Compact Iron Rations?

[1Tracker]

Hence, why MRE's were 'invented' for Military use. Water's already in them, easy to reheat and 'consume', you 'eat' regular food, and MRE's ain't 'regular food IME!:foot:

Also, when I was working with the USCG refitting the lifeboats aboard the NOAA boats; I got to keep all the 'out of date' items I removed from the boats They were all serviceable, just 'out of date', and free to me:thumbup: Mostly Datrex bars on board FYI.

It's kind of a Catch-22, isn't it? For long distance trekking, you want light-weight dried food stuffs, but then you need water (which you either have to carry or find) to re-hydrate it. For a short haul of a few miles, I wouldn't mind packing iron rations, or canned goods. The water's already in the food and the empty tins become immediately useful for collecting water and as a billy pot on the fire.

 

[sasha]

For my planed backpacking trip i intend to carry some or the body building powders with some milk powder i plan to make some mildshake for midday stop. Just add water. Im also going to carry some gatoraid powder to mix with some water for the salts and everything else i would need. For two three days go to the store pick up what ever you want and you would do fine. Im going to dry everything i would carry with me for the 5-6 days..


Sasha

 

[Loneriderz]

Hence, why MRE's were 'invented' for Military use. Water's already in them, easy to reheat and 'consume', you 'eat' regular food, and MRE's ain't 'regular food IME!:foot:

Also, when I was working with the USCG refitting the lifeboats aboard the NOAA boats; I got to keep all the 'out of date' items I removed from the boats They were all serviceable, just 'out of date', and free to me:thumbup: Mostly Datrex bars on board FYI.

Thought I was the only one raiding the larder... Our local coastguard outsource liferaft servicing to local companies, they pass us the 'expired" rations and I've found them great for emergency use on short trips. Mostly hard tack biscuits, barley sugar etc. I dump the canned water and keep the rest.

 

[Erasmus]

We popped open a Datrex cube at my house. NO ONE wanted seconds. If you carry this blue lump in your pack, don't bother trying to eat it till you have missed a few meals. Reminded me of eating graham cracker powder glued together with Crisco. You will need to be pretty hungry to bother with this stuff.

Personally, I carry emergency food that I might want to eat. I just exercise enough discipline to stay out of it till the appropriate time. I like the Blue Diamond almonds in a can because they don't spoil, are resealable, highly edible, and you get an aluminum cooking/drinking vessel when they are gone.

 

[skammer]

I like the Blue Diamond almonds in a can because they don't spoil, are resealable, highly edible, and you get an aluminum cooking/drinking vessel when they are gone.

Carry a gallon of prune juice with you as well. After nothing but almonds for a while you will realize your mistake.

Beef jerky, dried fruit and nuts will get you through for a loong while.

Skam

 

[Angus McGunnigl]

Also you could vaccu-seal some corn meal. Klephart tals about mixing a couple tablespoon with water and gulping it down.

 

[pict]

I did a 48 hour winter trip in which we had one package of Mainstay and little else IIRC as food. The stuff was slightly out of date but tasted fine, like a big boring cookie. Aside from the sheer monotony of eating yet another chunk of over-large, lemon carbo-bar for every meal, it did provide plenty of energy and staved off hunger.

I have "Rapadura" (Blocks of raw cane sugar) stashed away in my various packs and kits. In Brazil it is commonly sold in large 1 kg blocks, we use that at home. They also sell it in individually wrapped 25 gram blocks. I find that eating a small portion before doing heavy work really helps with my energy level. A sugar high isn't necessarily a bad thing if you are going to use it. If for the next four hours you are going to climb up a mountain or chop out a clearing in the bush you will burn it off.

FYI rapadura is not the same as brown sugar. Rapadura is made by boiling down raw sugar cane juice, it is the way large volumes of sugar were transported before refining.
Brown sugar is usually made by mixing refined white sugar with molasses which is the tail end product of the refining process.

Mac

 

[pict]

Also you could vaccu-seal some corn meal. Klephart tals about mixing a couple tablespoon with water and gulping it down.

That is how I eat oatmeal in the bush. I just mix two packets of instant oatmeal with cold water in my canteen cup and drink it down. Quick, easy, no prep, instant clean-up, and it fuels me up right now. Mac

 

[GregY]

We popped open a Datrex cube at my house. NO ONE wanted seconds. If you carry this blue lump in your pack, don't bother trying to eat it till you have missed a few meals. Reminded me of eating graham cracker powder glued together with Crisco. You will need to be pretty hungry to bother with this stuff.

I haven't had the Datrex but I had a similar experience with Mainstay. It was like plaster mixed with Crisco, plus some added gravel (it was horribly gritty, felt like it was damaging my teeth). Of course there was also a mild artificial "lemony" flavor.

For emergency ration bars I like (as in I've eaten some and almost enjoyed it) the Millenium bars. I have a bunch in the emergency kit in my car.

Personally, I carry emergency food that I might want to eat. I just exercise enough discipline to stay out of it till the appropriate time. I like the Blue Diamond almonds in a can because they don't spoil, are resealable, highly edible, and you get an aluminum cooking/drinking vessel when they are gone.

I can't stand almonds, but hazelnuts and I'm good to go. Walnuts or pecans, too.

 

[raybadge]

I tend to think trail mix, power bars, and jerkey, too. Sometimes I put a little of this stuff in a baggie in my pocket or fanney pack either as a quick snack or just in case something goes wrong. But often I think I'd be better of with a couple of those dehydrated meals. If you repackage them, they're light, nutritious, and take up very little space; although they do need water. I don't really like them, though, so I tend to use supermarket-off-the-shelf stuff for planned meals.