# Mtn. House confirms shortage



## JayJay (Nov 23, 2010)

Exclusive: Mountain House Confirms Freeze Dried Food Shortage

Oregon based Mountain House, a division of Oregon Freeze Dry, Inc., has confirmed reports of shortages in their freeze dried food product line.

In an email to SHTFplan.com, Mountain House Sales Division Manager Melanie Cornutt said it is true that larger distributors and dealers are receiving limited stocks of inventory, and that Mountain House is unable to provide freeze dried foods in #10 cans to smaller distributors due to significant global demand. A number #10 can is generally purchased for larger camping groups or for emergency food storage, as it holds approximately six pounds, or 13 cups, of food with approximately 10 - 25 servings per can.

When asked what the cause for the atypical demand may be, Ms. Cornutt said, "we have nothing concrete, but we believe this is contributing to most of it - Federal reserve talking about buying $600 billion worth of treasury notes, which could de-value the USD, hence causing inflation fears. In addition, we have had many Americans call and express concerns with our current government."

Though recent reports suggest that US emergency service agencies, law enforcement and the military have stepped up preparedness efforts, Ms. Cornutt rebuffed rumors that the Federal government may be responsible for acquiring much of the food for emergency services preparations saying, "the Federal Government/FEMA are not making large purchases of our Mountain House #10 cans."

A leading online emergency products firm and distributor to agencies such as Department of Homeland Security and the TSA also put this rumor to rest, saying the government "has not purchased more than normal," in recent months.

Nitro-Pak, another preparedness web site and large distributor of Mountain House Freeze Dried Foods, has alerted customers that emergency food demand is so high, their processing time for new orders is approaching one month, citing inflation fears as the main culprit. "Orders with #10 can foods or food reserve units are processing in about 28 business days due to the extremely high demand that has been caused by our nation's current political & economic uncertainty as well as high inflation fears. We anticipate prices will soon rise as are all food prices worldwide," reads a shipping update memo on the web site.

When asked about inflation fears, a Nitro-Pak representative said that inflation resulting from government policies seems to be the main motivating factor for their customers. The representative also cited the popularity of the preparedness trend, suggesting that recent Glenn Beck episodes promoting food storage may have something to do with the interest in personal food preparedness.

Mountain House says that the production delays within their freeze dried food division should be resolved soon. "We anticipate this to continue through February/March of 2011," according to Melanie Cornutt, "this timing may change, but as of today, this is the best estimate we have."

Author: Mac Slavo


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## semperscott (Nov 7, 2010)

Good to know and food for thought. Thanks!


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

So does this mean that some of the sheeple are finally waking up? :dunno: We can only hope.


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## sailaway (Mar 12, 2009)

Didn't realize Mountain House had #10 cans of freeze dried foods, interesting. I saw plenty of the servings for 2 @ Walley World, Cabelas and Gande Mtn. this week.:scratch


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## Ponce (May 3, 2009)

Got my two loads for one year each back in Y2K at $750.00 a load, it is my understanding that they now cost a hell of a lot more.


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## JayJay (Nov 23, 2010)

UncleJoe said:


> So does this mean that some of the sheeple are finally waking up? :dunno: We can only hope.


What this means, Uncle JOe, is with many going there, MAYBE my Libby's corn, peas, and green beans that I bought for 3/$1 will go back down from 
.80 cents a can so my friend can buy a car load!!


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

JayJay said:


> What this means, Uncle JOe, is with many going there, MAYBE my Libby's corn, peas, and green beans that I bought for 3/$1 will go back down from
> .80 cents a can so my friend can buy a car load!!


that seems counter-intuitive, with the deflated dollar and greater demand, wouldn't prices go *up*?  if there's a greater demand at MH then there more than likely is an *unreported* greater demand across the board


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## lotsoflead (Jul 25, 2010)

Green Giant is 10 cans(14oz) for five dollars in our supermarkets this week,Aldis has been .39 a can for most vegs except beets,


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## mdprepper (Jan 22, 2010)

lotsoflead said:


> Green Giant is 10 cans(14oz) for five dollars in our supermarkets this week,Aldis has been .39 a can for most vegs except beets,


At my local Aldi's the older label cans are .39, the new improved pretty label cans are .55 each!


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## kyfarmer (Feb 22, 2009)

They could be smaller can's to. The old repackaging trick is going on all over now. Just a tad smaller for a little higher prices. :scratch


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## *Andi (Nov 8, 2009)

UncleJoe said:


> So does this mean that some of the sheeple are finally waking up? :dunno: We can only hope.


A few of the radio host have started 'a push' for people to be parpared (and stock up) ... So I say yes, a some of the sheeple are waking up.


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## SurviveNthrive (May 20, 2010)

Perhaps it's merely semantics, but they're no longer sheeple when they wake up to the fact things might get bad and they start acting upon that belief. 

They become potential allies, resources and/or competition.


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## WildMist (Nov 13, 2008)

I wonder how our Canadian reps for freeze dried food are doing. Is Briden experiencing a backlog with their Thrive product too or are we still slightly better off than U.S. 
I'm thinking I better put an order in quickly if we're not suffering from a shortage too.


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## ComputerGuy (Dec 10, 2010)

You can also make your own. LTFS, dehydrating.


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## Freyadog (Jan 27, 2010)

Even though we buy in bulk we also were buying the sales. We would take the canned and frozen foods, drain and/or thaw and dehydrate. Less space is used and we don't have to worry about cans going bad. We put everything in jars and then seal with our foodsaver.


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## 101airborne (Jan 29, 2010)

sailaway said:


> Didn't realize Mountain House had #10 cans of freeze dried foods, interesting. I saw plenty of the servings for 2 @ Walley World, Cabelas and Gande Mtn. this week.:scratch


Most of MH "packages" are in #10 cans. like the years supply for one and such. Normal price depending on the product ranges between $22 and $38 a can. BUT they have a shelf life of around 25 years. We have around 7-8 months worth for the wife and I. Actually several of the foods are not bad. Their oatmeal is good as well as most of the fruit products. The meat products however IMO leave a bit to be desired. However in an emergency situation they are edible.


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## 101airborne (Jan 29, 2010)

Ponce said:


> Got my two loads for one year each back in Y2K at $750.00 a load, it is my understanding that they now cost a hell of a lot more.


 Last catalog I recieved from them the "basic" years supply for one was $1,800 plus shipping.


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## tac803 (Nov 21, 2010)

I waited 2 weeks for a shipment of mountain house, and almost half of it was backordered.


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## sailaway (Mar 12, 2009)

kyfarmer said:


> They could be smaller can's to. The old repackaging trick is going on all over now. Just a tad smaller for a little higher prices. :scratch


They might have more liquid and less vegetable in them too.:scratch


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## SaskBound (Feb 13, 2010)

WildMist said:


> I wonder how our Canadian reps for freeze dried food are doing. Is Briden experiencing a backlog with their Thrive product too or are we still slightly better off than U.S.
> I'm thinking I better put an order in quickly if we're not suffering from a shortage too.


I ordered from Briden not long ago. They did not mention having problems getting product, but then again, they mostly sell ingredients, not pre-made meals. They had a shipment held up by a big snowstorm in the States, and have had a surge of ordering (they think it's combo Glenn Beck and Christmas), but they were able to fill my order no problem, if a little late 

Edit to add: I am pretty sure most of their product comes from the US, so it will probably hit them eventually, unless the issue is with ready meals, rather than ingredients like FD blueberries or onions or whatever.


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## tac803 (Nov 21, 2010)

I took the liberty of checking several sites for different freeze dried / long term storage foods tonight. Numerous manufacturers appear to be "back ordered", and several distributors list an "approximately" 2 week delay. Mountain house site indicated it was OUT of #10 cans. That's a little perplexing.


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## nj_m715 (Oct 31, 2008)

It's not perplexing. The writing is on the wall for everyone to read, but most don't bother. Plan your preps like it 1850 all over again and you'll be fine.


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## Camoevo (Sep 30, 2010)

I often wonder why they put stuff like that out there. I feel its a way to get a scare and boost sales. Its really not that hard to hold back a few shipment and say its out or back ordered. I bought some food from a company called wise food. They had tons of boxes lying around. I called them to be a distributor and they told me they had everything in stock to ship for a 10k order if i wanted to and then some. I remember when they said that they where limiting rice sales because there was a shortage from the source. At costcothey limited how much rice you could buy. Now buy all you want all the way down to the 99 cent stores that have them. I do beleave that more people are preping tho. thats my 2 cents.


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## WildMist (Nov 13, 2008)

Camoevo said:


> I often wonder why they put stuff like that out there. I feel its a way to get a scare and boost sales. Its really not that hard to hold back a few shipment and say its out or back ordered. I bought some food from a company called wise food. They had tons of boxes lying around. I called them to be a distributor and they told me they had everything in stock to ship for a 10k order if i wanted to and then some. I remember when they said that they where limiting rice sales because there was a shortage from the source. At costcothey limited how much rice you could buy. Now buy all you want all the way down to the 99 cent stores that have them. I do beleave that more people are preping tho. thats my 2 cents.


I think your right. We've noticed alot more people are prepping here and there seems to be more people discussing prepping too. :dunno: As for me, all I can do right now is stock up on the freeze dried stuff and once spring comes hope to have a nice garden to make up the rest.


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## tac803 (Nov 21, 2010)

FWIW, I spoke with Wise foods tonight. They have recently received stock, and are shipping with an expected delivery of one to one and a half weeks. Nice folks too!

My buddy at Gear for Adventure in Hamburg NY has some Mountain House pouches in stock also.


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## Camoevo (Sep 30, 2010)

I have heard that the distributors of wise food are mad. Wise food is selling direct and by passing distributors.


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## 101airborne (Jan 29, 2010)

*Now I know?*

Found out yesterday what's up with the mountian house foods shortage. Went by a buddy's store ( he is the local distributor for MH) He showed me the letter (certified) he received from them. The condensed version of the letter is:

*" Due to our obligation to fufill a contract with the United States Government, We regret to inform our distributors and retailers that. Due to the size of the contract we will not be able to take or fill any other orders until this contract is filled. We are sorry for any inconvinences this causes. It is our hopes to have this contract filled and to be able to again begin taking non-government orders again sometime in mid or late march. Again we apologize for any problems this may cause. *

They continue to say that they appreciate our business and hope to continue to.............

Just thought I'd let everybody know what they (MH) told my friend,


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## tac803 (Nov 21, 2010)

oldsoldier said:


> Found out yesterday what's up with the mountian house foods shortage. Went by a buddy's store ( he is the local distributor for MH) He showed me the letter (certified) he received from them. The condensed version of the letter is:
> 
> *" Due to our obligation to fufill a contract with the United States Government, We regret to inform our distributors and retailers that. Due to the size of the contract we will not be able to take or fill any other orders until this contract is filled. We are sorry for any inconvinences this causes. It is our hopes to have this contract filled and to be able to again begin taking non-government orders again sometime in mid or late march. Again we apologize for any problems this may cause. *


Perfect...It's my understanding that there have been intermittant shortages since early 2009, some attributed to .gov purchases and some apparently market driven. This, however, seems a little more ominous.


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## nj_m715 (Oct 31, 2008)

Ominous, as in they know something we are not supposed to know.


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## SurviveNthrive (May 20, 2010)

I need to look around, but I bought a lot of stuff from different suppliers...I noticed the prices for some of the less expensive stuff, like the diced, sliced, and mashed potatoes, and various grains and granola items were much more expensive than when I bought them...not too long ago.


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## 101airborne (Jan 29, 2010)

tac803 said:


> Perfect...It's my understanding that there have been intermittant shortages since early 2009, some attributed to .gov purchases and some apparently market driven. This, however, seems a little more ominous.


Kinda what I thought. Wondering just what kind of "contract" they are filling with dehyd #10 cans?


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