Yes, that's the downside right there. To be honest, a basic emergency-food cache of beans, flour, rice, canned veggies, basic pasta, pasta sauce, basic meat like hot dogs and burger patties (if you have power for a freezer) is a lot cheaper than the Mountain House.

The main advantages of the Mountain House are: a) it's easy to prepare; b) it seems to be nutritionally balanced, which the basic-stores option is not. For the basic option, it's a very good idea to add bottles of multivitamins.