The 8 Best Survival Food Companies for Long Term Food Storage Compared

In the last few years, we have seen many different emergencies: destructive wildfires in the West, devastating hurricanes along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, terrifying tornadoes in the South and Midwest, and severe snowstorms in the North and Northeast. And don’t forget the empty store shelves during the pandemic.

Now more than ever, we need to be prepared for any emergency. We need to have an adequate supply of food, water, and other emergency survival gear on hand for when the unexpected happens.

Below I have compared The 8 Best Survival Food Supply Companies for Long Term Food Storage, including pros and cons for each. I hope that you will find this article helpful!

The 8 Best Survival Food Supply Companies for Long Term Food Storage Compared:

1. My Patriot Supply
2. Thrive Life
3. Emergency Essentials
4. Legacy Food Storage
5. ReadyWise
6. 4Patriots
7. Augason Farms
8. Mountain House

1. My Patriot Supply

Your All-American Long-Term Food Storage SOLUTION

My Patriot Supply is a leading company in selling foods and products for survival in emergency situations. This family-owned business was started in 2008 with the goal of helping people to be independent and self-reliant in an unstable world. They claim that they provide, “The highest-quality survival products at the most reasonable prices possible.” The Ready Hour brand is owned by My Patriot Supply.

Pros:

• Food Products: My Patriot Supply sells a wide variety of freeze-dried food products, including fruits and vegetables, meat and protein, soups, stews, pastas, grains, sprouting seeds, breakfast options and even coffee! They have short-term and long-term food kits containing over 2,000 calories per person per day.  My Patriot Supply sells MREs (Meal, Ready to Eat) like the military uses and 2,400-calorie emergency ration food bars.
• Non-Food Products: They also carry survival gear, camping and cooking gear, water purification equipment, and books on survival.
• Sprouting Seeds and Micro Greens: Micro greens only take 3-5 days to grow, which means you can grow nutritious fresh greens quickly in case of an emergency. My Patriot Supply makes it simple for us with their counter top kit. All you need is water and sunlight.
• Dietary Options:  My Patriot Supply sells gluten free, dairy free, low sodium, low sugar, vegetarian, soy free, vegan, heavy protein, and low carb kits. Use their Special Diets Guide to help find the right Kit for you.
• Packaging: The food is packaged in resealable, heavy-duty 4-layer pouches, which come in a waterproof bucket. Opening a bucket does not affect the shelf life of the pouches, as all the pouches are individually sealed. They also sell bulk food in #10 cans. Some of their products are sold in ammo cans.
• Shelf Life: 25 years unopened if stored in a dark, cool place with temperatures between 55 and 70 degrees. The exceptions are their scrambled eggs kit which has a shelf life of 10 years, and their freeze-dried meat kits which have a shelf life of 30 years.
• Warranty: If your emergency supply food gets destroyed in a natural disaster, they will replace it for free.
• Discounts: I really love that My Patriot Supply honors our military and first responders. They offer a discount to military active duty, veterans and dependents as well as police, fire and EMT responders. 
• Shipping: Free shipping on orders over $99 in the lower 48 states. Shipping to Alaska, Hawaii, and Canada is determined by weight of the package.

Cons:

• No Sample Products: They don’t offer any sample products. If you want to try different individual products you can purchase #10 cans or buy a Case Pack. They offer Case Packs of Proteins, Fruits, Veggies and Soups as well as a Gluten-Free Case Pack. Each Case Pack comes in resealable food pouches. Another option is to buy their 72-hour sample kit for $24.95, containing four of their foods.
• No Bug Out Bag. While they don’t offer a bug out bag, they do sell their very portable Ammo Cans.

Check current prices and availability for My Patriot Supply here.

2. Thrive Life

Your Vegetable and Meat Long-Term Food Storage SOLUTION

They have the largest selection of freeze-dried, single food ingredients that you can use to make your own meals. Thrive Life might be the best long-term food storage solution for you if you have dietary restrictions or don’t want all the additives that packaged meals contain.

They claim to be “The best quality freeze dried food in the world,” with their own proprietary process of freeze drying food. 

THE PROCESS: Fruits and vegetables are flash frozen within a couple of hours of picking them then transported to their facility where they freeze dry them. Freeze drying means putting the fruits and vegetables in a near-vacuum. The lower pressure causes the ice to vaporize into a gas (without becoming water), drying out the fruits and vegetables and preserving their taste and nutritional content.

Pros:

• Food Products: They have a very large variety of freeze-dried fruits and vegetables, including a few options in dairy, grains, beans, flour, sauces, and other staples. In addition to that they carry a large variety of freeze-dried meats including beef, pork, chicken, turkey, and a fairly new product, shrimp! Thrive Life is the only company of the eight reviewed here that offers pork, turkey, and shrimp!
• No Chemicals or Preservatives: Their foods contain no GMOs, MSG, hydrogenated oils, preservatives, artificial flavors or colors whenever possible as a result producing a very clean product for us.
• Meal Prep: Fruits, vegetables and meats come washed, peeled, chopped or diced, which significantly reduces meal prep. Scoop the amount you need and add water.
• Recipes: Thrive Life takes away any confusion about cooking with their products by providing dozens of recipes on their website. You can sort the recipes by what ingredient you want to cook with or even what percentage of Thrive Life ingredients you want to use.
• Packaging:
  • Family Cans: Most of their products are sold in standard #10 cans.
  • Pantry Cans: Thrive Life sells a smaller can called a Pantry Can.
  • Snackies: Some of their fruits and vegetables are sold in pouches called Snackies, which are intended for on-the-go situations. 
• Shelf Life: All products have a shelf life of 25 years unopened, and 1 to 2 years after opening.
• Less Waste: One reason I love this company is because the food you buy today will last you months down the road therefore eliminating throwing out spoiled food.
• Delivery Service: Thrive Life has a delivery service where you can get regularly scheduled deliveries to your door step and pay wholesale prices instead of retail. Consequently, you save time on long lines at the grocery store and have a pantry full of fruits, vegetables, and meats ready to be used.
• Referrals: You get store credit for referring friends. By becoming a consultant you earn store credits and make money by promoting Thrive Life products and signing up others as customers.
• Charity: 5% of their profits are donated to help low-income people in developing nations learn how to grow food and raise livestock to meet their daily nutritional needs.

Cons:

• Meal Prep: Thrive Life provides whole ingredients to cook your own real meals. They do not provide complete instant meals like Chili Mac or Beef Stroganoff. However, their fruits are delicious eaten right out of the can. The cherries are my favorite!
• No Sample Products: You can buy a few products in pouches to try out, but for most of the products, you need to buy a Family Can or a Pantry Can to sample it. Thrive Life is becoming more popular therefore you might have a friend who is using Thrive Life in their everyday cooking and would let you sample their ingredients!

Check current prices and availability for Thrive Life here.

3. Emergency Essentials

Your Knowledgeable Long-Term Food Storage SOLUTION

The company started in 1987 with the goal of helping people be prepared in emergency situations. They focus on educating people on what they need and don’t need in an emergency. Their website contains many free articles, infographics, and checklists to help you prepare for an emergency and how to survive during one.

Pros:

• Food Products: Emergency Essentials offers many different survival kits from 72 hours up to 1 year. Their 1-year survival kit contains 2,011 calories per person per day. They sell a wide variety of food like fruits, vegetables, meats, proteins, grains, pasta, dairy, staples, and desserts. Their foods are freeze-dried and others are dehydrated. They also sell MREs which are good for 3 years.
• Non-Food Products: In addition to selling a few different emergency and medical aid kits they also sell water purification equipment.
• Packaging: Their food comes in large and small cans, resealable pouches and buckets. Resealable pouches are made of thick polypropylene with a BPA-free polymer and metallic lining. Packaging includes extra large oxygen absorbers to preserve the quality of the food.
• Shelf Life: Most Emergency Essentials food products will last 25 years unopened, but a few like their freeze-dried fruits will last 30 years. A few others, like the butter powder, eggs, and bread mixes have a shelf life of only 5-10 years. Food will last one year after opening.
• Money Back Guarantee: You can return unopened and unused food products within 30 days, but the customer pays for shipping. Other non-food products have a one-year warranty against defects.
• Payment Plans: Although not easy to find on their website, they do offer payment plans. They currently work with Affirm to finance purchases over $250.
• Discounts: Similar to My Patriot Supply they offer military discounts to active duty, veterans and dependents.

Cons:

• Few Dietary Options: They only a few gluten-free options.
• Shipping: No free shipping, but they do have a flat rate for any orders over $120.00.
• Other Brands: Some of their products are from Ready Hour (the brand owned by My Patriot Supply) and Mountain House.
• No Bug Out Bag: The most portable option they sell is Mountain House pouches. 
• No Sample Products: They do not offer any samples of their products, so you need to buy cans or pouches to see if you like them or buy individual pouches from Mountain House.

Check current prices and availability for Emergency Essentials here.

4. Legacy Food Storage 

Your Discount Long-Term Food Storage SOLUTION

Legacy Food Storage guarantees to have the lowest price per pound of food for online food storage companies. They have larger serving sizes than other food storage products, which results in more calories per serving. Their food was voted as the best tasting. Legacy Foods goal is “to provide families and individuals with the highest quality food storage available along with the most effective survival gear online.”

Pros:

• Food Products: They sell a variety of freeze-dried products like breakfast options, pasta, beans, rice, soup, chili, fruits, vegetables, meat, dairy, and coffee.

Food kits are sold by the number of servings. The smallest is 60 servings. The largest is 4,320 servings, which is enough to feed one person 2,000 calories a day for 863 days. They are transparent with how many calories are in each kit and how many days it will last on a 2,000-calorie diet.

• Pet Products: Don’t forget about Rover and Fluffy. You can buy dog and cat survival kits which include a little bit of food and other pet supplies.
• Non-Food Products:  They have survival gear, fuel, water purification equipment and storage, solar generators and batteries.
• Bug-Out-Bags: Legacy offers several Bug-Out Kits.
• Samples: They offer smaller sample packs that you can purchase and try out before deciding on whether to invest in a larger package.
• Heirloom Seeds: The widest variety of heirloom seeds is right here, including fruits, vegetables, herbs, and medicinal plants.
• Dietary Options: They have non-GMO, gluten-free, and vegetarian options.
• Packaging: Food is packaged in Nitrogen flushed Mylar pouches and packed with oxygen absorbers for maximum protection. Pouches are stored in stackable, heavy-duty buckets that don’t weigh more than 40 pounds (including contents).
• Low Price Guarantee: They guarantee to have the lowest prices online and promise to match any competitor’s price.
• Money Back Guarantee: You can return products within 30 days for a refund, but you have to pay for shipping and also a $10 or 5% restocking fee, whichever is greater.
• Payment Plans: They offer payment plans through Affirm, so you can pay over a period from 3 to 12 months.
• Discounts:
  • If you get a group of people to order together, they will give you a discount. However, they will ship the order to one address only, then you will have to divide the package up among the group.
  • They also offer a subscription program. If you sign up to get deliveries every month or every quarter, you can get 20% off select items.
• Shipping: Free shipping on all orders in the lower 48 states.

Cons:

• Shelf Life: On their website, they claim their products have up to a 25-year shelf life. On a few of their food kits they state this 25-year shelf life. For other food kits, they do not state how long the shelf life is, just that it is long-term. On the bulk food products, they state the shelf life is 10-20 years, depending on the product. On some products, they state the product is good for one year after opening. On other products, nothing is said. They need to be more transparent and clear about the shelf life for all their products both opened and unopened.

Check current prices and availability for Legacy Food Storage here.

5. ReadyWise

Your Ready-To-Go Long-Term Food Storage SOLUTION

Their goal is to offer peace of mind to their customers by selling the best emergency and long-term food kits and meals you can buy using high-quality, nutritious ingredients. Some foods are freeze dried while others are dehydrated, depending on which process produces the best taste for each food. They are also the only emergency food supply company reviewed here to offer organic products.

Pros:

• Food Products: ReadyWise has a wide variety of foods including fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy, soups, chili, pasta meals, rice, cereals and granola. Single packets of food are sold for everyday use, backpacking, camping, and hiking. They also sell Adventure Bags of food for 2 or 3-day backpacking/camping trips.
• Bug-Out-Bag: In an emergency situation where you need to get out quickly, it’s nice to have a bug-out-bag already packed with emergency essentials. ReadyWise sells a few different backpacks already packed with food and survival gear that you can just grab and go.
• Non-Food Products: They sell some survival gear, water purification and storage equipment. They didn’t forget about Rover! You can buy a dog survival kit with some dog food and basic pet necessities.
• Heirloom Seeds: They sell a wide variety of heirloom seeds too, so that you can start your own victory garden.
• Dietary Options: Some gluten-free and organic dietary options are offered.
• Packaging: The food products are packaged in airtight Mylar pouches and stored in polyethylene stackable buckets.
• Shelf Life: 3 to 25 years, stored at temperatures between 50-55 degrees. Some of the products they sell only have a shelf life of three years, so be sure to check the shelf life of the product if you intend to store it for a long period of time.
• Emergency Food Calculator: There is an emergency food calculator on their website. You input the number of people, the number of calories per day, the number of days you want to store food for, and the types of products you want, and then they will give you a suggestion of the number of products to buy to meet your criteria.
• Shipping. Free shipping on orders over $99.00

Cons:

• Long-Term Food Kits: They don’t offer food kits for a specified length of time, but rather, they sell kits according to number of servings of food. So you need to figure out how many servings of food you want to store for. Unfortunately, they do not list the total calorie count for these kits.

For an example, I added up the calories for the foods in the smallest kit and largest kit. Here are the results:

• • Smallest Kit of 240 servings. Total Calories = 51,760 calories. This would last you about 26 days at 2,000 calories a day.
  • Largest Kit of 4,320 servings. Total Calories = 913,440. This would last you about 457 days at 2,000 calories per day.

• Sugary Calories: Be aware that about 1/3 to 1/2 of the calories in many of their kits come from sugar-heavy foods like cereal and granola.
• Limited Shelf Life: As mentioned above, many of their foods only have a shelf life of 3 years, so if you’re planning to store food for longer than that make sure you check the shelf life of the products you’re buying.

Check current prices and availability for ReadyWise here.

6. 4Patriots 

Your No-Fuss Long-Term Food Storage SOLUTION

Their core purpose and mission is to “champion freedom and self-reliance.” They follow the golden rule to treat their customers like they would want to be treated. Some of their profits are donated to charities that help veterans and their families.

4Patriots does a great job of providing tons of information about their products. Their website also has dozens of videos about the company, products, reviews, and more. You are probably already very familiar with their famous Emergency Food Bars!

Pros:

• Simple Buying Options. 4Patriots takes any confusion away by offering very few purchasing options for long-term survival food kits. The only kits available are:
  • 4-week
  • 3-month
  • 1-year
• Non-Food Products: They sell solar-powered generators, water purification and storage equipment.
• Build-Your-Own-Pack. You can custom order a pack by choosing 5 products and getting 1 product free.
• Packaging: Food is packaged in triple layer Mylar pouches. Kits are stored in water-resistant, slim-line plastic totes that are easily stackable. This is the only company reviewed here that uses slim-line totes, an innovative idea. They also sell some products in #10 cans.
• Shelf Life: Their survival food is designed to last for 25-years unopened and stored in a cool, dry place.
• Bonuses: I really like the bonuses they offer when purchasing their food kits. They offer different bonuses for each kit such as heirloom seeds, digital books on survival, recipe guides, meal plans, and even short-term survival food kits. The type and amount of bonuses are different with each food kit.
• Money Back Guarantee: They have a 365-day, 100% money back guarantee with no questions asked, the longest of any company reviewed here. Also if you open any food product within 25 years and it is spoiled, and you have stored it properly, they will replace it for free.
• Shipping: They offer free shipping on orders over $97.00.
• Charities: 4Patriots supports our military veterans by donating to many different charities that help our veterans and their families in different ways.

Cons:

• Website. I list 4Patriots website as a con because in my opinion it’s not very user-friendly. You can’t sort their products by the kits sold or #10 cans available, which leads to a lot of scrolling for the customer. Again, this is just my opinion.
• Dietary Options: They do not offer any dietary options.
• Limited Calories: Most food kits have less than 1,500 calories per day. They acknowledge this and advise you to purchase extra smaller food kits as a supplement to achieve the desired calories you need per day.
• No Sample Products: The best I could find is for you to purchase a 72-hour survival kit which will give you a taste of their products or 1 of their #10 cans.
• Nutritional Information: The nutritional information for each product is tricky to find. Type “Nutritional Information” in the search bar and it will take you to a page listing all of the food products 4Patriots sells with a link to the nutritional information for each.

Check current prices and availability for 4Patriots here.

7. Augason Farms

Your Available Long-Term Food Storage SOLUTION

This is a family-owned company which started in 1972. Their mission statement is to “Produce nutritious, long lasting, high quality emergency foods that people want to eat.” Big stores like Walmart and Amazon sell Augason Farms products.

Pros:

• Food Products: They offer a wide variety of products including fruits, vegetables, pasta, grains, meat, beans, desserts, dairy, and entrees like stews, soups, casseroles, and more.
• Non-Food Products: Augason Farms sells water purification equipment, water storage containers, first aid kits, and other survival products.
• Recipes: Many of the food products have recipes listed on the packaging, which is super convenient!
• Bacon. Well, bacon-flavored bits, but so cool! They are a vegetarian meat substitute but in an emergency I’ll take it! Most long-term food storage companies have yet to add bacon (even bacon-flavored) items to their product list.
• Ready Now Kits. Augason Farms has created a product that includes all the water you need to prepare the meal and stay hydrated for the first 24-hours of an emergency! Their Ready Now Food Kits make preparing for an emergency very simple.
• Dietary Options: They sell vegetarian meat-flavored substitutes for chicken, beef, bacon, and taco meat. Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) is made from defatted soy flour. Augason Farms also sells some gluten-free options.
• Accessibility. You can purchase Augason Farms products on Amazon, which is a shopping place most of us are very familiar with already.
• Packaging: Food is packaged in #10 cans, buckets, pails, and Mylar pouches.

Cons:

• Varied Shelf Life: The individual contents of the kits have a varied shelf life. Therefore, if you put you bucket away for 15 years before you use it some of your items will have already expired.
• Not Enough Calories: On average we need about 2,000 calories per day. Augason Farms kits vary in their total calories count so its best to double check before buying.

Although they developed the Quality Survival Standard (QSS) certification certifying that a food kit contains at least 1,800 calories and 40 grams of protein per day, just be aware that not all of their food kits have the QSS certification and thus are deficient in calories and protein.

• No Long-Term Food Kits: Augason Farms only sells three survival kits for one person for 30 days. They are listed under “Duration Kits”. Please note that there are 3 options with varying total calories per option:
  • Deluxe 30-Day Food Supply Total Calories = 1,236
  • 30-Day 1-Person Survival Food Kit QSS-Certified Total Calories = 1,854
  • Banquet-in-a-Bucket Total Calories = 1,407
• Hard-to-Open Pails: A bucket lid opener is not included, but recommended when buying from Augason Farms. You need to buy one and keep it next to the pails for easy opening.
• Website. Augason Farms products are all out of stock on their website. Fortunately we can purchase them on Amazon.

Check current prices and availability for Augason Farms here.

8. Mountain House 

Your Convenient Long-Term Food Storage SOLUTION

Mountain House started off by making rations for the United States Special Forces during the Vietnam Conflict. They have been in business for over 50 years, making them one of the oldest emergency food storage companies. They freeze dry and package their own meals. You can also build your own emergency food kit and get a discount. Many of Mountain House’s products are sold conveniently at Walmart, sporting goods stores, and Amazon.

Pros:

• Food Products: They are best known for selling freeze-dried meals in pouches. You can buy individual pouches or a box of them. They also sell emergency food kits, freeze-dried chicken, freeze-dried beef, and military rations. Mountain House also sells a freeze-dried ice cream sandwich, which doesn’t need to be kept cold or frozen and can be eaten right out of the package without adding water.
• Sample Sizes: They sell individual packages of many of their food products, so you don’t have to spend a lot of money to see if you like something or not.
• Meal Prep: Mountain House cooks the meals before freeze drying and packaging them. In order to prepare the meal you open the pouch, add hot water and wait the number of minutes stated on the package. They are intended to be eaten right from the pouch.
• Dietary Options: They sell many gluten-free options, which can be easily identified by the Gluten-Free logo on the front of the packaging. Some options include Chicken Teriyaki with Rice, Breakfast Skillet, Beef Stew, and Italian Style Pepper Steak with Rice and Tomatoes.
• Packaging: They sell their products in pouches and #10 cans. They also sell some assortments of their pouches in buckets.
• Shelf Life: They have tested actual products from 30 years ago and say they are still good, so they have given their products a 30-year shelf life. However, once opened they should be eaten within one week.
• Recycling: They have partnered with TerraCycle to recycle their pouches. You make an account with TerraCycle. When you have saved up enough pouches, just print off a pre-paid shipping label and send it off. No cost to you!
• Shipping: Free ground shipping on all orders.

Cons:

• Money Back Guarantee: No returns on food items unless the package was damaged when received. All claims must be made within 30 days.
• No Single Ingredient Products: They sell complete freeze-dried meals. They do not sell individual freeze-dried fruits and vegetables or other food items, except for meat.
• No Survival Gear Products: Mountain House does not sell any survival gear, just food products.
• Shelf Life: A big negative is that after opening a product, it must be consumed within a week. This would be okay with the pouches, but after you open a #10 can, you need to eat it all within a week. Most other emergency food storage companies have a one-year shelf life after opening.
• Packaging: While their smaller kits come in buckets their larger multi-day emergency kits come in boxes. Waterproof buckets and totes can be opened and closed to protect the contents from the elements and pests. Boxes cannot do this. This means that you either have to repackage the contents yourself into waterproof and pest-proof containers, or risk the contents being spoiled.

Check current prices and availability for Mountain House here.

Conclusion

With so my options on the market it’s important to make an educated decision and choose a survival food company that meets your needs. I hope that this article has been helpful and informative for you highlighting some of the pros and cons of each company.

Please tell me in the comments which is your preferred company and why. And if I didn’t include your favorite please tell me in the comments as well so we can all benefit.

Keepsm:)ing!

Click below to check out the current prices and availability for the 8 Best Survival Food Supply Companies for Long Term Food Storage:

1. My Patriot Supply
2. Thrive Life
3. Emergency Essentials
4. Legacy Food Storage
5. ReadyWise
6. 4Patriots
7. Augason Farms
8. Mountain House