Superior Alternatives To MRE Rations?

[HB of CJ]

Any ideas or good experiences as to what might work better than horrible MRE entrées? We are going through our stuff and have found by volunteer, (drafted!) taste testers that our old MRE main meals are out of date and do not taste that grate ... er ... great.

Marine lifeboat ration blocks come to mind but I am having difficulty finding out the actual nutritional breakdown of the various available products. Taste is not that important. A full belly is. That and a good proper mix of protein carbs fats vitamins etc..

Don't laugh too much but the old out of date cans of pork and beans still tasted OK but are considered too heavy for a light weight backpack type last ditch grab and run BOB. Also where can we find dehydrated water? A powder form would work best.

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[rick benjamin]

Research what other countries consider edible for their military.
We were fed 40 year old C-Rations (WWII). Get hungry enough, taste doesn't matter.
Ran out of C's, were fed LRP rations (Long Range Patrol). Looks like cardboard chunks in a bag. Add water, eat. Tastes like wet cardboard.
Went hunting rats, cats, snakes.
Then MREs. Toss-up between C-rats or MREs. Would choose either.
Wait, MC didn't give us a choice, ate em all.

 

[Stomper]

We had a saying in my one Army unit.... "fussy boys go hungry".



It was my mantra raising 6 kids, too.

 

[Dungannon]

We had a saying in my one Army unit.... "fussy boys go hungry".

Sounds like my folks. I must have picked up that habit, as now my kids say much the same thing to the grandkids. You get what you get, and you don't pitch a fit. or You don't have to eat it now, but it will be in the refrigerator waiting until you get hungry enough.

 

[Mygrainman]

We had a saying in my one Army unit.... "fussy boys go hungry".



It was my mantra raising 6 kids, too.

I was raised with 5 siblings also... Had to be quick if you wanted to eat... mom wasn't the best cook... she made lots of "casserole". Edible but mostly unidentifiable. Even now at family gatherings where there is plenty of good food, Instinct takes over and elbows fly. Only my sister was/is safe from her five savage brothers ...all 6' 250+.

 

[Stomper]

Sounds like my folks. I must have picked up that habit, as now my kids say much the same thing to the grandkids. You get what you get, and you don't pitch a fit. or You don't have to eat it now, but it will be in the refrigerator waiting until you get hungry enough.

If you let the kids rule, you'd always be eating chicken nuggets, french fries, pizza, ice cream, and lots of soda to wash it all down....

 

[HuckleberryFun]

Have you tried some of the freeze dried foods for backpackers?
Lots of fussy-yuppie REI types who demand lightweight "gourmet" foods in the great outdoors.
(Not really knocking REI. They have good stuff. Just remembering it as a kid when it was more down to earth, less pretentious.)

 

[bolus]

Have you tried some of the freeze dried foods for backpackers?
Lots of fussy-yuppie REI types who demand lightweight "gourmet" foods in the great outdoors.
(Not really knocking REI. They have good stuff. Just remembering it as a kid when it was more down to earth, less pretentious.)

I vote for the freeze dried ones myselft

I've tried several brands and Mountain House is pretty good.
Mountain House Meals - Freeze Dried Entrees

Go to a camping store and get a variety of the single serve meals and see which ones you like. Then get the #10 cans for long term storage. I order one about every other month so my food storage keeps growing.

They have a 30 year shelf life if unopened.

(Mountain House is in Oregon)

 

[GreybGryphon]

Freeze dried stuff from winco is great. I was pretty sceptical of the sausage bits, but I add them to my oatmeal now. It keeps practically forever and had a loot of nutrients.

 

[Certaindeaf]

The reason Euell Gibbons settled in the PNW was that there were a buncha pinecones. Too bad he choked to death on one.







not really no idea

 

[CamoDeafie]

My experience.. have not tried Mountain House yet.. but here is what has worked for me in the past;

Wise food co (some of their stuff could use better flavoring)

Knorr Side dishes in the green bags; AWESOME with summer sausage and also with other things.

Idahoan Instant mashed taters; also awesome as a main dish

Ramen noodles (hey; we have all been there... )

Add dried meats to any of the above.

Canned goods also last pretty long but not great for backpacking /hiking unless ya have a sort of chuck wagon

Tyson foods' foil packed cooked chicken is eh... its okay.. last package used.. smelled JUST LIKE CAT FOOD ugh. it was the reddish brown packaging. Might have better selections out there.

These days though.. as a staple in the apartment.. we use a lot of frozen and fresh foods on a regular basis.
Oh yeah Trader Joes sometimes have great freeze dried goods.

Old friend of my family made a lot of hard tack foods just like his grandparents made. Kind of bland but made sense.. he also made salted and cured dried hams and beef jerky.. delicious.

 

[The Heretic]

FD meal pouches for GHB/BOB or caches. Lightweight. Can be prepared on the go. If you are patient enough you do not need to add hot water although the food will hydrate faster with hot water than cold water. MH pouches can be zip locked after opening, so you can stop for a minute, add water, and be on the go while the food hydrates, then eat on the go from the pouch.

Canned shelf stable food for long term storage anywhere it can be stored without freezing. Canned food can last a long time.

Rice, lentils and other dried staples, sealed in vacuum mylar with oxy absorbers.

Dried meats (jerky, etc.), nuts and seeds, roasted corn, dried fruit, etc. - I snack on this all day - roasted corn, dried blueberries, cashews, almonds, honey mustard pretzel pieces, sunflower seeds and granola.

Various fruit and granola bars for snacking/energy on the go.

 

[Boats]

Surplus Swedish alcohol stove special:

Feeds one.

1/2 cup of pre-rinsed and re-dried white, basmati, or jasmine rice. 3/4 to one cup clean water.
1/2 boullion cube pre-crushed, your flavor choice.
Clove or two of garlic, crushed or minced, your choice
Some freeze dried vegetables or dried mushrooms
Minced summer sausage

Deploy wind screen of stove with pot holders spread inside. Build a twig and small piece fire inside screen if permitted. Use lid of pot inverted as frying pan. Stir fry the sausage a bit to release some fat and oils. Stir in garlic, cook til browned, set aside. Let fire go out.

Prime alcohol stove and ignite inside windscreen moved off of fire spot. Boil water. Add bouillon, vegetables and rice stir and cover with still inverted pan lid. Check on it in 18-20 minutes or when stove goes out, whichever comes first. When rice is cooked, fluff with utensil while stirring in the meat and garlic. Enjoy.

For a flavor variation, simmer rice with a bay leaf and remove leaf before eating meal. Whole meal can be done by alcohol stove in phases if burn ban is on.

 

[11Charlie]

We had a saying in my one Army unit.... "fussy boys go hungry".



It was my mantra raising 6 kids, too.

You didn't use the word fussy and you know it!


Well maybe with your kids you did.

 

[Rickenbacher39]

What's better than an MRE?
Well, how about this for starters.............

 

[11Charlie]

Mtn house makes some good freeze dried food which a lot of us stock up on for SHTF scenario's. Not sure if that will work for your intentions or not.

 

[bbbass]

When I could still backpack, the wife and i both had these:



MSR Whisperlite... white gas stove. Won't reveal your location like a wood fire can. They make a bunch of canister stoves now but these will do a better job for big cooking tasks like the Lipton Noodle meals we used to pack in. Cooked them in the big(ish) aluminum pot that housed our bowls etc. Used a lot of Mountain House, but Lipton tastes great. We each packed a small bottle with white gas, lasts a long long time. Windscreen is critical when cooking with backpack stoves out in the open. And since we had two stoves, we could cook a complete breakfast instead of in cooking in stages.

 

[bbbass]

Just eat Twinkies... No expiration date, ever. LOL

 

[Boats]

When I could still backpack, the wife and i both had these:

View attachment 381907

MSR Whisperlite... white gas stove. Won't reveal your location like a wood fire can. They make a bunch of canister stoves now but these will do a better job for big cooking tasks like the Lipton Noodle meals we used to pack in. Cooked them in the big(ish) aluminum pot that housed our bowls etc. Used a lot of Mountain House, but Lipton tastes great. We each packed a small bottle with white gas, lasts a long long time. Windscreen is critical when cooking with backpack stoves out in the open. And since we had two stoves, we could cook a complete breakfast instead of in cooking in stages.

The MSR Whisperlite is a great bubblegumming piece of kit. I have one for trips I know will cause me to run out of alcohol fuel or will be at altitude.

Otherwise, I am a total fan of alcohol stoves. There is a learning curve associated with cooking well with one, and unless you pay some serious coin, simmer rings are a DYI affair.

They can be as light as ones made from aluminum beverage cans with tin foil or pie plate screens, to my favorite, but heavier Swedish Army surplus units that I got in the good old days for $10.00 each, on up to modern Svea or Trangia units.

What I appreciate most about these stoves in the sticks are their total silence. The "whisper" in Whisperlite, is aspirational at full on.

 

[Member 34319]

I'll put another vote in for Mountain House. Costco occasionally has these in a case for 60 dollars. I think there are 10 in the case or something like that. Putting them at about 6 bucks a meal.

The mountain house meals for the most part take 2 cups of water. Which is perfect for my following set up. Also most bottled water is 16oz.

I carry the little esbit stove with a handful of tablets. Combined with a 2 cup aluminum milsurp canteen you'll get a good boil with one tablet to two cups of water in the cup. If you do things right, you can maybe even get an additional cup of water hot enough after the first two cups for your mountain house meal.