I agree with Kathy, there are many scenarios where having extra food on hand would be helpful, especially for a large family like mine. I think COVID has shown us how unreliable the grocery store can be, with shortages due to supply chain issues and panic hoarding. My family just simply doesn't feel comfortable having only enough food for a week or two on hand any more. Any natural or societal disaster could lead to food or other necessities becoming temporarily inaccessible, and we feel it's prudent to be as self-sufficient as possible.
Even with the issue of losing a freezer during a long power outage aside, we can have way more food on hand which is way easier to prepare if it's freeze dried than if it's in the freezer. For my large family, even 3 freezers, which is what we have now, isn't enough room. We've got meat, garden produce, milk, normal frozen groceries, pollen, and I need room in a freezer to freeze bee boxes before storage. If we can get some of that food out of the freezers and onto the shelves, then we can use the freezer for things that can't really be freeze dried, like bread.
In addition, let's say no disaster ever happens, (which has already proven untrue with COVID, but hypothetically), it's so much more convenient to have the food just on the shelf ready to go. For example, we have a goat who is going to kid any day now. Let's say she has her babies overnight tonight, in the cold and the snow, we're all exhausted from being up all night, and we've been out in the barn all day, and now we've got to get some supper together. Mom could walk out to the freezer in the garage and get a pan of lasagna, heat up the oven, and let it bake for an hour or two. Or, she could take some freeze dried lasagna off the shelf, add some boiling water to it, and it's ready to eat in 15 minutes. Yes, it's a lot of money and work up front for the freeze dried food, but the payoff is homemade, nutritious, delicious food at tremendous convenience later, and some food security to boot.
