterol          0%     Vitamin K            2%     Omega-6/3 Balance 75/25
    In addition, there are differences in anti-oxidant/phytonutrient/phenol/lignan content.
    http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?t...spice&dbid=128

    Rolled oats are generally whole grain. However the process of making rolled oats does damage the tocopherols and tocotrienols (Vitamin E). http://www.aaccnet.org/cerealchemist...1995/72_21.pdf http://www.cib.espol.edu.ec/Digipath/D_Papers/43760.pdf Unfortunately, I am allergic to oats. Lots of these survival rations are heavy on the oats. But the oats are good for some people with other grain allergies


    For comparison, I added up the same 4 nutrients for 6 assorted bags of bear creek brand dehydrated soup mixes ($3/bag at big lots). This is not sold as survival food so they can pass the buck for your nutritional deficiencies to the rest of your diet. It was only 3 days worth of calories and about twice the cost per day but was more complete nutritionally than the 30 day bucket. The bucket has an artificially low cost per day because the actual food is padded out with empty calories to artificially increase the number of days. Cheaper than backpacker foods. Mountain house charges $5.90 to $7.50 for about 600 calories (or around $20/day) and doesn't give A/C/Ca/Fe content on their web site. The bear creek provided an average 92% average nutrient density for these 4 nutrients. The 30 day bucket averaged 47%. So, calories aside, the cost per nutrient was about the same since the 30 day bucket provides an average 14 days nutrition; worse since it effectively gives you 16 days of starvation on a full stomach.

    Code:
    item	servings calories A	C	Ca	Fe
    navy bean	8	130	6	6	4	8
    minestrone	8	110	20	8	4	6
    tortilla	8	90	6	6	2	4
    chili	8	80	4	2	6	10
    chicken noodle	8	120	10	4	2	6
    creamy potato	8	150	0	6	2	2
    						
    days worth		2.92	3.68	2.56	1.6	2.88
    the chili is meant to be prepared with a can of tomato paste and optionally ground beef but these were not included in nutrients.

    Nut-nutrition software has a mode where it can try to estimate the unlabeled nutrients by guessing the recipe using the constraints that an ingredient can't be present in higher quantity than the items listed higher on the label or in a quantity that would cause a higher value of the labeled nutrients. It is a pain to enter all the ingredients and match them to foods in the database. Here is the result for one of the mixes. Most nutrients had an estimated nutrient density (%RDA/%calories) greater than 100% except for fats, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, B-12, D, and calcium. Sodium (labeled), however, was very excessive (it also looks excessive on the bucket).
    Code:
    SOUP MIX, NAVY BEAN, BEAR CREEK, 7-60263-00028-4               Grams     38.00
    Serving:  1 cup                                                Ounces     1.34
                                                                   Water      8.90%
    Percentages of "Daily Values" in this serving:                 Refuse     0%
    
    Calories(2000)       6%     Total Carb           9%     Protein             10%
    Carb/Prot/Fat   81/16/4     Fiber               16%     Non-Fiber Carb      22g
    
    Total Fat            1%     Vitamin A            6%     Calcium              4%
     Sat Fat             1%     Thiamin             14%     Copper              13%
     Mono Fat            0%     Riboflavin           4%     Iron                 8%
     Poly Fat            2%     Niacin               4%     Magnesium           13%
      Omega-6            2%     Panto. Acid          4%     Manganese           21%
        LA               2%     Vitamin B-6          9%     Phosphorus          14%
        AA               0%     Folate              32%     Potassium           12%
      Omega-3            0%     Vitamin B-12         0%     Selenium             6%
        ALA              0%     Vitamin C            6%     Sodium              39%
        EPA              0%     Vitamin D          (nd)     Zinc                 5%
        DHA              0%     Vitamin E            0%
    Cholesterol          0%     Vitamin K            2%     Omega-6/3 Balance 73/27
    http://nut.sourceforge.net/

  10. #10
    Super Moderator crashdive123's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    North Florida
    Posts
    44,846

    Default

    I think that people around the world are, and have been using white rice as one of the main components of their diets is testimony as to whether or not it is "junk". Not knocking brown rice at all, and yes, it has good nutritional value but the nutritional value of white rice coupled with its long term storage compatibility make it a food well worth being part of my preps.
    Can't Means Won't

    My Youtube Channel

  11. #11
    Administrator Rick's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Central Indiana
    Posts
    58,832

    Default

    If you don't want to buy any of it I'm not trying to force anyone. I just made the add available for anyone that might be interested. I think it's a good deal for me and my family so I'll be picking some up. And I have to agree with Crash, white rice is hardly junk food. 20 gazillion orientals would probably not agree with you either. High sodium or not it's meant to help keep you alive. I'll worry about my blood pressure and heart disease from the sodium after the event is over.
    Tracks Across the High Plains...Death on the Bombay Line...A Touch of Death and Mayhem...Dead Rock...The Griswald Mine Boys...All On Amazon Books.

  12. #12
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Great Northwest
    Posts
    15

    Default

    I was looking at it as a way to have a store of food if the winter gets bad here in the Great Northwest. I agree with Rick and Crash about the white rice. We have two 50lbs bags of rice in the house at all times.
    Never forget the six P prinicipal "Prior Planing Prevents Piss Poor Perfomance"

    Improvise, Adapt, Overcome!

  13. #13
    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    SE/SW Wisconsin
    Posts
    26,866

    Default

    Hunger is the best spice....fill the hole.
    Geezer Squad....Charter Member #1
    Evoking the 50 year old rule...
    First 50 years...worried about the small stuff...second 50 years....Not so much
    Member Wahoo Killer knives club....#27

  14. #14
    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    SE/SW Wisconsin
    Posts
    26,866

    Default

    So..... OK gave this a try today....seems you have to be a "member" to take advantage of all the discount, but a $4.99 surcharge didn't seem too bad.

    Still seems to be a pretty good deal for 330 'meals'? or at least parts of meals.
    Geezer Squad....Charter Member #1
    Evoking the 50 year old rule...
    First 50 years...worried about the small stuff...second 50 years....Not so much
    Member Wahoo Killer knives club....#27

  15. #15
    Administrator Rick's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Central Indiana
    Posts
    58,832

    Default

    Mine should be arriving any day. I didn't realize you have to be a member to get that price. In any case if you price it elsewhere you'll see it's quite a bit higher than Costco offers on a normal basis. Kinda hard for me not to get it when it's on sale. Let me know what you think when you get it.
    Tracks Across the High Plains...Death on the Bombay Line...A Touch of Death and Mayhem...Dead Rock...The Griswald Mine Boys...All On Amazon Books.

  16. #16
    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    SE/SW Wisconsin
    Posts
    26,866

    Default

    We didn't have any Costco store around here that I know of....we have Sam's Club, and the idea that I have to pay a fee just to shop there kinda burns my butte.

    You are correct though, that even with the surcharge that is a super price for 15 years shelf life, compared to a lot of other "survival foods" I have seen and not bad when you just look a dried potatoes and such.

    We are planning on breaking into it right away to give it a try, and if it seems like we can incorporate it into diet, I'll order some more.

    I don't really like the idea of buying a bunch of stuff, storing it till "needed' then finding out that I/we don't really like it to much, 'course if you are hungry enough.

    I'll discuss it briefly when we break into it....everyone taste is different....so it will just our opinion.
    Geezer Squad....Charter Member #1
    Evoking the 50 year old rule...
    First 50 years...worried about the small stuff...second 50 years....Not so much
    Member Wahoo Killer knives club....#27

  17. #17
    Administrator Rick's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Central Indiana
    Posts
    58,832

    Default

    Well said. We've used some of it for hiking and backpacking. Not the Chef's Banquet, which this one is, but the Food for Health version. I've purchased a couple of those. This is the first time I've ordered the Chef's Banquet.

    Some of it was used on a trip to Isle Royal Island a couple of years back.
    Tracks Across the High Plains...Death on the Bombay Line...A Touch of Death and Mayhem...Dead Rock...The Griswald Mine Boys...All On Amazon Books.

  18. #18
    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    SE/SW Wisconsin
    Posts
    26,866

    Default

    My bucket showed up to day, says 20 years shelf life......But bucket is sealed.....
    Soooo....am wondering if it has nitrogen or a vacuum seal that will decrease that shelf life if I was to open it now.

    Don't get me wrong I gonna open it, want to try it,.... just wondering....Rick? I know you picked up at least one bucket?
    Geezer Squad....Charter Member #1
    Evoking the 50 year old rule...
    First 50 years...worried about the small stuff...second 50 years....Not so much
    Member Wahoo Killer knives club....#27

  19. #19
    Administrator Rick's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Central Indiana
    Posts
    58,832

    Default

    Didn't open it. It's on the shelf right behind the 15 year stuff.
    Tracks Across the High Plains...Death on the Bombay Line...A Touch of Death and Mayhem...Dead Rock...The Griswald Mine Boys...All On Amazon Books.

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •