I hate long-term storage foods. If you know me, you know I like to cook and eat food that is made from scratch. Long-term storage food never tastes that way. So, to say I was skeptical when Valley Food Storage approached me and asked if I would try their White Bean & Lime Chili product would be an understatement. I had every expectation that I would greatly dislike their product and expected to write a negative review even though the reviews I read online were all positive.
Fortunately – for me and for Valley Food Storage – I was way wrong. Their product was great!
Valley Food Storage – Initial Impressions
Given my background, most ‘stored’ food I’ve eaten in the past has been backpacker-ish meaning you don’t need much heat or water to get going. That is not the case with Valley Food Storage White Bean & Lime Chili. The directions call for 2-1/4 cups of water and specify boiling it on a stove top for 15-18 minutes. You’re not doing that with a backpacking stove. This package was definitely a prepper food!
The second impression I had was the smell when you opened it. Normally, when you open other backpacking and prepper food, you don’t smell anything as tasty. After looking at the ingredient list, I realized there was a reason why this product smelled so good. Valley Food Storage uses ingredients that you can pronounce and know what they are! There weren’t a lot of processed additives or ingredients. Image that – natural food, squared away for 25 years of storage. Awesome!
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Cooking Process
Cooking the Valley Food Storage White Bean & Lime Chili couldn’t have been easier. I brought the 2-1/4 cups of water to a boil on my stove, added the ingredients of the package, whisked it up and let it site in a gentle boil for about 17 or 18 minutes. At that point, I removed the chili from the heat and let it sit for about 5 minutes. I followed the process exactly as outlined on the bag and it couldn’t have been easier.
Taste and Wrap Up
Wow! Most long-term storage food I’ve tasted has been fairly bland. This chili was not. I really enjoyed this meal. It was fresh and tasty. The beans were a bit strong (for lack of a better word) and you could tell they were rehydrated. That being said, a little meat would have offset them perfectly and made this dish awesome.
What I did not taste was a strong salt content. That’s great. My experience has always been that meals like this are heavy in salt. This one from Valley Food Storage wasn’t. That was a pleasant surprise.
So, would I recommend the Valley Food Storage White Bean & Lime Chili? Absolutely! Moreover, I would recommend Valley Food Storage overall because of their ingredients and the wholesome taste of their products.
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Hey Dan. I’m with you! I was hesitant to try something called White Beans and Lime Chili. Living in Texas it just didn’t sound like Chili. We did finally try it, and were impressed. I will still add to my food storage using Canning methods, but the MRE’s and Mountain House will be upgraded with Valley Foods. Here’s an idea for manufacturers: Make the packaging two separate conjoined pouches. The bottom holds the food, and the top holds the water. That way you have everything you need to cook and eat. Designing the aluminum/mylar pouch should not be hard…..
I have to agree. I am like you and don’t like all the junk in most long-term storage food. The white beans and chilli from valley food storage was tasty.