Review: powdered scrambled eggs from Augason Farms

Josh CentersContributor - June 17, 2020

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, we’ve heard from a lot of folks who’ve stocked up on powdered foods. It’s a comfort to know you won’t go hungry if
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This is a great review Josh! Thanks for including my quote and thanks for the interesting read. I find powdered eggs are great in cakes and baking but really lack in the scrambled egg department.

Elle

 

I had to laugh at this post!  I have rotated through canned goods so many times and donated the ones nearing expiration dates.  I finally decided it was wise to get some freeze dried foods for the long term storage.  Most of the #10 cans have a longer shelf life than I do….  I have yet to actually open any of them and see how they taste in the real world.  I’m glad you tried some and appreciate the unbiased review.  I honestly expected the foods to be kind of bland with both taste and texture.  Luckily I like to cook and grow a garden with lots of canning each season.  I should be able to doctor the canned stuff enough to make it edible at least.  My goal is to never have to actually eat any of this stuff, but figure with the supply disruptions we have seen lately it was a good insurance policy to have on hand.

 

Perfect review.  I have many #10 cans of whole and scrambled eggs by Augason Farms.  I’ve mixed them in an assortment of ways and ‘enjoyed’ them while hiking and camping especially when I’m REALLY hungry.  The majority of the #10 cans, however, are designated for our dogs.  I’ve mixed the eggs with cooked rice and veggies in the field and found that our dogs eat them without batting an eye (but then again, they will suck on dead worms too).  I set the eggs aside with log grain rice as my answer to an extended-shelf-life-dog-food for potential emergencies.  Their routine diet is Blue Buffalo, and the 30-lb bags get rotated, but dry dog foods don’t have the type of shelf life I’m looking for and stockpiling canned dog food for Labs is expensive and bulky.

. . .and if all else fails – we can eat the dog food!

 

I’ve actually thought of some of my freeze dried foods could be for both the dogs and us as well.  It would be awfully expensive dog food but I’ll keep my buddies fed no matter what.  I haven’t been brave enough to try any of the #10 cans yet.  If they were smaller portions I would open a couple in a heartbeat but I feel like I’d be committed to using a whole can once opened.  Your right about dogs being willing to eat almost anything.  I guess we would likely expand our pallets if ever really hungry too.

 

I had the same concerns regarding opening a whole #10 can, so I wrote Augason Farms: I wondered if I were to separate smaller portions from a  #10 can, add oxygen-absorbers and vacuum seal those units; would that retain the advertised shelf life of the contents?  Here is Augason Farms’ response:

I did a miserable job of pasting a .pdf’ed email, so;  Basically, Augason Farms said they could no longer ‘guarantee’ their posted shelf life, but they believed it could retain shelf life comparability if done as I suggested. 

Two years ago I did this with the contents of two #10 cans (onions & Stew Veggies).  If all goes well, I’ll check them out in another 8-years.

 

I’ve gotten some of these #10 can plastic lids before. My parent’s were moving and I inherited their food storage that was going to expire soon, so I had to open them up and use them.

They were nice to seal up the can after opening it. One of these smooth edge can openers was really nice too so I didn’t cut myself and I didn’t have sharp metal piercing my plastic lids. It wasn’t as good as your vacuum seal or oxygen-absorbers, but it helped out a little. 

 

Wouldn’t that be awesome if they sold their freeze dried foods in a normal canned corn sized can? I’m not sure what the official name of a normal can is called.

I’d totally open up a smaller can of eggs, or milk and try it out before committing to have a year’s worth of #10 cans in my food storage.

 

Definitely a good idea.  Even selling them in 6 or 8 packs would be really useful.

 

That’s what I think is missing.  For the money it would be better to have several 2-person or 4-person packets within the #10 can.  I understand Augason Farms was starting some internal packaging before the pandemic.

I do enjoy dehydrating and vacuum sealing my own items.  I buy fresh foods on sale (or what is reasonably available today), dehydrate them and seal them in 2- or 5-person packages. My vacuum sealer has a Mason Jar vacuum attachment so I can use different sized containers for storage (pasta can render a vac bag useless).  I get 20-cans (twenty) of dehydrated corn into a single 1-gallon Mason Jar!  And few things might reseal as well as a Mason jars incase the zip-locks are used up.

 

That sure is a neat skill, I hope that I can get into food preservation in the future.

 

It’s pretty easy to start and it sure makes the days locked in the house more productive & enjoyable.  Talk about a dehydrators glorious smell permeating throughout the house!  Pineapple (when on sale), bananas (when on sale), and strawberries – just for the smell of it (but they don’t really retain their taste very well for the money).

Lots of information on the web.  Here is a teaser of how I started:

I started with just the vacuum sealer for everyday use to extend fresh meat freezer shelf life.  Then I started sealing up rice, oatmeal, and beans as it was cheaper than the #10 cans.  Cheap enough to buy, even today.

I got pretty imaginative!  I vac-sealed socks and clothing for our bugout bags, sealing extra soap in case of flooding or hurricanes (We live by the Bay), and several firearms.

I’m not really involved in regular shooting anymore, and I hate to clean something I’m not using.  I purchased a new .22 Marlin for small game should the future call for it and cleaned up some older keepers with desiccant and vacuum sealed them too.  An email from Marlin concurred they thought vacuum sealing with desiccant was a great storage idea.  I also sealed our ammunition with desiccants as well, but don’t vacuum the ammo vac-sleeve, just seal it.  Vacuuming reportedly causes misfires by not having sufficient oxygen with the powder when you need it.  Sealing duplicate important papers in your bugout bag keeps them safe from water too!

Here is a picture of my .22 Marlin with cleaning kit and manual included.  I vac sealed bugout bag clothes as well to take up less room.  Anyway, a Vacuum Sealer is a great little tool to start with.

 

I’m gonna have to talk to my wife about a vacuum sealer now! I especially like the BOB clothing idea, as you want something waterproof and compact.

Vacuum sealing your gun is also a good idea if you aren’t going to be using it. I have to take mine out every 6 months and make sure they are oiled up still and not rusting on me. 

 

She might like having food that keeps its freshness in the freezer far longer than zip-locks will allow.  Saves a few bucks too when you cut up and store larger quantities of sale items.  I vac & freeze butter on sale too.  If you have any questions I’d be happy to offer my ‘experience(?)’ for better or worse – LOL!

Yep, six months comes around awful fast!