I'm gonna be showing you a way to store meals at a fraction of the cost of commercial or even surplus MRE cost....
Your average MRE will run you between 5 and 8 bucks....My MREs cost under 3 dollars each, and are customized to my taste....
Your average MRE will run you between 5 and 8 bucks....My MREs cost under 3 dollars each, and are customized to my taste....
Remove these ads by
Signing UpStep 1: Shopping List...
***Step 1...gather your fixins....anything that can be eaten either raw or cooked, using ONLY water...nothing requiring refrigeration or milk, butter, etc...
*packaged snack crackers....PB on wheat, cheezy, etc., etc...
*bagged/canned tuna, chicken, spam, sardines....whatever meat you prefer....
*packaged instant rice and potatoes...
*instant drink mixes...coffee, crystal light, whatever.....
*tea bags....
*bullion cubes.....
*ramen noodles...
*single servings of salt, pepper, sweetener, or whatever your taste....
*granola/cereal bars...
*candy bars...
*instant oatmeal packets....
*dried fruit...
yadah, yaddah, yaddah....
*packaged snack crackers....PB on wheat, cheezy, etc., etc...
*bagged/canned tuna, chicken, spam, sardines....whatever meat you prefer....
*packaged instant rice and potatoes...
*instant drink mixes...coffee, crystal light, whatever.....
*tea bags....
*bullion cubes.....
*ramen noodles...
*single servings of salt, pepper, sweetener, or whatever your taste....
*granola/cereal bars...
*candy bars...
*instant oatmeal packets....
*dried fruit...
yadah, yaddah, yaddah....
Visit Our Store »
Go Pro Today »
Viola = "raped/violated" (past tense)
Voilà = "There you go"
Tell that to my kids...they prefer them dry.
Now let's just get the water question out of the way:
If you can't supply yourself with enough water to boil a small pot of noodles (or whatever) in a survival situation, you're going to die. You are not a skilled 'survivalist'...improve your skill-set and stop limiting yourself, or maximize your preparations and overcome your skill shortcomings.
I am what you'd call a skilled outdoorsman. These will provide me enough time to establish an area for hunting and gathering in a survival scenario, and with 6 months of them stored at home, they will provide "fall-back" provisions in a disaster scenario...that is their purpose.
If anyone is butt-hurt over the title, bummer...keep wasting your time and money knit-picking until the lights go out...just don't bug me when you're hungry 'cause, "by-gawd..those ain't 'real' MREs..."
("you" is a general term, of course...I'm not trying to single anyone out..)
Cheers!
I'd also throw a few pieces of jerky (also great homemade) into each MRE, it's satisfying to eat when little else is available, great for morale, and can be eaten dry or re-hydrated and added to other dishes. Shelf life is already good, but individually sealing them with a silica pack should improve it in extreme situations.
As others have stated, this requires a large amount of water, which is a huge drawback. If you're car camping these will be useful, but if you're backpacking or don't have access to a lot of water then this might not be as useful as it leads on to be.
All in all, I think this is a great idea, but the usefulness is limited in the field and is best kept as an emergency ration for home/disaster survival and therefore succeeds in making an awesome meal package that takes up little space and would store well in a basement/survival room. Nice job!
Best to put 5-10 matches,9 volt or a magnesium fire starter to get that fire going.
And always kepp your mess kit and at least 5 L with your MRE's
Better to use long-lasting and time-proven methods.
Matches are nice, but delicate and limited...a magnesium bar is supreme, but a bow and drill or fire plow have been available and effective since time immemorial...learn them, master them...never be cold.
If I can add one thing here, I ALWAYS make mine with a couple paper towels in them. I use the towels to wrap items like Ramen or small cans in the towel to kinda buffer the hard sharp edges of those items from the vacuum sealed package.
I have found that carrying these over time, with the hard edges, will cause you to lose your vacuum seal.
Plus it makes great TP and you will need it.
When I add crackers, I try to get the MRE crackers, because they will last forever and hold their shape. I do not use crackers that have anything on them like peanut butter or cheese. That will go bad on you. Just pack plain crackers, and when you take these, grab the jar of peanut butter from your cabinet.
Also, Mrs. Bear is right, animals WILL smell right through this plastic with NO problem at all. Drug dogs can small drugs right through mylar bags that have been power washed several times to make sure the outside is clean. You will NOT fool an animals nose. A mylar bag will leak about half a cubic inch every year right through the aluminum bag. That may not sound like much, but to an animal who was created to smell food miles away, that's like ringing the dinner bell to them.