A little over a week ago I was selected by Eden Valley Farms to try out a couple of their meals and share with you my experience. I agreed for a few reasons, but let's be honest. When you're in a situation like ours (details on another day) you'll take any free meal you can get. I thought we could try these out and share the good word if we like them or share the dirty details if we didn't. See, they're not paying me anything and I can say what I want. ;)
They sent me three packets, all different meal options. We had white bean soup a few days before and we eat lots of pasta, so I decided to make the Cheddar Potato dish first. My parents were in town so we stretched the meal by serving it over some dinner rolls but it would be really good on its own, the consistency is somewhere between a soup and a casserole.
I didn't take any pictures during the process because we'd been busy all day building new garden boxes and dinner making was rushed and crazy. But hey, I've got a photo of the little bit of leftovers! And yes, there was leftovers after feeding seven people (four adults, three children) with this as a main part of the meal. I'll be eating it over some leftover rice for lunch tomorrow.
Now, we've covered how many it serves but let's talk nitty gritty details. Flavor and cost.
If you've ever had any sort of potato cheddar soup, you have something to go on here. For something you just add water to and boil, I didn't expect much here. But the ingredient list is pretty expansive and since it's all really food, dehydrated, it kind of makes it awesome. There are dried red and green bell peppers in it and it gives it a really great flavor. I really loved it and I would consider myself to be a pretty picky eater. I like lots of flavor and I love freshness. This really passed the test for me though. I loved it.
Let's talk cost. To buy a full case of one type of meal (let's call it a "flavor") it costs around $230, but lately everything has been on sale for around $150. One case comes with twenty of these packets that serve 5 people. That comes out to $7.50-11.50 per packet/meal. It's a big cost up front, sure, but broken down per meal/serving, it's quite reasonable and about the same cost as most home cooked meals. You can also get a ten meal entree sampler for $70.
That's Not Even the Best Part
Seriously though, the purpose of these guys isn't really to be your next meal. They're meant to be inexpensive, high-quality emergency meals. To store for when your power goes out, the water isn't running, earthquakes/tornado disasters, etc. Or if you have a situation where you have a food emergency due to loss of income. I can't testify to how well it keeps over time, but Eden Valley Farms gives it a 25 year shelf life, which is extremely long for emergency food storage.Let's put it this way. I highly recommend these for really delicious long term emergency food storage. I don't know if I recommend them for day to day cheap eating because a pound of beans and a few chopped onions with some rice makes the best cheap food. But for meals nearly ready to eat, these are awesome.
