Mountain House and My Patriot Supply both publish calories per kit, so their prices can be compared per 1,000 calories. Augason Farms kit pages could not be read on 2026-10-14, so it is covered only as far as its homepage allows. Read the numbers below as facts from each company's page, not as a ranking.
Disclosure: We earn a commission if you buy through our links to My Patriot Supply, at no extra cost to you. How we are paid.
How this comparison was made
All figures come from each company's own product pages, read on 2026-10-14. Prices shift, and some Mountain House kits showed as sold out on that date, so treat every price as a snapshot. The guide has not handled, cooked or tasted any of these foods, and nothing here is a taste or quality verdict.
The yardstick is calories, because a kit is a pile of calories before it is anything else. A family of four planning on 2,000 calories each needs about 8,000 calories a day; the how much food a family of four needs guide shows where that figure comes from. If you are starting from the household goal, see the emergency food supply for family of four page first.
The criteria table
| Criterion | My Patriot Supply | Mountain House | Augason Farms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kit sizes read | 72-hour, 2-week, 4-week, 3-month, 1-year, plus a family starter pack | 3-day, 30-day, 3-month, 6-month, 1-year | Kit pages could not be read |
| Published calories | Total calories per kit | About 1,732 calories per day on the larger kits; total not published | Not read |
| Stated shelf life | Up to 25 years when stored properly | "30-Year Taste Guarantee" | Homepage labels of 10, 25 and 30 years on individual products |
| Family-of-four claim | 4-week kit: 1 week; 3-month: 3 weeks; 1-year: 3 months | 1-year kit: 3 months | Not read |
| Water to prepare | Published per kit | Published per kit | Not read |
| Prices read 2026-10-14 | $277.95 (4-week), $797.95 (3-month), $3,191.80 (1-year) | $939.99 (30-day), $2,749.99 (3-month), $10,366.99 (1-year, list $12,697.20); the last three listed sold out | A pail of 113 servings at $126.99 on the homepage |
The first row of numbers is the part worth keeping: the three companies sell differently sized kits, and only two of them print enough to compare.
Price per 1,000 calories
This is computed from each company's published figures, as of 2026-10-14. The calculation is price divided by total calories, times 1,000.
| Kit | Price | Calories | Per 1,000 calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| My Patriot Supply 72-hour sample pack | $34.99 | 6,320 | $5.54 |
| My Patriot Supply 2-week | $147.95 | 28,020 | $5.28 |
| My Patriot Supply 4-week | $277.95 | 56,460 | $4.92 |
| My Patriot Supply 3-month | $797.95 | 181,960 | $4.39 |
| My Patriot Supply 1-year | $3,191.80 | 727,840 | $4.39 |
| Be Prepared 3-month (a fourth brand, for context) | $569.97 | 169,950 | $3.35 |
| Mountain House 1-year (about 1,732 x 365 = 632,180) | $10,366.99 | about 632,180 | $16.40 |
Two things stand out. First, Mountain House's 1-year figure uses a per-day number multiplied by 365, because the total is not printed, so it is an estimate. Second, Be Prepared, which is not one of the three brands in the title, prints a lower per-calorie price than My Patriot Supply on its 3-month kit. That fact is included because leaving it out would make the table misleading. Its 1-year kit, at $2,279.88 for 12 buckets of 56,650 calories each (679,800 in all), works out to the same $3.35.
Price per calorie is not the whole story. Food that people will not eat, kits that need more water than you can store, or a taste preference can outweigh a few dollars per 1,000 calories. The survival food kit buying guide covers those other criteria.
My Patriot Supply
The company sells per-person kits in a ladder from 72 hours to a year. Each kit is built around roughly 2,000 calories a day, and the company states the food keeps for up to 25 years when stored properly. The 4-week kit is $277.95 and holds 56,460 calories, which for a household of four is about 7 days (56,460 divided by 8,000).
It also sells a Family of 4 Starter Pack at $499.99 (regular price $576.51), which includes that 4-week kit plus survival straws, a solar power bank, a folding stove, canned heat and waterproof matches. The rest of the bundle works out to about $222 on top of the food, as arithmetic.
Other facts from its policy pages: free shipping over $149, a 30-day return on unopened and unused products with return shipping paid by the buyer, owned warehouses in Ohio and Utah, and a Disaster Replacement Warranty that has to be activated. The company says it is trusted by more than 3 million Americans. The guide has not verified that figure. A fuller read-through is in the My Patriot Supply review.
Mountain House
Mountain House sells by the day-count too, with a small 3-day kit at $99.99 and larger 30-day, 3-month, 6-month and 1-year kits. Its pages describe about 1,732 calories per day on the larger kits and state a "30-Year Taste Guarantee". The company's 1-year page says the kit is one person for 12 months, or a family of four for three months, with 1,080 pouches and 2,160 servings, and about 88 gallons of water to prepare everything.
On 2026-10-14 the 30-day ($939.99), 3-month ($2,749.99) and 1-year ($10,366.99) kits were listed as sold out, so what you can actually buy may differ from what is described here. Mountain House does not publish total calories per kit on the pages read, which is why its per-calorie figure above is an estimate.
Augason Farms
The company's kit product pages could not be read on 2026-10-14. They redirected to the homepage, so no kit prices, calories or servings are given here. The only facts available were from the homepage: a "Lunch and Dinner Variety Pail, 113 Servings" at $126.99 with a "25 year shelf life" label, and various single cans labelled 10, 25 or 30 years.
That is not enough to compare, and the guide would rather say so than fill the gap. If Augason Farms is on your shortlist, open its kit pages yourself and look for the same four numbers listed in the next section.
What to look at on any kit page
- Total calories for the kit, not only calories per serving.
- The calories per day the kit assumes, and whether that matches your household.
- The condition attached to the shelf-life claim (sealed, cool, dry).
- The water needed to prepare it all. See emergency water for a family of four for how that stacks on top of drinking water.
Who each one fits
- My Patriot Supply fits a household that wants a published calorie total, a ladder of sizes from a few days to a year, and a bundle already sized for four people. It fits less well a household that wants the lowest published price per calorie, or one that wants to see a long run of non-affiliated reviews first.
- Mountain House fits a buyer who wants a brand with a long-stated shelf-life claim and smaller, day-count kits, and who can accept that the larger kits were sold out on the read date and that total calories are not printed.
- Augason Farms could not be assessed from its kit pages. Its single-pail format on the homepage points to buyers who want to add food in small steps, but that is an observation about a product listing, not a recommendation.
No kit here is described as better in general. The right one depends on the household's calorie target, the water on hand, and what people will actually eat.
What this comparison does not cover
It does not cover taste, texture, allergens, protein, sodium or dietary fit. It does not cover brands outside the ones read. It also does not cover backpacking meals, which are sized and priced for a different job. For infants, pregnancy, medical diets or allergies, see the nutrition note.
A kit is also one route among several. The emergency food list for a family of four lists the groceries that cover the same ground without a kit.
FAQ
Which of the three has the lowest price per calorie?
Of the two that publish enough to calculate it, My Patriot Supply's 3-month and 1-year kits work out to $4.39 per 1,000 calories and Mountain House's 1-year kit to an estimated $16.40, on the 2026-10-14 prices. Augason Farms kit figures could not be read.
Is a Mountain House 1-year kit enough for a family of four for a year?
No. The company's own page says the kit is one person for 12 months, or a family of four for three months.
Why is Augason Farms mostly blank in the table?
Its kit pages redirected to the homepage when read on 2026-10-14, so only the homepage listings were available. Nothing was guessed.
Do the shelf-life claims mean the food will last that long?
They are the companies' own statements and carry conditions such as cool, dry storage. The shelf life guide explains what "up to" and "taste guarantee" do and do not tell you.
Sources
- My Patriot Supply product and policy pages, https://www.mypatriotsupply.com, read 2026-10-14
- Mountain House product pages, https://mountainhouse.com/products/1-year-emergency-food-supply and https://mountainhouse.com/products/3-month-emergency-food-supply, read 2026-10-14
- Augason Farms homepage, https://augasonfarms.com, read 2026-10-14
- Be Prepared product pages, https://www.beprepared.com/products/1-year-emergency-food-kit-emergency-essentials, read 2026-10-14
- FDA, Calories on the Nutrition Facts label, read 2026-10-14
- Ready.gov, Build a kit, read 2026-10-14
Update history
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| 2026-10-14 | First published |