Category: Uncategorized

Outside of water and physical safety, perhaps nothing is as important as a stable food supply in a catastrophe. Whether you are planning for a weather event or something of a societal nature, making sure that you have food available will ease many of your immediate worries.

Needless to say, there are plenty of products on the market that address these need, and some are better than others. One of the ones that is standing out from the rest of the pack is the aptly-named “Be Prepared.” Offering everything from meal kits to last a year to water purification tablets, Be Prepared’s website is a great starting point for those looking into preparedness, and for many, it will be all they need.

What Be Prepared Offers

Be Prepared offers a number of different food options. For those looking to flesh out a two week supply in case of a hurricane or other need to shelter in place, a number of a la carte options are available. However, one of the real selling points of Be Prepared is their all inclusive kits.

Meal Kits

Many people will be drawn to the large food kits that Be Prepared offers. These are available in one, three, six, and twelve month sizes, each with enough food to provide for one person for the given period of time. For every month a person is being fed, there are two buckets that can be sealed to keep water and pests out. Be Prepared claims that all someone will need is a source of water and a cooking vessel in order to make every recipe in the kit.

Each kit includes a few different options for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with larger kits having more options. The recipes lean more towards backwoods, so expect plenty of pancakes and stews. However, chances are that if you’re using this, you will simply be happy to have food available.

Individual Items

For those who want a more customized solution, Be Prepared also offers a number of dehydrated, preserved, or freeze dried options. There is considerably more variety with these than there is with the meal kits. Some of the more popular items include freeze dried chicken and ground beef, apple crisps, and even freeze dried ice cream sandwiches.

Additionally, those ordering individual items will be able to benefit from Be Prepared’s line of gluten free choices, as well as selecting vegetarian and vegan options. Admittedly, those offerings are few and far between.

If you’re less inclined to cook during an emergency situation, Be Prepared also offers a number of Meal Ready to Eat (MRE) options. Many of these are, like the meal kits described above, guaranteed to last for upwards of 25 years.

Water Purification

Many of Be Prepared’s options are only good if you have a clean source of water. Therefore, it only makes sense that Be Prepared also offers a line of water treatment products. These range from simple filtration straws and water purification tablets to more elaborate water filtration systems that purify water on a much larger scale. Needless to say, it is definitely worth investing in one of these systems.

Other Products

Finally, as a company dedicated to emergency survival, Be Prepared also offers a number of other products. These include books and tools that are designed to help you make the most of an emergency situation. It all but goes without saying that one won’t be able to rely on the Internet during such an incident. Additionally, first aid supplies (including snake bite kits), blankets, sleeping bags, and even potassium iodine tablets can be found for sale.

Should I Use Be Prepared?

Be Prepared offers a great number of advantages, but there are also some disadvantages. First, we’ll start with the pros of using Be Prepared:

• They Know What They Are Doing – You can rest assured that the pros at Be Prepared didn’t just randomly decide to start offering survival gear. They clearly are passionate about their work, and have the videos to prove it. From explaining how to use tools to testing 30 year old MREs on their family members, Be Prepared knows what they are doing and believes in their mission.
• They Offer a Variety of Goods – Some survival stores offer one or two solutions as a ‘one size fits all.’ Be Prepared is definitely not that type of provider. From three-day bags for those caught in a snowstorm on the road to kits that provide for a year’s worth of food, and everything in between, Be Prepared understands that different emergencies have different needs.
• They Take Non-Food Needs Seriously – Call it upselling if you must, but Be Prepared stresses just how important safe water is to use any of their products, and provides the tools necessary to make sure that you’ve got them. MREs and Meal Kits won’t do any good without water, but if you do your research on Be Prepared’s website, you’ll be ready.

That said, there are some cons to Be Prepared:

• Lack of Variety – Look, we get it. Survivalists are supposed to be willing to adapt. But what about those who can’t eat gluten, or have high blood pressure, or don’t eat certain meats for a religious or ethical reason? Be Prepared is missing out on a substantial market by not offering goods to these people.
• The Price – While the meal kits are affordable enough, building a custom set of solutions will get expensive quick. A #10 can of chicken costs $65.99, which comes out to about forty bucks a pound. While there’s obviously a lot of cost involved in making sure that food is safe for years, it does come at a price if you’re not going with something ready made.

The Bottom Line

For those whose dietary needs align with the meal kits, Be Prepared Food can offer a great value. For others, look at it as a source of knowledge. Given their impressive array of books and tools, use it as a starting point in order to build out your knowledge. If you’ve got the money to splurge on freeze dried chicken, go for it, but for everyone else, consider it as a place to get more exotic goods when going outside of the meal kits.