Not all year supply packages are created equal- Dare to Compare!

We all know that there are numerous companies out there who are trying to get families prepared for storms that lie ahead whether they be loss of job, truckers strike, terrorism, natural disaster, crop failure, drought, helping other in need... there are MANY reasons to have some surplus food available in your home.  Most of us living in America are under this umbrella of comfort that we have, have no idea that other areas of the world are actually starting to buy out OUR food storage.


If you are already on board and don't need any more convincing about the necessity of building a "Home Store" I would like to give you some pointers on what to look out for when comparison shopping.  Some of these are going to sound quite obvious, I know, but the answers aren't always readily available since some companies go through great lengths to keep certain information confidential because if the consumer actually knew what they were getting, they might think twice before making such an investment.  Here are the things to look into when searching:


How many people does the package serve?  Does everyone get the same proportion? 
Number of Servings in a can? How many grams in a Serving? 
How many Calories are allotted per day?  
What is the Quality of the food? How much Dehydrated vs Freeze Dried food is in the package?
What's the Cost of eating this food each day?

Shelf Reliance tells you upfront that this package will serve 1 person for x amount of months or 2 people for x...so on and so forth.  They count each individual as an equal person and allow for each person to have the same amount of calories so you won't have to figure out if the company is trying to give you less without telling you.  For example, I called one endorsed by a very popular radio show host and after asking some questions about their package for 3 entrees for a family of 5, I found out should actually be considered for 3.5 people on a 750 calorie a day diet.  If you are wanting to serve 5, the calorie content would actual equal closer to 375-450 calories a day.  This is not to cut down their company because their meals are delicious, you just need to make sure that you know how much food you are getting if you are going to buy a $9,000 package.

Shelf Reliance tells you how many servings are in each can and calculates each serving to be 1/4 cup so you can compare among all of the others.  Some companies 1/2 cup servings but then there are fewer grams in the serving.  For example, I was helping a customer compare her old companies Freeze Dried Blueberries and the other company had 1/2 cup being 18 grams.  Our 1/4 cup servings has 10 grams.  This may not seem like a big difference at first, but that means their company had 288 grams for $27.50 while ours has 500 grams for $35.99.  While our can costs more upfront, it is easy to see that there is more food in the can. The competitor's Blueberries are 9.5 cents per gram, ours are  7.2 cents per gram. That's a significant difference!

When you go on to the Shelf Reliance website and look at the package it will tell you exactly how many calories each person will get when you buy the package.  For example if I buy the Standard 1 Year Supply of Dehydrated and Freeze Dried Food you will get 1,475 calories per day.  This seems much better than 450!  Some packages even come with a shelf to hold all of the food you are buying, and that is a smashing deal!

Shelf Reliance retains its high quality food by not purchasing their food from China or Mexico.  In fact, they try to keep most of their food here from the US except for certain times of the year when they have to outsource in order to keep year long contracts going for each food in order to allow for our food to always be in stock.  I've had people at some of my parties say, 'I've tried freeze-dried Strawberries and they were disgusting.' But I still urged them to try ours and they thought they were fantastic!  This is because SR goes to great lengths to make sure that they get the best tasting, highest quality food and taste test each batch before sending it out in order to ensure quality control.  That being said, there are differences in the food as fruit naturally has variety as it grows and in different crop seasons, so don't be worried if there are color or texture changes, this is just Mother Nature doing her work.

Also, some companies load up their packages with only dehydrated or mostly dehydrated foods in order to bring the cost of the package down.  What's the problem with this?  Although dehydrated foods are cheaper, they often have sugar or salt added to them in order to make them taste better. Also, some of the nutrition is killed as it is heated up in order to dry it out.  You can't just add water to dehydrated foods in order for it to taste just like the original and oftentimes you can't just snack on dehydrated without cooking it first.  I use dehydrated with some of my food storage, but I prefer my fruits freeze dried.  Shelf Reliance will tell you just how much of your package is FD or Dehydrated. They have different levels of FD or Dehydrated so you can personally choose what your family wants or needs.  Dehydrated Banana Chips might work for trail mix, but banana slices are what you'd need if you wanted to make banana bread.

What is the cost to eat each day?  Well it's pretty simple.  Just take the total cost of the package and divide it by 365 days if you are buying a 1 person kit or if you are buying for a family of five divide that new number by 5. Viola!  If you are getting the Basic 1 year dehydrated Food Supply it will cost you about $3.17 a day to eat.  If you are getting the Deluxe Food Storage Package for a Family of 5 it will cost you about $3.27 a day to eat with about 1,536 calories a day!


Please, please, please DARE TO COMPARE!!!


If you like this post, you might also be interested in Huge Shipping Discount and Lessons from Japan.  Don't forget that if you are storing dehydrated and freeze dried foods, you also need to have some Water Storage.  You can visit www.shelfreliancemom.shelfreliance.com to learn more about any of our packages, or as always, you can email me at TiffsTreasures@gmail.com to get questions answered.