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One of our favorite companies to review is Nitro-Pak. Nitro-Pak is one of the oldest emergency food supply companies, having been founded in 1985 in Heber City, Utah. Nitro-Pak has what we consider a “no frills” approach to food storage, offering products that are intelligently packaged at a great price. You can read our company review here. One of our most favorite aspects of Nitro-Pak is their “110%” low price guarantee. Not only will they price match if you find the same product at a lower price from a competitor, but they will also give you an extra 10% for your trouble.

Today we are going to take an in-depth look at the two most popular products Nitro-Pak offers: the Platinum One-Year Food Supply and the Ultimate One-Year Food Supply. The high-level differences between the two are:

1. The Platinum is a little less expensive and contains fewer calories (1,766 per day for a year)
2. The Ultimate is a little pricier, but has more calories and more higher quality Mountain House entrees.

I like to evaluate food storage products based on the Food Storage Reviewer’s exclusive methodology: calories per dollar, taste, space, shelf life, and prep time. We’ll also go through the contents of both packages so you can understand exactly what the trade-offs are.

What do you get in each package?

 

Ultimate One-Year Food Supply

We’ll first take a look at the Nitro-Pak Ultimate One-Year Food Supply. Nitro-Pak does an excellent job of posting actual calories rather than just number of servings. Too many resellers try to trick the customer by putting a lot of small serving meals into their packages and then “conveniently” not supplying the total number of calories. The Ultimate One-Year has a whopping 852,149, which works out to (852,149/365) 2,335 calories per day. This comes packed in 208 #10 cans.

But let’s take a closer look at those calories. 38 cans are premium Mountain House entrees. Trust me when I say Mountain House food is the best tasting, most proven food storage in existence. The rest of the cans break down as follows:

• 18 cans are corn, peas, and beans
• 35 cans are desserts and side dishes
• 22 are lunch snacks
• 69 are breakfast entrees or side dishes
• 20 are beverages such as milk or apple drink
• 3 cans of sugar, butter, and salt

The reason I like how this package was constructed is because it is a nice blend of expensive (and great tasting) Mountain House entrees, lunch options, and bulk items. Not every meal needs to be a gourmet Mountain House meal. And not every food item needs to be freeze-dried to achieve long lasting shelf life. This package is a great balance between taste and price.

Platinum One-Year Food Supply

Now let’s look at the Platinum One-Year Food Supply.

The Platinum package contains 1,766 calories per day for one year. This comes in 168 #10 cans. Here is how this package breaks down:

• 39 cans of dinner entrees, many of which are Mountain House
• 12 cans of side dishes
• 4 cans of dessert
• 24 cans of fruits and vegetables
• 60 cans of breakfast entrees
• 15 cans of snacks
• 14 beverage cans containing milk, orange, and peach drink

Think of this package as a trimmed down version of the Ultimate One-Year supply. It is still a smart combination of foods, just with a lower price.

How many calories will I get per dollar?

The Ultimate One-Year contains 852,149 total calories. Today’s price on the package is $4,699 down from $4,999. So 852,149 divided by $4,699 equals 181.3 calories per dollar, which is a solid score. Remember, this is higher quality food so you shouldn’t expect it to have the highest calories per dollar score.

The Platinum One-Year supply contains 644,590 calories and costs $3,499. So if you divide 644,590 by $3,499 you get 184.2. The scores of the two are almost identical. The reason is because Nitro-Pak purposely configured the Platinum and Ultimate packs to appeal to different price points. $1,200 may be the difference to push a person from one package to another.

What does it taste like?

The Platinum package grades out at a 94 out of 100, while the Ultimate gets an astounding 97 out of 100 on the FSR scale.  The reason is because much of the food is Mountain House product while the rest is high-quality Nitro-Pak private label food. And all of it is sealed in #10 cans.

How much space does it occupy?

The Platinum One-Year Food Supply contains 168 #10 cans all packaged in 28 cases. Each case contains 6 cans of food. Total dimensions are only 4 feet high, 5 feet wide, and 18 inches deep. The total weight is 523 pounds.

The Ultimate One-Year Food Supply contains 208 #10 cans packed in 35 cases. Total dimensions are only 4 feet high, 6 feet wide, and 18 inches deep. The total weight of the Utlimate Food Reserve is 653 pounds.

What’s the real shelf life of the product?

Everyone likes to claim 30 year shelf life. However, not very many companies have even been in business long enough to make such a claim. I get a kick out of the mom-and-pop food storage companies that spring up every day and tell people they guarantee 25 year product shelf life. I am sure that is what their manufacturer told them, but how do they really know?

The only companies that can really make a 30-year guarantee are those that resell Mountain House brand food storage. Mountain House has been around since the 1960’s and still tests product made from that era.

I love how transparent Nitro-Pak is when it comes to food longevity. They clearly print on their contents page exactly what has a 30-year shelf life and what products have a 7-30-year shelf life. (go here and click on “what’s included”).

How long does it take to prepare?

You can eat it straight out of the can. I think it tastes like flavored popcorn. However, if you add about a cup of boiling water to about a cup of food mix and let it sit for 8-10 minutes, you will have a  gourmet meal.

In my opinion, freeze-dried food prepares a little quicker than dehydrated food, but a few minutes isn’t much to argue over.

Conclusion

The Nitro-Pak Emergency Food Storage products rate at or near the top in Taste, Preparation, and Shelf Life. They perform adequately in Space, and Price. The ding on price isn’t really fair because when it comes to taste, there are two types of people in the food storage world: those who want to survive and those who want to survive well. If you don’t care about taste, then there are less expensive options. However, if you want great taste along with the best shelf life and aren’t afraid to pay a little more, then the Nitro-Pak Platinum and Ultimate One-Year food supply packages are for you.