# 11 - Is It Really 1-Year's Worth of Food?
First off, before I even start this post let me first say that I have nothing against any company that may be mentioned in this episode. I am receiving no financial gain from, nor have I any other vested interest whatsoever in any of these products or manufacturers. I am merely bringing issues to light for your consideration as you prepare your emergency survival plans and fulfill your food storage needs.
Many people believe that all survival foods are basically the same thing in a different companies packaging. While there are similarities between the various survival foods available, there are some important considerations that must be made when choosing which brand you will purchase for your emergency food supplies.
When comparing between various brands, most people get caught up in the container costs between the brands, or more commonly serving cost, but they almost always overlook one very important factor that they should be considering even more than serving cost.
Serving size is not regulated by the FDA or anyone else in government. The serving size is completely determined by the manufacturer of the item.
No matter how good we want to believe people are, or how honorable their intentions are, a manufacturer of a product has one thing on his mind, profit-margin. Making the most profit from a product as he can so that he can remain in business. So they employ various techniques to ensure that they make as much profit for their product as they can.
One way that companies can increase their profit-margin on an item is to raise the cost of the item. This is the simplest technique, when you buy an item, you just pay more for the item. However this rarely works when that product is competing against similar products because people often want to shop around to find the lowest price.
Not many people would you pay $20 for a hamburger when you can go down the street to a competitor and buy a comparable hamburger for $5.00? Food manufacturers know this, so they have to come up with another way to increase the profit-margin of their product.
Lets say for example that everyone packages their beef stew as a 1 cup serving size, for $5. "Manufacturer A" could drop their serving size to 1/2 cup and sell theirs for $4. Now, the general public sees that the cost per serving from "Manufacturer A" is only $4 per serving, yet everyone else sells theirs at $5 per serving.
Most people will think they are saving by choosing the product from "Manufacturer A" over the product from "Manufacturer B", yet, what they don't realize is that serving is now even more expensive because it is a smaller size serving. To equal the same amount of food, you would have to purchase two servings instead of one. Now you have paid $8 for the exact same amount of food that would have cost you $5 from "Manufacturer B".
This is exactly what many of the Emergency, Disaster, or "Prepper Food" manufacturers are doing, and have been doing for several years now. They have reduced the amount of food per serving, but the prices are still consistent with larger servings available from competitors.
Something else to look at besides the serving size is the calories of the meal, and what daily limit that the company uses to calculate their foods on.
For instance, the single serving food portion packs from My Patriot Supply are only based on a 1500 calorie per day diet. An average adult male needs a 2000 calorie diet now, when we are not in a disaster situation. After a disaster when we are fighting for our lives, running from danger, and being a lot more physical throughout the day than we currently are, we will need to increase that to a 3,000 calorie per day diet.
This means if you stored up a 1-year supply of their food based on their own calculations of a 1500 calorie per day diet. After a disaster when your body needs much more to survive, you will have to eat twice as much food. Now your 1-year supply that you were so proud of has just been cut in half to only a 6-month supply.
Of course you could stick with their 1500 calorie per day diet if you choose to. We have a term for that, it's called Prolonged Starvation. Your body is going to do everything it can to come up with the additional calories that it needs to get you through the day with all of the additional activities that you will be requiring of it. Since you have decreased the caloric intake it will start burning the fat and muscle cells of your own body to survive. You will in essence start wasting away, all while eating the 3 meals a day that you were so proud that you stored up.
Why would you even consider putting yourself through that so that you could save a dollar or two. You will need all the energy and strength you can manage after a disaster. Stop looking at the cost per serving, or the cost per item and start looking at how that serving or item fills the caloric needs of a daily diet post-disaster and fits into your overall survival plan.
Below are two nutritional labels for Fettuccine Alfredo dishes from two different manufacturers. The one on the left is the Traditional Fettuccine Alfredo from My Patriot Supply (MPS), and the one on the right is Fettuccine Alfredo with Chicken from Honeyville. The Honeyville version contains actual freeze dried chicken while the My Patriot Supply version contains "vegetarian chicken base", whatever the heck that is.
Even though the MPS version contains 300 calories per 1/2 cup serving, 100 of those calories are "empty filler calories" from fat. The Honeyville version containing real meat offers 230 calories per 2/3 cup serving with only 50 calories coming from fat.
Also, take a look at the Saturated Fat listing. The Honeyville version shows 8% while the MPS version shows 48% with 10 grams of Saturated Fat. That is not an insignificant difference.
Saturated fat is a type of dietary fat. It is one of the unhealthy fats, along with trans fat. These fats are most often solid at room temperature. Foods like butter, palm and coconut oils, cheese, and red meat have high amounts of saturated fat.
Start looking at the nutritional labeling of the products and research the products to get a better idea of what you are actually purchasing before you decide which emergency foods to add to your food storage.
Use common sense now, while you have the time to research the products. Don't just buy your food, put it away, and hope for the best when it actually comes time for you to start eating it.
Previous Episode:
Coming Episodes:
In upcoming episodes we will also take a look at "Water Purification & Sanitization" as well as "Vacuum Sealed vs. Mylar Bagged Food Storage". We will also take a look at the shelf-life of "Home Canned Foods" and the viability of using them in our emergency supplies.
Also we will have an episode on the need for a Wilderness First Aid training even if you live in a city. We will also take a look at the need for "Sanitation After A Disaster".
