Heed the News from Mountain House

Mountain House can prices WILL be going up soon.
Supply inventories WILL be going down.

Safecastle is a major dealer for Mountain House freeze dried food. We have been for almost 10 years. Through that time we've seen several severe swings in supply and demand in the storage food marketplace.

Our history has borne out the value of staying ahead of the hordes with regard to demand surges and supply shortages. We have usually been able to warn and prepare our customers months in advance of what was about to occur in this area.

Today, we received a communication that was sent out to dealers, so here again--a warning for you that you can take under consideration:

Market conditions and capacity issues at OFD (producer of Mountain House) have brought about a decision by the manufacturer to stop building #10 can inventory. Thus, going forward, we expect supply at the retail level for some MH canned food will become challenging, with backorders becoming more common in the very near future again. Over the next few months, the supply and demand situation will become worse. Remember last year? Or a handful of other times in the last decade?

When (not if) the next trigger occurs out there to cause another stampede into preparedness (ala Hurricane Katrina or any number of other recent events), inventories will very quickly be depleted and it will take months to again allow the best quality food producers out to ramp back up in response. I've been in this business long enough to understand the cyclical nature of what is going on, and to see clearly that the next leg down is now in the works.

Another factor that I believe will make this situation a bit worse you, the customer--the number of MH dealers out there is greatly diminished after last year's 6-month MH supply drought.

 

When you boil it all down, we expect to see a return to severe supply and demand volatility in the MH and in the storage food marketplace in general.

I know our long-time customers appreciate getting these kinds of insights from us when they can take advantage. Right now, of course, our MH cans sale is down to our last two days. It really is the best deal available to you in our history and for the forseeable future.

Oh--and we also just got word today that the first backorder has forced us to remove the popular MH Mexican Rice and Chicken entree in #10 cans from our listings--it is unknown when it will be back in production.

Otherwise--everything else is still in stock and shipping out within a week!

Shop the sale here

Stay safe.

Last Days of the Best Mountain House Food Buying Opportunity Ever Again

3 More Days in our Maximum-Allowed Discount Mountain House Cans Sale

If you want the best storage food in the world--bar none--you clearly want to be stocking Mountain House freeze-dried food. It's not cheap--but right now, at your fingertips, is the very best deal you'll ever again have at this food that stores for 30 years on the shelf.

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The big picture ... we are still in the midst of our most aggressive storage food sale event in our 10-year history at Safecastle. Many of our food brands are on sale right now at good discounts, adding to our standard member discounts. Members also get Royalty Reward Gift Certificates in the amount of $40 for every 3 MH can cases purchased. And our Spring Rebate Offensive continues to tally up significant rebate credits (3-7%!) for members buying any storage food before the offer's deadline of June 30.

 

What this all means--bottom-line discounts of about 40% or more for some customers!  See details.

MH Cans 25%-off Sale Ends May 6 ... Our current MH cans sale has 3 days left, with the maximum-allowed sale discounts on all MH cans ... with free shipping of course ... and with the aforementioned, unpecedented reward and rebate packages, to boot!

It will be about 5 months before our next MH cans sale, but we will not be offering the Spring rebates package then. And on July 1, MH is enacting new price hikes, on mandatory list prices for all dealers.

So Yes, This IS the Big One

Count the ways your savings add up for this awesome MH-buying opportunity ...

1. All Mountain House cans in our store are priced at 25% off for members and non-members alike--the maximum allowed discount.

2. It all ships free to the lower 48.

3. Buyers club members additionally receive Royalty Rewards gift certificates for qualifying MH can-case purchases--$40 worth for every three cases in a single transaction (good toward the subsequent purchase of anything in our store, other than MH cans).

4. The Spring Rebate Offensive is worth a 3-7% gift certificate rebate on all storage food purchased from April 1-June 30.

5. You beat the pending MH price hikes, required for all dealers.

6. Everything is in stock and shipping out within a week!

Shop the sale here

Another Week for Our Maximum Mountain House Sale; MH prices will be going up soon

We Just Marked Our 10-Year Anniversary as Safecastle LLC

In April 2002, Safecastle emerged from the warm, secure womb of my imagination to take on the world. Today, here we are, still learning and growing. Thank you to each of you for your business, friendship, and assistance in our efforts to make a positive difference in the state of personal preparedness.

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Warning

In that 10 years time, many of you who have been around long enough have benefitted from a few "ahead-of-the-curve" calls I've put forward in terms of pricing and supply warnings, etc. Today, I am giving you another heads-up. This is not at all official. No one from Mountain House has said anything to me, and I have not asked--though I will next week when they are back in the office, to see if I can get confirmation.

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But I am almost sure that we will be seeing significant price hikes for MH canned foods in the near term. This expectation is based on several indicators and my past 10 years of experience in this marketplace. Moreover, once that happens, we will see other storage food manufacturers follow the leader. When will this happen? July 1 is my guess--that is typically when MH price changes have taken effect in the past.

So, you can take that warning however you want. If you've been with us for a while, you know I have never been wrong about these kinds of things before. If I am right, then that makes our current storage-food sale series doubly important (it will be about 5 months before our next MH cans sale) ...

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Buy Low

Phase 4 of our ongoing Emergency Food Sweep series of storage food sales is midway thru its two-week duration. The maximum-allowed discount of 25% off Mountain House cans only has one week left.

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Several other major brands and varieties of storage food are also now on sale. And of course the ground-breaking Spring Rebate Offensive cumulative rebates for all foods purchased between April 1 and June 30 is in effect for buyers club members.

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This is the Big One

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Let's again count the ways your savings add up for this awesome MH-buying opportunity ...

1. We are discounting all Mountain House cans in our store 25% for members and non-members alike--the maximum allowed discount.  
2. It ships free to the lower 48.
3. Buyers club members additionally receive Royalty Rewards gift certificates for qualifying MH can-case purchases--$40 worth for every three cases in a single transaction (good toward the subsequent purchase of anything in our store, other than MH cans).
4. The Spring Rebate Offensive is worth a 3-7% gift certificate rebate on all storage food purchased from April 1-June 30.
5. Prices will very likely be going up soon (see email intro above).

Shop the sale here

Perspective on Cost of Emergency Storage Food - Let's Be Real

Some folks think they should be able to buy a year's worth of storage food for a few hundred dollars at the most. I think they believe that in a crisis, when all hell has broken loose, and they've lost any semblance of normalcy in their lives, and perhaps even a loved one or two, they will be satisfied with eating starvation rations of rice, beans, and sawdust.

What I say to that approach is, just save the few hundred dollars and instead plan on getting your rations at the local FEMA camp or soup kitchen when they get around to setting up shop and herding you into your pen.

I mean, really. Think about it ... in the darkest days of your life, when a major crisis has come calling and you are as down in the dumps as you will ever be, wouldn't it be nice to have some good, normal food? Would it not be a little uplifting to be able to look forward to your daily meals, knowing that at least mealtime will be something worthwhile in your day? That the food you have on hand is quality food that you know how to prepare and that you will enjoy ... and that you know will provide enough calories in the meal to satisfy you?

Two things to consider when you are shopping for your storage food ...

1.  You may be willing to cut back on how many calories you will eat after or during a crisis. But don't plan to reduce your daily caloric intake below 2000 calories a day. Americans are accustomed to closer to 3000 calories a day. A minimum level of 2000 calories a day will be enough to sustain the average adult (though you will probably be hungry for a while till you grow used to that).

Many storage food sellers misrepresent their time-period packages, saying, for instance, their one-year packages will supply 900 or 1100 calories a day. If they have any honesty in their bones, there will be some fine print somewhere that admits you will need to supplement your diet with other food. And as far as number of servings go--serving counts are irrelevant. Research what the legal definition of a serving actually is, and you'll see my point. Three servings of food a day will leave you literally starving, though most folks think that means three full meals.

Finally--also know that chicken-flavored or beef-flavored dishes are going to be devoid of real meat. TVP is soy-based material, textured to imitate the feel of meat in your mouth. If you are a vegetarian, that might be OK with you. But many folks are not aware of that when they purchase bargain-basement food packages.

2.  That said, cost is next to consider. This is where perspective is needed. How much do you spend on food every week or every month? Do you know?

Well, the USDA knows. Here is a link to the latest Official USDA Food Plan: Cost of Food at Home at Four Levels, US Average, Jan. 2012. Now consider--this is about how much you spend at home for food, given your household size and your general budget, as well as ages of individuals in the family.

I'm going to pull out a couple of numbers from the table here for the purpose of simplicity and enlightenment. Consider that one male, between the ages of 19 and 50 years old, with a moderate food budget, spends better than $292 a month for food at home. With a "liberal" budget, that man spends about $360 a month. Now how much more does that man spend eating out through the month? I won't venture a guess, but you can keep that in mind when you consider how much you spend on the food you are eating today.

Knowing that most folks spend funds on eating out as well as eating in, I'm going to simply use that $360 a month food budget number. That means, if that man was to plan to put away good year-supply of food that he is used to eating, that he enjoys eating and that he knows how to prepare--he should logically expect to pay at least $4320 for that food--for one male adult. The fact that food is specially produced, prepared, and canned to last a long time--for decades in fact--may or may not enter his understanding of the value of that food, but he should take that into account as well.

The cost and the real value of food continues to escalate. Today's purchase of GOOD quality storage food is an investment that many very smart people are making today. They know that when they make good choices in this area, their investment cannot help but grow in value. Think about it.

Cheap, tasteless food you buy today is not going to be any better years from now when you need to count on it to keep you going.


Vic Rantala owns Safecastle Crisis Preparedness Buyers Club. Shop online at www.safecastle.com and get club member discounts and free shipping all the time on the world's best storage food brands, such as Mountain House freeze dried food.


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Free Lifetime Membership at Safecastle (or gift certificate if already a member)-Act VERY fast!

Our members get 20% discounts or more on most everything we sell, free shipping to the lower 48, and several buyers incentives and rewards.

This current membership offer is for a VERY limited time so don't put it off ...

If you want a free membership (or if you already a member and would like an equivalent gift certificate), please do the following ...

1. Our favored option - Go to our store at www.safecastle.com Find a cool listing that you love and like or share it to your Facebook timeline. Include a short, heartfelt explanation as to why it is cool or important. Then go to our Facebook page and click on the message button and point out that you have added it to your timeline so we can have a look. (If only your friends can see your timeline, send me a friend request ... Victor Rantala). You'll also want to message me so I can send you your gift certificate code.

2. If you don't use Facebook, post a link to a favorite listing here in this linked SurvivalistBoards thread: http://www.survivalistboards.com/sho...38#post4078438 To get the full gift certificate, you will include an image and good, brief reason for why you like the product you are sharing.

3. Caveat: Good product referrals as described above will receive the full gift certificate worth a membership (or current members will receive a $49 gift certificate). That means, it will include an image or one of our vids, and a genuine reason why the product is cool. Something judged less than that will get a $25-value gift certificate or less (toward a membership for non-members). One gift certificate per person. We don't want to make this difficult--or hard to achieve ... on the contrary--we are simply trying to discourage trolls who might have less than honorable intentions.

See our membership terms here.

Please be patient as right now we are swamped with business and emails, etc. I will get back to you with your coupon or gift certificate code as soon as I can.

Bug-Out-or-Dig-In.com: Cool Interactive Infographic Resource

bug-out-or-dig-in.com

Preparedness 101
What's Your "Plan A" - Bug-out or Dig in? 

Is "Plan A" to "get out of Dodge" in the event of a pending or sudden crisis? Or is "Plan A" to "bunker down" at home?

An intelligent approach to crisis preparedness planning requires consideration of specific crisis scenarios as well as individual constraints and limitations. Thinking about it before the pressure is on helps you arrive at the right decision when the time comes.   

Pre-crisis--honestly assess your general options, constraints, overall risks, and best odds for surviving and thriving.   

Options for most people are usually an either/or proposition:

• Stick it out at home where your supplies, tools, and community support network are established.
• Bug-out to a hoped-for relative place of safety.   

Best odds are arrived at by looking at the strength and position of your home and community vs. the circumstances of the crisis. For most people, "Plan A" in many events would be to "dig-in" and fortify at home. However, there ARE events when bugging out is the smart move.   

Bug Out Or Dig In?
Want Help Calculating Your Best Option?

Here is a very cool interactive graphic to plot some of your strengths, weaknesses, and potential crisis scenarios:  bug-out-or-dig-in.com

Share this tool with your friends and use it as a starting point for discussion.

What a great way to break the ice about preparedness with those who are still "on the fence" about preparedness!

This is the Big One: Prepare & Fortify

Best-Ever Mountain House Buying Opportunity for Buyers Club Members -

Sunday, April 22 ... Phase 4 of our ongoing Emergency Food Sweep series of storage food sales kicks in.

All the previously announced sale discounts in the Sweep continue. And of course, the ground-breaking Spring Rebate Offensive cumulative rebates for all foods purchased between April 1 and June 30 ... that's in effect and club members are racking up their rebate earnings as we go.

But This is the Big One

The ever-popular Mountain House cans sale is Phase 4. Important to note--this Mountain House sale lasts only two weeks. As you know, hands-down, Mountain House is the world's premier storage food.

Let's count the ways your savings add up for this awesome MH-buying opportunity ...

1.  We are discounting all Mountain House cans in our store 25% for members and non-members alike--the maximum allowed discount. Of course it ships free to the lower 48.

2.  Buyers club members additionally receive Royalty Rewards gift certificates for qualifying MH can-case purchases--$40 worth for every three cases in a single transaction (good toward the purchase of anything in our store, other than MH cans).

3.  The Spring Rebate Offensive is worth a 3-7% gift certificate rebate on all storage food purchased from April 1-June 30.

Shop the sale here ... needless to say, all our storage foods are shipped fresh from the manufacturer and store for years and years ... in the case of MH cans, they store 30 years or more! That's peace of mind.

I do love this Mountain House video: