Augason Farms Ready Now Pouch

Shelf life

Will it keep you alive and not starving in an emergency? Yes. Would use it in a non emergency? No. The following are MY comments for ME and I am a disabled senior and i only tried the Potatoes so far and i have another Ready Plus package and some of the features are identical. First I cannot open the outer package and inner packages without using a blunt nose scissors the outer package but not the inner ones is resealable. All the packages were new and sealed with no leakage of any kind, the 4 cans of water had zero damage or dents and tasted good like water should. Now for some problems for me, no useful info on the out side of the main package on the the inside individual packages however the type for me requires a light magnifying lens to read the tiny type and it says "use 2/3rds of the water into the pouch, ok, its a can with a soda can like seal on the top no way to determine 2/3 of water without a measuring cup. The packet you throw out was not open or leaking. The sphork was a little small to mix up the food. the Potato meal was good tasting but tasted like pepper to me, i dont like pepper, and the peas were always still hard freeze dried texture. Like i said if it was to keep you from starving to death it would be good at doing that. But in my case i would need scissors, a magnifying glass, and a way to measure out the water. The food was edible at room temp but if you already had a way to heat it i would heat it.

I love the idea of having food, water, and utensils in 1 long term storage package. But when I opened mine up, the sporks and straw were broken beyond usability. The water didn't leak, but it was frozen (since the package took so long during shipping in winter). There's not much for food. A small 1000 calories in a "24 hour" kit. This wouldn't be so bad except.....the milkshake gave me violent diarrhea within 1 hour of drinking it. I ended up losing more than I ate. On the bright side my bathroom smells strongly of artificial vanilla. Overall I really wanted to like this but it's just not sensible for long term survival. There's better products out there. Ones that don't make me sick.

I did not buy this to sit on a shelf and maybe one day need on a emergency. Should always test what you'll be buying for a emergency on a good day when you don't rely on it. I was very hopeful in a product that unlike others also contained water. Literally everything you need is here and provided for. The box shows no signs of being damaged or jostled. The insides were packaged with air bags. But yet as you can see from the picture one of the four cans is completely demolished and it's definitely leaking. Another of the cans is slightly crushed and seems like it may be leaking. Everything else seems in working condition. I'll update when I've tried the food but, first impression I can't trust that it's not open and leaking in the bag, so I couldn't leave it unopened on a shelf. Which means doesn't matter how good the food may or may not be, it can't do it's job if being ready when it's needed and sit when it isn't.

I bought a couple of these to try because I like the idea of a kit that includes water, and that you can mix in the pouch without any heating. This looked super easy, everything is there, no extra gear to carry. Upon opening, I noticed that two of the cans of water had been damaged and had filled the bottom of the kit with water. The water cans are flimsy, way too easy to damage and potentially ruin the contents of the kit. Fortunately, the food pouches were strong and kept the water out. The portions were small, which was to be expected with a 1,010 calorie kit. The taste of the granola and potatoes was mediocre at best. If there was an emergency, and I didn't have any other food, I would eat it. But I sure would try to find something else first. The vanilla protein shake was the best tasting part of the kit by far. Fortunately, I'd saved it until last and it helped lighten the sting of spending $20 on this product. Buy yourself some MREs or Humanitarian Daily Rations. They are cheaper and taste so much better.

Want to eat in time of emergency, here you go

Great concept but Augason Farms needs to wrap the cans in bubble wrap. Two diff orders came with water sloshing around and all cans cracked open and damaged. The cans are much more fragile than traditional aluminum soda cans.

Perfect for keeping in the car for emergencies!