Backyard Freedom Lab

The Lost SuperFoods Review (2026): Worth $37, Honestly?

Last updated: 2026-07-03

7.5/10Our score

Best for: Beginners who want a cheap, curated library of proven food-preservation methods in one place

The Lost SuperFoods is a strange product to review, because there are really two products here. There is the book itself, which readers genuinely seem to like. And there is the sales machine wrapped around it, which leans on a fictional narrator and shelf-life claims that outrun what food-safety agencies actually say.

We have not cooked our way through this guide, and we won't pretend otherwise. This review is based on our research: reader feedback on Goodreads, the commonsensehome.com investigation into the vendor's sister product, USDA and National Center for Home Food Preservation guidance, and the publisher's own listings. Here is what we found.

What Is The Lost SuperFoods?

The Lost SuperFoods is a 272-page guide covering 126-plus foods and preservation methods, most of them pulled from history: wartime rations, pioneer staples, and traditional techniques from cultures that had to keep food edible without refrigeration. It sells as a digital PDF, with an optional printed copy available for roughly $9 in shipping at the time of writing.

Now, the authorship — because this is where honesty matters most.

The listed authors are Art Rude, Lex Rooker, Fred Dwight, and "Claude Davis." Art Rude is a real person with a real background: a former Associate Professor of Mathematics and Physics at Bismarck State College in North Dakota, with 22 years of teaching behind him, who grew up farming near the Canadian border. That is a credible co-author for a book about practical self-reliance.

"Claude Davis" is not a real person. According to commonsensehome.com's investigation of the sister product The Lost Ways, "Claude Davis" is a registered trademark and fictional persona created by the vendor — Global Brother SRL, a Romanian company that also runs askaprepper.com. An actor originally played the character and was later swapped for a more grandfatherly-looking one because that version converted better. The sales page still presents "Claude Davis" as a narrator with a family-recipe backstory. That is marketing theater, plain and simple.

Does a fictional frontman make the book worthless? No — the content underneath is real, and the real co-author has real credentials. But you should know what you are buying and who actually wrote it before the folksy narration starts.

What's Inside

The table of contents reads like a museum of food security, and that is meant as a compliment. Highlights include the US military "doomsday ration," the meat-preservation method used during the siege of Leningrad, Ottoman coated meat, a 14th-century Dutch shelf-stable cheese, Mongolian dried curds, Turkish tarhana, Iroquois three-sisters soup, the "pocket soup" carried by Lewis and Clark, Cree bread, bark bread, and classic hardtack.

For a 2026 homestead, the useful core is more familiar: water-bath and pressure canning, biltong and jerky, sauerkraut and fermentation, fruit leather, and egg preservation. The most practical modern additions are a DIY 2,400-calorie ration bar, a $20 DIY food bucket, and a $5-per-week stockpiling plan — simple frameworks that give a beginner somewhere to start without a four-figure freeze-dryer budget.

Be clear-eyed about the split, though. Tarhana, biltong, canning, and the budget stockpiling plans are things you will plausibly do. Bark bread and the Leningrad method are fascinating history you will almost certainly never need. A good chunk of the page count is curiosity, not utility — enjoyable reading, but not all of it earns a place in your pantry.

Reader reception is solid. The book holds a 4.27 out of 5 rating on Goodreads across 107 ratings, with reviewers praising how comprehensive it is, the clear step-by-step instructions, the color photos, and the historical context. The recurring criticisms: it is information-dense, some recipes call for ingredients that are hard to source, and some of the health claims are overblown.

One more honest caveat: much of this material is repackaged public knowledge. The canning guidance exists free at the National Center for Home Food Preservation, and many recipes trace back to old cookbooks and historical records. What $37 buys is curation and convenience — one organized, illustrated volume instead of forty browser tabs. For a lot of people that trade is worth it; just do not mistake it for secret knowledge.

Worth noting how this fits a broader plan: this book teaches you to store food, not produce it. If you want the production side — gardens, livestock, off-grid systems — that is the territory of The Self-Sufficient Backyard review. The two complement each other more than they overlap.

Pros And Cons

Pros

  • 272 pages covering 126+ foods and preservation methods, from canning to biltong to ration bars
  • Real, credentialed co-author: Art Rude, former math and physics professor who grew up farming
  • Practical budget frameworks: the $20 food bucket, $5-per-week stockpiling plan, and DIY 2,400-calorie ration bar
  • Well-liked by actual readers: 4.27/5 across 107 Goodreads ratings, with praise for clear instructions and color photos
  • Low risk: $37 at the time of writing, backed by a 60-day unconditional ClickBank refund

Cons

  • The 'Claude Davis' frontman is a fictional marketing persona, not a real author
  • Shelf-life claims on the sales page exceed USDA and NCHFP guidance
  • Much of the content is repackaged historical and public-domain knowledge available free elsewhere
  • Some recipes require hard-to-source ingredients, and a few health claims are exaggerated

Who Should NOT Buy This

Skip this book if you are expecting modern nutrition science. The "superfoods" framing is historical, not clinical — these are calorie-dense, shelf-stable survival foods, and Goodreads reviewers already flag some of the health claims as overblown. Nothing in here replaces guidance from a dietitian.

Skip it if you already own solid preservation references. If your shelf has the Ball Blue Book, you follow NCHFP guidelines, and you have put up your own harvest for years, this guide will mostly tell you things you know, wrapped in historical anecdotes. The stories are fun, but you would be paying $37 for entertainment.

And skip it if the persona marketing genuinely bothers you. That is a legitimate position. A vendor that invents a grandfatherly narrator to sell books has earned some skepticism, and no refund policy obligates you to reward the tactic. We would rather lose a commission than talk you past a principle.

Price, Guarantee, And How Buying Works

At the time of writing, The Lost SuperFoods costs $37 for the digital version. Funnels vary — some show $27 plus $9.99 shipping for the physical copy — so treat the exact number as approximate until you see the checkout page.

Two digital bonuses are included: "The Year-Round Greenhouse in Your Backyard" and "Projects From 1900 That Will Help You in the Next Crisis." One overlap warning: if you also own The Self-Sufficient Backyard, the greenhouse bonus covers ground its greenhouse chapter already handles, so do not count the bonus as extra value if you are buying both.

Checkout runs through ClickBank, a large retailer of digital products, and comes with a 60-day unconditional money-back guarantee. The 60-day guarantee is a standard ClickBank term, and ClickBank's published refund policy processes refunds at the retailer level rather than leaving them to the vendor — which makes the guarantee meaningful rather than decorative.

One real warning: complaint threads and review roundups report multiple lookalike domains — us-thelostsuperfoods.com, thelostssuperfoods.com, lostssuperfoods.com, and similar. Copycat sites like these may charge you without delivering the product, the bonuses, or a valid refund path. Buy only through the official ClickBank funnel; the links in this review point there.

FAQ

Is The Lost SuperFoods legit?

The book is real, 272 pages long, and rated 4.27/5 by 107 readers on Goodreads as of this writing. The content — canning, curing, fermenting, historical rations — is genuine and usable. What is not real is "Claude Davis," the narrator on the sales page, and some shelf-life claims are exaggerated. Legitimate product, hyped marketing. The 60-day ClickBank refund removes most of the risk of finding out.

Who is Claude Davis?

"Claude Davis" is a trademarked fictional persona owned by the vendor, Global Brother SRL of Romania, per commonsensehome.com's investigation — played by an actor who was later replaced with a more grandfatherly one because it sold better. The real credentialed co-author is Art Rude, a former Bismarck State College professor of mathematics and physics with a farming background.

Do the foods really last 20 years?

Treat those numbers as marketing. The sales page mentions eggs preserved for 10 years, canned food stored for 20, and foods that "probably never spoil." USDA and National Center for Home Food Preservation guidance says home-canned food is at best quality within about one to two years; beyond that you are trading quality for time, and safety depends entirely on correct processing and storage. Some historical foods (hardtack, properly dried goods) do keep for very long periods — but "decades, guaranteed" is not what the food-safety science says.

Is there a physical book?

Yes. The base product is a digital PDF, and most funnels offer a printed copy for roughly $9 in shipping, or a combined price around $27 plus $9.99 shipping, depending on the funnel you land on.

The Lost SuperFoods vs The Lost Ways — what is the difference?

Same vendor family, different focus. The Lost Ways is a broad pioneer-skills book; The Lost SuperFoods focuses specifically on food storage and preservation. Both are sold under the "Claude Davis" persona through the same Romanian vendor. If you only care about food storage, this is the more focused buy.

Is there a free PDF download of The Lost SuperFoods?

Sites offering a "free PDF" are the actual risk here — pirated copies are a common vehicle for malware and fake-download traps, and they fund the copycat domains we warned about above. Given a $37 price and a 60-day unconditional refund, the legitimate purchase is close to risk-free; if the book disappoints you, ClickBank returns your money.

Final Verdict

The Lost SuperFoods earns its 7.5. The content is real, readers like it, the budget-stockpiling frameworks are genuinely useful for beginners, and the co-author who matters — Art Rude — is exactly who the listing says he is. Against that: a fictional frontman, shelf-life claims the USDA would not sign off on, and a fair amount of repackaged free knowledge. Buy it as a well-curated, refundable $37 reference, not as lost secret wisdom, and you will probably be satisfied.

And remember that stored food is only half of a resilience plan — backup water is the other, which we cover in our Smart Water Box review.

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