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Over the past few months, we have noticed a new food storage review site advertise on search keywords such as “best food storage.” Naturally curious, we followed the links to an organization called Wesson Research that attempts to rank the top 10 food storage companies. The site is very short on details and actually ranks Legacy Food Storage the overall #1 product, which seems kind of fishy.

When we started Food Storage Reviewer our goal was to expose the shenanigans most of the food storage and emergency supply companies were pulling. We wanted to make it easier for consumers to make the best decision regarding their emergency preparations. So in that light, we present to you the five things you should know about Wesson Research before taking their advice.

#1 Lack of Information in the About Us and Contact Sections

The first statement in the About Us section says “Thousands of people use Wesson Research for a quick answer to the all important question, ‘What products should I buy?'” After doing a lengthy web search I couldn’t find a single website, pdf, review, or article on a Wesson Research. Plus, the line is so vague (what products should I buy) it’s almost laughable.

Also, the last line in the About Us section says, “Finally: We love Texas. We love the attitude and passion of the Lone Star State.” I have no idea what that has to do with Wesson’s ability to rate food storage.

Finally, I have sent in emails over the last months in their Contacts Us section asking questions about the company. So far, none have been returned. That’s a huge warning flag, and we never recommend buying products or taking advice from a company that doesn’t have responsive customer service.

#2 The Claim Legacy Food Storage Tastes Better Than Mountain House

It’s true you can find a group of people who will believe anything. Our society is conditioned to hear things such as “two out of three dentists prefer Crest” when the makers of Crest may have only polled three dentists, two who are married to the product managers at Proctor and Gamble. We hear it all the time. So when Wesson Research says they graded Legacy as having 4.8 out of 5 stars in taste and Mountain House only having 4.6 out of 5 stars in taste, it is within the realm of possible but not probable.

The owners of Food Storage Reviewer have worked in the food storage industry for years and have tasted every product on the market. I can quite comfortably say 999 out of 1,000 people would prefer the taste of Mountain House over Legacy. It’s like comparing a filet at Ruth’s Chris to a sirloin at Golden Corral.

#3 There is Good Information In Wesson Research’s Tip Section

The tip section has the following summary:

1. To get the best value, shop like you would at a grocery store by comparing cost per weight  rather than cost per serving.
2. Determine your family’s food storage needs based on calories, not servings, and make certain your supply will actually last for as long as you have planned.
3. Call the company for specific information and options not available on their website; almost all companies are happy to help you find exactly what you want.

In regards to number one, we recommend comparing products according to cost per calorie rather than cost per weight. However, we agree that the metric cost per serving is not only misleading but also high on the list of slimy tactics employed by unscrupulous food storage companies.

Food Storage Reviewer wholeheartedly agrees with point number two. Some companies label products as lasting for x number of months when in reality they only provide about 500 calories of food per day. Always check the number of calories before buying.

Finally, point number three can be good advice if you are searching for a real specialty product you can’t find in the store. However, there are hundreds of thousands of food storage products today, and we are quite certain you can find what you need.

#4 The Read More Links Don’t Allow You to Actually Read More

At the bottom of each review there is a tab that directs you to “Read More.” However, when you click on the tab it doesn’t send you to a page with more detail or even to the company’s product page. Instead, it sends you to Amazon or to the company’s home page. We can’t figure out why in the world Wesson Research would send a customer to Amazon.

In summary, you won’t get any more details about how they reviewed a particular product.

#5 The Link for the Winning Product, Legacy, Magically Sends You to Buy Emergency Foods

Buy Emergency Foods is a reseller of Legacy Food Storage products. Yep, you read it correctly. So it’s interesting  the link doesn’t take you to legacyfoodstorage.com where you can read more about Legacy Foods; but rather, the link takes you straight to a reseller where you can buy Legacy Foods. In our opinion, this looks like a classic review site set up to confuse the customer and trick people into buying Legacy Food products through their reseller Buy Emergency Foods.

In Our Opinion

As we have said many times before, we applaud more transparency in the food storage industry. That’s the entire point behind Food Storage Reviewer. However, in our opinion, Wesson Research looks like a sham organization created to persuade people to buy Legacy Food Storage products. We would love to have more answers, and we call on Wesson Research to answer our emails, provide more clarity around their relationship with Buy Emergency Foods, and provide more information as to how they ranked the reviewed products.

In the meantime, if you want to read more in-depth reviews from a truly non-biased source, we invite you to check out the Product Review section of our website.

Best wishes,

Food Storage Reviewer