Price gouging at longlifefood.com

Post by **kman** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 1:08 pm

Just for kicks, I went over to longlifefood.com to check out what kind of MRE entrees they had in stock. I've never been a big fan of them because their prices seemed pretty high at $2.50 per entree. Even though that price included shipping, it was still on the high side for me.

But lo' and behold look at their prices now - $3.00 per entree and $2.00 per side. Give me a freaking break. That's a 20% increase.

MreKampr · Post by **MreKampr** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 9:47 pm

I have purchased items from them before the price hikes.
Mostly Spreads and such as entrees are locally available for $1.70 ea

I'd be amazed if they are doing much buisness now.
They lost my buisness.
That will teach the greedy bastards.

The most expensive locally i found at a army/navy surpluss at $12.75ea
:shock:Crazy

My next mre buy will hopefully be unopend cases at 40 bucks or less

Post by **kman** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 12:33 am

Everytime I see pricing like this that irks me, I start wondering how much it would cost to put together a case of MREs based on the outrageous prices these guys are asking. Well, I finally had enough and decided to figure it out tonight.

I took the entire listing of the 2005 MRE menus and sorted it all out by entree, sides, desserts, etc. Then I went to the longlifefood.com site and priced everything out. I didn't have exact prices for everything but I tried to stick to their standards - so all entrees are $3, all sides are $2, most desserts are $1.40, etc.

Here's the full list (click on the image for a bigger/readable version):

So check it out - at longlifefood prices, two cases of MREs (A & B) would cost you $252. At least shipping is included in that.

That comes out to $10.51 per MRE.

Or...if you managed to buy two cases on Ebay for $40 each plus $15 each shipping, that'd be $110 or $4.58 per MRE.

Hmmm....$252 or $110? Which one do I want to pay? And don't forget, I didn't include everything on that list - just the parts that were easy to find. I left off quantity 8 of the candy, quantity 15 of the hot sauce, the hot beverage bags, and probably a few other little things.

So the way I'm reading this...unless you want to stock up on a particular type of MRE entree, buying cases of MREs and just breaking them up for parts will save you at least twice the money over the price gougers at longlifefoods.

MreKampr · Post by **MreKampr** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 3:32 am

Good Point Kman

In The Past I Would use mre components when camping or away from home on buisiness,fun,ect

Its a Lot More convienent to take along a pouch of jam,cheese,or peanut
butter,ect rather than the the whole jar,can thingy
Also the convienence of the entrees/sides is a big plus

After spending some time here i would like to experience the
whole meal deal

My idea of a fair deal is about 4-5 bucks per meal inc/s&h
just by comparison to fast food this seems about right
Of course shipping costs and getting what you paid for are things
that can sting you
Shipping to california is a problem as most sellers are from your area
Hopefully the future market will allow this price margin

Damm..Just looked at ebay..cajunclara is askin minimun 50 bucks for a case of 2004 mres and no s&h price info....
http://cgi.ebay.com/2007-A-NEW-OUT-MRES ... dZViewItem:( maybee the high gas prices..

Kman..this should interest you
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-SEALED-COOL-MRE ... dZViewItem

Lol..It has been discussed before as to the pros n cons of linkinig this site
to ebay users

The Con is that BAD sellers are more savy and more of a problem
The Pro is buyers are better informed

Post by **kman** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 10:16 am

Besides not being to do an acutal hyperlink in their auction, that dumbass also misspelled the name of the web page - it's "menus", not "menues". I guess I wasn't expecting much from anyone who used the word "LQQK" in their auction.

MreKampr - keep looking for MRE from CA in Ebay. It seems like for a while, there was a guy in San Diego who was selling a lot of MREs but shipping was always way too much for me over here on the East coast.

donelurkin · Post by **donelurkin** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 7:53 pm

I'm also in CA and have found a couple of occasional ebay sellers in Oxnard and also in Washington state who did not break the bank on shipping.

I am bummed about the longlife gouging. I was going to load up on some of the sides that my kids like for my earthquake kit. May still do it, but will feel ripped off.

MreKampr · Post by **MreKampr** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 11:13 pm

Thanks for the input on ca ebay sellers guys

i'll have to keep a eye out for them
With the marine base at camp pendleton/near san diego you would think
they would be abundant

donelurkin..for a while they only had a few sides
interesting that now that they have variety..the price shot up
and they are not offering whole meals as before
they stated on the website that they were the exclusive sellers
of wornick mre surplus...sounds like thats changing

wornicks going back into commercial mre type meals.

seems like a rippoff to me as well

CaptBob · Post by **CaptBob** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 4:07 am

I've got about five cases of MREs and an unopened box of HDRs in my music room at the moment.

The first box of MREs came from eBay . . . from a seller in my old neighborhood in L.A. It was only about a twenty minute drive from the San Fernando Valley to her place to pick it up so I saved on shipping.

She made an offer to get me more cases at a good price and a friend wanted to make "emergency supply kits" for her boss's clients. I ended up scoring about fifteen cases for her. I ended up with about three extras that weren't used. COOL.

So, I won't bid on much since I have my "MRE Connection".

MreKampr · Post by **MreKampr** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 11:30 pm

CaptBob wrote:I've got about five cases of MREs and an unopened box of HDRs in my music room at the moment.

The first box of MREs came from eBay . . . from a seller in my old neighborhood in L.A. It was only about a twenty minute drive from the San Fernando Valley to her place to pick it up so I saved on shipping.

She made an offer to get me more cases at a good price and a friend wanted to make "emergency supply kits" for her boss's clients. I ended up scoring about fifteen cases for her. I ended up with about three extras that weren't used. COOL.

So, I won't bid on much since I have my "MRE Connection".

Thanks to member input..
I Just hooked up on a local deal about a hour away
I Picked up 4 cases-2-a,2-b insp. date 08/08 This morning at a reasonable price-$3.35 per meal:)
And Longlife is getting $3.00 for just the entrees

I Used e-bay,s advance search for sellers of mre* within 200 miles
Sent him a e-mail and went on from there

The seller told me that a completely new type of mre is on the way
Different Packaging and food
Kman--Have You Heard about this??
doesnt sound like the 2006 menu line.

Post by **kman** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 11:01 pm

MREKampr - sounds like the guy is describing Wornick's new "Eversafe" civilian MRE. Other than that, nothing has changed with the military MREs for 2006.