Maximum MH Cans Sale: 25-33% Off ... Wow - Check this Week's Incentives!

Your Choice: The New Rawles Book, a NukAlert, an Excalibur Dehydrator, a Paratrooper Folding Bike!

Only at Safecastle, and only now through the end of the year, "Repel the Chaos"... Every week we are offering generous new buyers-club-member purchase incentives, so be sure to check in weekly to make sure you don't miss some excellent opportunities. The Week #5 incentive offer is grabbing new altitude, just in time for the LAST Maximum Mountain House Sale of 2012 (with great discounts up to 33%!). And our MH Royalty Rewards program is available in addition to these Repel the Chaosopportunities ... Now, from Sept. 23-30 only (Eastern time) ... 1.  Members who make any single purchase (one weekly incentive per member) totaling at least $450 receive a FREE hardcover copy of the new Rawles book,"Founders, a Novel of the Coming Collapse" 2.  Or, make a purchase of at least $950 and receive a FREE NukAlert. 3.  Or a member purchase of at least $1350 earns a 9-Tray Excalibur 3900 Dehydrator. 4. Or how about earning a new Montague Paratrooper folding mountain bike with a purchase of at least $3600. --  Best of all, we are now discounting all Mountain House can cases at least 25% and up to 33% for a very limited time. For more on the Repel the Chaos prizes, monthly drawings and these incentives, see the details.

Extending this Week's Special Offer by 1 Day: Repel the Chaos!

The barbarians are at the gates

This week's "Repel the Chaos" offer for our Safecastle buyers club members is exceptionally popular so we are extending this Week #4 incentive offer by one day--thru Saturday, Sept. 22.

See: http://safecastle.blogspot.com/2012/09/repel-chaos-week-4-free-katadyn-pocket.html

Not a Safecastle Crisis Preparedness Club member yet? It's a lifetime membership, with no renewal fees ever. Free shipping on everything to the lower 48. 20%-off or more on most everything we sell all the time. Plus outrageous rewards and incentives for member purchases.

"Repel the Chaos" Week 4: FREE Katadyn Pocket or Vario; Up to 33%-off MH Food!

 
Top Off Your Preps with Our Freebies ...

Only at Safecastle, and only now through the end of the year, "Repel the Chaos"...

Every week we are offering a generous new buyers-club-member purchase incentive, so be sure to check in weekly to make sure you don't miss some excellent opportunities.

For the Week #4 incentive, effective Sept. 15-21, we have another must-have ...

1.  Members who make any single purchase (one weekly incentive per member) totaling at least $450 receive a FREE Katadyn Vario water filter and a 20-pack of MP1 purification tablets ($117 value).

2.  Or, make a purchase of at least $1250 and receive a FREE Katadyn Pocket water filter! ($379 value).

3.  Of note--we are now discounting selected Mountain House can cases up to 33% for a very limited time.

For more on the Repel the Chaos prizes, monthly drawings and the incentives, see the details.

Spurning the Political Macaronics

Two months yet before the big election. Yep--it's very, very important to vote well. But it's a nasty ride getting there.

This old warrior needs no further input, thank you, to help me decide who gets my vote. Therefore, in an effort to retain some sense of sanity and rational perspective, my objective going forward is to insulate myself from the approaching high point of the political cycle that marinates the passive populace in toxicity.

Donning the full-body suit, mask, rubber boots, gloves, ear plugs ... no it still won't quite be enough. But by the grace of God, I trust I will come through.

I don't really know that it's going to matter much either way at this point who wins the presidency or the Congress. We're darn near at the bottom of the log chute. But one more vote for old time's sake is the least we can contribute, no?

Just hold fast to your values and act your conscience, my friends. See you on the other side.

Week #3: FREE MREs, Canned Cheese, Gift Certificates, 20%-off MH Cans!

Only at Safecastle, and only now through the end of the year, "Repel the Chaos"...

Every week we are offering a generous new buyers-club-member purchase incentive, so be sure to check in weekly to make sure you don't miss some excellent opportunities.

For the Week #3 incentive, effective Sept. 8-14, we have a barn-burner of a multi-tiered offer.

1. First, note that our Royalty Rewards program continues to be in effect ... providing $30 gift certificates for every three Mountain House can cases purchased in a transaction.

2. On top of that, a member purchase of at least 7 cases of MH cans gets a FREE case of MREs with heaters.

3. Adding to all that, members purchasing 14 cases or more of MH cans also get a FREE case of Bega canned cheese!

4. Did I mention that the five most popular MH canned varieties are 20% off this month?

For more on the Repel the Chaos prizes, monthly drawings and the incentives, see the details.

Poll: Your Prepper Posture, September 2012

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

See this poll's results here.

'Repel the Chaos' Week-2 Incentives, and 20%-off Mountain House Can Varieties!

Only at Safecastle, and only now through the end of the year, "Repel the Chaos"...

Every week we are offering a generous new buyers-club-member purchase incentive, so be sure to check in weekly to make sure you don't miss some excellent opportunities.

For the next weekly incentive, effective Sept. 1-7, any member spending at least $250 on Future Essentials and/or Yoders foods in a transaction will receive a free Dining & Dessert Kit -- a value of $125!

Every month, August thru December, a lucky member making a purchase of at least $150 during that month will be entered into a drawing for a prize. The August prize drawing for a Katadyn Pocket went to Rebecca B., order #16208. The September drawing will be for an Excalibur 9-Tray 3900 Dehydrator.

And remember--the December prize drawing will be drawn from among the names of all qualifying members making a purchase between August and the end of December. That grand prize is an AEB OX Mini Power Plant Solar Generator!

For more on the current 'Repel the Chaos' prizes and the incentives, see the details.

BIG NEWS: 5 Most Popular MH Can Varieties 20% Off!

Mountain House is loosening the purse strings a bit more and allowing us to discount the five most popular can varieties 20% thru September. Of course you get not only that discount, but if you are a Safecastle Royal buyers club member, you also get our unique Royalty Rewards gift certificates back for qualifying purchases!

There is no better preparedness food in the world ... proven time and again by independent scientific studies on longevity and taste.

New from Mountain House: 25-Year Pouches in Buckets! ... Introductory Bargain Priced

They've been rumored. Now they're revealed ... the brand, spanking-new Mountain House 25-year pouches in a bucket kits: http://www.safecastle.com/mountain-house-buckets.aspx

The best freeze-dried food in the world--repeatedly confirmed by third-party scientific testing. Want to count on your long-term storage food investment to actually be there for you down the road? Then it's got to be Mountain House. And now these pouch kits make that much more affordable!

More Shocking Data from Third-Party Testing of Freeze-Dried Brands

Over the last few weeks, we've been breaking news on various third-party scientific tests on popular freeze-dried food brands. You'd think there wouldn't be whole lot of difference, right?

Well--what it actually boils down to is some surprising insight into critical food packaging, big differences in brand-name quality, and deceptive marketing practices by at least one well-known company that recently jumped into the business.

Here is a link to our previous most recent article:  http://safecastle.blogspot.com/2012/08/osu-lab-test-pits-mountain-house-vs.html

That article summarizes and provides links to two previous studies that compare Mountain House food varieties with Wise Food flavors. An eye-opening read, for sure.

Now, on August 23 an executive from Mountain House posted a detailed response in a discussion thread about these studies ... and that new post reveals still more info about a more comprehensive third study. Here is that response in full:

Apologies in advance for the long post, but over the last month we’ve seen many requests for more data as well as questions about the studies we’ve published. At Mountain House, we’re strong advocates of transparency and we’d like to take a couple of minutes to provide you with some more information.

The most frequent data request we have seen has been for the oxygen content of more samples of Wise products. While Wise has chosen not to respond to those requests, Mountain House has commissioned another third party study of their remaining long-term food storage line, adding their fruit, vegetable, meat, sauce, and cereal products to the dry-blended entrees from the earlier study. Here is a summary of the combined results (we’d be happy to provide the underlying data upon request):

* 90 separate sample pouches.
* Dated from 6/11/11 through 4/24/12.
* A minimum of 34 distinct batches.
* Purchased at retail from 4 different online vendors.
* Sent to a third party laboratory in original packaging.
* Oxygen levels averaged 17.1% across the entire Wise long-term food storage product line.

We strongly suggest that customers of long-term emergency food storage confirm not only the flavor and nutrition of products they’re planning on purchasing, but also the oxygen content, before spending a large sum of money. Mountain House has over 40 years of experience meeting and exceeding stringent military specs (e.g., < 2% oxygen), and you can be confident that our products will be there for you when you need them most. Emergencies can be stressful and you want to be sure that you will enjoy the food you have stored, whatever brand(s) you choose.

Another frequent question focuses on the funding of the oxygen content and sensory evaluation studies we’ve released. We are very open about this: Mountain House hired unaffiliated organizations that specialize in testing to conduct research. The reason we did this was to assure customers that the resulting data was solid and free from bias.

We actually have a state-of-the-art food laboratory and could have easily performed the studies ourselves, just as we routinely test our own products as part of our rigorous quality assurance process. But we know that when a company claims that “we have tests that prove what we say”, customers are rightly skeptical, even if the company publishes that data.

Instead, we hired third party organizations to conduct the studies: Columbia Food Laboratories for the oxygen headspace analysis and Oregon State University’s Sensory Science Laboratory for the sensory evaluation. Neither is affiliated with Mountain House or the emergency food storage industry, and both value their reputations as respected scientific organizations.

If other companies wish to fund similar unbiased third party studies of Mountain House products purchased from multiple online vendors, we encourage them to do so. It is a large market, customer tastes and budgets vary, and there is plenty of room for honest competition among reputable manufacturers.

As a leader in the long-term food storage industry for over 40 years, Mountain House wants customers to be able to make informed decisions regarding purchases that will sustain their families and give them comfort in times of emergency. Towards that end, we will continue to test both our own and competitive products in the market and report our findings to interested consumers.

Please feel free to contact us at MH-Info (at) ofd.com, or post your questions/comments on this forum. We’ll do our best to respond promptly.

Thanks for your interest in this very important subject.

- Mountain House.

REPEL THE CHAOS: $10s of Thousands in Prepper Giveaways!

Only at Safecastle, and only now through the end of the year ...

Every week we are offering a generous new buyers-club-member purchase incentive, so you'll want to check in weekly to make sure you don't miss some excellent opportunities.

August 28 update: effective Aug. 28 thru Aug. 31--any member spending at least $175 in a transaction will receive one free Brand New MH 25-Year Essential Bucket and two Lifestraws! -- a value of $120!

Every month, August thru December, a lucky member making a purchase of at least $150 during that month will be entered into a drawing for a prize. The August prize drawing is a Katadyn Pocket. If you have already made a qualifying purchase this month, you are in the drawing.

The December prize drawing will be drawn from among the names of all qualifying members making a purchase between August and the end of December. That grand prize is an AEB OX Mini Power Plant Solar Generator!

Needless to say, in addition to this wallet-candy, our normal member discounts of 20% on most everything we sell in our crisis preparedness store and our free shipping offer on everything to the lower 48 applies.

For more on the prizes and the incentives, see the details.

Some Great New Products You Might Need

I'm really excited about our new AEB line that features the OX Mini Power Plant Solar Generator. Did my homework on this and have my own system inbound as we speak. Watch the videos and decide if it might be just what you need.

There are too many other new listings we've recently added to talk about them all, but I'll mention a few: the Guppie & Eat'N Tool Combo, Sandbags, Organic Freeeze Dried Blackberries, Freeze Dried Tropical Fruits, Roasted Cocoa Nibs, Freeze Dried Colby Cheese, and Excalibur Dehydrators with 26 hour timers.

See more.

OSU Lab Test Pits Mountain House vs. Wise Foods ... Results are WOW!

We just received information about a scientific third-party test conducted by Oregon State University.

There has been increasing controversy in the marketplace with regard to claims made by some storage-food manufacturers about their foods and shelf life, etc.

A previous recent test performed at Columbia Food Labs addressed shelf-life claims made by Wise Foods, showing the oxygen levels in that company's food packages are extremely high and not conducive to long shelf life for the foods in those packages.

Now this just released university test (conducted by the Sensory Science Lab at OSU in late July of this year) shows that there is a big difference in consumer preference in taste as well. Using a representative cross-section of 113 participants, a randomized, blind tasting test of comparable Mountain House and Wise Foods varieties was conducted.

In the end, the results were quite amazing, with the Mountain House foods preferred by a wide margin, averaging better than 90%. The lab indicates results have a 99.9% confidence level.

The summary slide presentation is available here.

The complete OSU data report can be viewed here.

Near-term Forecast for Severe Outbreak of Adversities

One day recently I woke up, looked in the mirror, and realized that I had literally become a graybeard. My lovely wife of many, many calendars tells me she likes how it looks (when neatly trimmed) and that my wisdom had finally started to show. Forever my inspiration, that girl.

These years have started to tumble by ever more quickly. The gray, the paunch, and the creases around my eyes are a constant reminder of the lengthening road at my heels. But where the physical wear and tear manifests, so too does the mental, emotional, and spiritual progress become more evident. Wisdom and true understanding do require deeper roots.

In the Preparedness and Intelligence Fields

I'm a Cold Warrior ... intell officer from way back. I was trained as an analyst by the best of the best more than 35 years ago. At the time, I was pretty much still a kid. But the wheels of time pushed and pulled. I learned and grew and moved on in life, usually two steps forward one step back ... all the while bestowing valuable experiences in various, mostly insignificant corners of the big, round world.

Recognition that civilization as we knew it had crested the hill and was on the backside of the shining mountain came very early. Some of that early recognition was "insider" info, I guess. And soon thereafter came the understanding that there really was no such thing as a benevolent government out there ready to keep us from hurting ourselves. Eventually I even came around to seeing the danger that growing behemoth was posing to freedom.

Needless to say--crisis preparedness grew to be a personal passion. Then it became an outreach effort and finally a very fulfilling business operation as well.

All of this background is to simply set the stage for what I want to say very clearly today to those who have yet to see the warning signs all around us.

Alarm

Loud and clear--in all my years of advising high-ranking military and corporate officers, and customers, peers, and others seeking my insight as an analyst, consultant, business partner, or friend, I have never before been so acutely alert to the imminent dangers right on our doorstep today. "Our" meaning any and all of us living today on this planet earth.

There are so many urgent crises on the verge of spilling over the multitude of rickety, makeshift dams that have been erected to buy more time, that it is simply mind-boggling to me that we are now reaching the point when they could all conceivably breech their containment structures all at once.

The collapsing economy around the world ... the fast-building tensions in the Middle East about to erupt in a war that could quickly engulf the world ... simmering social stresses tearing communities and nations apart ... ballooning governmental police-state mentalities sweeping through all levels of authority ... extreme climate conditions leading to very dangerous food shortages ...

I'm not a Mayan end-of-the-world believer ... the farthest from it. But it's quite the coincidence how our reality is about to be turned absolutely inside out at this particular time, isn't it? God works in mysterious ways.

It's Time

Friends, date-setting is an almost certain way to make an ass of yourself. That said, right now I have to get this off my chest, simply and fully:  I don't see us getting to 2013 without going through some very drastic upheavals and convulsions in our current state of global equilibrium. Near term--the next few months--is about to get violently ugly out there, I fear.

I have felt for many years that I was pretty much as prepared as I could be. That's why I have been devoting so much of my time to helping others get ready for crises. I've always remained hopeful that somehow most of us could avoid ever having to actually fall back on our preps, but now, I think perhaps I was naive. And I'm back to doing a number of things right now that I had let slide in my own situation ... moving with urgency on some last-stage preps.

Anyway--it is what it is at this point. All we can do is steel ourselves for what is coming. I encourage all of you to seek God's will for you in prayer and make preparations accordingly.

Man, This Food Abides!

20 cases of Mountain House food in cans (30-year shelf life) gets you 11 cases more of free storage food, including canned bacon, long-term coffee beans, canned cheese, butter, spices, and wet-pack meats! Crazy deal!

20 cases of MH cans plus $1600 (11 cases) more of FREE storage food

CNBC Reporter Interviewed Safecastle Owner for "Businesses That Cater to Doomsdayers"

All in all, a fair shake by reporter Chris Morris in this CNBC article that is out today: "Businesses That Cater to Doomsdayers."

Excerpt:

Between ongoing global economic uncertainty, terrorism threats, hurricanes, earthquakes, and so-called Mayan apocalypse on Dec. 21, the end of the world is on some people's minds.

That creates a business opportunity – but the customers may not be quite who you’d imagine.

"My customer base is not the militia type who are out in the woods practicing for the end of the world," says Vic Rantala, owner of Safecastle, which has been servicing the survival market for over 10 years. "Our customers are really a good cross section of the American population. … We have people of all incomes and a lot of professions: Doctors. Lawyers. Business owners."

An Inside Look at Mountain House Foods

by Ben Rantala, Operations manager, www.safecastle.com

Last week I was afforded the opportunity to visit Oregon Freeze Dry, Inc.--the parent company of the premier freeze-dried food producer in the world, Mountain House.

This invitation to a select few of OFD’s retail dealers doesn’t come around very often at all. The last time they brought in some of their dealers was 15 years ago. Needless to say, lots of things have changed since then.

Before my visit to OFD, I knew very little about the freeze drying process. After all, I am a “bean counter,” as my father likes to say.

I didn’t really know what to expect from my visit to Albany, Oregon. What I walked away with was a greater understanding and a higher appreciation for OFD and Mountain House. Their attention to detail and determination to be the best was quite noticeable right from the beginning ...
...
Read the entire article and see the OFD facility.


Some Key Factoids:

• OFD got their start in the cereal business and the idea for Mountain House came about near the end of the Vietnam war - when the troops were returning, they were asking where they could buy the LRP's for personal use
• Mountain House is the only brand on the market that consists of fully freeze dried food. Other companies market theirs as such, but they have dehydrated components as well, which will not last as long as advertised.
• Mountain House foods are fully cooked, then cooled in three stages, and then freeze dried. This helps to trap the flavor in, as well as the nutrients. Other companies will blast-freeze their product, which essentially evaporates the nutrients and the food will never be able to fully reconstitute.
• The pouches of a major competitor essentially have only two layers (not including the outer print layer). Mountain House pouches have 7 layers, including a nylon layer which prevents high oxygen transmission. Not having enough layers will allow UV light to penetrate, and advance the rancidity of the food much quicker.

Firebox at www.safecastle.com

Mountain House Products are Exceeding 30-Year Shelf Life

My operations manager was at Mountain House yesterday and took part in some blind taste testing between MH foods and several other branded dried storage foods. He reported that in every variety compared, the MH foods turned out a slam-dunk winner in both taste and appearance. As a matter of fact, he also tasted some of this pictured 30-year-old Mountain House freeze-dried Rice & Chicken. He said it was "quite tasty"! 

Mountain House Results Show That Products Are Exceeding 30-Year Shelf Life

Industry-Leading Freeze-Dried Food Manufacturer Continues to Set Shelf Life Records

                    

July 24, 2012 11:33 AM Eastern Daylight Time

ALBANY, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mountain House, the leading domestic brand of freeze-dried food, conducted an internal taste test to compare the quality of new pouches of food versus 30- to 31-year-old pouches from the company’s archives. Six products were scored on a nine-point scale by 12 participants. Despite the fact that archived pouches trailed the new pouches in each case, the resulting average score of 6.6 surprised even the most seasoned of taste testers in the group.

“We know that packaging in cans is a great way to preserve freshness over time, and we will continue using this method”

According to Norm Jager, head of research and development for Mountain House, the fact that the archived pouches scored this highly after 30 years indicated to Mountain House a need to re-think how it communicates shelf-life to consumers.
  
“Mountain House is the only brand that determines shelf life by testing its own archived products. It is increasingly clear that our products are performing well beyond the shelf life displayed on our labels. As a result, we are going to move from a ‘use by’ date on our products to a ‘manufactured on’ date because, frankly, the ‘use by’ date keeps getting pushed out into the future. In other words, we’re not just guessing that our products will last over 30 years, we know it and we want our customers to know it as well.”
  
As the industry leader in freeze-dried food, Mountain House attributes the ever-increasing shelf life of its pouches to rigorous end-to-end manufacturing processes and quality control. This includes everything from ingredient sourcing, recipe development, blending of seasonings, cooking, and freeze drying to packaging and distribution. These facts, in tandem with ongoing taste test findings, could have significant meaning to consumers looking for maximum longevity.
  
“We know that packaging in cans is a great way to preserve freshness over time, and we will continue using this method,” said Jager. “However, it’s great to know that our pouch packaging is nearly as durable, when stored properly. When you eat 30-year-old Mountain House food you will more than just survive on it, you will enjoy it and get almost the exact same nutrition as freshly made product. We carry that confidence with us as we continue developing our product offerings this year.”

For more information on this study, please visit:
http://www.mountainhouse.com/media/press/MH_TasteGraph.pdf

About Mountain House
Mountain House, the #1 domestic brand of freeze-dried food, has been the leading choice of backpackers, hikers, campers and other outdoor enthusiasts for nearly 50 years, and more recently has become a favorite long-term food storage solution for emergency preparedness. Mountain House products are convenient, easy to prepare and have an industry-leading shelf life. For more information and a complete list of product offerings, visit www.mountainhouse.com.

Case of Mountain House Food Awarded August 1: Winner's Choice, Value to $400!

We do this monthly--give away a case of Mountain House freeze dried food, winner's choice from among the Mountain House listings in our Safecastle store. You have to like your odds, don't you? ... given that the grand prize every month is valued to $400, and the pool of possible winners is still pretty small. Of course, our goal is to make that number of folks grow.

How do you get into the monthly drawing? It's a piece of cake. Just like our Safecastle Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Safecastle

Remain on the Safecastle LIKE list and you will be in the drawing for as long as we do this.

I do have a challenge out there for all of you that can greatly increase your chances of being a winner in this next drawing. Right now we have 2326 likes on our page. If and when we reach 2750, we will be awarding an additional 5 Mountain House Best Seller kits. So if you SHARE our page with your Facebook friends, then we just might reach that goal in the next few days.

The next drawing is August 1, 2012.

7 Reasons NOW is the Time for Your Mountain House Food Purchase

Mountain House freeze-dried food is the world's premier long-term storage food--shelf life of 30 years in #10 cans and award-winning quality, selection, and taste.

Occasionally, timing is everything. Many factors are currently aligned ... let's count the ways:

1. Numerous Mountain House #10-can discounts right now at Safecastle are at levels that have not been seen anywhere in more than 5 years (up to 34%)! Note: This sale ends July 18.

2. Free shipping on everything to the lower 48

3. Our buyers club member rewards are providing $30 gift certificates for every 3 MH can cases in a transaction!

4. Many MH manufacturer can prices are going up 5% on Aug. 1, everywhere MH is sold.

5. In July only, we are making the unprecedented offer of a FREE lifetime buyers club membership and a $20 coupon code (one-time use)!

6. Have you seen the news release about the independent study comparing the oxygen present in Mountain House food vs. Wise Food (a crucial factor in determining actual shelf life)?

7. And how about those global headlines? Take your pick ... the economy, international tensions, crime rates, and the social and political head-butting that is stoking the flames of class warfare ...

Now is the time. Get your gear in place and supplies topped off. The hourglass may not be flipped again.