A Costco shopper posted a viral video showing the emergency food kits being offered in-store. Viewers say Costco knows something we don’t.
TikToker CharminglyFrugal (@charminglyfrugal) has reached over 4.3 million views and 164,000 likes on her TikTok by Tuesday. She frequently uses her account with over 92,000 followers to post survival tips like how to make a fire starter, emergency go-bags, and preserve food.
CharminglyFrugal captioned her post, “Let’s check the prices at costco,” referring to emergency food kits.
She begins her video starting with the brand Ready Wise. Ready Wise’s emergency food kit is priced at $63.99 and has 132 servings.
“They also have Mountain Home emergency meal kits,” she says.
The Mountain House emergency meals are priced at $79.99 and come with 28 servings of food.
Next, CharminglyFrugal shows a Mountain House dried meal she says is new to Costco.
“Ice cream sandwiches, which are $9.97,” she says. “They have all these freeze-dried ice cream sandwiches.”
CharminglyFrugal notices that the ice cream pack only has six servings. “So it is quite expensive,” she says.
“But I’m gonna pick one up because if SHTF happens, I’d rather be more comfortable on a day that’s a bummer,” she adds. SHTF stands for “when Sh*t Hits the Fan.” The acronym is commonly used by “preppers,” people who actively prepare for a worst-case scenario by practicing survivalist techniques like hoarding food.
To compare prices, CharminglyFrugal restates that she thinks the “Mountain House kits are extremely overpriced.”
“But you could just turn around and go to Ready Wise and get 132 servings, 25-year shelf life, and it’s still $16 cheaper,” she says before ending her video.
@charminglyfrugal Lets check the prices at costco #foodstockup #preppersoftiktok #shtfprepper #foodstorage #emergencyfoodstorage #readywise #doomsdaypreppers #survival #ww3 #griddownprepper #mountianhousefood ♬ original sound – CharminglyFrugal
Viewers in the comments section suggested that Costco selling emergency food packs hints at something else.
“What do they know that we don’t,” one comment asks.
“Are they hinting for something??” another suggests.
One says, “they are telling you there is a problem coming.”
Another viewer mentioned that buying food emergency kits can be useful if preparing for extreme weather. “It can be nice to have sudden for sudden inclimate weather such as: tornadoes/hurricanes, floods, blizzards, etc,” the comment says.
Viewers from outside the United States left comments surprised at the prices of the emergency food packs.
“I can’t believe the prices in the states,” one says, adding, “it’s like $300 Canadian for that.”
Another says, “I wish. I’ve never seen that in a Canadian Costco.”
The Daily Dot reached out to CharminglyFrugal via TikTok direct message and Costco via media contact form.
