Back in May 2015 I was contacted by the Valley Food Storage company to sample one their long term food storage products. I agreed, and within 2 weeks there was a package in the mail with two packets of food: 1 Chicken Ala King and 1 Coeurd’ Allen potato soup. Well I forgot about the food entirely  until November 2015 and decided to give the Chicken Ala King a try. I didn’t know what to expect. It’s safe to say I would choke down dog food if I had to. The taste just isn’t a deciding factor for me, it’s simply fuel. My wife and 3 kids however now that’s a totally different story. The key to my test was to see if my family would eat this. That alone would determine whether or not I would purchase more from this company in the future.

The first thing to do was let the wife know I was “making dinner” and that it would be ready when she arrived home. I had no intention on telling her the meals origins. It took me 20 minutes to prepare. It required me to bring five and a half cups of water to a boil and whisk the five serving package in. At this point I had the option of adding my own personal flavors and seasonings but wanted to taste the stock product. After all I may have nothing more on hand than this in the future and wanted to keep the potential future experience the same. I let the contents boil for about 10 minutes and then let it sit and thicken for another ten.

I told the wife it was one of our hamburger helper type meals and left it at that. My three sons had mixed reactions. The baby accepted several spoonfuls from me but refused to take any from mom. My 3 year old son, who is usually the garbage disposal refused to touch the stuff based on the color alone. The six year old wolfed his bowl down entirely. My wife did the same, surprisingly enough. Overall I think the meal was a success. It was extremely robust and flavorful and the texture was firm enough even if the peas were a little soggy. Strangely enough the meal had a limited odor to it, I thought it should have smelled a little more…. something.

As I said the key for me was getting the wife on board. She is the pickiest eater known to man. I can say that she would have never tried the product if she knew its origins. After she started to probe and ask questions about the meal preparation I had to inform her that it was a long term food storage sample item. I had her though you see, as she already finished her meal and commented on it positively. Her only worry after was its calorie content, as she meticulously watches her food intake. To her pleasant surprise in my dismay the calorie count was quite low. This may be a problem depending on competition. You see in a time of need it would be more helpful to eat foods higher in calories. Who knows how often the meals will come so if you can go after high calorie content you’re always better off doing so.

Overall I would call the meal a success. My only other gripe was the sample meal selection. I’d rather of sampled something my entire family was positive about. The wife accepting this meal however, even through deception was huge for our family. She can look at some of this disaster preparation stuff a little differently when the food taste good. 🙂

Valley food storage has many options to choose from. They have 8 breakfast options, 17 lunch and dinner options and 3 different sides. I would love to try a few others some day and even update this review. Overall I think this company is legit. The food is made in America and it and its packets are very compact. The five serving bag is 4″ x 8″ and weighs under 13 ounces. It wouldn’t take much to grab a one month supply and run if need be. And with a 25 year shelf life there’s no need to rotate your stock.

If money were not an option I could plunk down enough cash to buy a year supply of the stuff for my family of 5 I would. The single meal I had was far above my expectations.

My objective is to be more self sufficient, & I hope my livestock and gardening hobbies propel in the future. With that said I’m not against storing food to meet long-term storage goals as well. When the time comes I will buy from Valley food storage again. I give this stuff a solid B plus and I am sure our family would receive some of the meals a little better than the Chicken Ala King.

If anyone else has experience with this company please leave your comments. If you would like to get started Valley Food Storage does have a 1 month starter pack on Amazon listed here.