Posted on 04/05/2011 8:48:26 PM PDT by blam
Freeze Dried Food Distributor: Six Month Wait Time Amid Extreme Shortages
Author: Mac Slavo
April 5th, 2011
If there was ever a sentiment indicator for economic uncertainty and fear, this would be it.
As of April 2011, major distributors of freeze dried food, namely the Mountain House brand, are indicating that shoppers should expect delays of nearly six months on any orders placed today:
***CURRENT INVENTORY UPDATE AS OF 04/05/11*** All Mountain House & Nitro-Pak food storage #10 cans are in EXTREMELY HIGH DEMAND due to national & world current economic uncertainty and inflation fears. With this increase in demand, our food order processing times have greatly increased also. As Mountain House’s leading distributor, we are receiving HUGE shipments WEEKLY to fill our customer orders, but demand exceeds the available supply. Most Mountain House dealers have been been cut off & receive no food, period. Supplies are VERY SCARCE. Like Disneyland, the line is long but still slowly moving. Please be patient. This is a line you do not want to get out of!
…
All canned food orders and units may take up to 160 days to ship. Thank you for your business!
Source: Nitro-Pak
Other large distributors we contacted indicated similar shipping delays, with many simply marking their freeze dried food inventory as completely “out of stock.”
Mountain House has advised they are expanding their production facilities, but this upgrade will not be completed until the third of fourth quarter of 2011.
When we first covered the shortages of freeze dried food in December of 2010, a spokesperson for Mountain House, the largest freeze dried food manufacturer in the world, indicated that they were estimating the shortage to abate by February or March of 2011. In February, we received an update from Mountain House, which further pushed out the availability date to the Summer of 2011, and feedback from the largest freeze dried food distributors indicated shipping delays of 30 – 60 days. This most recent alert suggests that while freeze dried food manufacturers are working round the clock, demand for emergency supplies continues to sky rocket at an unmanageable pace.
Economic uncertainty, fear of inflation, government policies, natural disasters and the mysteries surrounding the 2012 doomsday date have been cited as the primary reasons for the parabolic spike in demand over the course of the last six months.
Because there will likely be no relief for any of those fears in the near future, we suggest to our readers that demand will continue to increase well into 2012, and question whether the new facilities being built for freeze dried food production will be enough to offset demand. As more people come to the realization that things may not be exactly as they seem, further demand will likely flood the market going forward.
Due to the uncertainty in the freeze dried food market, those concerned with acquiring quality, long-term food storage should consider and act on other options.
As we’ve suggested previously, dehydrated foods and MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat) are one option that remains available at major emergency food distributors. The other options would be to self-stock and package dry goods, like the 11 Emergency Food items that can last a lifetime, including wheat, rice and beans. Most have a shelf life of 20 – 30 years and provide a well balanced, nutritious diet in the event of an emergency, widespread disaster or protracted crisis.
I simply shared what I found.
What’s the point of spreading rumors that have already been found to be false?
The government wants to control everything for when martial law is implemented. They don’t want me and you owning our own food, guns, ammo or silver and gold. Nor do they want us to have the internet.
So my advise is get some food and water put back along with some guns and ammo. I wish I had a place were I could store gasoline.
I have been in this mode for a least two years.
There are sites and videos that show you how to dry your own for baking. I also tried to order some and asked to be notified when they were in stock and that was months ago.
Not so sure as I am working on an update (Rev i) adding two new articles and correcting some errors.
For those interested in dehydrating your own food, I’ve had a lot of luck dehydrating things and then placing them in canning jars, especially using frozen vegtables when I catch them on sale.
Alex Jones.
Here's the debunk of Infowars BS:
http://www.mountainhouse.com/
Alex will recirculate this same story in another 3 months, just as he did 3 months ago.
Yep. I posted the statement from Mountain House at post #10.
Looks like some folks would rather keep going with the fear-mongering than hear the facts from the vendor!
A few weeks ago, Mountain House was saying they would ship in 120 days, what happened?
I've been doing that for 2+ years...
Read my post #10.
People keep spreading rumors that Mountain House is selling to the govt so there is no stock for retailers. That is not true. That’s the fear-mongering.
Shelf life of how many years? Maybe before the invasion of ‘food moths’. . .
I can see people fretting about MH and other vendors not being able to supply freeze-dried meals, etc. But there are alternatives.
Right now, I’m eating a Knorr pasta side dish I cooked up and added a tomato and some chopped red peppers.
It’s delicious! Really!
And the Knorr sides in the aluminum foil pouches would last basically forever.
So like I say, there are alternatives. I actually have about 20 of the MH pouches stored away, but also alot of other stuff.
Some stores (maybe Costco) sell the dried items in bulk. Dried powdered milk. Various dried gravy mixes, brown gravy, country gravy, that stuff. Also dried cheese sauce powder that all you do is add water to and Voila!! cheese sauce.
So no use panicking... not yet. But get yur rear in gear and start stocking!
It would be a useful marketing ploy, perceived shortage, with the added twist of supporting a panicky conclusion ... “the government’s buying it all up, must be worse than they say.”
Look to the rice panic of 2008 for a good lesson on this. Perception became reality, there actually were shortages, which were caused by panic buying due to the perception of shortage.
It is important to point out that freeze-dryed food and dehydrated food are two VERY different things. Dehydrated foods have a shelf life of maybe 6 months - freeze-dryed foods up to 30 years.
Also, it should be pointed out that freeze-dryed foods really only fit a niche of the prepper's food spectrum - the "light weight / long shelf life" niche. More basic and fundamental than that (and more affordable) is vacuum-sealed beans and rice - along with a pantry full of canned goods. (Properly stored dried beans and rice can also have a shelf life of up to 30 years.)
If you research the nutritional value of beans and rice you'll find that combination to be almost a perfect food (well, throw in a few vitamins, then you've got it made!).
When rumors of this type break out, it is a good indicator that people are afraid.
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