One Year Kits- viable?

[Matthew.B]

Has anyone purchased, or know much about, 'One Year Kits'? An example of one is here (http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/product.jsp?productId=prod1620354).

As I've mentioned other places, I might come into a small windfall soon. I'm trying to get opinions and advice on whether or not a One Year Kit would be a good purchase. I'm looking into the amount of calories per meal, etc., and would of course shop around a lot.

It seems that this might be a good way to jump start emergency preparedness- this plus 72 hour kits and water purifier, then continuously accumulate more preparation as time goes on.

Thoughts?

[Dr.Jride]

I bought that kit. By far the best value out there. If your windfall is big enough, try this kit.

http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/product.jsp?productId=prod2420044&navAction

[ZDMZ]

I bought that kit. By far the best value out there. If your windfall is big enough, try this kit.

http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/pr...0044&navAction (http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/product.jsp?productId=prod2420044&navAction)



You would probably have to buy a few more beds to have room to store all of that!!:001_ssuprised:

[Earthling]

Looks like a good way to put in some good storage fast & cheap! :l0 (44):

[mirkwood]

I have purchased one year kits from other companies. What you want to find out is the actual contents and the calorie count per day. If this is what you are interested in, I would compare it to the basic one year kit sold by Emergency Essentials and see which one better suits you.


http://beprepared.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_FS%20Y410_A_name_E_Traditional% 201200%20Year%20Supply%20of%20Food

[Justme]

I don't know if it has been mentioned but sometimes the difference in price in these kits whether from one retailer or different ones is not the quantity or even the basic quality but in personal preference. Some people really don't like dehydrated and I don't blame them, freeze dried is much more tasty.

[mgriffith]

With some thought, and by combining buying from the church storehouse and your local food mart, you can do the same for yourself at half the cost.

300 pounds of the basics; wheat, rice, flour, oats, and pasta, would be about $177 at the storehouse. Add in beans, lentils, split peas, etc. for another $44 bucks and that would give you the very basics to survive.

My list would also include fats and oils, sugars, milk, and cooking products, for a total of $465 (Jan 2011 prices).

I attached the spreadsheet I developed for calculating food storage requirements and the costs. I made this from several other lists and tried to be broad enough, yet conservative enough, so it would give anyone a good idea of what they would need and the costs.

Mark

[DMGNUT]

Big +1 to all the above comments.
Especially Mgriffith's with the big savings.
I'm a fan of the basics; beans, rice, wheat, oats, etc.
There's not much that putting enough honey on, or Louisiana Red Hot Sauce in, that won't make it eatable. :001_smile:

Remember the old saying... variety is the spice of life.
Have a lot of different stuff, and the spices to "wake" it up some.

[Justme]

I agree, mcgriffith and DMGMUT. It is definitely more economical to buy individual items in the quantities you need and I think getting the basics should always come before adding in the niceties - with the exception of hot sauce perhaps. But, for some, the logistics of doing it on your own is just too much and purchasing a good basic kit to begin with gets them started, then it seems easier to go forward with adding other things as they can.

[mgriffith]

I agree, mcgriffith and DMGMUT. It is definitely more economical to buy individual items in the quantities you need and I think getting the basics should always come before adding in the niceties - with the exception of hot sauce perhaps. But, for some, the logistics of doing it on your own is just too much and purchasing a good basic kit to begin with gets them started, then it seems easier to go forward with adding other things as they can.

You can order LDS long term food products directly from the church. This is the same stuff that is sold in the storehouses. They only have wheat, rice, oats, flour, and beans, but it is sufficient to get your storage going. $28.00 for a case (about 33 pounds) of hard red wheat, that includes shipping. In Utah you probably won't need to explain this to the UPS guy, but in other areas of the country it might be harder. :l0 (17):

http://store.lds.org/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?mpe_id=715848087&catalogId=10557&categoryId=21158&evtype=CpgnClick&intv_id=715847387&identifier=SC160&langId=-1&storeId=715839595&ddkey=http:ClickInfo

[CurtisG]

[ATTACH].
There's not much that putting enough honey on, or Louisiana Red Hot Sauce in, that won't make it eatable.
579

[thermocouple]

Another way would be to create a 6 month food supply base with freeze dried food, just like the one year kits, but available in buckets. Fill out another 4+ months of food with the storehouse foods, such as wheat, rice, honey, etc. Then fill in the last part with foods that you would use in your normal culinary habits, that can be rotated. This is how we did it.

[DMGNUT]

Thermo, the answer to your avatar's question is; Why yes, I am.
And to stay on topic, I will now ask a related food storage question.

Is it normal for your ammo storage to out-weigh a 1+ year supply of food, for 4 people?

[faif2d]

You have to be careful of the 1 year deals as they generally do not contain oils. I have several gallons of olive oil stored frozen, their normal 1 year -2 year goodness time starts when they thaw. I have some coconut oil stored the same way. I also have about 16 LBS of butter frozen but that is only good for about 6 mo even frozen so I rotate that.

[arbilad]

You're very right. Oils and/or fats are essential to life.