By nature I am not a confrontational person but then there are somethings that are so far overboard that you can’t just sit back and stay quite. What I’m talking about are phony food storage review sites.
You’re right to question a post like this where I’m essentially calling out alternative websites to TopFoodStorageReviews.com but follow me through this and I think you’ll understand why I’m frustrated and why posting this information is worthwhile.
Below are a few examples of really misleading food storage review websites whose credibility is non-existent.
Case 1: Food Storage Reviewer.com
This website has popped up over the last couple years. At first they appeared to base their reviews on actual experience with the companies but over time they have turned into an unapologetic advertisement for every company and product. What you won’t see on their site are negative reviews. I don’t care if you were raised with the notion of “if you don’t have something nice to say don’t say anything at all”, there are a lot of REALLY bad preparedness products and companies out there.
For example I visited their site today (8/12/2015) and noticed a banner on their home page showcasing their EDITOR’S PICK, a Food for Health International Emergency Food Bucket. This is unequivocally the worse food storage product we have ever tried in 9 years of the food storage industry. This product was so bad that Costco took it off their site due to bad reviews, yet it is their Editor’s Pick that they are recommending over all other items!
The problem is the owner of this website isn’t trying 99% of the products they’ve “reviewed” on their site. Every product is talked about glowingly and if there is criticism it is trivial and a small blip compared to the rest of the glowing recommendations. On top of that they even sell some products directly from their site, how neutral and unbiased is that? This site is pretending to be something that it isn’t.
Case 2: Top Ten Reviews.com
Top Ten Reviews is a very large company that writes thousands of product reviews for a a large number of industries. They review cameras, software, laptops, and on and on.
They have also reviewed food storage companies and products. They’re a part of the reason I started my website several years ago. I questioned their flawed logic and obvious lack of knowledge of the industry and how they came to their conclusions. I wanted to make a better resource so I started our website.
Soon after looking around their parent site I learned of their business model which is to talk positively about companies and their products and get a kickback for any sales they send to the companies they profile.
Their reviews are super generic, factually incorrect in soooo many places, and written by someone that wouldn’t recognize food storage if it hit him in their face. They too can not be trusted.
Case 3: Wesson Research.com
Probably the most shameless food storage review site is from Wesson Research, a phony company and website created by Legacy Premium Food Storage. I can’t get into details without outing my source but I confirmed this information from a very close friend who spoke with an executive of one of the largest food storage co-packers in the industry who confirmed that Legacy built the site to review themselves positively.
Legacy likely created this site because they weren’t even part of the discussion of who are the top food storage companies. Handling their super thin and cheaply made mylar pouches (that happen to use the most antiquated oxygen removal method – nitrogen flushing) there is probably a reason people aren’t taking them seriously. They are stuck in the 80s with their food preservation technology.
There is seriously so much wrong about this site that it really deserves its own article just to call out all of the bad/biased information found there. One example is they claim the meals from Legacy Premium food storage are better than Mountain House which is flat out laughable.
In Closing
What makes TopFoodStorageReviews.com different is we write honest reviews of products we purchased with our own money and we don’t accept advertising. We don’t sell products on our website and never will. Some of our reviews may contain affiliate links that could possibly lead to a commission but we disclose this and it never affects how we evaluate products and companies. If you read enough of our reviews we feel you’ll agree.
An example, one of our reviews was so harsh and critical that the CEO of the company tried to imply legal action (a scare tactic) to get us to take it down. We simply laughed and shook our heads and moved on with life. We won’t shy away from telling things how we see them whether it ruffles feathers or not.
In the end we want to inspire trust with our visitors. We want to help people make educated choices so they don’t waste their money. We feel a lot of people can see through the phony gaming going on of positive review after positive review, reselling products directly from their own site, or creating a review site to artificially raise your company profile within the industry.
We have nothing to hide and are proud of it. We don’t and will never sell out to make an extra buck. Writing glowing reviews of products we haven’t used is wrong.
In the end, be mindful of what you read on the internet. We wish you luck and as always feel free to comment below and let us know if you have any questions or feedback.
