Emergency food at Costco

[Rob K.]

I was at Costco today and saw that they sell tubs of emergency food. They have a tub that claims it will feed four people for 72 hours for $57.99 and will last 20 years. The other one claims it will feed one person for one month for $149.99 and has a 30 year shelf life.

Does anyone know more about this? I'm not a Doomsday Prepper and I don't have a "bug out bag", but I like to be prepared. Our electrical grid is on its last legs and there could be civil unrest or a terrorist attack. In the 2003 blackout, we had no power for 24 hours and it was a weird scene. It was strange that everything was completely dark and no stores were open. Fortunately, it was summertime and wasn't a big problem. Since then, I have purchased a generator (which has come in handy several times) and I keep an extra supply of gasoline. We've tried keeping a large supply of food, but you don't always pay attention to expiration dates or rotate the way we should. The long shelf life appeals to me.

I looked online for feedback on this food and didn't see any. I'm sure it doesn't taste good and is definitely not the organic food that my family eats, but might be worth having in a pinch. Has anyone purchased this? Eaten it?

[Rob K.]

Originally posted by Eric Michaels:

I am just curious what imagined event are you preparing for?

"civil unrest"? Isn't that a slight over reaction? Do you live in Libya? I don't even think they are stockpiling MRE's.

Ok, so you had no power for 24 hours one time 9 years ago. Your ice cream might have melted in that time. What else did you lose?
So you bought a generator, that is reasonable. You are fine if it happens again, you will have your A/C.

In Katrina, people lost their homes and some were stranded for a few days. No power, etc. No one starved. No one needed MRE's...even with the slow reaction by the govt and aid orgs, none of this emergency stuff was needed. Food was made available.

What is the scenario that you really think you need this? Long power outage? I bet your existing food easily lasts a week or more. You could hop in the car and drive a few hours to Chicago, we had power when you didn't. We have a little food here.

Ok, you are stuck and can't leave. In what scenario would emergency responders not reach you before you starved to death.

This just seems rather excessive concern. Please don't tell me you are thinking about the end of the Mayan calendar.

Even the US government recommends having a supply of food and water in case of such an emergency. I wasn't born yet, but in 1967 there were riots in Detroit that lasted five days. My dad was there and said it was a scary time. You never know when something like that could happen again.

As far as not having power for 24 hours nine years ago, it wasn't a big deal. It was a short time and it was summer. You asked what if it wa a week? You think everyone's food will last a week in 90 degree temperatures? How would you drive to Chicago when all the gas stations were closed? What if Chicago had no power as well?

I'm not being paranoid here. It's very possible we would have an emergency where there was no power for a length of time. I'm not interested in waiting for emergency responders. I'd rather be self sufficient.

As far as Hurrican Katrina, it's true that nobody starved to death. However, there were almost 2,000 deaths. Most of those were because people were not prepared. There were many instances of people having to defend themselves from looters (civil unrest).

As far as the Mayan calendar, that is just dumb. Nobody takes that calendar seriously and you don't hear anything about it anymore.