If you're worried about a zombie apocalypse, an alien landing, or just a hurricane in Southwest Florida there is a food bucket tailor-made for your survival readiness.
Experts tell ABC7 that these food bucket marketing tactics play on our emotions. The bucket has meals with a 25-year shelf life.
But does this doomsday bucket have all you need during a natural disaster? Experts said it has some things but does not contain everything for an emergency.
“The internet is calling an apocalypse food bucket,” TikTok content creator Miami Tiff said. “And with this particular brand ‘Ready-Wise,’ their food can last up to 25 years.”
Food that could last you a generation. But there is another reason why this bucket is gaining so much attention.
“Even in their copy to advertise it and market it to us, they are playing on some of the things that we're worried and concerned about,” Florida Gulf Coast University School of Business professor Gina Tran said.
She is a marketing professor at FGCU. Tran said these buckets offer a solution to how you can protect your family in an emergency.
“I think it's pretty smart how they're marketing it," she said. "They're tapping into our concerns, and our fears and then offering us a solution. And as consumers, we do sometimes want the easy answer."
These ‘Ready-Wise’ buckets are meant to help you in any emergency. Here in southwest Florida, that could mean a hurricane. Something we are the most familiar with.
In that case, are these buckets really wise to buy?
“And then too, do you think the food's going to be good?” Miami Tiff said on TikTok.
ABC7 wanted to find out for you, so we bought the viral doomsday bucket.
Inside there are 52 meals from cheesy mac to creamy pasta and vegetables and apple cinnamon cereal. There are even drink mixes in the box.
Although our crews say these meals taste ok, you do need access to boiling water and a stove to make these meals. So this bucket might not be wise for everyone.
“If you go in and look at this disaster bucket that, is being sold on the open market, and it works for you based on all of its ingredients, and it meets your dietary needs, then. Yes. That's a that's a good bucket for you to have,” Florida Division of Emergency Management Executive Director Kevin Guthrie said. “If you're older and have your own special diets, low sodium, low this, low that, then maybe that's not the right bucket for you.”
Besides your diet, Guthrie said you need to have a hurricane preparedness plan, and a kit with items like batteries, flashlights, and a radio.
Although this bucket could be helpful, experts said you still need to purchase other supplies to help your family in an emergency.