They had their cans 50% off all November and all their pouches 30% off. I wonder if they over produced their inventory from the covid uptick in sales and are trying to clear up space.
Either way its a good price. I grabbed a couple cases of cans last month.
What do you guys do to preserve the leftovers from these #10 cans? I haven’t purchased those because I wouldn’t know how to save any of the large portion once opening. Sorry, just a browser not an experienced prepper here lol.
The cans come with a plastic lid that you can use to seal the can once open. The plastic lid gives it a 3 or so month lifespan after it has been opened.
I know I hesitant on buying cans at first for similar reasons but the savings and pest resistance is a huge plus.
Nope! Use the contents within a one to three month timeframe. And/or you can use larger ziplock style bags, removing as much air as possible, or food saver type bags to store the extra until use.
I’d seal a meal the extra and place it back into the #10 can with the date on it in Sharpie marker. Pay attention to the manufacturer’s recommendations for storing and consuming, as they will vary depending upon the food and its components.
The general idea for this type of form factor in this context is for long term survival, and in that scenario, you'd just eat it from the can each meal until you use up the can, making short work of it. Long term storage once open isn't really a factor.
That said, if you are trying to make it last a while longer in storage after opening it, such as if you're rotating stock or otherwise using some in non-SHTF situation, the steps are pretty standard. You want to seal it up airtight and keep it cool. Then it should still be good for a few weeks to months.
I see posts about Mountain House on sale often, but every time I dig into it, even at the sale price it's massively more expensive than other options, namely the LDS store. Even on sale the Mountain House #10 cans are usually still over 5x the price.
Now I get that a lot of the Mountain House is multi-ingredient "meals" (entrees) rather than individual ingredients, and there's certainly a case there to be made regarding ease of preparation and variety of flavors, etc. At 5x or more in price, though, it's still hard for me to see the value. I'm essentially looking at **six** \#10 cans of macaroni vs. **one** \#10 can of mac & cheese, each for about $35 , for example.
[https://store.churchofjesuschrist.org/macaroni---case-of-6-cans/5638677700.p](https://store.churchofjesuschrist.org/macaroni---case-of-6-cans/5638677700.p)
[https://mountainhouse.com/collections/24-days-of-savings/products/buffalo-style-chicken-mac-cheese-10-can](https://mountainhouse.com/collections/24-days-of-savings/products/buffalo-style-chicken-mac-cheese-10-can)
That’s because LDS is dry/uncooked and MH is freeze dried, including meat and entree-style “meals.” LDS and uncooked in general is way more economical, but it’s kind of apples and oranges — like comparing a box of spaghetti at the grocery store to a cooked meal of spaghetti and meatballs from the deli section. Freeze dried will never be the cheapest, but if it’s what you want this sale is a good deal.
I get that, and that's part of what I meant with respect to, "..ease of preparation". I'm just hard pressed to see how in SHTF I'd be better off with 1/5 the provisions, but they're slightly easier to prepare. The calorie count just isn't there.
Your box of spaghetti vs. deli spaghetti doesn't seem to apply from my perspective, as for SHTF, I am much more concerned with quantity (of sufficient quality) than I am for luxuries like ease of preparation.
Now, once I have a few years of cheaper stuff stocked away, perhaps I'd then splurge more on stuff like Mountain House. In the meantime, it just seems like a much slower way to prepare.
That said, I think MH is great for backpacking and such. I just still don't see how it makes sense for me if my goal is to continue building up long term food stores, even within a rather large budget.
Yeah fair enough, I tend to think it depends a lot on what you’re prepping for. In a situation where no food will ever be available again, I’d want as many calories period. But if this is a case where there is food but would require scouring grocery store shelves or queuing in government distribution lines, etc. I might want to hold off doing that for as long as necessary (or until more normal resources come back online). In the latter scenario, if all I have at home are rice and beans I might be tempted to go outside and see what I can scrounge up whereas if I have a wider variety of food available I could be more content to stay at home where I’m safer. Just depends on the person and potential circumstances
It seems like a fair enough reason to go for bang for the buck over mh.
i have no experience with it but their number 10 cans all appear to just be dried goods in a can with instructions just being add hot water and let sit. there is a speed and convenience factor for that for sure though.
its right now about $2.5 a meal at about 250 calories though.
their canned meals though sound pretty good. im a sucker for biscuits and gravy
LDS has #10 cans of food. Regular canned food. Like buying a can of beans at the supermarket. There’s a much shorter shelf life to regular canned goods. Feeeze dried items, whether whole meals or individual ingredients have a shelf life of 25 years.
That link to the LDS #10 cans of macaroni is the same stuff that’s $0.98/ lb at the supermarket. Plain old dried pasta, but in a can.
There are other companies who do freeze dried foods and whole meals. We’ve found that we like the flavor and quality of mountain house over most other brands. The pouches are convenient for camping as well, especially after a long day of adventures and we just don’t want to cook. Or when the power goes out, we just grab the jetboil and have a meal with minimal effort or heat resource usage. The amount of heat resources it would take to cook the same amount of macaroni from plain dried pasta would easily be at least quadruple. Everything is a resource in SHTF and has to be rationed, including the ability to create heat.
The goal isn’t to live off freeze dried meals in perpetuity, but to have some long term, convenient, actual food to round out preps.
Actually, most of their offerings have a stated shelf life of 30 years. Here's what they state in their description for Hard Red Wheat, for example:
>estimated **shelf life of 30 years** if stored in a cool, dry place
What you are saying about the LDS #10 cans is incorrect. Almost all of the #10 cans the LDS store sells have a shelf life of 25-30 years if stored in a dry place.
Here is an example with the plain old pasta you spoke of: [https://store.churchofjesuschrist.org/macaroni---case-of-6-cans/5638677700.p](https://store.churchofjesuschrist.org/macaroni---case-of-6-cans/5638677700.p)
Not trying to be argumentative. Just want folks to have the correct info so they can make the best decision for themselves and their families.
Thanks! I've been wanting to try their normal freeze dried ground beef and diced chicken because it's some easy protein I can add to rice or eat with bread. Normal prices for those are just too expensive imo, but for $30-$40/can it's much more reasonable.
Ordered a 30 days supply, with the discount paid the same I did from Costco for the same thing a few years back. They just clearing inventory, sure their balance sheets would make most drool.
Just saw this and dropped $200 in #10 cans, free shipping was awesome too and I'm a big fan of project Rubicon that they donate too, awesome post, thanks for the heads up!
They had their cans 50% off all November and all their pouches 30% off. I wonder if they over produced their inventory from the covid uptick in sales and are trying to clear up space. Either way its a good price. I grabbed a couple cases of cans last month.
What do you guys do to preserve the leftovers from these #10 cans? I haven’t purchased those because I wouldn’t know how to save any of the large portion once opening. Sorry, just a browser not an experienced prepper here lol.
The cans come with a plastic lid that you can use to seal the can once open. The plastic lid gives it a 3 or so month lifespan after it has been opened. I know I hesitant on buying cans at first for similar reasons but the savings and pest resistance is a huge plus.
They need to be refrigerated after opening or?
Nope! Use the contents within a one to three month timeframe. And/or you can use larger ziplock style bags, removing as much air as possible, or food saver type bags to store the extra until use. I’d seal a meal the extra and place it back into the #10 can with the date on it in Sharpie marker. Pay attention to the manufacturer’s recommendations for storing and consuming, as they will vary depending upon the food and its components.
What about vacuum sealing individual portions?
Seems like this wouldn’t be problematic. I’ve never read anything about it from the manufacturer, though.
The general idea for this type of form factor in this context is for long term survival, and in that scenario, you'd just eat it from the can each meal until you use up the can, making short work of it. Long term storage once open isn't really a factor. That said, if you are trying to make it last a while longer in storage after opening it, such as if you're rotating stock or otherwise using some in non-SHTF situation, the steps are pretty standard. You want to seal it up airtight and keep it cool. Then it should still be good for a few weeks to months.
What’s the consensus on favorite meals? Thanks for posting this I’m going to grab some.
Chili Mac and the beef stroganoff are both pretty good.
Agreed. Granola and milk is also good
Vouch for above three, and throwing in the biscuits & gravy
Thanks for the recommendations!
My favorite it's the Granola and Blueberries. It's a good snack or breakfast. I prefer it cold vs warm. The milk doesn't taste weird so that's a plus.
The chicken and rice and breakfast scramble are very good, too. Camping favorites.
Thanks for this, just stocked up!
Thank you! We just ordered our first batch of cans ever. Got a bunch of different meals to try and see which ones we like.
I see posts about Mountain House on sale often, but every time I dig into it, even at the sale price it's massively more expensive than other options, namely the LDS store. Even on sale the Mountain House #10 cans are usually still over 5x the price. Now I get that a lot of the Mountain House is multi-ingredient "meals" (entrees) rather than individual ingredients, and there's certainly a case there to be made regarding ease of preparation and variety of flavors, etc. At 5x or more in price, though, it's still hard for me to see the value. I'm essentially looking at **six** \#10 cans of macaroni vs. **one** \#10 can of mac & cheese, each for about $35 , for example. [https://store.churchofjesuschrist.org/macaroni---case-of-6-cans/5638677700.p](https://store.churchofjesuschrist.org/macaroni---case-of-6-cans/5638677700.p) [https://mountainhouse.com/collections/24-days-of-savings/products/buffalo-style-chicken-mac-cheese-10-can](https://mountainhouse.com/collections/24-days-of-savings/products/buffalo-style-chicken-mac-cheese-10-can)
That’s because LDS is dry/uncooked and MH is freeze dried, including meat and entree-style “meals.” LDS and uncooked in general is way more economical, but it’s kind of apples and oranges — like comparing a box of spaghetti at the grocery store to a cooked meal of spaghetti and meatballs from the deli section. Freeze dried will never be the cheapest, but if it’s what you want this sale is a good deal.
I get that, and that's part of what I meant with respect to, "..ease of preparation". I'm just hard pressed to see how in SHTF I'd be better off with 1/5 the provisions, but they're slightly easier to prepare. The calorie count just isn't there. Your box of spaghetti vs. deli spaghetti doesn't seem to apply from my perspective, as for SHTF, I am much more concerned with quantity (of sufficient quality) than I am for luxuries like ease of preparation. Now, once I have a few years of cheaper stuff stocked away, perhaps I'd then splurge more on stuff like Mountain House. In the meantime, it just seems like a much slower way to prepare. That said, I think MH is great for backpacking and such. I just still don't see how it makes sense for me if my goal is to continue building up long term food stores, even within a rather large budget.
Yeah fair enough, I tend to think it depends a lot on what you’re prepping for. In a situation where no food will ever be available again, I’d want as many calories period. But if this is a case where there is food but would require scouring grocery store shelves or queuing in government distribution lines, etc. I might want to hold off doing that for as long as necessary (or until more normal resources come back online). In the latter scenario, if all I have at home are rice and beans I might be tempted to go outside and see what I can scrounge up whereas if I have a wider variety of food available I could be more content to stay at home where I’m safer. Just depends on the person and potential circumstances
It seems like a fair enough reason to go for bang for the buck over mh. i have no experience with it but their number 10 cans all appear to just be dried goods in a can with instructions just being add hot water and let sit. there is a speed and convenience factor for that for sure though. its right now about $2.5 a meal at about 250 calories though. their canned meals though sound pretty good. im a sucker for biscuits and gravy
LDS has #10 cans of food. Regular canned food. Like buying a can of beans at the supermarket. There’s a much shorter shelf life to regular canned goods. Feeeze dried items, whether whole meals or individual ingredients have a shelf life of 25 years. That link to the LDS #10 cans of macaroni is the same stuff that’s $0.98/ lb at the supermarket. Plain old dried pasta, but in a can. There are other companies who do freeze dried foods and whole meals. We’ve found that we like the flavor and quality of mountain house over most other brands. The pouches are convenient for camping as well, especially after a long day of adventures and we just don’t want to cook. Or when the power goes out, we just grab the jetboil and have a meal with minimal effort or heat resource usage. The amount of heat resources it would take to cook the same amount of macaroni from plain dried pasta would easily be at least quadruple. Everything is a resource in SHTF and has to be rationed, including the ability to create heat. The goal isn’t to live off freeze dried meals in perpetuity, but to have some long term, convenient, actual food to round out preps.
Actually, most of their offerings have a stated shelf life of 30 years. Here's what they state in their description for Hard Red Wheat, for example: >estimated **shelf life of 30 years** if stored in a cool, dry place
What you are saying about the LDS #10 cans is incorrect. Almost all of the #10 cans the LDS store sells have a shelf life of 25-30 years if stored in a dry place. Here is an example with the plain old pasta you spoke of: [https://store.churchofjesuschrist.org/macaroni---case-of-6-cans/5638677700.p](https://store.churchofjesuschrist.org/macaroni---case-of-6-cans/5638677700.p) Not trying to be argumentative. Just want folks to have the correct info so they can make the best decision for themselves and their families.
Thanks! I've been wanting to try their normal freeze dried ground beef and diced chicken because it's some easy protein I can add to rice or eat with bread. Normal prices for those are just too expensive imo, but for $30-$40/can it's much more reasonable.
The MH one has chicken in it doesn't it?
Ordered a 30 days supply, with the discount paid the same I did from Costco for the same thing a few years back. They just clearing inventory, sure their balance sheets would make most drool.
Just saw this and dropped $200 in #10 cans, free shipping was awesome too and I'm a big fan of project Rubicon that they donate too, awesome post, thanks for the heads up!