Poll: Good deal on Emergency Food Storage

Stealth-X · Apr 11, 2017

Hi guys. I hope this is the right forum. The Goood Deals forum looked specific to guns and accessories, so I figured this was the place for emergency food prep stuff.

THE DEAL IS: Augason Farms 30-Day Emergency Food Pail (24 pounds) for $56.43 shipped.
***Pail detail summary: 307 total servings, 35 individual food pouches, 1,822 calories per day, and 54,670 total calories (links below)

HOW I GOT THE DEAL:
Walmart has an Augason Farms 30-Day Emergency Food Pail priced at $69.92 (usually about $100 though there are a couple to be found for $72 and $84 elsewhere)

Anyhow, Target is giving out $10 Target gift cards with $50 and up food purchases. I called target first to verify that they would match the Walmart price and that I would still get the $10 gift card on top of the discounted price, i.e. to ensure they would price match $99.99 to $69.92 ($30.07 discount) instead of matching $99.99 - $10 gift card to $69.92 ($20.07 discount.) Pre-purchase phone call verified they would discount the purchase $30.07. They said they would do this for me (once) implying it's not normal, but since I had her on the phone I asked if I could do it on multiple purchases (six in my case) and the lady at customer service said yes, and gave me a reference number to provide when I called in for the price matching (has to be done after purchase is complete.) On top of this, I used my target card so I saved another 5%. Plus free shipping to my home.

Purchased on Target.com with my Target card for 99.99 with $10 gift card. Re-ordered 5x (they have to be separate orders to get a $10 gift card with each. Received six order confirmation emails/order #s. Then called Target again (800)591-3869 (option 3) and gave them my first customer service call's reference number. They asked for my first order number, and once they pulled it up they could see all six orders. Took about 10-15 minutes total on the phone because he had to manually price match the six orders, but all in all, it went smooth and I saved some money. Okay, really I spent money I wouldn't have spent, but it was such a good deal, I couldn't help myself. It's "for the children" dang it! Stop looking at me like that!

STEP by STEP:
So it you want the deal here's the steps-
1. Verify Walmart price is still $69.92 and in-stock here
2. Call Target -(800)591-3869 (option 3)- and verify they'll price match (+ gift card) the item and once confirmed see if they'll do it for the number of buckets you want (not just one). Ask them to thoroughly input into their system what they've approved/explained so your customer service reference number is actually helpful when you call back.
3. Order ONE bucket from Target.com here using your Target card if you have one. One separate order per bucket. Re-order ONE bucket at a time until you've ordered the desired number (previously approved by Target at step 2)
4. Make sure all orders went through and that you have your verification email and order number for each bucket ordered.
5. Again, call Target -(800)591-3869 (option 3)- and request your price match. Give them your Target customer service reference number (from step 2) and one of your order numbers, and they should take it from there.

Ten dollar gift cards should be emailed out when the item ships.

The poll is just for fun. I've never used one

I know this is a good deal for this specific product, but is this an overall good-deal compared to other pre-packaged long-term food items? Always overpriced Mountain House 72-Hour Emergency Meal Kit (<4 pounds in a box) is $40-56. If there are better deals out there, feel free to post them and hijack this thread.

Good luck,
Stealth

Camelfilter · Apr 12, 2017

That's a pretty good deal, especially at the calories per day. Thanks for sharing!

coltemp · Apr 12, 2017

HI,
Good deal in terms of price.
Generally though, while I like having a few buckets like this specifically for quick grab and go situations, they usually are that great when you look at the contents.
Sure the servings calories etc look good, but make sure you dig a bit checking the label. All to often what I have found is these buckets are loaded with soups and chilli's and granola. Extremely high is salt and sugar. (Hence how they get the calorie counts up!) AND usually filled with stuff we don't eat on a regular basis or anything like we would normally eat.
And most of the so called entree's are not something I think I would want to eat in the first place.

The packets inside are nice in terms of easy to transport, light, and store. But usually come at a higher price per unit than using #10 cans. Because of this I have a few buckets for that crap hits the fan bug out need but most of my prep is in larger buckets or #10's with food more similar to what we eat every day.
thanks for the great instructions. That's a great way to beat the system and take advantage of the rebates. Kudo's.

cigars · Apr 13, 2017

If you don't have anything and are starving you would wish you had bought this. If you currently have no emergency rations on hand then buy something, anything. Do it now! If shtf, regret wont fill your belly. Check out Costco too. Also look into the LDS canneries.

woody06 · Apr 14, 2017

Before we buy any survival food we buy individual packets of anything we are considering just to make sure it's something we would actually eat. Yeah, as cigars says, "If you don't have anything and are starving you would wish you had bought this." But I'd rather try something ahead of time to make sure I like it.

coltemp · Apr 14, 2017

woody06 said:
Before we buy any survival food we buy individual packets of anything we are considering just to make sure it's something we would actually eat. Yeah, as cigars says, "If you don't have anything and are starving you would wish you had bought this." But I'd rather try something ahead of time to make sure I like it.

Good idea. Though I tend to concentrate on buying more ingredients. Also, I have found that by adding things like FD peas, corn, etc... some Entrees that are otherwise either too salty, or kind of bland become pretty good.
Having tried quite a few of the MH, Emergency Essentials, Saratoga, and a few other Entrees. They are a mixed bag. With the exception of a few things and certain types I have found MH to be generally pretty good. I have heard Some of the Thrive are pretty good but I hate over paying and you will almost always way over pay for Thrive.

I always encourage those who get supplies from me to open a few cans and try things. Find out what works and what doesn't. Take the time to learn which products rehydrate easily and which are better off sitting a while longer or best used in stews.

Camelfilter · Apr 14, 2017

Yeah definitely try things out.

However sometimes appetites change, and drastically so when doing exercise/manual labor (& if under stress) especially for long durations. Days to weeks at a time.

Ramen as a simple example. Love the stuff!

Can only eat it every other week or so these days. Hiking/backpacking/bike packing/cycle touring, can eat it every day & twice a day no prob.

Alexx1401 · Apr 14, 2017

That is a good deal. I bought one of these buckets a while back after hearing about the brand here. Tried a couple cans first. Stuff was fine. With a little jazzing it up I liked it. So bought the bucket to put away. It's there for just in case. If there is ever a disaster and we can't buy food for a while it will certainly do. Probably never need it but it was cheap enough to be worth setting aside.

308 · Apr 14, 2017

I'm pretty confident my wife and I could live on rice for quite a while since we eat a lot of it.

Our approach has been to buy good quality in 25lb bags and fill food grade buckets. All this can be acquired at Bob's Red Mill at a reasonable price.

Once the base items are secured, like Wild Rice Blend, White Rice, Parboiled Ruce, Jasmin Rice, the the condiment sides can be added and stored in similar buckets...things like gravy mix and spices.

Other food items can be added like the Black Bean soup mixes, Quinoa (superfood), Barley, Etc...

All this for much cheaper than having someone elses husband or wife package it up and mail it to us.

My $0.02

cigars · Apr 14, 2017

Yes, as stated by the others above, definitely try some of it out before buying mass quantities, if possible. Forces instance, I opened a No.10 can of Mountain House scrambled bacon and eggs. I figured it would taste like well, bacon and eggs. It tasted more like expired corn syrup. While most of the single ingredient FD supplies are pretty straight forward, some of the multi ingredient items may not be what you expect when it comes to actually eating the stuff. I guess the manufacturers figure that people will just. Buy the stuff and throw it into storage.

Stealth-X · Apr 14, 2017

You guys certainly make good points about trying before buying items like this in-bulk. At this point, I'm not looking at the enjoyment factor too much. I'm more looking at the value/cost since I don't plan on actually eating this stuff unless I need to. If I need to eat this stuff, then I doubt I'll be in a place to be overly picky about taste or variety. "Hunger is the best seasoning" or something like that.

To me, it was a choice of buying a "30 day" supply of this stuff, a "5-7 day" supply of Moutain House, or maybe someday getting around to buying, packaging, sealing, and storing a 35-40 day supply of bulk grains, beans, etc. for the same price.

Of those three choices, I think I made the right one. It was a good enough deal to make me take action now, rather than someday.

Speaking of which, they were delivered as I typed the above sentence, so I need to go make room for them somewhere