Survival Mom's Review: Organic food storage bucket

Thanks so much to Lisa Bedford at thesurvival mom.com for this great post!  :-)

Sometimes when it comes to food storage, there are some tough decisions to make and one of those is whether or not to include foods that are GMO, commercially canned, and/or filled with chemicals and other additives. Finding organic, non-GMO foods for storage and emergency preparedness can be tricky, but here’s a product you may want to check out.

The Survive2Thrive 40 Days/Nights 100% Organic Food Supply is a basic supply of ingredients that can be cooked and eaten on their own, combined with each other, or included in recipes with other ingredients.  Everything is packed into a heavy bucket and comes with nutritional information and simple instructions for food preparation. It’s designed to feed one adult for 40 days.

The bucket includes:

• Rolled oats
• Millet
• Brown rice
• Green lentils
• Garbanzo beans
• Black beans
• Pinto beans
• Quinoa
• Pancake mix
• Non-fat powdered milk
• Sprout blend
• Sprouted sunflower seeds
• Enerfood drink mix – gluten-free
• Chia seeds
• Miso powder
• Organic cajun spice

With clean water, a cooking pot, and a way to cook food, the 40 Days/Nights bucket brings emergency food storage down to the most essential and easiest elements.

The guys at Enerhealth Botanicals sent me the bucket to try and review, and I have to say, in an emergency, this is perfect for a vegetarianor for non-vegetarians who have meat products in their storage pantry and want to continue eating organic foods, no matter what.  Each item is packed in a vacuum sealed bag designed for long term storage.  Depending on the storage conditions, the food could last for more than 10 years.

Organic foods aren’t important to everybody, but there is good reason to keep it in mind when stocking up on food. Future crises could very easily include limited access to health care and getting and staying healthy now is of utmost importance. If the choice is there between organic and non-organic, GMO and non-GMO, BPA cans and cans without BPA, etc., why not go for the option that might be far better for your body? One complaint that has been made against some freeze-dried meals in the number of additives they contain. The foods in this kit don’t contain anything other than what you see in the package, and everything is grown right here in the United States.

There are a couple of drawbacks to the bucket. Once a package of food has been opened, there is no way to re-seal the packet. You will need some way to keep the food stored, perhaps using a Food Saver or even in Zip-Loc bags or jars. Also, it would be important to get used to eating these foods before a crisis. If your digestive system isn’t used to lots of whole grains and beans, you could face several very unpleasant days!

One suggestion is to buy small amounts of these ingredients from a health food store or a “natural” grocery store and experiment with different recipes and combinations. Really get to know what you and your family like before relying on the 40 Days/Nights bucket for your emergency food source. Of course that applies to any new food storage product.

The 40 Days/Nights 100% Organic Food Supply retails for $269.99 and discounts are available when multiple buckets are purchased. The Enerhealth guys can also be found at the various Self-Reliance Expos around the country and might have “expo only” discounts available. For sure they’ll have free samples for you if you’re lucky enough to run into them at an event!