Today, I’ve got something really important to share…
My review one of the top freeze dried food brands on the market today:
Legacy Food Storage.
But does it live up to the hype? Is it worth an investment? How does it taste?
Today, I answer ALL these questions and more…
TOPICS IN THIS REVIEW… ↓(click to jump)
- Pre-Dinner Expectations…
- Choosing Our Freeze Dried Meal
- Thoughts On Cooking The Meals
- The Ultimate Taste Test…
- Price Comparisons Vs Competition
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Dinner time was making me nervous.
I was trying to keep my expectations in check as the family gathered around the table.
No, the evening’s dish wasn’t hot dogs and baloney (I know the kids would eat that crap).
It was a menu I chose.
And one I wasn’t sure the kids would like.
No matter what the packaging tries to sell (with its professional “perfect” meal photos), freeze dried food can’t hold a candle to a home-cooked meal.
Yes, I’m aware that’s an unfair comparison.
To me, there’s nothing like a delicious homemade meal.
And freeze-dried food can’t compare, right? Maybe…
But, to be honest, “taste” shouldn’t be your main reason to buy freeze-dried survival food.
No, we invest for its:
- Convenient bulk calories
- Extreme longevity
- Secure packaging
Taste is more of an afterthought.
It’s a nice bonus.
It’s the cherry on top.
Because if you’re ever truly forced to eat lots of freeze-dried survival food, you’ll be so hungry an old shoe would taste amazing.
With survival food, taste matters only after other important aspects (packaging, calories, nutrition, price).
Because, in general, I’d rather store survival food that lasts a crazy long time but tastes bland.
I’d rather have survival food with all the essential nutrients your body needs.
But it tastes like unseasoned mush.
Why? Because if you’re facing starvation, even the worst-tasting food miraculously turns into a 5-star meal.
I don’t buy survival food to enjoy a meal.
I buy survival food to survive.
So why even perform a taste test with the family?
Why not just buy on price, nutrients, and calories – those are “more important” criteria, right?
Because if it does taste good today – it’ll taste amazing when I need it.
Again, the taste is not the primary reason for your purchase.
But it’s also nice to know exactly what you’re getting.
So for my family, the dinner taste test was a big part of our full Legacy Premium freeze-dried survival food review.
↓ Long-Term Emergency Survival Food
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Enter your email below to instantly download this Complete Guide PDF. No purchase necessary. 👇 👇Choosing Our Meals
A few days ago, we’d just received an Emergency Food Bucket from Legacy with eight meals in it.
For this review, we picked two freeze-dried meals out of eight choices:
Pasta Alfredo, Pasta Primavera, Enchilada (beans and rice), Stroganoff, Cheese and Broccoli Bake, Chili Mac, Cheese, and Broccoli Soup Mix, Classic Chili Mix
I laid them out and let my wife choose one, I choose the other.
She picked Stroganoff; I went with Pasta Alfredo.
Legacy’s Food Bucket
Now, before I move on to the meal packaging and the cooking, I want to take a minute to discuss the bucket.
Simply put, the food bucket is a very nice bonus.
It’s a 15-liter, white #5 plastic bucket with a handle.
It’s lightweight but robust—a great combination for stacking and protecting your food stockpile investment.
No complaints about the bucket; it’s a nice addition.
The bucket came with a security seal.
What I like about this is with survival food, you’re not planning to use it often.
So, you can leave this seal when you first store your food, and it’ll help keep the bucket free from rodents or pests.
Just leave the seal on until you’re ready to use your survival food, even if that’s a decade from now.
The other nice feature is the handle.
This makes for super convenient hauling.
But I must ask myself – “How often do I plan on hauling my survival food around?”
The answer for me – is NEVER (if I can help it).
So, while the handle initially seems like an important feature, I’d prefer not to have to pay extra.
That’s just me.
The handle might be a big selling point for someone else.
If you’re bugging in, you’ll likely only use the handles two times in your life (once to store it and once to retrieve it).
However, if you’re bugging out by vehicle, the handle may come in handy.
If you’re practicing your escape plan, the handle is nice since you may use it a few times a year.
Legacy’s Food Pouches
Let’s talk about their meal pouches.
The front of each package has an image of several foods.
Each image is identical no matter the food that’s in the package.
It looks like they are showing macaroni and cheese, broccoli soup, chili, and Alfredo pasta.
For example:
The Stroganoff package does not have an image of the stroganoff you’re about to eat.
Not a deal-breaker, but worth noting.
The black, bold lettering denotes the actual meal inside in the upper right-hand corner.
You can’t miss it.
There’s also the net weight number in the lower left-hand corner and the 100% quality guaranteed emblem on the bottom left.
On the back, there’s the typical “Nutrition Facts” table, cooking directions, ingredient list, allergens, etc.
Fairly standard stuff.
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One omission I noticed on the packaging was a shelf life statement.
Another food storage company I reviewed included a shelf life note on the package.
Now, Legacy has an “Up To 25 Year Shelf Life” image on their website.
A similar statement I’ve seen with most freeze-dried meal companies.
However, I’m always curious – if the food only lasts 1 year, does it still meets that “up to 25 years” requirement?
The key is the use of the words “up to.”
Technically, 1 year is in that “up to 25 years” range…
So basically, it sounds like a meaningless phrase that makes the buyers feel warm and fussy but doesn’t hold anyone accountable.
Again, this is not just Legacy Foods – nearly all the other companies use this same confusing verbiage.
FAQ
Then I found the FAQ section on their site.
Here’s what they have to say about their foods longevity:
- How long can Legacy’s Premium meals be stored?
- When kept in optimum conditions as outlined above, freeze-dried food can be stored safely and securely for up to 25 years with no need for rotation.
- What is the best way to store freeze-dried food?
- Like any food storage, freeze-dried food is best preserved when stored in a cool, dark place that maintains a fairly consistent temperature.
Properly Store Your Survival Food
So basically, what they are saying is their freeze-dried food has the potential to last 25 years (maybe even longer).
But it is highly dependent on how YOU store it.
If you store it in a place that floods, harbors rodents, and is blazing hot in the summer, the food will go bad well before 25 years.
So make sure you know how to store your survival food to protect your investment for the long haul.
But in general, freeze-dried food tends to last a long time when stored properly.
Plus, the meal pouches look both solid and reliable.
It has a broad, tight seal all the way around the edges.
Also, the pouch material used is Mylar.
So as long as the seal stays intact, the air inside the pouch will be completely isolated from the air outside.
That’s the power of Mylar bags.
After opening the package, you must fish around the freeze-dried food to remove the oxygen absorber.
This square pouch attracts and absorbs oxygen.
So, when paired with air-isolating Mylar, the oxygen absorber eliminates nearly all the oxygen inside after the food is packaged.
Another method of removing oxygen from packing is to flush the oxygen out with another gas like nitrogen.
Based on their website, this is also a method they use as well.
Between the oxygen absorber and the nitrogen flush, you’re left with nearly no oxygen left in the sealed pouch.
The less oxygen, the better since oxygen is necessary to grow mold.
So, if you remove all the oxygen, you also eliminate the possibility of mold growth.
Obviously, desirable for long-term survival food storage.
Now, you do have to remove the oxygen absorbers before you cook your meal.
They’re not something you want to cook and accidentally eat.
You want to remove the oxygen absorber before you dump the meal into the boiling water.
Trust me; I learn this lesson the hard way.
In one of the meal pouches, I was struggling to find the absorber, so I thought maybe it was left out…
So, I dumped the meal into the boiling water, and there it was.
Then I had to carefully get the absorber out of the boiling hot water without getting scolded.
And then explained to my 3 ½-year-old daughter, this was a “Daddy only” job and that she should never mess with hot boiling water.
Kids.
So next time, I’ll be dumping the food into a bowl first, then removing the oxygen absorber before adding it to the boiling water.
Lesson learned – don’t make the same mistake.
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Cooking Freeze Dried Meals
By the way, cooking freeze-dried meals is in the running for the “easiest task in the world.”
- Measure water and put it in a pot
- Bring water to boil
- Add meal
- Whisk and reduce heat to medium
- Wait for 12 – 15 minutes (stirring occasionally)
- Remove from heat and wait for 3 – 5 minutes
- Serve
It was so easy.
However, in an emergency, this easy task might become a bit more challenging (depending on the nature of the emergency).
If electricity and natural gas are unavailable (a real possibility), you won’t be cooking on your lovely kitchen stove.
Instead, you’ll have to find an alternative survival cooking method – like getting a portable stove.
It was so easy; I had my 3 ½ years old help me (she’s so proud of the ½).
The Taste Test
My 10-month-old son started happily shoveling it in as fast as his little-uncoordinated hands allowed it.
But to be honest, he’ll eat just about anything you put in front of him.
The real test was my 3 ½-year-old daughter – if she doesn’t like something, it’s game over.
With food, she can be picky and stubborn (she gets the picky from Mom, but the stubborn part – that’s all me).
So, I was pleasantly surprised by my daughter’s reaction to our survival food dinner:
“Hey, Dad, this is gooood!” Followed by her new favorite kid quote, “it’s yum yum yummy in my tum tum tummy.”
So, congratulations, Legacy – you passed with flying colors from the kids.
Now, the adults have a bit more to say.
Of the two meal options, my wife and I both agreed that the Stroganoff was the better-tasting.
The Pasta Alfredo was a little on the bland side for my tastes, and I used a fair amount of salt and pepper to give it some flavor.
The Stroganoff had more flavor than the Alfredo, and we both enjoyed it and even went back for seconds.
So while it wasn’t the best meal I’ve ever had, what’s important is it satisfied my family.
Everyone ate, got plenty of calories, and for survival food, that’s what matters.
Oh, and after dinner, Loui, our chocolate lab, didn’t hesitate to clean plates either, so he was also won over.
So far, so good with Legacy Premium Freeze Dried Foods.
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The next review point may be the most important of them all – price.
They claim to be the “best value food storage company.”
Note: Comparing prices is not as straightforward as you might think. Some company’s like to focus on cost per serving, while others cost per lb.
There are occasionally seasonal sales, bulk discounts, etc.
It’s challenging, if not impossible, to determine the “absolute best price.”
But this doesn’t mean we can’t understand the value.
Here’s a helpful comparison table.
Using this table will give you a sense of the value you’re getting.
Legacy Emergency Food Storage Comparison Table
So as you can see, Legacy offers extreme value – especially on a per-calorie basis.
So how to proceed? I recommend you decide on your family’s survival food priorities. Figure out what’s most important to you.
- Price?
- Fillers?
- Artificial Preservatives?
- Hydrogenated Oils?
- Free Shipping?
- Shipping Timeline?
- Customizable Orders?
- Gluten-Free Package Options?
- GMO?
- MSG?
- High-Quality Mylar Bags?
- Shelf Life Guarantee?
- Buckets or Storage Bins?
- Made In the USA?
You need to look carefully at all these factors before buying.
Then once you’ve done that, choose the food storage company that meets all your top priorities.
I believe you’ll be very happy with Legacy Food Storage as your freeze-dried food supplier.
Full disclosure – I have built my long-term survival food stockpile with a combination of Valley Food Storage, Mountain House, and Legacy Food Storage.
I think it’s smart to diversify across different manufacturers.
Take Action Today
So let’s cover some highlights:
- Lowest cost per lbs.
- Up to 25-year shelf life
- Free Shipping (U.S.A)
- Time To Ship 2-5 business days
- Voted the best tasting
- Non-GMO
- Gluten-free options
- Made in the USA
The most important thing is that you take action now.
If disaster strikes, you’ll be kicking yourself for not having bought some survival food kits.
It may be the best investment, but only if you do it right now.
Click here to check out Legacy Food’s current deals and prices.
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