If you're just buying one bucket or enough "bags" for a 72 hr kit/BOB i understand that. Or once you have a robust pantry/etc (outlined below) and want to make "meals in a jar/bag" or *supplement* with some ready made meals, that's not only recommended but encouraged. I'm just hoping everyone realises foods you already enjoy, your family enjoys, and store in your home CAN be shtf food. You just need more of it, and some long term storage you can start adding in and trying slowly so it's not a shock to your system or your families morale to eat nothing but bagged foods.
There is a "Mormon Guideline" for how much wheat, sugar, etc you need and I recommend all people look at it and work off it some. It's about $300 for a complete year for one adult... Of the exact same thing every day. What I decided to do was base a menu on my families needs, using as much of the mormon ideals as possible.
I like canning and preserving foods, but also purchase store bought items. I like making my "complete pancake mix" from wheat I've ground myself into flour, egg powder from eggs I dehydrated myself, store bought dried milk powder, for instance. I love mexican chicken rice soup, but can't find a recipe that cans well (for one thing you shouldn't water bath/pressure can rice at all), so I purchased quite a few cans of that for 2 of us. If SHTF seems to be dragging on I'll make more rice and serve 1 can for 2 people with rice. I may even add beans.
When you are purchasing bulk items it is important to search for the best price/quality you can find. Look through google for restaurant supply stores, co-ops, farms, etc.. Check your big lots, your walmarts, your grocery... Ask your chinese restaurant where they purchase from. If you're looking for cheap beef call up local 4-H's and meat processors for ideas. Saving $2/lb when you need 50 or 500 lbs of something matters.
Spend a month documenting everything you eat. When you open that loaf of bread from the grocery store you need to find a food storage recipe for bread and document ingredients needed to make it from scratch. When you have that bacon and eggs you need to realize canned bacon is $15/ea can of 50 slices so in an SHTF you might only have bacon on holidays if at all, and document something cheaper to make like Creamed Beef and toast or oatmeal. Buy all the yeast, baking soda, garlic granules, broth cubes, etc you need for as long an SHTF as you decide.. Some people buy slowly, some people stock up fast. Some people buy all the rice they need, then pasta, then beans, then tomato sauce or tomato powder, then something else. Others buy a smaller amount of each but repeat monthly or as budget allows so they don't end up in a SHTF with 200lbs of canned tomatoes and no pasta or spices to make it into something. Up to you.
Make sure you buy the items - manual items - you will need in a SHTF. Wheat is way better than flour bc it lasts 3-4x as many years, but if you have no grinder you're screwed. You very well might have remembered to buy that pressure canner but without spare gasket or two you or some vaseline you might have issues. Dry corn is awesome for cornmeal but not so if you don't have a grinder. Making tomato sauce in a SHTF is still very possible but not without a burner that regulates heat well - like a propane cook set - but even if you have one if you only have 10 lbs of propane how many canning sessions can you do? Not to mention you'll really want a tomato strainer in this situation.
Start dehydrating and doing all you can in both water and pressure canning. Work on making soup bases (dry and canned), waxing cheese, smoking your own foods, etc.. The more self sufficient the better. The more food you have that lasts 5 years or more the less urgent and draining cycling it all is. The more you know how to preserve without refrigeration the better off you and your generator will be!
Once you have a good supply of canned goods, mylar'd dry goods, etc feel free to buy that #10 can of cheese blend for easy mac and cheese, or that dehydrated broccoli so you can make some stew that calls for it. I'm not saying don't buy the $100 bucket of freeze dried turkey either, I'm just saying make sure you have all your bases covered first. Give me $2000 and I could fill a pantry with food for 4 for a yr and it'd be so much better than the 6 month supply of freeze dried "entrees" for 1 person I could buy. ONLY buy the single ingredients you actually need, make the meals yourself. Have what you want in a flavor you want, in packaging you trust bc you packed it. Save yourself money and still get anything you want but do it in the right order.
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Thanks for being apart of the discussion, and as always, stay prepared.