I’m have a love hate relationship with beans, in that I can tolerate them but try not to go out of my way to enjoy them on any one occasion. That stated I was willing to give Valley Food Storage a shot and post up a review, and I specifically requested that they send me some of their chili (I don’t mind a small amount of beans in chili). In a prepper world where pre-packaged food is a dime a dozen I was anxious to see what separated Valley Food Storage from the rest, after all doesn’t everyone claim to be the best?
The Review:
The first thing I noticed while glancing over the directions was that this was not a meal which you toss in a backpack for later consumption on the trail. It specified stovetop cooking and the need for 5 1/2 cups of water, definitely a challenge if only boiling 1 cup of water on a propane burner.
Upon opening the package I immediately was greeted with an amazing smell, something which I have never noticed when first cracking open other packages. I glanced at the ingredients and was pleased to find that overall, this was pretty much stocked with regular food items and not a bunch of processed additives.
The next step was to bring 5 1/2 cups of water to a boil and stir in the ingredients. Let that boil for a bit, reduce to low boil, let simmer etc etc. Anyone who has done some cooking in the past will recognize this sequence.
Once complete I put some into a small dish and gave it a taste. Two things immediately came to mind: WOW beans and NOT salty. The beans are a bit overpowering but hey, it’s bean chili. In the future I would definitely add some meat to this in order to balance out the flavor. The salt content was also low which was a relief, many other food storage chili’s I have tried seemed to be laden with salt.
Would I recommend this product? Absolutely and even more so than some of the competitors I have tried. Here’s a quick roll up to finalize this review.
Tested Product: Valley Food Storage White Bean & Lime Chili
Price: $11.95 per package
Pros:
– 25 Year Shelf Lift is excellent, longer than many comparable “bagged” food storage
– While taste can be subjective and my sample size was small, this did in fact taste much better than competitor brands which I have tried. This could be related to the fact that most of the ingredients listed were items I could grow in my own garden.
– I didn’t see anything on the package which stated the total amount of servings (so I could calculate overall calories) but the portion was quite large. Easily a meal for two people, maybe two plus a child in a pinch.
– Prep was simple enough, boil water and add the ingredients to the pot.
Cons:
– Price is higher than other packaged food but I suppose you get what you pay for with respect to ingredients and overall taste.
– Prep time is longer, in a pinch I suppose you could add boiling water to the package but there is no way you’d get 5 1/2 cups in there. In short this isn’t one of those “meals on the go” but rather something you cook in a static environment.
13 comments
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Good review PJ, thanks, may just have to give them a try.
Personally l have a love love relationship with Beans. I keep probably 8-10 different varieties in the house, but I don’t really care for “chili” beans as per say; I prefer the straight beans with just a little flavoring, maybe a little onion, stick of celery, a touch of salt and maybe a little hot sauce; Slow cooked in a crock pot for a few hours and yummmm.
As far as storage I have some Anasazi Beans that I stuffed in a bucket under the house, no bag or oxysorb, for over 5 years and they are as good as the day I got them, (using those up now) now days I stick them in a Mylar Bag and vacuum seal them, I’m thinking those suckers will outlast me… LOL
You-all might try the Anasazi or the Zuni Gold; both are outstanding and cook in about ½ the time as Pinto Beans. Here is a link to the ONLY place in the world to buy beans (IMO), no plug, just a fact… LOL
I usually make a “bean” run in the fall/winter and pick up several hundred pounds for a few people around here. It’s well worth the trip I guarantee you.
https://www.anasazibeans.com/index.html
It’s a small mill in Dove Creek CO. really good people there and they offer a good variety, most they have grown or get directly from the local farms.
Just remember “Beans Beans the musical fruit……..” HAHAHA
Eat well, life is short.
NRP
Author
NRP
Thanks for the link and comment on the article. Great stuff man.
PJ, I would really like to know how many servings per bag. At $11.95 per bag if it is two servings that is very high.
As NRP pointed out beans are cheap and so is rice and several other staples. One thing I have been doing is taking dry beans, peas, rice, spices and vacuum sealing them in gallon or half gallon Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers. Basically, I have played with various recipes that the family seems to like or tolerate and packaging the meal in a two or four serving Mylar bag since we are a family of four. Lots of potential combinations. I would recommend getting your recipies right on the stove before starting the process of bagging things up. Focus on using dry items and seasoning to taste keeping track so you can replicate the dry contents in the bag. Once you have a recipie “right” start bagging it up. Store sealed bags in a food grade bucket. You can label each bag.
Try several different types of beans, peas, etc and note water required and expected cooking time on each label. I have found that every bean is a little different. I have just started incorporating dried meats (which are expensive) as a bit of an experiment. We rotate pretty regular and use the bags meals with regular meals throughout the year. At this point, I know the bags without dry meat will last 5 years if sealed properly – I have one bag of each type set for opening at 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 years. However, my focus is maintaing “one year” rotation for now. I am still two months away from 1 year on the bags with meat in them. The six month test on them was perfectly fine.
I also do something similar with oats (with dry flavors) and grits with salt and dry butter flavor. Yes I know the grits are a “southern thang”
Author
Maj
I’ve done some digging, which I should have done prior to posting the article. Looks like all entrees are 5 servings per pack.
Link here.
That makes that package around 900 calories.
Fantastic Idea Maj,
As a “bean” lover/freak, HAHAH, premixing the “stuff” use in each crockpot mix using dehydrated onions, celery and a few spices is a GREAT idea. Or whatever your goodies include, thinking on vac-packing in 1 pint jars might be a better way to go, like the Meals-in-a-Jar thingy. I use an industrial vacuum pump that pulls almost an absoluter vacuum… Just a though.
I agree with you that 12 bucks for the mix seems very high priced, considering the price of dehydrated garden onions, beans at a buck a pound , celery at 2 bucks a chunk and spices. Would be interested in hearing what meat you’re adding to the mix. (Producer)
Nice thing about beans and lintels/peas is a lot of protein even without the meat. Don’t get me wrong I LOVE a nice T-bone gilled on some nice apple wood, but not so sure about dehydrated freeze dried 14 year old stud bull in a can though
I do appreciate the ideas of different things prepared in ready to cook mixes. I really need to catch up with you guys in your preps.
I’m interested in how you came to the idea of 5 years on the bean mix, like I said before I have beans that are at least 5 years in just a bucket that old… Maybe because I’m in the SW with 5 to 10% humidity and undisturbed?
Just so you know Maj, Grits are NOT only a “Southern thang” I was born and raised in Ohio, one of those “Yankees” ya know, we had them as a staple almost every Saturday morning and I still cook em up with a hunk of salt pork, a pouched egg and a pile of buttermilk pancakes on the side. No friggen wonder I’m so fat…. HAHAHA
Thank ya-all again for the great info on the page…..
Author
Of course it is higher priced than someone who DIY’s the project, but you are paying for the convenience aspect as well. Someone who lives in an apartment (or even home) might want to buy a few buckets to toss in the closet, just in case.
5 servings for $11.95 is not a bad price.
NRP, I know they last five years because I sealed a package for each recipie and opened one after year one, year two, year three, etc. Ther was nothing wrong after five years with any of the bags or the contents. Next iteration is the ten year mark. I really didn’t want to waste time or money on something that did not work so I did not start going all out with it until I knew it would last one year minimum. I am shooting for one year of food storage at this point but will continue to rotate and having a five year ceiling means I have to rotate less often.
I am adding new twists, like the addition of meats just to see how it turns out but to add some variety. So far I have 10 five year recipies, counting oats and grits that gives me twelve meal options. I have added meat to the 10 recipies I currently have and even added meat to the grits which would put me at 23 meal options if everything works well.
Rough cost per 4 serving bag is $4.50 without meat but jumps to around $6.00 with meat. Grits and oats are cheaper.
As PJ pointed out, it becomes a pretty big DIY project and I already had the necessary equipment to do this. If I had to buy the equipment, my cost would increase.
Hello All!
Im James, an owner at Valley Food Storage. If you have an questions or critiques I would love to hear them and help in anyway we can.
PJ was correct there are 5 servings per bag in our entrees.
Hope to hear from you guys soon,
James
James
I checked out your site yesterday, nice layout and easy for an old fart like me to follow . Your IT person did a nice job. I was rather surprised on how fast your “Online Chat” person was there to help; it’s refreshing to see a company that’s actually interested in helping out the customer.
I have personally not tried your product, as I rotate my BOB and other stuff regularly (every 3-4 months, just to try new stuff) I will be giving your products a try solely on PJ’s recommendation. We will see if he knows what he’s eating.. LOL
It at first glance it seems your costs are slightly higher than some of the other SHTF suppliers, but if the quality is as PJ calms as far as I’m concerned it would be well worth the few extra bucks. Unfortunately a company will find it hard to compete with people that like to DIY when filling the pantry; but for the hordes that don’t have ready access to homegrown and farmers to barter with you should do very well. As I mentioned on your Webpage Chat I would recommend supplying your ingredients on an individual basics, for the DYI’ers Such as Honeyville does.
Hopefully you will be very successful in your business endeavor.
NRP
NRP,
Thank you for your feedback, I am glad you enjoyed the site. We are constantly changing it to better help out our customers Im glad to hear its working.
I am excited for you to try our stuff and Like PJ I think you will be surprised on our quality. I know it does seem like our prices are a touch higher then normal at first glance but that doesnt tell the whole story.
Look deeper into some companies food and you will notice that many packages come with a powdered drink. This drink makes up a great amount of the calories to make it seem like you are getting good nutrition. We refuse to offer that kind of filler to our customers. In fact those kind of misleading tactics is why we started VFS, and if you compare price per serving we are actually less expensive then most!
Offering the base ingredients is on our radar in the future and I will be sure to let you all know when we move forward with that!
Thank you again for the chance to present our products!
James
Author
I have to add, what’s left of the chili is still in the fridge. I cooked up some sausage I procured from a local farmer and tossed it (and the grease) into the chili and warmed it up. It was…delicious.
Food storage is on top of my list this year. All the signs are there, we know the storm is coming…the question is just how long we have before it hits, what we’ve done to prepare ourselves for it and how bad it will be.