Last summer I had an encounter with one of the many freeze-dried food companies here in Utah. As you can imagine, there are lots and lots of them. Unfortunately the encounter did not go well. I found them to be dishonest, deceitful, and far too pushy. The deal is that they offer a “free sample” of their product–which frankly I think is a wise move that any freeze-dried or dehydrated manufacturer should do–and I think that they should provide samples for this purpose for any of their distributors. The thing is, though, is that in order for you to get that “free product sample” you have to make an appointment for a complete stranger to come to your home; if you’re married you must commit to having your spouse present; and you are also required to fill out a seriously invasive questionnaire–with questions on it that I would never in a million years share with someone. Good grief! Some of these questions were even more intrusive than what the “Doomsday Prepper” folks were asking me. They market their food as “gourmet food storage” which I personally think is an oxy-moron, but to each his own; and their prices are prohibitive in my opinion; especially in light of my knowledge on nearly every “food storage” company out there.

It frustrated me to no end because the way this company chooses to do business is just one more excuse that people can use to NOT get better prepared.  So, when I finished with all of this nonsense, I talked to my husband and said that he and I needed to come up with a solution so that people could get quality preparedness products that were worth a family relying on them during a time of crisis or everyday living.  One of the great assets that Five Star Preparedness has is that they have the benefit of a nationwide network of folks who are passionate about preparedness and self-reliance. As such, unlike a church or community organization he’s able to leverage the number of those contacts and negotiate an aggressive price on a few products each month that he can offer to the public below wholesale if he puts in the order all at once’; making it large enough to merit aggressive pricing from the manufacturer. It’s sort of the same premise that Costco or Sam’s Club does, except with only a couple of products each month. Anyway, he was taking time to negotiate these things periodically. However, in light of the tumultuous times that are clearly ahead–particularly financially speaking–I’ve managed to get him to commit to doing one special Group Buy offer each month. Last month’s was very interesting because Scott had put a purchase commitment out for a whole lot of whole freeze-dried blackberries from the manufacturer.  But Mother Nature (in the form of  hurricane Irene) had other plans. As a result, nearly all of the southeastern blackberry crops were destroyed. Not only did the existing freeze-dried blackberries increase in price dramatically, but there simply weren’t enough to fill all of the orders at any price. It’s very interesting to get to see this side of the story when it comes to food supplies throughout the world. Anyway, on to sharing with you this month’s Group Buy deals Five Star Preparedness is offering. There are two different product categories this month.

#1: a case of number 10 cans of freeze-dried vegetables. These are very unique product pairings that I have not found elsewhere. Five Star Preparedness was able to get exactly what they wanted due to the “strength in numbers” leveraging. The case contains two cans of a cauliflower and broccoli mix (.38 pounds each), two cans of  corn, peas, and carrots mix (1.26 pounds each), and two cans of a freeze-dried vegetable soup base at an astounding 2 pound each in weight. I’m excited about using all of these in my cooking needs, but I’m especially excited about this soup base. I bought out all that Augason Farms had a couple years ago because they were discontinuing the product. But I find that I can do all kinds of things with this kind of a base. It has chopped onions, diced bell peppers, tomato flakes, spinach flakes, and potato slices. Casseroles, soups, stews, meat roasts, pasta and rice dishes all get a splash of deliciousness when I am able to just take a third for a cup and throw this in. The potato dices may not sound like they go so well with pasta and rice, but they are just the right amount to give any dish a little more bulk. I also like to make a casserole which combines the soup base, vegetable medley, some Shirley J Universal sauce and some shredded cheddar cheese. I mix them all together, throw them in a casserole dish, and heat it up. It tastes wonderful and is very close in taste to a similar casserole dish that my dad used to serve us. Anyway, a case of these veggies would normally run you $110, and that’s just with Five Star’s supplier. I’ve seen similar products sell for as much as $180 a case!  Five Star is offering them for only $87 for the whole case!

In addition, Five Star Preparedness is also offering one of my favorite powdered milks. This one tastes great and actually provides TWICE as much milk as my favorite flavor of milk does. No need to try to hide it or to worry about the nutrition of your family. It’s all in there for you. This month Five Star is selling a case of six #10 cans at 3.1 lbs each for only $86. Each can makes over 5 gallons each (depending on your taste preference) and is 100% real milk so you can easily make mozzarella cheese or yogurt or sour cream from this milk. You can even make cream by combining 2 part water with 1 part powdered milk. It has the fat content of 1%-2% depending on your taste preference. While that’s a great price, here’s an even bigger deal if you’re planning on picking up your order. Get a pail that makes 40 gallons of milk for the same price as the case of #10 cans!!  Hmmm…hard decision if you’re a local person. $86 for 30 gallons or $86 for 40 gallons?  Hmmmm…

If you want to get in on this Group Buy, all you need to do is go to Five Star Preparedness, click on “Place an Order” at the top of the screen, and then order what you want. When you check out, be sure to use the promo code “cream” in order to get the special pricing.  I, for one, hope that this helps stretch your dollars further and helps you get just that much more prepared. I’ve included a photo of the flyer they sent out to their subscribers in this article. If you’d like a heads up on their deals in the future when they come out, rather than when I remember to share it with you, be sure to ask to be put on their e-mail list. Oh, and for those of you who do not have credit cards any more, they are happy to have you send a check instead. No problem.

 


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18 Comments

karen · September 23, 2011 at 11:07 pm

How long is the group buy good for? I am going up next weekend and may be able to pick it up.

    Kellene · September 24, 2011 at 5:11 am

    The details are in the jpg I posted as well as on their website. As I shared earlier, this is a Group Buy. That means that they place the order all at once in order to get the negotiated pricing. They will not be placing the order until the group buy is over for this month.

debbie56 · September 24, 2011 at 12:03 am

Is this only available to those in your area? or can other parts of the country order and have it shipped to them at the same price? Is shipping included in the price?

    Kellene · September 24, 2011 at 5:16 am

    Debbie, it’s a national group buy. The only product that’s restricted is the 6 gallon pail of the powdered milk. It’s just too prohibitive cost-wise to send in the mail. Everything else is available for delivery/shipping though.

Lisa Cederlof · September 24, 2011 at 12:07 am

When I went to look at the group buy, the prices are different than what you mentioned in your article. Is there a code or something I need to put in to get the prices you quoted?

    Kellene · September 24, 2011 at 5:13 am

    If you will look at the picture I posted as well as the blog post, it gives you the promo code so that you can get the Group Buy price.

elvia · September 24, 2011 at 1:11 am

I decided to place a order for 1 each of the above, but the price on checkout was $99.00 for the veggies. I placed a call to the company a week ago and have not had a answer yet.
Has anyone ordered and had the 87.00 price?

    Kellene · September 24, 2011 at 5:13 am

    Elvia, they didn’t even launch the special until this past Monday. As the jpg clearly states as well as my post, you must enter the promo code in order to get the discounted price.

CJ · September 24, 2011 at 3:50 am

thank you so much for sharing with us who haven’t been smart enough to sign up yet for the email!!!

karen · September 24, 2011 at 11:50 pm

hmm well I called them and they said I can pick it up Friday.
Also just a heads up I was in the St George Walmart and they have some #10 6 pack meal deals from Auguson farms for $59 for dinner and $69 I think for breakfast freeze dried foods. That about 10 10 to 12 a can. where seperatly they are $16 to 19. a can. I got the dinner pack/ It has 1 can corn , pototo soup, white bread/rolls, beef meat substitute, Soup mix and can’t rmember the last item but thought it was a great deal.

    Kellene · September 25, 2011 at 1:56 am

    Elvia, I’m afraid you are mistaken. The Group Buy deadline doesn’t even end until this Friday, the 30th of September. As it’s a Friday, the Group Buy will not even be ordered until the following Monday. No pick-ups or shipping of the product will even begin until it is received by Five Star, which will certainly not be even on the same day. Perhaps you had your Friday’s mixed up, as NEXT Friday sounds more plausible. Again, Group Buys are very different than regular purchases. The only way the price is leveraged so low is because a large order is placed all at once. Thus Five Star would not be able to partially fulfill some of the orders. They will have to wait until they receive the bulk order prior to permitting any pick ups. However, if you ordered some other items from them–their regular items that they carry, then it’s completely plausible that you would be able to pick that up on Friday, the 30th.

    There is SO much you can do with these packs. That’s a great price considering that the lowest they’ve been able to sell them for in better economic times was $57. To be even remotely close to that price nowadays is a big deal. I was excited to see that deal in Wal-Mart too today! (I helped them develop the contents of those two packages and I had so much fun discovering all the different ways I could get each of the packs to work and create delicious meals. I’m such an addicted freeze-dried foodie!) 🙂

    Good news everyone. Wal-Mart is a very unified franchise when it comes to pricing in their stores. If a price is available in one store, it’s available in the others. So that means that this price is good at a location near you. However, I’d check online at Sam’s Club first before making the purchase. Their Augason Farms pricing is usually a tad bit better than the Wal-Mart pricing.

    Having said all that, neither of these products offered at Five Star can be purchased at Wal-Mart or any kind of “mart.” Though Augason Farms does have a vegetable stew blend, it’s heavy with cheap cabbage and potatoes. I can use it, but I love having a nice even mix of all of the veggies.

karen · September 24, 2011 at 11:57 pm

the promo code is “cream” just put it in the slot when ordering

Cathie in Ut · September 25, 2011 at 12:05 am

Ordered a case of veggies since I have quite a bit of milk in storage now.
I am glad they offer the pick up option for those of us who live close.
Thanks for informing us on any great buys for being prepared!

Mary · September 25, 2011 at 3:13 pm

I was going to order a case of milk, got the $86 price, they took off $10 but added $17 for shipping. Oh well……..

    Kellene · September 25, 2011 at 10:13 pm

    Yeah, shame on those guys for not paying for the shipping too. I mean really, just because they take on a financial risk in making the commitment to purchase the product in such a sizeable amount and then pass it on to us for less than wholesale in order to help more people get better prepared; Geesh, does Five Star Preparedness actually expect us to pay shipping too?

    Perhaps they should charge more on the product and just hide the shipping costs like everyone else does.

Dave · September 26, 2011 at 2:44 pm

Can you tell me if the milk is organic? If not do they use milk from cows that are not fed the growth hormone and gmo feed? Although price is important the quality of the food is much more important to me.

    Kellene · September 26, 2011 at 4:46 pm

    Those would be questions better answered by Five Star Preparedness. I suspect that if it was organic that would be yelled from the rooftops–especially at that price–even the regular retail would be a deal. So you probably already know that answer. I do know the cows milk comes from Wisconsin though.

Tina Saunders · September 30, 2011 at 4:25 pm

Kellene,

I know you cannot publicly announce what company you are talking about at the beginning of your article but I was wondering if you could e-mail it to me so I know what to avoid?

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