Sunday, 24 February 2013

'Organic' from China exposed: The shocking truth about 'organic' foods grown in the world's worst environmental cesspool

When it comes to foods, superfoods and even nutritional supplements from China, "organic" is largely a hoax. This is my opinion, of course, but I've been researching the issue quite extensively as the key decision maker for new products in the Natural News Store. And I've come to the conclusion that "organic" from China is largely a fraud. Here's why...

First off, you're going to be shocked to learn that there is no limit to how much mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic and aluminum is allowed in "organic" products.

It's a fact: USDA organic standards place NO LIMITS on levels of heavy metals contamination of certified organic foods. Even further, there is no limit on the contamination of PCBs, BPA and other synthetic chemicals that's allowed in certified organic foods, superfoods and supplements.

At this point, you're probably shaking your head in disbelief and thinking, "No, that can't be true. Organic standards must check for heavy metals and chemical contamination, right?"

No! "Organic" certifies a process of how food is grown or produced. It certifies that the farmer doesn't add pesticides, herbicides, petroleum-based fertilizer, metals or synthetic chemicals to the crop (among other things), and it certifies that the soil must be free from such things for a certain number of years before organic certification is approved.

But organic certification does nothing to address environmental sources of pollution such as chemtrails, contaminated irrigation water, and fallout from industrial or chemical factories that might be nearby. A certified organic farmer can use polluted water on their crops and still have the crops labeled "organic."

For this reason: the environment in which organic foods are produced is critical to the cleanliness of the final product.

Organic farming in a clean environment produces clean, organic foods. But organic farming in a polluted environment produces contaminated organic foods. And China is one of the most polluted chemical cesspools on the planet. The pictures on the right show some scenes from China, a country suffocating under a pollution nightmare.

As you view these pictures, ask yourself: Would you eat food grown there? Even if it were sold by Whole Foods and labeled "organic?"

China is an environmental nightmare

China is a nation that has virtually no environmental regulation enforcement. In China, anything goes: You can dump mercury into rivers. You can spray raw human sewage sludge on crops. You can produce factory-made chemicals and blow the waste products right into the air through smokestacks. In China, many rivers are so toxic that, from time to time, they actually catch on fire and burn.

It's so bad that a Chinese environmental official was recently offered over US$30,000 to take a 20-minute swim in a local river.

He DECLINED. Why? Because the river there is so polluted that swimming in it would mean certain death.

It is this water that's often used in "organic" food and superfood production in China. So even though the farmer is following organic process standards, he may be using irrigation water that's wildly contaminated with metals, chemicals and even pesticide residues. He may be spraying hormone drugs on the crops because there's a pharmaceutical factory upstream.

Here's the kicker: In a country with virtually no environmental laws, "organic" food production is largely a fraud because environmental sources contaminate the foods or superfoods being produced there.

There are some exceptions to this, by the way. Notably goji berries are grown at high altitude, far away from the pollution of China's cities and rivers. Goji berries sourced from China tend to be very clean and have very low levels of contamination. There are no doubt other exceptions to the rule, but the difficulty is in knowing what to trust that comes out of China.

In North America, "organic" is legitimate precisely because North America has far more strict environmental standards. Organic is clean food, responsibly produced, and consistently less contaminated than conventional food. The same is true across Europe, where organic standards are also strict. But in China, "organic" is often a joke. Almost a hoax, in my opinion.

And the laboratory tests bear this out. For example, we just published an investigative story on chlorella showing that "organic" chlorella from China is polluted with nearly ten times the aluminum level of "organic" chlorella from Taiwan. And the cleanest chlorella we found in terms of metals contamination was actually a non-organic chlorella produced in Korea.

China is a nation that lacks ethics

Remember, too, that China is a communist regime. It is a country where all religion has been outlawed and the people are never taught ethics or morality. They have no moral compass. Across China, the majority of the population believes that the best way to get ahead is to CHEAT, lie and steal, even if it means harming someone else in the process.

Remember: China is the country where they put melamine in infant formula, knowing that it will kill little children. China is the country where the paint on children's toys contains obscene levels of brain-damaging lead. China is a nation of shortcut-takers who will do anything to cheapen a product as long as they can cover it up and trick the buyer. This is why "made in China" has, for decades, been synonymous with "crap quality."

Here's a little note that will interest pet owners: If you buy pet treats made in China, you are murdering your pet with the most insane chemicals imaginable. The stuff that goes into some pet treats made in China is highly toxic and causes cancer. This is one of the main factors behind the alarming rise of cancers among dogs and cats in North America.

All this isn't just secondhand information, by the way: I lived in Asia for two years and traveled extensively throughout the region. I speak a fair amount of Mandarin (Chinese), and I've interacted with lots and lots of people from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. I can tell you that Taiwan is a country with much greater honesty, integrity and quality than China. In Taiwan, religion is allowed and openly practiced (Buddhism, mostly). In Taiwan, there is a sense of responsibility to customers. There is a philosophy of striving for quality. Taiwan is to China like revolutionary America was to the British Empire. Taiwan is a island nation of hard-working, creative, innovative entrepreneurs, and when I look to import products from Asia, I always try to find it in Taiwan first because I know Taiwan means quality.

But in China, it's exactly the opposite: There is no sense of responsibility to customers. The overriding philosophy is to screw the customer, even on the very first order, knowing that the customer will never buy from you again! In China, the idea is to CHEAT people rather than make them happy. You see this all the way to the top of the government which is, of course, a police state communist regime where laws are enforced at gunpoint against a completely disarmed and helpless population that has no rights. China is a culture of corruption, deception and exploitation.

Now, of course, there are people in China who rebel against all this. There are exceptions to the rule, and there may even be some honest organic food producers in China that buck the trend. Not all mainland Chinese are bad people. Many wish to overthrow the corrupt government and restore freedom, liberty and justice to the country. But because they are all disarmed (China has no Bill of Rights), they are powerless against a dictatorial government. They are slaves to the system.

Health Ranger Select brand BANS all foods, superfoods and ingredients from China except for goji berries

I made a decision months ago to ban anything produced in China from my own label, with the exception being goji berries. If a food, superfood or supplement has my name on it, I will not use ingredients sourced from China unless I know and can VERIFY the end-product cleanliness of the product.

So if you see the "Health Ranger Select" brand or the "Storable Organics" brand, know that it's clean and very carefully sourced.

We source from the USA, Canada, European countries, Peru and even Thailand for some ingredients. Mexico is acceptable for some ingredients as well. But China is a big red flag. I simply can't trust that most foods, superfoods or supplements from China are going to be consistently clean and honest.

China is the kind of country where you order a sample of a raw material -- say pomegranate juice powder -- and the first batch you receive is really clean and passes all the lab tests. So you order 5000kg of the stuff, and when it arrives, it's all full of lead and pesticides.

Chinese medicine herbs from China are notoriously contaminated with lead. The same is true for green tea and many other ingredients that naturally absorb heavy metals.

All sorts of products at Whole Foods, by the way, are grown in China but certified "organic." What a joke.

Given that China has virtually no environmental enforcement whatsoever, the very idea that something grown in China can be certified "organic" is absurd. Without a clean environment, you can't product clean food even if you follow organic growing standards.

So why do so many formulators and food companies in the USA still buy ingredients from China? Because they're CHEAP.

Buying from China means higher profit

Here's the dirty little secret of the natural products industry... and yes, the "dirty" is quite literal in this case: Raw materials from China are cheap! Across the board, raw materials (foods, superfoods, supplements) from China are about 1/4th the cost of materials grown in North America or Europe.

This means getting your ingredients from China grants your product a lot more profit in the marketplace. For those selling through Whole Foods -- whose product shelves are littered with ingredients made in China -- this profit margin is essential to economic survival.

If you're buying a superfood powder sold at Whole Foods and paying $50 at retail, the actual ingredient cost that goes into that superfood canister is often as little as $5. So sourcing those materials from China is crucial to having the margins. Whole Foods might only pay your company $22 or so for a product they sell at $50. So your company has to buy the materials, pay for shipping, insurance, labor, packaging, formulations and everything else and still somehow make a profit to stay in business. So you source from China. You make a really nice-looking label, you get it "certified organic" with a nice USDA logo on it, and you sell it to Whole Foods which adds another layer of legitimacy to the product.

But inside the bottle, there could be mercury hiding in there. Or pharmaceutical residues. Or pesticide residues. Or just about anything, including melamine.

Now, obviously Whole Foods has a level of quality control in place, and they do require C of A's for products they carry. But China is expert at FAKING these documents and tricking importers, formulators and manufacturers.

In China, the idea of forging a laboratory analysis document is no big deal. Fabricating fake documents is routine. You have to understand the philosophy of these people living without any code of ethics, surviving under a police state communist regime: There are no ethics. No values. No moral compass. Forging a fake lab report is no different to them than planting seeds: it's just one more step needed to make money. There is no moral difference in their minds between telling the truth and lying. It's a "relativistic" morality philosophy.

I'm not saying all people in China are liars and deceivers. But a lot of them are. Anyone who has actually lived there for any length of time knows exactly what I'm talking about. This is a country where deceptive manufacturers take white sesame seeds and coat them in toxic black ink just to sell them as "black sesame seeds." This is a country where infant formula producers spike their formula with kidney-destroying melamine in order to make an extra five cents a pound, even while killing babies by the thousands. THEY DON'T CARE. China is a nation that has abandoned morality and even attacked it. This is a country where the Falun Gong group of meditation advocates and yoga practitioners is arrested and thrown in prison by an extremely oppressive, dictatorial government.

Look, cultures are different everywhere around the world. You want to hang out with really nice, intelligent and honest people? Get yourself some Dutch friends. They're the most upstanding, moral, educated bunch of folks you'll ever meet.

You want to hang out with highly-innovative rule followers? Get yourself some German friends. They follow the rules. And they're smart, innovative people on top of that. Brilliant minds. Some of the greatest scientists in history came out of Berlin.

You want some friends who are wildly creative? Those are Americans. Americans make the best movies, the best music (well, along with UK musicians anyway), and a lot of the best computer software on the planet. Americans are rebels. They break the rules and forge a new path. America is a nation founded on rebellion.

But if you're looking for people who will stab you in the back in a business deal, go the China. There, you will find the most back-stabbing, dishonest cheaters and liars you'll probably ever meet, short of Nigera's "Prince Nubula" whose emails promise you'll receive a million dollars if you only send them $5,000 first.

Why you won't hear this truth anywhere else

I know that telling the truth is unpopular and not politically correct. I'm not interested in winning a popularity contest. What I'm doing here is flat-out telling the truth that most other people are too afraid to say on their own: The very idea of "organic" coming out of China is a disturbing contradiction.

And organic standards have a huge gap in the fact that they don't require foods to actually be free from mercury or other contaminants. Overall, organic is a wonderful standard and I've been a strong advocate of organic, but when a "USDA organic" label is slapped on a product grown in China, you really have to scratch your head and say, "Yeah, it might be organic, but is it clean?"

It may be, but you just don't know until you test it. "Organic" grown in the USA can be assumed to be clean, but organic grown in China must be assumed contaminated unless proven otherwise.

Until China enforces some really strict environmental standards, "organic" from China is largely a fraud in my opinion. It's a hoax. You can lie to yourself and say, "Well it's ORGANIC so it must be clean!" but you'll be swallowing mercury, lead, pesticides and other synthetic chemicals in various amounts.

Laboratory tests confirm everything I'm telling you here. This is the dirty little secret of the organic food industry that nobody's talking about.

China's environmental nightmare

Just how polluted is China's environment? As I mentioned above, it's so bad that a Chinese environmental official was recently offered over US$30,000 to take a 20-minute swim in a local river. He declined the offer, as would any sane person.

Are these the same rivers that are being used to produce "organic" crops in China? You have to wonder. A river can be so inundated with smelting factory runoff and chemical pollution that even bacteria struggle to survive in it; yet this water can be legally sprayed on crops that are exported to America as "organic."

If you buy "organic" foods, superfoods or supplements grown in China, you need to know about this.

As The Guardian reports:

A recent government study found that groundwater in 90% of China's cities is contaminated, most of it severely. The head of China's ministry of water resources said last year that up to 40% of the country's rivers are "seriously polluted", and an official report from last summer found that up to 200 million rural Chinese have no access to clean drinking water.

By the way, this is another story altogether, but I can tell you with 100% certainty that China is headed for an environmental collapse. The country has polluted itself far beyond the point of long-term sustainable life. Children are being born as mutants. Rivers support no fish life. Soils are building up obscene levels of contaminants and becoming so toxic that crop yields are affected. Cities are so filled with airborne pollution that the mere act of breathing causes cancer. And on top of that, China's one-child policy has resulted in mass gendercide where baby girls are routinely -- and yes, I mean ROUTINELY -- murdered, drowned, suffocated, etc., because the family wants a son, not a daughter.

In its quest for economic power, China has poisoned itself to death, and now it's only a matter of time before the nation collapses in a cesspool of toxicity and lies. The economic "boom" of China is nearly over, and it will be followed by an environmental implosion so huge and disgusting that the world will be absolutely horrified. Remember: China is so corrupt that it won't stop factories from openly dumping toxic waste directly into the groundwater supplies. Instead of acknowledging the source of pollution, Chinese officials simply accept bribes and cover it up. The corruption in China is so deeply rooted in the culture that honesty and accountability can never overcome the deception.

With some exceptions, when you buy food grown in China, you are buying food produced in the most toxic environment on planet Earth, grown by some of the most deceptive and most corrupt liars and back-stabbers on the planet, all ruled by one of the most dictatorial and tyrannical governments history has ever known. That about sums it up.

Ultimately, China has a terminal environmental crisis on its hands, compounded by an eternally corrupt, dictatorial communist regime government that oppresses freedom and outlaws religion while forcing families to kill their own baby girls under its population control mandates.

In summary, China suffers from:

• An environmental nightmare
• An almost complete abandonment of morals and integrity
• A deeply corrupt communist police state political system that mandates the mass murder of baby girls

Is this the vibe you really want to be putting into your body?

Photo credits:
Adam Cohn:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/adamcohn/4267886203/

http://www.valuewalk.com/2013/01/china-pollution-leads-to-end-of-low-...

http://theboldcorsicanflame.files.wordpress.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Factory_in_China.jpg
Copyright belongs to username "High Contrast"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Beijing_smog_comparison_August_2005...

Friday, 22 February 2013

CLEAN YOUR KIDNEYS IN $1.00 OR EVEN LESS

Years pass by and our kidneys are filtering the blood by removing salt, poison and any unwanted entering our body. With time, the salt accumulates and this needs to undergo cleaning treatments and how are we going to overcome this?

It is very easy, first take a bunch of parsley or Cilantro ( Coriander Leaves ) and wash it clean

Then cut it in small pieces and put it in a pot and pour clean water and boil it for ten minutes and let it cool down and then filter it and pour in a clean bottle and keep it inside refrigerator to cool.

Drink one glass daily and you will notice all salt and other accumulated poison coming out of your kidney by urination also you will be able to notice the difference which you never felt before.

Parsley (Cilantro) is known as best cleaning treatment for kidneys and it is natural!

World Debt Explained: Nation’s Debt In $100 Bills

Politicians speak about Millions, Billions & Trillions everyday. The numbers mean nothing unless one understands the size of these numbers. Here is an info-graphic that is visualizing world debt in $100 bills while making the assumption that debt is represented by physical paper (when it is nothing but a bunch of electronic ones and zeros stored in various computers around the world), presents in gloriously visual terms precisely what the literal debt burden of the world’s would look like expressed in piles of one hundred dollar bills.
6429239_700b_v1

Sources :
  1. Demonocracy
  2. Image Credit

Thursday, 21 February 2013

You must learn to let go

A psychologist walked around a room while teaching stress management to an audience. As she raised a glass of water, everyone expected they’d be asked the “half empty or half full” question. Instead, with a smile on her face, she inquired: “How heavy is this glass of water?”

Answers called out ranged from 8 oz. to 20 oz.

She replied, “The absolute weight doesn’t matter. It depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, it’s not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my arm. If I hold it for a day, my arm will feel numb and paralyzed. In each case, the weight of the glass doesn’t change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.” She continued, “The stresses and worries in life are like that glass of water. Think about them for a while and nothing happens. Think about them a bit longer and they begin to hurt. And if you think about them all day long, you will feel paralyzed – incapable of doing anything.”

It’s important to remember to let go of your stresses. As early in the evening as you can, put all your burdens down. Don’t carry them through the evening and into the night. Remember to put the glass down

Brando turned down the Oscar

"Brando turned down the Oscar, Brando boycotted the award ceremony, sending instead American Indian Rights activist Sacheen Littlefeather, who appeared in full Apache dress, to state Brando's reasons, which were based on his objection to the depiction of American Indians by Hollywood and television."










Wednesday, 20 February 2013

An 87 Year Old College Student Named Rose

An 87 Year Old College Student Named Rose
The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn’t already know.
I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I turned round to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me
with a smile that lit up her entire being.
She said, “Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I’m eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?”
I laughed and enthusiastically responded, “Of course you may!” and she gave me a giant squeeze.
“Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?” I asked.
She jokingly replied, “I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of kids…”
“No seriously,” I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.
“I always dreamed of having a college education and now I’m getting one!” she told me.
After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake. We became instant friends. Every day for the
next three months, we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was always mesmerized listening to this “time machine”
as she shared her wisdom and experience with me.
Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up.
At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I’ll never forget what she taught us. She was
introduced and stepped up to the podium.
As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on the floor. Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said, “I’m sorry I’m so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I’ll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell
you what I know.”
As we laughed she cleared her throat and began, “We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop
playing. There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor every day.
You’ve got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die.
We have so many people walking around who are dead and don’t even know it!There is a huge difference between growing
older and growing up.
If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don’t do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old.
If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight.
Anybody can grow older. That doesn’t take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change.
Have no regrets.
The elderly usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those
with regrets.”
She concluded her speech by courageously singing “The Rose.”
She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives.
At the year’s end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago. One week after graduation Rose died
peacefully in her sleep.
Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it’s
never too late to be all you can possibly be .When you finish reading this, please send this peaceful word of advice to your friends and family, they’ll really enjoy it!
These words have been passed along in loving memory of ROSE.
REMEMBER, GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY. GROWING UP IS
OPTIONAL.
We make a Living by what we get, We make a Life by what we give.

Bulk Foods vs. Freeze Dried Meals

Gaye Levy, Contributor
One of the dilemmas every prepper faces is how to derive the most value out of their food storage budget. None of us want waste and none of us wants stuff that tastes bad. Of course the easiest and most economical thing to do is to stock up on the proverbial beans and rice, adding supplementation with oatmeal, powdered milk and a variety of condiments. With these few items, delicious meals can be prepared simply and there will be adequate nutrition to sustain oneself especially if garden fresh fruit and vegetables are also available.
In my own case, I have over 200 pounds of various beans and legumes and over 300 pounds of rice. I also have lots of chicken and beef bouillon, salt, pepper, chili powder and onion powder for flavorings. These items were inexpensive enough that I will have plenty to share with my less fortunate neighbors who may not have had the money to stock up on food but have skills that I can barter with if the SHTF.
Why Bulk Foods Make Sense
Buying in bulk simply makes good sense when getting started. There is no real research involved – you just go to the store and start making purchases as budget allows. The cost is cheap (I know I keep saying that but it is true) and with some relatively inexpensive Mylar bags, oxygen absorbers and buckets, bulk foods are easy to package and store for the long term.
Bulk foods do take space, however, and they should be kept cool. Space wise, though, when first getting started you can eliminate the buckets and store the packets of food in nooks and crannies throughout your home or apartment. Heck, even under the bed is a good place to store bulk foods.
So bottom line? When first getting started get the basics in bulk foods and use some of your start-up budget for a good water filter, some water purification tablets and possibly some bottled water if you do not want to make up you own bottles of water.
Beyond Bulk Foods
As you study prepping and survival sites on the web, you are going to be bombarded by ads from freeze-dried food suppliers as well as from bloggers such as myself who have products to recommend. This is not necessarily a bad thing since there are a lot of really, really good freeze dried products out there. Furthermore, there are not only freeze dried meals, but also standalone products such a meats, veggies, fruits and my personal favorite, shredded cheese.
Using myself as an example, I own a variety of these products from a variety of vendors. I like to cook so I have migrated toward the individual components although I do keep some freeze dried meals on hand as well. Some are quite good. One of my favorites is the Legacy Foods “Beans & Rice Enchilada” meal. Now to be honest, it looks pretty bad before it is re-hydrated. This is pretty typical. But after adding boiling water and letting it sit for awhile, well, I don’t think I could have made it tastier had I made it from scratch.
Which gets me back to my original question. What is the value proposition when comparing bulk foods of freeze-dried foods? (And by value proposition, I mean the benefits of one versus the other given the difference in cost.) In my mind, a reasonable person would use the following factors to compare the benefits of one type of food to another. These are: Shelf Life, Cost, Storage, Convenience and Taste.
I have my own opinions, of course, but I thought it would be interesting to get the opinion of a vendor who lives and breaths this stuff. I chose Buy Emergency Foods for a couple of reasons.
First of all, I like their food (such as the beans and rice enchiladas I mentioned above) but also I have gotten to know the CEO and feel that he is a sincere and credible guy. With the assistance of one of his colleagues, Lee Flynn, (who is also a freelance writer an expert in emergency food preparedness and food storage) he provided me with the following response to my quest for an industry opinion on the value and benefit of bulk versus freeze dried foods.
The Value Proposition: Bulk Foods vs. Freeze Dried Meals
Paper or plastic, gas or electric, debit or credit—life is full of choices. And choosing between bulk foods or freeze-dried meals—to ensure that you get the best overall value while meeting the long term food storage needs of your family—can be daunting. In the interest of making the decision process a little easier, here’s a look at some of the pros and cons of both bulk and freeze dried foods.
Shelf life
When choosing which foods to include in your emergency storage, a major deciding factor should be shelf life. If your overall goal is to build a long term emergency supply, freeze dried foods should definitely be on your list, as many freeze dried meals are made to last up to 25 years or more when stored at room temperature, and still retain their original flavor and nutritional value. The shelf life of bulk food items will be subject to temperature and humidity fluctuations in the storage area and are limited to only a few years at best.
Cost
One big advantage of buying in bulk is that it allows you to get your core items fairly inexpensively and build up a good supply quickly—even when on a limited budget. Bulk foods are also readily available now at all large grocery stores. Freeze dried meals are typically more expensive upfront, but they can save you money in the long run by not having to replace or replenish them as often due to their longer shelf life. By contrast, shorter dated bulk food items will often need to be used and replaced before a need or emergency actually arises. However, bulk foods nearing the end of their shelf life can be more easily used in your everyday cooking than freeze dried—without having to make dietary changes.
Another cost benefit of bulk food ingredients is the ability to stretch items over many different meals. Freeze dried meals, which come in pre-portioned packaging, are only good for one use.
Storage
Storing bulk foods can be difficult, as they typically require large containers that take up more storage room. In addition, bulk foods require additional measures to keep pests away and protect them from the elements. Freeze dried meals are tightly sealed, compact, and easy to stash away in almost any environment or climate, making them far easier to store, organize, and transport than bulk foods.
Convenience
Freeze dried meals are by far the most convenient food storage option available. Most only require hot water and minimal cooking time. In contrast, bulk foods require more preparation, cooking, measuring, and even cooking pans and utensils. If you find yourself in a position where you must leave your home—especially in a hurry—you’ll find that freeze dried meals are much easier to transport and prepare than bulk foods which may weigh you down and make survival more challenging.
Taste
In the past, many people preferred the more home-cooked flavor of bulk food meals over freeze dried meals. And bulk foods do tend to make it easier to stick to a diet that is more familiar to you or your family. In addition, with bulk foods you can prepare meals that are closer to what you enjoy without any unnecessary ingredients that may alter taste or trigger sensitivities that freeze dried meals may include.
This is especially helpful for those with special diets or allergies. However, it should be noted that when it comes to taste, freeze dried foods have come a long way in terms of the quality of ingredients, and the ability to retain both taste and texture despite years of storage. This makes freeze dried meals an excellent choice for satisfying the varied food and taste preferences of a family in regard to age, special diets, and the nutritional needs of each family member. In addition, storing complete and “ready to eat” meals that can be quickly prepared—as opposed to the bulk ingredients needed to make all your meals from scratch—gives you added peace of mind in knowing that you and your family are prepared to face any emergency. And it’s hard to put a value on that.
The Final Word
I still endorse a methodical, step by step approach to storing foods for the long term. For some this will mean picking up a few extra bags or cans of food with each trip to the grocery.
For others it will mean learning to can the bounty from their gardens, orchards or fishing and hunting expeditions. And yet for others it will be expanding their stored foods to include prepackaged meals and other freeze dried items.
Whatever method you choose, keep in mind proper storage procedures (see the The Six Enemies of Food Storage) and, if buying in bulk, learn how to cook those bulk foods now, preferably outdoors on an open fire as well as in your kitchen.
When all is said and done, it may not be important whether you stocked up on bulk or pre-packaged foods. Instead, the importance lies in having have done something to insure you will have food if things go awry down the road.