Anyone get the survival kits from Walmart?

[Bennyboy]

Wow, just wow. Wonder how many of these are selling. Anyone seen em anywhere else?

[1awake]

1. Not sure whether to laugh or cry that these are for sale there. n/t

[madrchsod]

2. i have an emergency if i eat their great value foods

[Brigid]

5. Our thread winner.

[madrchsod]

44. thanks

you are

[DainBramaged]

38. DUzy

[madrchsod]

41. why thank you....

first one in a the thousand yrs that i`ve been here...

[PennsylvaniaMatt]

49. +1000

I agree with the above poster...you just won the thread!

[Aerows]

50. Please tell me where to send your internets

Because you won them!

[FirstLight]

3. for one?

three days?


I could Sooooooo make that shit last longer, for me and the kids! I even have stuff to add to it cuz I got my own big bin of supplies in the garage


But, on a serious note, it ain't such a bad idea to have a couple of these hanging around, for winter power outages & blizzards, for earthquakes, etc...

[pokerfan]

39. Rule of Threes

In an extreme situation you can't survive for more than:

• 3 minutes without air
• 3 hours without shelter
• 3 days without water
• 3 weeks without food

For a three day survival situation, food is actually fairly far down the list. Still, it's nice to have and goes a long way to maintaining a positive mental outlook. That said, I will not be spending $60+ bucks at a Walmart for such a kit when you can easily be prepared on your own: Canned food of all sorts, rice & dry beans provided you have a cooking source, peanut butter and pilot bread (hard tack), pemmican, etc.

If you absolutely, must have an emergency supply for the car or boat, consider Mainstay emergency food rations. They're USGC approved and have a five year shelf life. About ten bucks for nine 400 calorie meals.

[Ilsa]

4. A person could do better with good planning,

Including owning a separate water filtration device. $20/day seems expensive to me.
On Edit: 37 servings makes this affordable. Augason Farms has been around a while, I think.

[Jackpine Radical]

26. I think you were riight the first time. 3 days, 9 meals.

4 servings of something per individual meal, with one extra serving of something.

[Mojorabbit]

58. But it is only 6000 or so calories which equals 170ish calories per serving

Beans, Rice, and freeze dried meats and veggies might be a better value with more nutrition and calories? I keep 6 months of food at all times. It is a money saver esp as prices for food continue to rise.

[Rex]

6. Holy crap! Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue!

[Union Scribe]

7. Well, at least they're selling something made in the US

[Half-Century Man]

60. RW paranoia?

Our top export.

[rdharma]

8. Nom, nom, nom!

Personally I'm holding off buying any of that stuff until they bring out the freeze dried "possum and grits" entrée!

[Politicalboi]

9. I've got something cheaper

<a href="http://imgur.com/pEGpKUk"><img src="" title="Hosted by imgur.com"/></a>

And you'll have furry friends too.

[Freddie]

10. Mormon tradition

To keep emergency food supplies on hand. In case of Armageddon or something.
I haven't seen those around here but this is not Mormon country.

[spin]

29. I believe Mormons try to keep a years worth of food and supplies available. ...

My mother and step father became Mormon and I remember the enormous supply of canned goods in their garage and they also had two or three large freezers full to the brim with meat and other frozen items.

The canned good I understood. The freezers made little sense to me as if we had a true catastrophe, power would be out and the contents of the freezers would quickly thaw.

[Marrah_G]

48. The mormons have warehouses where members go to can staples

They go into paint size cans. Non- Mormons can also go and purchase the dry goods and use the canning equipment. They will walk you through it and there are labels that show how many years each item lasts. We did it in Central Mass to supplement our own root cellar and they were terrific, no preaching at all and it was cheap. We did beans, grain, sugar, pasta and a few other things. 4 of us spent a couple hours.

The big thing I noticed was that it was also a food pantry for mormons. A family drove down from northern new england and they gave the family like 2 shopping carts full of food, including fresh vegetables and fruit, meat and dairy.

I have alot of issues with the Mormon religion and culture, but one thing they do do well is taking care of those within their community.

[lynne]

11. Excellent idea, every household should have one -

- we actually have a case of MRE's for such occasions. Anyone thinking these are overkill hasn't lived through a Katrina, Andrew or Sandy. We've made it through lesser storms but have still been trapped in the house for 6 days while having 2 extra people to feed and no electricity. And we've gotten off easy compared to many.

[Stargazer09]

27. Exactly

You never know when you might need something like this. MRE's are a good idea, too.

[Pab Sungenis]

31. My thought exactly.

This is perfect for part of a hurricane survival kit. Or up in Lake-Effect territory it's a great blizzard emergency kit.

Should probably pick up a couple of these for ourselves.

[dionysus]

36. +1

[MerryBlooms]

12. I guess I don't really get your post-

It's been advised for years to have a 3 days of supplies in case of emergency... hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, flooding, ice/snow storms, etc... the kit is compact and looks easy to manage.

Do you think the emergency kits are a good deal or bad? They look ok to me and I think our household (midwest region) should invest in those or something similar. I have the cats' emergency box at the ready, but just bike helmets, emergency radio and water for us humans.

I'm not a Walmart fan, so I'd have to shop around in order to buy a couple of those kits. That price to me, seems like a pretty good deal though.

[Art_from_Ark]

13. Back in 1969, I entered a contest to try to win some silver bars

Instead, my contest entry was diverted to some stupid survival food contest.

Back in 1969.

This shit's been around for a while.

[Le Taz Hot]

14. I saw these at Winco.

Purchased individually, the stuff would be WAY less than $60 bucks PER PERSON.

[KharmaTrain]

15. If You Live In Hurricane Prone Areas...

...72 hours without electricity isn't uncommon and you sure aren't gonna find a Mickie D's open. Sorry...not gonna put the tin foil hat on for this one. Seems like a legitimate product for people in areas that could see hours or days without power...

[ChiciB1]

22. I Live In Florida... Kind Of A Hurricane Prone Area...

Many of us have some sort of "plan" for them. For the most part I buy extra canned goods and other foods that don't need a refrigerator or freezer. Plus, buy bottled water (not a fan of bottled water) by the gallon for any event. I do have to admit that we have an extra refrigerator out in my husband's big workshop barn and I freeze blocks of ice & store it there. And, we have a freezer that I'm able to store food.

THEN, of course we do have generators that have helped in the past that keep the refrigerators and freezers working. Even TV's. I do live on the west coast and have seen many, many hurricanes come and go. When we had the 5 hit one after the other some years back, we did lose power for about 3 days, but that was the first time it ever happened. I've lived in this house for almost 30 years and will say we've been lucky that more damage hasn't been done.

I suppose I'm a local, and there are many reasons given as to WHY we have dodged bullets for so long, but you NEVER say NEVER! Especially now, given climate change. My neighbors & I "are" superstitious and try not to talk out loud about the fact that nothing has happened in some time. We do worry and know to stay vigilant! Hated to add that comment!

I must add, none of these measures will be of ANY help should we get a hard hit and find we have no house to even have access to "being prepared!"

I realize that many people are unable to afford generators, etc., but what we have we've bought over a long period of time.

[KharmaTrain]

24. You've Learned Through Experience...

...I have a good friend who was fascinated with hurricanes. He got a job in Miami and was there during the "fun" seasons of 2004-05. One storm ripped up the tree in front of his house and missed the master bedroom by inches. They lost power for the better part of a week...he was totally unprepared for the aftermath. Needless to say his curiosity was satisfied and he moved back to the Midwest at his first opportunity.

We keep a stock of non-perishable foods around in the event we ever lose power, but you're right, all the preparations mean little if you lose the entire house.

Cheers...

[lumberjack_jeff]

23. ... or earthquake or tsunami

Emergency preparedness is prudent.

But yeah, the plastic bucket is not a very good value proposition.

[madville]

16. Chef Boyardee is my short-term survival food

People laugh but think about it.

It's canned so it has a decent shelf life of a couple of years, plus it's cheap at around $1 a can.

At 500 calories a can it has carbs, fats, and protein and is fortified with some vitamins and minerals.

Has a pull top lid so no can opener required. It's easily heated and actually is not that bad at room temperature.

[JVS]

34. That's what we do here.

For all the reasons you mention plus the fact that it's reasonably good enough that we can rotate stuff that is approaching its shelf life into our normal eating.

[theHandpuppet]

17. Since I'd rather not offer WalMart free commercials

There are PLENTY of places where you can get emergency supplies or instructions on how to assemble your own kits.

Here are some examples:
http://www.costco.com/.product.100017853.html?cm_sp=RichRelevance-_-categorypageHorizontalTop-_-PopularProductsInCategory&cm_vc=categorypageHorizontalTop|PopularProductsInCategory (emergency kit available at CostCo)
http://www.costco.com/emergency-kits-supplies-emergency-kits.html (more emergency supplies available from CostCo – good selection)
http://www.essentialpacks.com/?gclid=CMqt_f_ShLkCFQee4Aod4AwAvQ (another company specializing in emergency & disaster preparedness supplies)
http://www.ready.gov/build-a-kit
http://www.ready.gov/basic-disaster-supplies-kit
http://www.redcross.org/prepare/location/home-family/get-kit
http://www.redcrossstore.org/item/321406 (Emergency kits available via the Red Cross)

By the way, for the folks who buy their kitty litter buy the bucket -- save these great Tidy Cat buckets (which are heavy, have tight lids and handles) to store supplies.

[magical thyme]

18. $20/day seems awfully expensive to me.

I always have a supply of easy to fix food on hand -- dried, canned and frozen -- and stock up on water ahead of storms. Living in nor'easter and blizzard country does that to you.

Freezer food goes first. In the winter, I can just move it into the sun room.

Also a tip in winter, refrigerator food can go between the interior and storm doors. Learned that from a Vermont friend -- her mother kept cider there, lol.

[Avalux]

19. So...$63.33 will buy me 3 days of life.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry at that.

[rurallib]

57. I think there are 2 different choice there

for $63 you get 203 meals.

[kairos12]

20. Walmart version of the MRE--Meals Rejected by Everybody

[Egalitarian Thug]

21. Preppers are The Hot Market right now. n/t

[hunter]

25. Most of the food I eat will survive the Big Earthquake just fine.

I don't need any special kit.

Rice, beans, pasta, dried fruits, nuts, wine, beer.

I've got water stashed about too, and camp stoves that work on ordinary unleaded gasoline and little bits of wood.

When hungry people are digging through the ruble of Wal-Mart these "Emergency Food Supplies" will probably be among the last items taken.

When did fear replace sex as a marketing device?

Hmmm, I just had an idea. They should put condoms in these kits too. If the television isn't working, what will people do to entertain themselves?

[PDJane]

28. The north-east blackout taught us that, you know.........

There was an interesting spike in births about nine months after.......sort of like the March influx of June brides.

[X_Digger]

32. Or Sandy, or Katrina, or Ike..

It's just good sense to have enough supplies on hand to see you through a natural disaster.

[winter is coming]

30. I wonder how much of this you'd need to eat, just waiting in line to check out. n/t

[JVS]

33. If only they could lower the price to make it an alternative to normal groceries.

It would be a hit among students.

[SCUBANOW]

35. Stock up on food/water and cash!

During hurricane Rita I was without power for 9 days. Several in my area was out for 5 weeks. Having food and water stored is not just a good idea, but is life. Oh and on another note for hurricane preps, for 4 days the only way to pay for any items after Rita was with a credit card. No store would take cash, they were afraid of being robbed.

[kestrel91316]

37. Excellent idea to have on hand in case of earthquakes, hurricanes, power failures, etc.

And especially in case of a zombie apocalypse.

I do a little freelance writing for a website that sells emergency foods so I am of course slightly biased, but then I have always believed in preparedness.

[populistdriven]

40. For $63 I'll just freeze 3.5 pounds of lobster tails in blocks of ice.

The blocks of ice will keep the fridge cool while I am gorging on my leftovers. After 3 days I'll have a lobster boil on the grill with potatos, onions and carrots.

[nadinbrzezinski]

42. If I were not deadly allergic to glutten I might make an exception

of not shopping at Wally World.

But we have our supplies of cans for that precisely. We live in Quake country,

[spanone]

43. 37 sevings for one person in 72 hrs....????

that's a lot of walmart munching

[Incitatus]

47. Depends on how they define a serving.

A bag of top ramen is 2 servings and many canned foods that would assume are 1 serving are really 2 or more. It's a trick manufacturers use to make you think you are consuming less sodium, calories, etc etc. than you really are (for those that don't look at the fine print of servings per container). It can also work the other way when they make the serving size that noticeable, you are getting less in a serving than you think.

[bunnies]

45. 20 year shelf life?!!!

No thanks.

[Incitatus]

46. 3 lbs for $63?

I assume a lot of that is dried/powdered food stuff you add water to, but still it would make more sense just to stay well stocked on the canned items you use and dry items like rice and beans if you have a non-electric heat source like a propane or charcoal grill. Many people could just scavenge for scrap wood and make a little fire in their backyard. The situation would be different if you're stuck in an apartment, but you can still to much better with canned foods. $63 for 9 emergency meals is pretty silly.

[Thor_MN]

55. About 10 calories per dollar seems very expensive...

It is not hard to find foods with long shelf lives that are 1000 or more calories per dollar.

[Liberal Veteran]

51. They sell them at WinCo.

I think they are cheaper at Winco as well.

[ileus]

52. I'll stick to buying ammo.

40 bucks for 100 rounds of 45, 22 bucks for 100 rounds of 9mm.

[hunter]

54. I'm not going to accept that in trade. Sorry.

But my dragon is always looking for some excuse to eat people.

Handguns are only useful as scrap metal once they've been through his gut.

[Purveyor]

53. Actually this is a great idea. I know when I lived in the city on business, I didn't have the time

or the space/resources to compile a 'survival kit' and would have bought something like this in a heartbeat.

Yes, there are many other outlets for this type stuff but mostly you have to deal with ordering and shipping.

This makes it simple. Pick up a couple of these things, put them into the closet and hope you never have to use them.

[LiberalElite]

59. There's something wrong here -

Maybe just a lack of proofreading? Label states 72 hour 1-person emergency kit - but 37 servings?