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Buzz Feed
19-07-2025
- Lifestyle
- Buzz Feed
Money Saving Life Hacks From People Who Now Have Money
It's just the nature of life, it seems: one week, we're flush with cash, and the next, we're scrounging under the couch cushions for a few extra coins. But even through the ups and downs, we all learn helpful financial habits along the way. Recently, u/KiraAzura posed the question, "What's a 'poor person life hack' that you still do, even if you're no longer broke?" over on Reddit, and these 29 responses were incredibly enlightening: "I obtain unfathomable amounts of toothpaste from an 'empty' tube." —ShittalkyCaps"I got a paint tube crimper-like device just for this."—Key_Stuff281"I just use the edge of our vanity's top and pull the tube from the bottom while bending it over the 45-degree edge. Not sure how to explain it better than that, but it forces every last ounce of toothpaste to the top."—Grandmaster_Bile "Use plastic grocery bags for my bathroom and office trash cans." —rotavator0986"Along that same line, I use the veggie bags to clean up after the dog."—Dismal-Remote-3906"I have a plastic bag full of smaller plastic bags. The small plastic bags get used as trash bags, lunch bags, cat litter disposal bags, packing bags for shoes, etc., while going on trips and so on."—NervousSeagull "Continuing to drive my 2005 Camry (my original car). If it runs, why replace it?" —Illustrious_Hotel527"I'm in the same boat with the '01 Dakota I've had since high school. Although with it being a Dodge, I could probably tell you the size of every fastener in the engine bay off the top of my head by this point."—Facetiousgeneral42"I still have my 1999 Jeep Cherokee. It's in almost perfect condition. Why get a car payment when I haven't had one in years?"—Appropriate_Win9538 "Adding lots of extra ingredients (like chopped vegetables and canned tomatoes) to Hamburger Helper to make more of it." —armaedes"I do this too. It also adds some nutrients that wouldn't otherwise be in there. Also, you don't actually need to buy Hamburger Helper — just brown some ground beef with finely chopped veggies, add a can of diced tomatoes or some salsa and some seasonings of your choice, water, and pasta. Cover and simmer. You can change up the seasonings, veggies, or pasta type, and it's like making entirely different meals."—there_should_be_snow "I never eat out for lunch on workdays." —TheDadaMax"My biggest 'raise' was working from home permanently. Between lunch, coffee, and parking, I'm saving $600-700 a month. The bulk of this is just from not eating out daily."—explicitspirit"This is a real GOAT pro-tip: 1) It saves money. Simple. Fast food is $11. Five days a week equals $55, four weeks a month equals $220. Over a year? $2,640. 2) It saves calories. 3) It saves time. No driving, no waiting in line, no waiting for them to make it. Boom, I'm eating and saving at least 15 minutes."—supergooduser "I like to use bars of soap, and putting the little piece of the old bar onto the new bar is mandatory." —Skyccord"The soap of Theseus."—The_Band_Geek"Another thing that works is to throw soap and any slivers into a mesh bag/short nylon stocking, or whatever, and rub that directly on your skin. It tends to lather up really well, and depending on the fabric, it sometimes exfoliates as well."—Curiouso_Giorgio "When I couldn't afford meat, I used tinned brown lentils as a mince meat substitute in pasta sauce/lasagna sauce. I can now afford mince meat, but add a tin of brown lentils to extend the amount. (I like the taste, too.)" —little-marmalade-jar"My boyfriend grew up poor, and his mom would add oatmeal to ground beef to extend it. It works really well in things like meatloaf and meatballs."—ipromiseyouitstaken I check thrift stores and Facebook Marketplace for everything before I buy it new. About the only things I truly buy new are socks and underwear." —whole_chocolate_milk"On Craigslist, you can 'save searches' and it will notify you when new things are listed. It has saved me THOUSANDS. All you need is time and patience, and the item will find you."—Ill-Air8146"I just started using Facebook Marketplace about a year ago. I agree with you. I'm hooked and astounded that you can buy nearly anything you need. I get all of my shoes, winter coats, some clothes, as well as kitchen items, furniture, household decor, rugs, and curtains. Most are 75% off retail. I decided to re-paint all rooms on our second floor. I'm slowly gathering cheap paint. I'll save hundreds on paint. I'm sure you've found many treasures too!"—majordashes"I still buy gently used second-hand clothes, accessories, and furniture where possible! I love thrifting and strongly prefer vintage products. They're often cheaper with higher quality fabrications that would be 3-5x the cost today."—fatchamy "Save all of your vegetable scraps. All the things you cut off of your vegetables when prepping food, freeze them. You can use them all later to create your own vegetable stock or other things like chicken stock. Just be sure to wash them well. Save your scraps of even meat, like chicken bones. All the stuff you don't like the look of still has good flavor." "I know the ends of onions look a little iffy, but you aren't eating them in stock. You're just extracting all the flavor from them. By the time they're finished cooking down, they're going to be basically mush anyway. Homemade stock is so much better for you than store-bought and will save you a lot of money. Likewise, some people will probably pay you for good homemade stock if you feel like selling it."—the-novel"Take it even further and use scraps to grow more food. Pineapples will grow new plants if you remove and plant the top. You can stick green onions in water after cutting them, and they will grow back several times. This works for celery, lettuce, and bok choy, too. Use old potatoes to grow more. Ginger can be planted much like a potato. You can harvest seeds from tomatoes, peppers, squashes, etc. Growing your own fresh herbs and spices is cheaper, whether you buy dried or fresh, and you'll always have fresh seasoning, which beats dried every single is expensive, and you can have a steady supply that won't spoil (until you harvest it)."—FriedSmegma "I almost never buy coffee outside. Either make it at home or drink free crap coffee at work." —Lolyer"This is a big one. I splurged on a used espresso machine, and it has paid for itself in a couple of months, and it tastes better too because I get better than average beans."—explicitspirit"I think I've honestly saved myself an absurd amount of money on coffee by just drinking the coffee at work. I'm not one of those 'I can't function until I've had coffee' people. I can drive to work and wait, and by the time I do have it, I've been awake for like two hours or so. I have my own at home for days off, and it takes me a long time to get through it since I only drink it one or two days a week."—5k1895 "Only buying when things are on sale (discounted)." —Turbulent-Today830"The on-sale price is the real price. The other price is the 'bend-over' price."—Metasynaptic"My favorite way to shop at Costco. I buy eggs, milk, and then anything on sale that catches my eye. Like yogurt, fruit, and frozen stuff! Also, obligatory call out on sharing a Costco membership with someone."—MakesNegativeIncome "Rice, beans, garlic, olive oil, and soy sauce for days, baby. This 10-dollar budget for a week's worth of food got me through college, but I'm still doing it once in a while 10 years later." —JagdCrab"I like to change it up and do different cuisines. For example, Spanish rice using red/kidney beans or more of a Caribbean style using black beans. Honestly, my advice is to buy a can of each type of bean and try cooking them to see which one you like best. I typically buy basmati rice, but jasmine is also you know the type of bean you like best, buy a bag of them dried and keep a can or two on hand. If you have the planning ability, soak the dry beans overnight the day before you are going to cook them. It saves on cooking time and reduces the amount of gas you'll produce. Dry beans are a lot cheaper, but require more forethought."—CanuckBacon "I live near several well-known universities. Want free or extremely cheap and barely used furniture? Know which apartment complexes the wealthy college students live in and when they move out." —csgirl1997"Move-out day at universities, aka 'Hippie Christmas.' Dumpsters full of stuff like microwaves they don't want to haul home."—RedditZamak "Hiding money from myself." —blondiemariesll"Omg! I do this! I have ADD so bad I just forget where I put it, haha. It's usually just dollars I find in the laundry and leftovers from change I stash somewhere. I have little stashes all over the house. I was cleaning out the cabinet we keep all the medicines in the other day and found $15, ha! My best find ever, though, was years ago when portable phones were a thing. We had a landline at our first apartment and were cleaning…found a $100 bill under the charging station! Totally forgot I put it there!"—Odd-Trust8625"Dude, the amount of times I find a $20 bill in my wallet every time I go through them to see what works best with my outfit, or what I might want to donate. I then realize I did that as emergency gas money, congratulate myself, put it back (if not using or donating), and then forget about it again until I do the process once more."—animepuppyluvr "I'm still broke, but a good hack for food is learning to make meals that last all week and freeze well. If you don't have a lot of time to cook, make weekly soups." "Secondly, it's a little cheaper to buy one pound of hamburger and one pound of sausage and mix the two. Sausage is usually cheaper than beef, so you'll save a little money when cooking and come out with way tastier food because sausage gives your dinner's meat a better bite."—the-novel "Calling my internet and cable company every 6 to 12 months, telling them I'm going to cancel. That keeps me at the best price. I have saved quite a bit of money for the same service over the last decade." —CasaBlanca37"Keep up with it and be sure to note any changes each time you do this. Providers have a retention algorithm that will eventually improve with AI implementation, which will be harder to outsmart. E.g., it could know how little it needs to offer you to keep your business. It's not there yet, but still keep an eye on what others are offering so you have a baseline (if not doing this already) each time. Most countries aren't very up to date on AI regulation, and corporate surveillance (especially in America) is quickly becoming a reality."—catholicsluts "Kindness. Always pays back enormously." —astroproff"I cannot agree with this more. Build a network of like-minded folks. We are only so alone as we allow ourselves to be. Share what you have, and others will often do the same."—Affectionate_Ad_7570 "I dye my own hair and never, ever have a car payment." —NeitherNorX"Along the same lines, I learned to cut my own hair as a broke college student. Now, I'm 40 and still do it. I've literally saved like $5,000 so far, and it's one less appointment/errand I gotta go do."—withoutapaddle "Free entertainment. Beach, hike, hanging out in a third space, general involvement in local community, and having an awareness of free events, which are super common." —NewcastleElite"These are all great ideas for ways to spend your time. I also recommend checking out your local library for programs and events. Some libraries have collections of things you can borrow for about a week at a time. These collections can include electronics, musical instruments, lawn games, baking supplies, and all sorts of random things. Many libraries also offer free passes to nearby museums. I've saved so much money over the years by taking advantage of what my library has to offer. "—FlapjackFilibuster"Completely agree! Even economical entertainment such as camping, investing in a park pass, or splitting a cottage with friends/family. There are great ways to get a great experience at a reduced cost."—pizzarunningcoffee "Thrifting 100% of my super fancy office clothes. They have no idea." —EdgeCompetitive"I go thrifting in areas I can't afford to live. Rich people donate the fanciest things."—AgonisingAunt"All of my favorite clothes are thrifted. My latest find was a pair of dress shoes. Brand new, and I mean not worn once, dress shoes exactly my size that retail at $130. I paid $8. Around that same time, I found a brand new Corsair gaming keyboard. It was $17, and it sold on eBay for $150."—FriedSmegma "Learn to freeze and thaw food, and buy as much of your groceries from Costco as possible. In my opinion, if you learn how to use that volume. You pay about 50% vs the normal store." —bloomsday289"Vacuum sealer to augment that. I buy all my meat at Costco. I live alone, so I vacuum seal it all and freeze it. It's how I can go through a 5+ pound boneless lamb leg easily. I get about 10+ meals from it, because I portion it out into three pieces. And that salmon is fantastic."—powerlesshero111"Vacuum sealer is a life changer. Salmon used to go bad by day three, now it's still fresh by day seven! I usually freeze most of them right away, except for one or two, and I don't get to them right away."—happy--muffin "I take tampons from my gym. Never ever paying for them again." —SprinklesBulky4943"At a fast-food place, I'll take a large number of napkins for home. My grandma did it, and I'll keep the family tradition going."—allahandro"Also, those little grape jelly packets or coffee creamer are all fair game."—zatro "Not buying bottled water. That tap water will do just fine." —hp_rice1"Having a Brita or generic equivalent pitcher makes tap water taste better. Also, you don't need to change the filters nearly as often as they say, so they last forever. Do be careful to keep the pitcher clean.I never buy beverages in a container with the liquid (bottles, cans). It's way cheaper, and you don't need to haul heavy beverages when you buy groceries. The only beverages I buy are tea and coffee for a special treat. And I only drink water with meals—you can taste and enjoy your food better that way."—Amuseco "Running some lines of hot glue on the areas of your shoes that get worn out quicker before a long walk or a game of basketball or pickleball, etc., will extend the life of your shoes. Epoxy works as well." —iwouldhugwonderwoman"There's a glue called Shoe Goo that's designed for this. I haven't tried hot glue or epoxy though, so I'm not sure if it works better or not."—catcontentcurator "I make my own liquid laundry detergent and Dawn Powerwash. It's so easy and so cheap! I do five gallons and one gallon at a time for not even close to the cost of a one-time purchase." —BothImpression9544 "I add water to soap and shampoo bottles when they get low, and the diluted soap still works fine. Learned it from my mom; do it out of habit now." —sphinx90724"I intentionally dilute all my shampoo, even from full bottles. I use less, and it's easier to rinse."—LeftArmFunk "The miscolored stack in the paint store. I'll happily keep checking until a colour I love pops up. It's a fun hunt, especially if you've got an idea but aren't absolutely set on precisely one exact color — and there isn't a chance in hell I'm paying $80 for a gallon of paint." —Missscarlettheharlot"Any remotely light color will work as a primer, too."—mmss "I have a full-time job that pays well enough that I could live off it comfortably, but I have two side hustles that I maintain. If my main job ever went away, I could easily put more time into the side gigs and not immediately have to start living off my savings." —WhatIsItToBurn"This is literally how I survived the '08 recession. I went right to full-time at my part-time job."—LeftArmFunk And finally, "I cut my sponges in half." —SampleWest4421"They fit better in my hand that way!"—viciousfishous08"And they dry out much faster, helping them stay clean and last longer."—Amuseco Do you have your own money-saving hacks to share? Let us know in the comments. Or if you'd like to remain anonymous, you can fill out the form below.
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Publix Alerts Consumers to Potential Hazard in Ground Beef
From burgers to Hamburger Helper, ground beef is an essential ingredient in many recipes. Consumers trust that the only ingredient in that package is beef. Publix shoppers should check their refrigerator. Select Market Ground Beef Products are subject to a voluntary recall. Food safety and consumer confidence in the food system are vital. Companies must provide allergen labels and ensure that products are free of potential foreign materials. When an issue impacting the packaged food arises, a company releases a recall of these food Publix voluntarily recalled Market Ground Beef Products, which had been sold in a single Gainesville, Georgia store. Other stores were not affected. The potentially hazardous products were sold on June 26, 2025. Ground beef sold after this date was not impacted. Maria Brous, Publix director of communications, said in a company statement, 'As part of our commitment to food safety, potentially impacted product has been removed from the store shelves.' The products were removed from store shelves. Although the Publix alert did not clarify the potential foreign material contamination, shoppers were urged to throw away the beef or return it to the store for a full refund. Consumers concerned about their purchase can contact Publix Customer Care. Related: In recent months, Publix has been plagued with several food recalls. Earlier this year, pork and beef products were recalled. Both issues stemmed from the potential presence of foreign material. Those recalls were made voluntarily by the company. A voluntary recall helps to swiftly remove the product from store shelves and alerts consumers quickly to the potential hazard. Foreign material contamination is considered a severe issue. Companies are required to alert the FDA within 24 hours of confirmation. Examples of this type of recall include plastic in acai bowls, metal in an artichoke dip or rocks in canned vegetables. Maintaining consumer confidence in the food system is vital. While food recalls can be unnerving, they are Alerts Consumers to Potential Hazard in Ground Beef first appeared on Men's Journal on Jul 8, 2025
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Elk Tip Toppers 4-H members volunteer at Manna Food Pantry
Jun. 5—WORTHINGTON — For 58 years, the Manna Food Pantry has been in business in the lower hall of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Worthington. The pantry has helped people get access to not just food, but personal hygiene products as well. While the food pantry serves Nobles County, some Nobles County kids are returning the favor. Three sisters — Emma, 15, Clara, 11, and Raeya Hietbrink, 8 — are volunteering with Manna and giving back to their community. The Hietbrink sisters are members of the Elk Tip Toppers 4-H Club in Nobles County. The group had previously raised money and participated in food drives for Manna, but this time the girls got to see what things look like on the other end. Linda Sanchez, the coordinator for Manna, has worked at the food pantry for 13 years. She said the pantry is feeding an increasing number of people each day, and expressed concerns about the growing number of people who struggle with food insecurity. "A lot of that is due to the rising cost of groceries," she said. "Our costs go up just as much as everybody else that goes to the grocery store. So, our fundraisers are really important to us." While the cost of groceries has increased, so have the donations the food pantry has received. Their largest fundraiser of the year, the March Food Campaign, met and surpassed the pantry's goal. "That was a real blessing to the community," Sanchez said. She explained while they only have one food campaign a year, the pantry accepts donations throughout the entire year, whether it be monetary or product donations. Right now, a necessity is fresh produce. "If anybody wants to donate fresh produce, we would love it," Sanchez said. "We always like to have fresh produce on hand." The pantry focuses on keeping healthy items stocked. Sanchez shared they don't carry a lot of less healthy foods such as Hamburger Helper or sweetened cereals, unless they are donated. The pantry is open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and is always looking for volunteers to help. Once a month members of the Trojan football team come in and help unload the supply truck. The Hietbrink sisters volunteered at Manna last year and found it to be a fun experience. "So we came back," Emma, who has been involved in 4-H since she was in kindergarten, said. She also shared that their club raised and donated $500 to Manna last year. "Some people donate food, but you can also donate money," Emma said. "Part of 4-H is helping people." Being a member of the 4-H club comes with responsibilities and expectations to give back to the community. Emma explained, "There's four H's. Head, heart, hands and health. And this is the part of our hands. We help people in our community." When community members walk through the pantry, the girls tell them how many items they can receive and help them as though it were a little grocery store. Emma said it is easier for the younger kids to do this type of community service work, rather some of their other projects, such as landscaping. "It's a more funner experience to help other people," Clara said. Emma works with livestock all summer showing her sheep, goats and cattle. She wants to be a veterinarian one day. Her sisters also work with livestock, but create a lot of crafts as well. Clara said she wants to be a farmer when she grows up and Raeya has plans to follow her oldest sister's goal to become a veterinarian.
New York Times
02-04-2025
- General
- New York Times
The Best Emergency Food Kits
I'm an editor at Wirecutter covering emergency preparedness, and I strive to lead our readers toward what they need to survive a disaster scenario and away from what they don't. I approached these kits with heavy skepticism, and I found that they fill a distinct niche that boxed mac-and-cheese and dried ramen cannot. For this guide: We taste-tested food from five leading emergency-food brands. Our testing panel consisted of five Wirecutter journalists. I was on the panel, along with two kitchen-gear and food experts, and two staffers with regular backpacking and camping experience who've relied on freeze-dried food in an outdoor-adventure context. I spoke to several leading food-safety experts to understand how freeze-drying works and why freeze-dried food has such a long shelf life. We consulted manufacturers at Mountain House to learn how they approached developing their meals. I scouted my local Costco and several outdoor-adventure stores to see which emergency-food brands were available in my suburban community. Like all Wirecutter journalists, I review and test products with complete editorial independence. I'm never made aware of any business implications of my editorial recommendations. Read more about our editorial standards. In accordance with Wirecutter's standards and to avoid any conflict of interest, I don't own stock or have any other financial interest in a company or industry that I cover or am likely to cover. If your region is prone to frequent natural disasters or storms that may cut off your access to a grocery store, or if you have to drive long distances to access your regular food supply, you may want to consider having an emergency-food kit on hand. FEMA suggests having a food and water supply that's large enough to get your household through three days of uncertainty. One common strategy for building that small stockpile consists of simply keeping extras of the items you already like to eat and commonly use. This is a great idea (especially when it comes to having flavorful food that brings you comfort), but it's ideal only if you remember to use that food before it expires and replace it with fresh stock. And this technique also assumes you have access to your regular kitchen setup—and the power to run it. Most everyday pantry standards, like Kraft Mac & Cheese and Hamburger Helper, won't have a shelf life nearly as long as that of freeze-dried meals. And even though experts say you can push the expiration dates a bit, these items often are not packaged for longevity. Cardboard boxes are vulnerable to moisture, plastic can leach chemicals into food over time, and cans can rust. Expired Zatarain's mixes aren't going to do you much good when things go sideways. Retsef Levi, the faculty leader of the Food Supply Chain Analytics and Sensing Initiative at MIT, explained how the complexities of our food-supply chain can create commodity shortages—and how emergency food kits can help mitigate the effects of those shortages. Upstream disruptions occur at or close to the source of food production—a farm experiencing a drought, for example—whereas last-mile disruptions represent local events that disrupt the food's arrival at your grocery store. In both cases, emergency food kits can prove to be essential. Emergency food companies tend to cater to one of two versions of emergency preparedness: events where people are expected to shelter in place in their homes and those where people are expected to evacuate (and so will have limited access to resources). The shelter-in-place food kits contain meals that come in bulk pouches with multiple servings. The instructions say to either cook the entire pouch at once or portion it out using a measuring cup. Preparation often requires mixing the dried food with water and simmering it on the stovetop for 10 to 20 minutes. These kits assume that you have access to basic cooking utensils, such as spoons, whisks, measuring cups, pots and pans, and a steady heat source, like a stove or campfire. And if the instructions say to cook the entire pouch at once, you'll need refrigeration to store the leftovers, especially if you've invested in a kit designed to last several days. The distinct advantage of these types of kits, though, is the cost. Some come out to less than a dollar per serving, and they become even more economical if you buy a larger kit. They're far cheaper than the freeze-dried, backpacker-style pouches that fall into our second category. Though freeze-dried pouches are more expensive, they offer some distinct advantages over the stovetop kits. Freeze-dried pouch meals rehydrate directly in the bag in about 10 minutes, using hot water only (or, in a pinch, any water really). So you're not tied to a stove, and you don't need to manage a kit of cooking utensils. A single fork or spoon will suffice. The pouches are lightweight and single-serve, so they don't take up much room. They're easy to stick in a go bag. And you don't have to worry about storing leftovers or open pouches of food mix. We gave both kit styles a fair shake, especially because emergency preparedness looks different depending on the type of emergency you're preparing for. Once we settled on testing both styles, our testing came down to finding the contenders in each space. Applying FEMA's three-day rule, I started searching for pre-built three-day meal kits. (Kits are often more economical than individual meals.) I stuck to just-add-water preparations and eliminated options that extended the prep beyond dump-and-stir. (Apologies to all of the emergency pancake mixes we didn't test.) The next consideration was shelf life—the longer the better. Mountain House sets the standard here with its 30-year guarantee, but other kits boast 5-, 10-, and 25-year shelf lives. Since emergency food is often approached with a rainy-day mindset, I didn't consider anything with a shelf life of fewer than five years, to minimize turnover and food waste. We started with brands that were easy to find in stores like Costco or in outdoor-supply stores, such as Cabela's or REI. These brands tended to be the big players in the market, and they are therefore widely available and competitively priced. Given that these kits could be your only food source for several days, their nutritional breakdown is important. We looked at calories per day and protein content as our primary considerations. Per the FDA, adults need an estimated 1,600 to 3,000 calories per day, depending on factors like age, sex, and activity level. While many of these kits, including those designed for outdoor adventure, fall a bit short of those requirements, you can expect them to be substantial enough for temporary use. The kits we tested provided a range of 1,200 to 2,600 calories per day, with our picks landing in the middle to high end of that range. We also took protein content into account, since protein helps you feel satiated and fuller for longer. While Mountain House falls slightly short on its total calorie count, it makes up for it in offering the best ratio of calories from protein, for an average of 75 grams of protein per day. Astronomically long expiration dates may sound implausible, but they make sense when you think about food designed for, well, astronauts. Xulei Wu, Space Food Systems manager at NASA's Johnson Space Center, walked me through the basics of freeze-drying and explained why NASA relies on it to feed the astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Freeze-drying uses less heat than canning or dehydrating, Wu said, and it's better at locking in heat-sensitive nutrients; this is important when everything an astronaut eats for months is freeze-dried. She also explained how the method yields such a long shelf life. It has everything to do with water removal. 'We don't need to kill all the bacteria in the food. By just removing that water out of it, the bacteria cannot multiply,' she explained. 'Water activity for freeze-dried food is normally at 0.3 or below, and the water activity for bacteria to grow is 0.6. We have a very big gap there, so food safety is not a concern as long as the freeze-dried food is well-protected by the packaging. If the packaging is compromised, then humidity in the air can migrate into the food, raising water activity, allowing bacteria to grow,' Wu said. Still, the packaging is not perfect. So I spoke with Leanne Blommaert, manager of research and development, Food Research at NSF, and an expert in food packaging and sensory evaluation, about how third-party labs tested commercially available emergency foods to establish their shelf lives. If a company wants to stamp a 30-year shelf life on its product, that shelf life has to be tested and proved, but it would be impractical to stretch the test over an actual 30-year period. The food is instead subjected to high temperatures in order to accelerate the bacterial growth. Under these conditions, tests can be done 7.5 times as quickly, so it would take four years in the lab to confirm a 30-year real-world shelf life. Those shelf lives, Blommaert said, are calculated based on ideal storage conditions. And if you keep a bucket of meal pouches in your garage for 30 years, you can probably assume they will be subjected to less-than-ideal temperatures at least a handful of times throughout the years. So you should use your common sense when consuming the food, whether it's beyond its expiration date or not. If you see mold or smell something that's off, stop. ''When in doubt, throw it out,' is really a statement for a reason and it's to protect yourself,' Blommaert said. That's true in the lab, too, because scientists are not just looking for bacterial growth to assess the shelf life—they're also looking for high-quality flavor and texture. 'The end of shelf life is at whatever point you either get unacceptable flavor/texture or the microbial growth is high, whichever comes first,' she said. 'Food safety always needs to come first when we're talking about shelf life. But the product quality and the deterioration of that product quality is really important for the consumer as well.' Marki Williams/NYT Wirecutter With the help of our kitchen team, I set up a tasting panel of five Wirecutter staffers. The panel included two kitchen editors (who tasted from a culinary point of view) and two journalists with backpacking and outdoor experience (who had a basic understanding and expectation of freeze-dried food from a hiker's perspective). I was also on the panel, and I approached this from an emergency-preparedness mindset. Jen Gushue/NYT Wirecutter These kits tend to have similar meal options, so I sorted them into a few categories to taste similar meals side by side—stroganoffs, chicken rices, potato soups, biscuits and gravy, and the like. Ultimately, I settled on a mix of 17 meals across five brands that I thought were representative of both the individual kits and the brands as a whole. Jen Gushue/NYT Wirecutter Jen Gushue/NYT Wirecutter Jen Gushue/NYT Wirecutter Jen Gushue/NYT Wirecutter Senior kitchen editor Marilyn Ong undertook the task of preparing all of the samples, so the rest of us could have a brand-concealed tasting experience. However, she did occasionally shout her cooking observations to us as we waited for samples on the other side of the wall. ('Who has a whisk in an emergency!?' 'Is this really what it's supposed to look like?') Marilyn followed the cooking instructions to the letter, to test their clarity. And at times she ignored her instincts to tweak the method in a way that may have yielded a better final product. Jen Gushue/NYT Wirecutter Jen Gushue/NYT Wirecutter Jen Gushue/NYT Wirecutter While we tasted, every tester filled out an extensive survey on each meal, highlighting tasting notes, perceived heartiness, and whether they'd want to eat the meal by choice. As expected, the samples were not particularly gourmet, and most weren't ranked highly for flavor or texture. Yet we discovered a few surprising standouts that we'd reach for first—and we also found a few nausea-inducing options that we might turn to only in desperation. Marki Williams/NYT Wirecutter The next step in our testing is long-term storage. This testing is ongoing—and we'll be conducting it for a long, long time. Though we may never be able to assess the full 30-year shelf life of some of these meals, I plan to keep them in my basement for as long as possible and taste-test them as they age. I hope I have the luxury of reporting back with an update in 2055, and I'll surely update this story if I face an emergency in which I have to turn to these meals. Marki Williams/NYT Wirecutter These meals are lightweight, portable, and easy to store and prepare. The brand's 30-year guarantee leads the category, and these meals compared well in our taste tests. The meals in the Mountain House Just in Case 3 Day Meal Kit have an ultra-long shelf, and they're convenient, versatile, and have good-enough flavor. So this kit is the best option for most people. Though the meals had middling results in our taste test, the pouches are lightweight and take up very little storage space, so they're great for stashing in a go bag or on a shelf at home. This brand's meals have some of the longest shelf lives on the market, and they take less than 10 minutes to prepare with just water. Marki Williams/NYT Wirecutter Marki Williams/NYT Wirecutter Marki Williams/NYT Wirecutter Mountain House makes some bold claims, but it has a legacy. In 1974, The New York Times reported on the new freeze-dried foods that were piquing the interest of hikers and campers for their convenience and hardiness on trails. One of the brands covered in that story was Mountain House, which was spun off of its parent company's efforts to develop military rations for US soldiers during the Vietnam War. In his review of the food, the writer lamented the taste of Mountain House's shrimp cocktail, but he was impressed by the beef stroganoff. Fifty years later, Mountain House has discontinued its shrimp cocktail, yet the beef stroganoff is still going strong (with a recipe that's evolved over the years). We tasted it in our testing, and I have to agree with the newspaper's original assessment: 'excellent gravy and uniformly reconstituted noodles.' Independent testing backs up an impressive guarantee. Drew Huebsch, director of research and development for Mountain House, suspected that those exact pouches assessed in 1974 might still be edible today. 'I ate beef stew that was 47 years old earlier this week,' he said in a video interview. Mountain House stands by its products with a 30-year taste guarantee, and it says that it has lab-tested the shelf life. 'We've used outside universities to run sensory tests on our product,' he said. 'The feedback that we get is that the quality level at the end of a 30-year shelf life is acceptable and where we want it to be.' But he said he's seen examples of the food lasting much longer if it's stored in the right environment—a cool, dry place free from major temperature fluctuations. Compare this guarantee with that of Peak Refuel, its direct competitor in the outdoor-adventure meal space (which has a five-year advertised shelf life), and you've got a clear winner. Marki Williams/NYT Wirecutter These meals are palatable, but they're not the best we tried. We haven't had the luxury of time to age-test the samples we received. But the freshly manufactured Mountain House meals performed admirably, drawing favorable comparisons from our testers to Hamburger Helper and Knorr Sides. The three-day kit comes with nine pouches of the brand's most popular meals, including chicken fried rice, beef stroganoff, and biscuits and gravy. Mountain House recently introduced a build-your-own kit tool, but choosing meals yourself will eliminate the small discount you get when buying in bulk. We advise going with the premade kit to save yourself some money (unless not having freeze-dried chicken tikka masala in your emergency kit is a real dealbreaker for you). The pouches are quick to rehydrate. For most meals, you add boiling water, stir, and let them sit for 9 minutes, stirring halfway through. Our overall taste-test experience can best be summarized as '50 shades of beige.' However, Mountain House's fried rice stood out by having carrots that were actually orange and peas that were actually green, and the vegetables retained their flavors well. I was also very impressed by the texture of the chicken. I was expecting something spongy and processed, but I found substantial chunks that shredded like the fresh stuff. The pouches are easy to store and transport. Paired with the freeze-dried contents, the pouches are flat and lightweight and therefore easy to pack in a go bag or store in the corner of a closet or pantry. Flaws but not dealbreakers So, about that flavor. In our taste test, Mountain House sat firmly in the middle—not the best, but certainly not the worst. Some of the meals could have used a little more seasoning. And certain ingredients, like scrambled eggs and biscuit pieces, were challenging to rehydrate evenly alongside meat, rice, and vegetables. The price isn't the best, either. We've seen the kit's price fluctuate significantly, depending on its sale status. It's currently available at Costco for $70, which breaks down to about $8 per meal. At its list price of $98, the cost jumps up to almost $11 per meal. If you're stocking up on one kit per family member, the upfront cost mounts quickly. But relative to competitors, Mountain House offers one of the more-affordable freeze-dried pouch options on the market. Mountain House's prices still can't beat those of budget options, including Augason Farms. But this brand does do better on pricing than the mother freeze-dried meals, like Peak Refuel, which will set you back almost $14 per meal. The kit's packaging leaves something to be desired. Mountain House's three-day kit comes in a humble cardboard box, while other brands' meals are packed in heavy-duty plastic tubs. If it's exposed to any moisture, the cardboard could get soggy and eventually moldy. I plan to transfer my remaining pouches into a plastic bucket with a lid. But if you have any rodent intruders, you may even want to invest in a metal one. A persistent rat can chew through even the toughest plastic, and it will rip through a mylar pouch like it's nothing. Meal flavors: biscuits and gravy, chicken fried rice, chicken and dumplings, beef stroganoff with noodles, granola with milk and blueberries Average calories per day: 1,706 Average grams of protein per day: 75.33 Average cost per meal: $7.78 Marki Williams/NYT Wirecutter We understand if you're hesitant to plunk down a few hundred bucks to stock up on emergency food that you hope you'll never have to eat. Augason Farms 72-Hour 1-Person Emergency Food Supply Kit is less of an investment, and it impressed us in our taste test, but there's some trade-off in convenience. The meals are harder to prepare, and you'll need to store cooked leftovers or open pouches to stretch the kit over its intended three-day window. Marki Williams/NYT Wirecutter We genuinely enjoyed eating the meals. The Augason Farms kit was a surprise performer for me. I thought its selection of meals looked pretty boring—potato soup, chicken noodle soup, chicken-flavored rice, and oatmeal. Blah. What I hadn't taken into account was the comfort factor. This stuff tasted just like the canned soup of childhood, and it felt familiar, rich, and hearty. During an emergency situation, when you're staring down uncertainty, it might not be the best time to try out wild and wacky flavors that could disappoint, especially if you have young children in tow who may reject them. My co-tasters agreed. The Augason Farms kit won the top spot in our taste tests—despite also winning the award for being the most beige. While stovetop kits from ReadyWise Outdoor and Chef's Banquet were inconsistent in flavor and texture, the Augason Farms kit was reliably good, if a bit one-note in its focus on chicken-flavored bullion. Marki Williams/NYT Wirecutter Beyond flavor and comfort, the price is simply unbeatable. The 72-hour kit is currently available on Amazon for about $25. That's a run-don't-walk price. Even at its list price of $40, this was still the most affordable three-day kit we tested, providing a low barrier to entry into emergency food and a pretty solid 'why the hell not' purchase. This kit is designed to feed one person, so grab one per family member. Marki Williams/NYT Wirecutter It comes in a small, durable package. The heavy-duty plastic tub is about the size of a lunchbox, for easy, stackable storage. The company claims the tubs are watertight, but we haven't put that to the test. Flaws but not dealbreakers You need a stove and basic cookware. A lot of Augason Farms' flaws are not unique to the brand but instead plague most stovetop meal kits. And the cooking method itself is one of its biggest drawbacks. Having access to a working stove is no guarantee in a disaster scenario. Power loss is a real possibility, so an electric stove will be out of commission right away. Natural gas supplies are often shut off in the aftermath of an earthquake or wildfires, so a gas stove is no guarantee either. To cook these meals, you will need a camp stove and a supply of fuel ready to go. It's one (pretty good) flavor on repeat. The kit comes with three lunch/dinner meals, two of which are soups. And while we found this food to be the tastiest among all of our test samples, it didn't contain a lot of flavor or texture variety. So you can expect the same flavor on repeat for a few days, which may not be a big deal in a short-term survival scenario. Portioning meals is a pain. The biggest challenge comes in the form of storing leftovers. You get one big pouch of each type of food, and the instructions say to cook the whole thing at once, which yields a very large batch. If you don't have refrigeration to store leftovers, you'll end up wasting food, and the kit won't last for the intended timeline. Even if you halve or quarter the recipe to cook a smaller portion, the pouches don't reseal, so storage is still an issue. Meal flavors: creamy chicken-flavored rice, hearty vegetable chicken-flavored soup, creamy potato soup, maple brown sugar oatmeal, banana chips Average calories per day: 2,667 Average grams of protein per day: 56 Average cost per meal: $2.48 Marki Williams/NYT Wirecutter Chef's Banquet makes a 30-day kit only, but we were intrigued by its availability at Costco. And buying a bigger supply is undoubtedly more economical—still, a 30-day kit is probably overkill. The kit will run you $190; which averages out to $6.33 a day, which is the cheapest price among our contenders. But it comes with some challenges, not the least of which is flavor. The meals we tasted performed rather poorly in our taste test and were memorable for the wrong reasons. What was supposed to be a buttery herb pasta was dry, bitter, and oddly sweet, and the campfire stew had enough sugar in it to almost read as a dessert. While the pouches are resealable, and the instructions explain how to prepare individual portions, the bags contain multiple servings. So if you're not carefully rationing, the kit may not last the intended 30 days. ReadyWise Outdoor makes an affordable stovetop kit that we've seen pop up in big-box stores, but it performed the worst overall in our taste test. While this kit wasn't for us, the brand also has a line of just-add-water, freeze-dried pouch options—similar to Mountain House's meals—called the Pro Meal Signature Series. We haven't tested them yet, but we're curious to see how they stack up. Peak Refuel makes freeze-dried pouched meals marketed toward outdoor recreational use. This food is similar in style to Mountain House's, but Peak Refuel's meals are more expensive. The 12-pouch kit we tested will run you $166, yet it has just a five-year shelf life. And in our taste test, it was all over the map. Peak Refuel earned top marks for its chicken Alfredo, which we actually ranked as the best meal of the 17 we tasted. But one of its other meals was so bad that a tester gave it a 0 on a scale of 1 to 10. That inconsistency, paired with the top-dollar prices and the shortest shelf life of the test group, knocked Peak Refuel out of contention. This article was edited by Harry Sawyers and Jason Chen. Sharon M. Vessels, president and CEO, RL Labs Food Testing Laboratory, video interview, January 17, 2025 Xulei Wu, Space Food Systems manager, NASA, video interview, January 30, 2025 Bruce Bechtel, director of marketing, Mountain House, video interview, January 31, 2025 Drew Huebsch, director of research and development, Mountain House, video interview, January 31, 2025 Omar Oyarzabal, senior consultant for Food Services, EAS, phone interview, February 5, 2025 Leanne Blommaert,, manager, research and development, Food Retail, NSF, video interview, February 6, 2025 Retsef Levi, faculty leader for Food Chain Supply Analytics and Sensing Initiative at MIT, video interview, February 20, 2025
