Augason Farms – Food In Pouches
Augason Farms (a family owned leader in the food storage industry for over 40 years) has recently introduced a new product line (pouches) consisting of a variety of foods (listed below) which may fit well with your food storage plans – be it at home, camping, or in an emergency kit (vehicle, pack, or other such kit).
The great thing about their food pouches is that all you need to do is add water. Additionally, for the price – you get lots of calories compared to some other alternatives.
Here’s a quick review of three of the many new food pouches that they have:
Disclaimer:
Augason Farms has been a long time advertiser here on Modern Survival Blog (for good reason!)
They sent me three pouches of my choosing – in order to review and let you know about it.
I chose ‘Instant Blueberry Granola with Milk’, ‘Instant Cheesy Broccoli and Rice’, and ‘Tomato Basil with Pasta Soup Mix’.
The pouches are made of a substantial Mylar type material and were sealed tightly. An oxygen-absorber packet was in each pouch.
Augason Farms – Instant Blueberry Granola with Milk
Having just had some for breakfast this morning, I must tell you that it tastes great! First of all, I LOVE blueberries and I was not disappointed to find lots of blueberries mixed in with the other ingredients. The taste was great! I really enjoyed the Granola blend (there are more than just a few ingredients in the Granola) which filled me up nicely (oats and nuts are not only healthy but they will satisfy your hunger longer than a sugary sweet breakfast or other such ‘junk’). The blueberries were big, plump, and tasty.
Ingredients include a Granola blend, nonfat dry milk, freeze dried blueberries.
The Granola blend consists of (organic rolled oats, organic evaporated cane juice, expeller pressed canola oil, coconut, almonds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, cashews, walnuts, honey, sea salt, natural vanilla flavor, epazote leaf, organic cardamom seed, organic fennel seed, organic fenugreek seed and organic nutmeg).
Calories
4 (1/2 cup) servings at 210 calories each = 840 calories per pouch.
JUST ADD WATER (to your own preference consistency). They recommend 1-1/2 cups for the entire pouch. I simply poured out some in a bowl and added water until it ‘looked right’ ;)
Shelf Life
Up to 10 years if stored properly (cool, dry place).
Augason Farms – Instant Cheesy Broccoli and Rice
(I forgot to take pictures of this before we ate it all ;) )
Four of us had this last week as a meal supplement, and EVERYONE liked it. With regards to food storage for preparedness, not only is caloric content important (as well as diversity, nutritional aspects, packaging, shelf life, etc..) but also the FLAVOR. Since I personally like broccoli (and who doesn’t like cheese…), I did enjoy this meal. I felt that if I had added more broccoli (fresh or otherwise) it would have been even better ;)
Directions: Whisk entire contents of pouch into 2-3/4 cups of boiling water. Cover, remove from heat and let stand 10 minutes.
Calories
4 servings at 350 calories each = 1400 calories per pouch.
Shelf Life
Up to 10 years if stored properly (cool, dry place).
Augason Farms – Tomato Basil with Pasta Soup Mix
Mrs.J and I had this a few nights ago. Again, their foods are quite tasty. Love the flavor. This reflects the apparent fact that freeze-dried foods always seem to taste better than many other preservation methods. We mixed the entire pouch and had it with some bread – but could not eat it all (so it served us lunch the next day too).
Mrs.J told me to mention how simple and easy it is to prepare :)
Whisk soup mix into 8.5 cups of boiling water. (For a thicker soup, reduce water by 1/4 cup.) Simmer on low heat for 20 minutes. Stir frequently.
Calories
8 servings at 150 calories each = 1200 calories per pouch.
Shelf Life
Up to 10 years if stored properly (cool, dry place).
My conclusion is that Augason Farms new line of food pouches contain a very good value (calories vs. price) and the taste has been superb. As with any food storage, diversity of food types is important and these pouches seem like yet another good versatile package.
I encourage you to try it for yourself, or any of the other food products at Augason Farms.
The list of their new product is as follows:
Instant Blueberry Granola with Milk
Instant Oatmeal with Strawberries
Instant Cheesy Broccoli and Rice
Chili Cheesy Enchilada Soup Mix
Thanks for the information. I have been weeding out my dried mixes that require additional ingredients besides just water. When forced to turn to our stores in the past I found that I frequently lacked the additional ingredients to complete certain meals. I have been slowly replacing those with mixes that require water only. I have purchased Auguson Farms food in the past, so I know they are good quality. I am also glad to see they are using some organic foods, something truly lacking in the food storage field.
Thanks for the review Ken. Looks like I’ll have to buy some to add to our stock.
I have not bought from them before.How is the sodium content?I have eaten other products and they seem to go heavy on the salt.Just wondering…the calorie content is a plus and it sure is appealing in the picture.Could almost taste it..:)
steelheart
Like you I was checking that information on the back of the package. I like tomato soup, but it usually has to high a sugar and sodium content for me, so I look at the packaging on this product. It appears that it is something I could eat without having a reaction to the high s & s content.
For what it’s worth. I’m hiking this week in Zion and next week at Grand Canyon. I eat chips with my meals to make sure I have enough salt. Salt is essential for health and life. Recent studies have shown that previous beliefs about too much salt being bad for you including the theory that it caused high blood pressure, to be wrong. There are of course some health conditions that would require monitoring salt intake but most people don’t have these problems.
Gone…do you have any references on the salt and health research? I have always thought the pharma and medical industry over stated the risk.
I agree Gone. I always seem to feel better when my food is heavily salted. I, at one time put salt on everything, then cut back because of supposedly how bad salt is for you. I never seemed to feel good after that. Then I remember reading the same thing about how previous statements on salt could be wrong. So I went back to my old ways and noticed I felt better.
I have read over the past ten/twenty yrs a steadily changing views on salt. first it is no salt/then it is salt is great.
I have known a lot of folks who used LOTS of salt, and honestly, they seem healthier than those that use no/little salt.
right now the “articles” seem to be coming out in favor of salt. Also, interesting, many articles popping up in favor of fats.
Some of the problem with salt (to my mind) may be due to the chemicals / additives added to regular table salt. Chemicals to make it flow easy, keep it from clumping, etc.. As well, Iodine is added. Yes, I know we all need iodine, but…if one is a heavy salt user, maybe too much iodine is not good either?? have read a few articles which say excess iodine is also a problem… (seriously, read quite a few articles which say excess iodine causes ill effects on testicles amongst other things).
I think we all need to remember, the folks writing articles (whether in sciences sites or news sites) well may have something to gain/benefit from their point of view. It also seems to reverse (on various things) every few yrs.).
To my mind, pay attention to how you feel when you eat this or that, be it salt/salt with iodine/sea salt/herbs/veggies/meat. Sooner or later you will catch on to what your body is “needing”.
(and for the record, have read of a lot of folks who got severe headaches, and these seemed to be eliminated/lessened by increasing salt and fats. Not so far fetched when you realise the brain is mostly fat. Just imagine what low fat diets, drugs that suck the fat out/ cholesterol out might do to a brain which has high fat content? Might not be good.)
Everyone,
we all need salt, specifically seasalt with iodine. Iodine is important becuase it regulates metabolizam and a host of other hormones.
The salt used in processed foods is not the same as seasalt, these other salts need to be avoided. I use real sea salt from France because it has trace minerals, kind of expensive, but I have never had high blood pressure. Also, I don’t buy anything from Morton.
One of my kids is in college in chemical engineering, so a very good source of info. She also told me that all of her professors eat organic and meals cooked from scratch for a reason.
Though I agree that seasalt can be a bit more healthy, it all depends on the batch of salt, location and when it was dehydrated. Those minerals are literally time and location specific.
About 10-15 years ago a professor at UC Davis Ca. did study about salt and how much the body needs . The local kcra tv station did the interview and he said the body sheds excess salt thru the urine . I like to salt my food and it bugs the wife to no end.
Thanks for the review. Over the past year I have been adding these Auguson Farms products to my preps but have not had the opportunity to try them out yet. Yes, I know as preppers we should be trying out our stuff before SHTF but heh, I actually like MRE’s cold so it doesn’t take much to make me happy. However, glad to read about how good these taste.
Juiceman, Yes the excess salt is shed through the urine. But it has to get there first. Salt is in three major places in your body. The cells or tissue is intracellular, the spaces between the cells is extracellular, and in the blood. It needs to be in the right concentration for everything to work correctly. Normal saline IV solution is 0.9% and the right amount of salt in our body is just about the same. When we talk about salt we are usually talking about sodium chloride but other salts are also present with the next most common one being potassium, collectively these different salts are called electrolytes. You have to have them for the cells to do work, You can think of them as the acid in the battery although it would be more correct to consider out body as an alkaline battery.
Now here is the thing, if you could eat 9 lbs. of salt (don’t, it would kill you) you would have to drink a 1000 lbs. of water to dilute it to 0.9%. So a relatively small amount of salt requires a large amount of water. Now that water is going to also be in 3 major places, cells, in between the cells and the blood. Now if you have more fluid in the blood you have more fluid in circulation. This is doing two things. It is increasing the pressure in the system (think higher blood pressure). It is also increasing the workload on the heart to pump it around. This is the stuff I was telling my patients about high salt intake. Yes your kidneys will get rid of it but it causes work to do so. Now imagine you are a farmer and you are going to irrigate 2 fields. You have 2 identical pumps each field is going to need 1 gallon of water a minute and one field is 1 acre and the other field is 2 acres. Which pump is going to do the most work and which one is going to wear out faster. Cut back on your salt and you will live longer. This isn’t something that will be problematic until your older. But when it is a problem it can only be treated not really fixed. Ask any ER nurse worth his or her salt (pun intended) which days of the year they see the most salt related problems. Answers are New Years, Easter and Christmas because we tend to feast on salty foods those days, Congestive heart failure causing fluid to back up into the lungs and strokes from high blood pressure are the usual problems. For most of us excess salt use is learned behavior, Look around in a restaurant and watch the parents salting their food before even tasting it. Then watch the little kid do what mommy and daddy are doing. Hope this has been helpful.
Low salt intake may be more dangerous than too much salt.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/recommended-salt-levels-could-do-more-harm-than-good-study-suggests-1407964274
http://healthimpactnews.com/2013/salt-reduction-recommendations-wrong-cdc-study/
Augason Farms stuff is really good, It’s one of my main suppliers for DF and Dehydrated food stores. Honestly I do also store Mountain House.
As the saying goes store what you eat, I have personally tried 75% or more of their stuff, very pleased with everything, so far. I will also be trying there “pouch” stuff and probably be replacing the Wise (yuck) stuff.
I will admit I have a tendency to go a little overboard, so I buy cases at a time. It’s not cheep, but will come in handy when I retire…. or of course when TSHTF.
NRP
I’ve bought Augason Farms food supplies. The only thing I don’t care for is how long it takes to get it. I just got my last order this week. It took a month. I know more people are preparing so it probably slows down shipment time. Or maybe my $100-$200 orders aren’t big enough to get done quickly. But the food quality is good so I just wait for it. :O)
I noticed the seemingly extended time also. My last order,received about 2 weeks ago took almost 3 weeks to ship.
Last week I bought 3 packages at our local Wal Mart store in Oregon, they carry a number of Augasta Farm products including #10 cans.
One of the Wally Worlds around here also carries Augason. I have noticed that the shelves clear out quickly. Also Walmart Online is 80% “out of stock”. At times when I do order directly from Augason (I hit the 40% off sales)it’s always a month out. Other than not being able to get the product, As I said before it’s great stuff.
NRP
Wish my Walmart carried Auguson Farms products in the store. I have ordered some direct, but I really like to look at my purchases.
I use and store lots of Augason Farms products. I’ve tried “most” of them. Thus far, they’ve all been good (I do doctor up some of them with my own additions, such as broccoli, butter or spices). I wish they had more variety in prepared meals, though. I’m realizing that buying “components” forces me to scurry in the pantry to put meals together. If you’re new to prepping, I’d suggest starting with the selections that are a “meal in a can” first, then branch out from there with your other basics. I recommend buying one number 10 can of a particular meal, then taste testing it before buying an entire case of something.
I also recommend getting a lot of powdered milk, as it’s needed for cooking a lot of things. I’ve also tried several Mountain House meals, and we love the Chili Mac! Pouches are great to have around in case you only need a meal or two, and keeping your larger cans “in tact” until you need them.
I agree with NRP in that it’s a good thing to have freeze dried food for use when you retire, because those SS funds just may NOT be there for us!