Kraft Foods enters disaster-preparedness market

[kman]

Kraft Foods has started introduced a new product called the "Kraft Prep Pack". This appears to be a box of ready-to-eat food meant to sustain 1-3 people in case of "major weather events".

The Prep Packs come in two versions - a "1 Person Prep Pack" and a "3 Person Prep Pack".


Here's a list of the food included in the 1 person pack:

• TANG Sugar Free Drink Mix (Makes 6 Quarts), 3 oz.
  TACO BELL HOME ORIGINALS Flour Tortillas, 12 Count
  CORNNUTS Original Flavor Toasted Corn Kernels, 2 Oz.
  EASY CHEESE Sharp Cheddar Pasteurized Process Cheese Spread, 10.15 Oz
  PLANTERS Trail Mix, 6 Oz.
  KRAFT HANDI-SNACKS Pudding Chocolate and Vanilla Flavor, 15.1 Oz.
  HONEY BUNCHES OF OATS Organic Cereal, 13.5 Oz.
  SOUTH BEACH DIET Cinnamon Raisin Cereal Bar, 1.5 Oz.
  SOUTH BEACH DIET Peanut Butter Cereal Bar, 1.5 Oz.
  SOUTH BEACH DIET Chocolate Cereal Bar, 1.5 Oz.
  OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, 6 Oz.
  TACO BELL HOME ORIGINALS Fiesta Steak Bowlz, 10.5 Oz.
  TACO BELL HOME ORIGINALS Santa Fe Style Beef Bowlz, 10.5 Oz.
  TACO BELL HOME ORIGINALS Salsa Chicken Bowlz, 10.5 Oz.

The 3 Person Prep Pack contains more bowls, cereal bars, and pudding cups as well as a whole block of Velveeta cheese:

• KRAFT HANDI-SNACKS Pudding Chocolate Flavor, 15.1 Oz.
  RITZ Toasted Chips Original Flavor 9.5 Oz.
  KRAFT HANDI-SNACKS Pudding Vanilla Flavor, 15.1 Oz.
  TRISCUIT Whole Wheat Crackers Reduced Fat 10.5 Oz.
  PLANTERS Mixed Nuts Unsalted 13.5 Oz.
  VELVEETA Mexican Mild Pasteurized Prepared Cheese
  OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, 6 Oz.
  TANG Sugar Free Drink Mix (Makes 6 Quarts) 3 Oz.
  (3) TACO BELL HOME ORIGINALS Fiesta Steak Bowlz, 10.5 Oz.
  (3) TACO BELL HOME ORIGINALS Santa Fe Style Beef Bowlz, 10.5 Oz.
  (3) TACO BELL HOME ORIGINALS Salsa Chicken Bowlz, 10.5 Oz.
  (3) SOUTH BEACH DIET Cinnamon Raisin Cereal Bar 1.5 Oz.
  (3) SOUTH BEACH DIET Peanut Butter Cereal Bar, 1.5 Oz.
  (3) SOUTH BEACH DIET Chocolate Cereal Bar, 1.5 Oz.
  GRAPE-NUTS Trail Mix Crunch Cereal 19.5 Oz.
  HONEY MAID Grahams Honey Sticks 15.5 Oz.
  TACO BELL HOME ORIGINALS Cheesy DOUBLE DECKER-
  6 Flour Tortillas, 6 Taco Shells, Nacho Cheese Sauce and Seasoning, 14.25 Oz.
  PLANTERS Trail Mix 6.25 Oz.
  COUNTRY TIME On-the-Go Lemonade Drink Mix 8 Oz.

Snacks aside, it looks like the main entrees are the Taco Bell bowl meals. I guess you're supposed to eat one bowl a day and then fill up the rest of your meals with the cereal bars, spray cheese, oreos, etc.

The 1 Person Prep Pack is $35 (shipping included) and the 3 Person Prep Pack is $75 (shipping included).

According to the main site here: http://www.gevalia.com/Gevalia/PrepPack/Login.aspx

The Kraft Prep Pack offer is by invitation only to selected residents of AL, FL, GA, LA, MS, NC, SC, TX and is not available in stores. Please enter your Kraft Customer ID# and food&family email address to get started. For your Kraft Customer ID#, please refer to your "Introducing Kraft Prep Packs" email.

They want you to enter a customer ID and email address to enter the site. However, the form seems to take anything for a customer ID and email. I don't know if you can actually order anything without a valid customer ID, but at least you can look around.

[thechip1]

While I certianly applaud Kraft for making something available so people are prepared, it looks like a pretty poor selection of food. It is mostly snack food, and doesn't seem very well balenced, or filling, for that matter. Even if you don't want to eat MRE's, I think you could do a lot better just picking shelf-stable foods off the shelf yourself.

[kman]

I originally heard about these things over at ar15.com in this thread:

http://ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=123&t=587786

One of the guys there points out that while the food Kraft chose may not be very healthy, it's more a selection of "comfort food" that will maybe offer people some reassurance during times of disaster stress.

Someone else suggested that as poor a choice of food as this stuff is, maybe it's a good first step in getting some of the "sheeple" to start thinking about disaster preparedness.

[thechip1]

The one thing that strikes me is that it seems like a food selection that assumes you are just sitting around waiting. If you are moving, or doing anything physical, you'd be pretty hungry if you were living on this. But I suppose if you are just sitting in your dark living room waiting for the lights to come back on, you'd be OK, as long as it was summer. If it's cold and you are trying to stay warm, the food here doesn't seem to have much energy in it.

[kman]

Well that's just what I'm going to be doing - sitting there waiting for FEMA to bring me my MREs, water, air conditioner, and $2000 debit card!

[Lifesaver]

Well that's just what I'm going to be doing - sitting there waiting for FEMA to bring me my MREs, water, air conditioner, and $2000 debit card!

kman, I'll tell all my Red Cross associates to come to YOU for supplies if they run out. I know you'll be able to handle that small an amount. LOL

[donaldjcheek]

I'm a little leery about the food Kraft included in this "disaster pack." Number one, in most disasters, you're going to lose power - ergo, no way to heat those main meal items. And, from experience, they don't taste so good cold (better than starving, I guess). Also, I really don't think there's enough in the pack, especially if you are physically active. It really does seem more like a "comfort pack" than a disaster preparedness pack. It's better than nothing, but not by much.

Kman, a suggestion: Why not ask members to submit their preferred items to include in a Disaster Preparedness pack? I teach Boy Scouts various merit badges, and this is what I suggest (per person) that they include in a 3-day home disaster kit (although, after Hurricane Katrina, I'm seriously thinking about changing to a 5-day kit):

3 x candles, 4 to 6 inches in length
1 x small box strike anywhere matches, wrapped in a ziplock plastic bag
1 x large can or 3 x small cans Sterno
6 x envelopes hot chocolate
6 x envelopes instant cider
3 x envelopes instant soup
3 x envelopes instant oatmeal
6 x cans (individual serving size) meat products (Vienna Sausage, luncheon meat, chicken, tuna, etc)
1 x jar cheese whiz or 1 x small box Velveeta cheese
1 x lb bag of instant rice or instant mashed potatoes
2 x stacks crackers (1/2 box)
3 x cans vegetables
3 x cans condensed soup
2 x boxes (at least 12 bars total) breakfast bars or energy bars (take out of the box and place in heavy-duty ziplock bag)
1 x bottle water purifying tablets or a small bottle of household bleach
1 x quart or liter sized cook pot with lid
1 x metal spoon
1 x emergency blanket
1 x small AM/FM radio with extra batteries
1 x small First Aid Kit

This all fits inside one large shoebox. Believe it or not, all the food can be eaten cold (even the condensed soup and the instant rice/instant potatoes), although you do need water to reconstitute some of them.

[thechip1]

If I told them to keep the debit card, can I just get $2000 worth of MRE's and EPA's? They can just put the pallet of rations in my garage.

[kman]

Good idea about the disaster-prep packs, donaldjcheek. I just started a new thread here to talk about this:

What would you put in your own disaster preparedness pack?
viewtopic.php?p=7108

Feel free to keep discussing the Kraft Prep Packs here but let's move the more fun "create your own pack" talk over to the above link.

[Lifesaver]

I'm a little leery about the food Kraft included in this "disaster pack." Number one, in most disasters, you're going to lose power - ergo, no way to heat those main meal items. And, from experience, they don't taste so good cold (better than starving, I guess).

I've gotten some of the Taco Bell bowls that Kraft is including in this pack. As an experiment, I tried using a MRE heater to heat one up. I took an insulated soft side "lunch box", activated the MRE heater, then set the Taco Bell bowl on it film side against the heater. I zipped the lunch box shut; and, let it cook. I came back 10 minutes later; and, the meal was nice and hot. So, if you are considering buying one of these packages, you might also want to invest in some MRE heaters and an insulated luch box (or two).