Survival rations

[swami_p]

What do other people recommend and or use for survival rations? more importantly, what to carry with you in the woods and other trips?

 

[TOMBSTONE]

I would say for survival rations,good ole MRE's are hard to beat.If I carry something in the woods,usually it is a sandwhich
I figure beef jerky is a good stable food source also,but a bit expensive if you don't make it yourself.

 

[Merek]

Granola bars, dried fruit, trail mix, jerky, bullion cubes, glucose tablets, coffee or tea bags, Cheezits, cornbread mix (complete) and an ice chest full of beer to wash down all that dry gaggy crap.

 

[Thomas Linton]

When buying "garinola bars" and the like, check for partially hydroginated fats. :barf: Partially hydroginated fats reduce "good" cholesterol -- not an issue in a true survival situation, but killing you on a daily basis. Most )but not all) packaged cereal and fat containing foods use them because they vastly increase "shelf life." Palm oil (AKA "tropical oils") is another thing to avoid - major source of "bad" cholesterol.

 

[RokJok]

For dayhikes, I like to take along a homemade batch of gorp and two or three energy bars. Along with water, that is enough food for a couple days (in a pinch) in case the hike goes bad. Note that I also take along on dayhikes a heavier-duty Sportsman Space Blanket, fixed blade knife (usually a Busse Basic for durability), 100 ft of paracord, SAK for its tools, first aid kit, and raingear top & bottom.

As trail food I also like jerky for its flavor, chewiness, and durability. However, as Tombstone noted, it gets expensive if you're not making your own. Given that all you really need to make it is a 150-degree-F oven and some marinated meat strips, it's just my own laziness that keeps me from being a jerky-makin' madman.

There are tons of jerky recipes on the web. This link from a jerkymaker in Oz has recipes for some exotic jerky (alligator, emu, kangaroo) as well as recipes for variations on beef & venison jerky: http://www.alljerky.com/wwwboard/wwwboard.html One of my favorite sources for recipes in general is http://www.recipesource.com/ That is the new location of the Berkeley University Searchable Online Archive of Recipes (SOAR).

My "quick & dirty" stock-up for a dayhike is to grab a package of Fig Newton cookies at the local supermarket. They give a quick sugar rush and a bit of carbohydrate in the breaded outside as well. They are not as durable as the jerky, though. If they get crunched in the pack, a Fig Newton will remain more or less in a single mis-shapen lump. Most other cookies will completely crumble and leave you wishing for a spoon to eat the crumbs.

Another quick & dirty stock-up from the supermarket is to grab a deli sandwich (or the makings for one) and throw it in the pack. Since many of these sandwiches have mayonaisse in them, that works only when I know that I'll be eating the little beastie within a few hours. A longer-term alternative is to get the bread, meat, & cheese at the supermarket, and carry along mini-packets of mayo, mustard, and/or ketchup from fast food joints to make the sandwich palatable.

These same fast food outlets are likewise good sources for packets of sugar, salt & pepper, soy sauce, and other condiments to throw in your pack for hikes. You can also get there drinking straws to make Tinder Straws as outlined by The Last Confederate in this thread. The quote below describing how to make them is from FoxholeAtheist.

...vaseline-coated (not soaked all the way through, just a light coating) cotton or dryer lint stuffed into drinking straws. I made several of these and they work like a charm. Crush the ends of the straws with pliers and use a lighter to seal them together, and you have waterproof plastic tubes full of tinder. (BTW, don't use a full-length straw, cut them into 3-4 inch lengths.)

I seem to recall that someone did a test to see just how short a Tinder Straw they could use to light a fire and it turned out to be an inch or less.

For true "survival" rations, I recommend lifeboat rations. I've tried the Datrex and S.O.S. brands. They both taste like reconstituted cardboard with coconut flavor overtones. I like them for two reasons:
1. They are so bland and tastless that you're not tempted to eat them before they are really needed. This is not the case with the energy bars, which I tend to treat like candy bars and that have a very short life expectancy when I'm around.
2. The lifeboat rations are rather sturdily packed in heavy-duty mylarized plastic. This helps them survive rattling around in a pack pocket for the many trips they will be carried on before I actually break the package open to get at the contents. To further improve the packaging durability, wrap them in a layer of duct tape, which also gives you some tape for trail repairs of equipment or one of the bazillion other uses for duct tape.

I usually get my lifeboat rations from Emergency Preparedness Services in Seattle. Lifeboat rations are designed to provide you with enough nutrition to stay alive in a mostly inactive state (think drifting in a lifeboat), but not be fine cuisine in any sense of the word. One little bar is eaten for each meal. So the 3600 calorie pack that EPS lists on the link above is nine meals, which is enough for three days survival.

 

[faramir]

There's been a thread on this very subject posted not more than 2 weeks ago, IIRC (late October or start of November). One of the posters posted a recipe for hiomemade rations composing of corn flour/starch, honey and peanut butter, IIRC. Look up that thread (Search button is your friend), lots of interesting replies inthere.

What i'd use as short-term emergency ration: glucose tablets or candy (chocolate bars). Lots of energy, enough to get me out of anywhere where i am to civilization in any weather conditions. Yeah, it's no wilderness over here

 

[bruce]

Thomas Linton, no vegetable derived oils (the palm oil you indicated) have "any" cholesterol and, therefore, add "no" dietary cholesterol to your body. The impact of partially hydrogenated oils on low-density lipoproteins is still open to debate. If your "energy bars" identify vegetable oil as an ingredient, and doesn't indicate it is partially hydrogenated, you are probably being misled. Unhydrogenated vegetable oils are extremely short lived, liquid at room temperature, and would not be suitable ingredients for manufacturing use. They develop oxydized flavors very quickly. These are the rancid, cardboardy flavors of old food that are not very pleasant. Those of us with normal cholesterol levels are little affected by them.

Bruce Woodbury

 

[Merek]

My cholesterol levels are wonderful. 95% vegetarian for 5 years.

 

[thatmguy]

Any good ideas for those who are allergic to nuts???

This really sux.......

 

[Thomas Linton]

Thomas Linton, no vegetable derived oils (the palm oil you indicated) have "any" cholesterol and, therefore, add "no" dietary cholesterol to your body.

Bruce Woodbury

"We advise people to reduce the amount of staurated fat in their diet. One way to do this is to limit your intake of foods containing tropical oils. A diet high in saturated fat tends to raise cholesterol levels, increasing the risk of heart atack.

WHAT ARE "TROPICAL OILS"? This term refers to coconut, palm kernel, and palm oils. . . . [T]hey contain a lot of saturated faty acids, Coconut oil contains 92 percent, palm kernel oil has 82 percent, and palm oil has 50 percent."

American Heart Association.

The impact of partially hydrogenated oils on low-density lipoproteins is still open to debate. If your "energy bars" identify vegetable oil as an ingredient, and doesn't indicate it is partially hydrogenated, you are probably being misled. Unhydrogenated vegetable oils are extremely short lived, liquid at room temperature, and would not be suitable ingredients for manufacturing use. They develop oxydized flavors very quickly. These are the rancid, cardboardy flavors of old food that are not very pleasant. Those of us with normal cholesterol levels are little affected by them.

Bruce Woodbury

"Individuals should limit the combined input of trans fatty acids and saturated fatty acids to less than 10 percent of total calories consumed daily. Consuming excess amounts of food high in these substances has been strongly linked to the development of atherosclerosis, the disease process that underlies heart attack and stroke.
. . .
Trans fats are formed when manufaturers 'hydroginate' vegetable oils . . . . Like saturated fats, trans fats raise the levels of LDL . . . known as 'bad cholesterol' . . . ."

FDA

You may be right, Bruce. Then again, . . . .

 

[Merek]

Any good ideas for those who are allergic to nuts???

I have occasionally carried cheese (string cheese sticks, shrink wrapped cheeses) Better for cooler weather or if you can keep it wrapped so the grease doesn't get on everything.

 

[thatmguy]

I've thought about that. String cheese and jerky.

I'd like to do the lifeboat rations, but can't find any answer on potential nut contaminations.

Oh well.

 

[sodak]

Thomas Linton, no vegetable derived oils (the palm oil you indicated) have "any" cholesterol and, therefore, add "no" dietary cholesterol to your body. The impact of partially hydrogenated oils on low-density lipoproteins is still open to debate. If your "energy bars" identify vegetable oil as an ingredient, and doesn't indicate it is partially hydrogenated, you are probably being misled. Unhydrogenated vegetable oils are extremely short lived, liquid at room temperature, and would not be suitable ingredients for manufacturing use. They develop oxydized flavors very quickly. These are the rancid, cardboardy flavors of old food that are not very pleasant. Those of us with normal cholesterol levels are little affected by them.

Bruce Woodbury

Check the avacado.

 

[Merek]

Avacados don't 'travel' well in a rucksack (unless you also carry chips).
Instead of nuts, make a trail mix of dried fuits. Raisons, bananas, apricots, figs and more is available in bulk at our nearby 'health food' market (Sun Harvest, Whole Foods in San Antonio/Austin) You can add carob coated coffee beans to perk things up.
Don't overdo it unless you are packing your Imodium or lots of toidypaper. :barf:

 

[RokJok]

I'd like to do the lifeboat rations, but can't find any answer on potential nut contaminations.

Here's the contact info for SOS Food Labs that make the lifeboat rations I get from EPS. You could give them a shout & ask if they use any nuts whatsoever in their products. Unfortunately, EPS only lists "main ingredients" for the lifeboat bars on their site.

S O S Food Lab, Inc.
9399 N.W. 13th St.
Miami, Florida
Country: United States
Zip: 33172
Phone: 305-594-9933
Fax: 305-594-7667
Contact: Stella Koniecpolski

(edited to add) Just called SOS for my own curiosity. They use NO NUTS in the lifeboat rations. The complete list of ingredients for the lifeboat bars is:
Wheat flour, vegetable shortening, sugar, coconut, corn starch, corn syrup, vitamins, lecithin

(same list as EPS site, with the addition of lecithin)

As Merek noted, alternative gorp ingredients are available in bulk. I find them in the bulk food section of no-frills warehouse type food stores (TOP Food & Drugs in Washington state) at lower prices than regular grocery stores. Check your locale for such foodstuff discounters.

 

[sodak]

Sorry Merek, I should have been more specific. Avacados have cholesterol, just like meat and dairy products. General guidelines are fine in general, but be careful of over-generalizations.

 

[Erasmus]

Survival rations? Sounds to me like you want something durable, to be carried a lot and only eaten in an emergency. Stuff I've carried in my hunting pack or backpack: the small pouches of peanut butter from MRE's, pop-top cans of smoked almonds, corned beef, hard tack. Use your imagination.

Woods trips? For a day trip, carry plenty of fresh bread, vegetables, precooked meat, and fruit. Typical grocery store stuff. In colder weather, you can bring small containers of real butter for your sandwiches. A pot of tea goes down well, too.

One only eats freeze dried stuff if he has to. Never voluntarily.

 

[Merek]

Survival rations? ....
One only eats freeze dried stuff if he has to. Never voluntarily.

That's the point. It shouldn't be a temptation style goodie if you want it to be there when you really need it.

 

[bruce]

sodak, I checked the avocado, no naturally occuring cholesterol. Cholesterol is an animal derived compound, no use in a plant. Where did you get your info? If there is cholesterol in an avocado product, it comes from an added animal sourced ingredient. Avocado oil is used, like olive oil, to help treat high cholesterol.

 

[Thomas Linton]

sodak, I checked the avocado, no naturally occuring cholesterol. Cholesterol is an animal derived compound, no use in a plant. Where did you get your info? If there is cholesterol in an avocado product, it comes from an added animal sourced ingredient. Avocado oil is used, like olive oil, to help treat high cholesterol.

Avocado fat is, even better, all monounsaturated. Avocado chips?