Posted on 04/19/2006 5:25:34 PM PDT by neutrino
I've been thinking of procuring some MREs as the hurricane/severe weather season approaches - and thought my fellow FReepers would be the best possible source of information.
It appears that there are two general options - the MRE pack from SOPAKCO - an example of which is here
The other supply seems to be assembled from contract overruns, for example the item at this link
It appears that MREs are more cost-effective than freeze dried items. I prefer to have an assembled meal instead of purchasing individual items. Also, I recognize that the Sopakco meals don't have heaters - but, those can be obtained elsewhere.
I realize that actual military MREs are available on eBay, but I hesitate to go there since I understand there are legal issues with purchasing them.
So, fellow FReepers - please share your wisdom with me. What should I look at?
I loved the BBQ pork. That was good. The hotdogs and beans were nasty.
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I forgot about Chix ALAH King. That was tastey.
The ham slices in natural juices was not so good. I did love the little bottles of tabasco. made everything including the coffee taste better.
Did you ever mix the coffee and the hot coco powder together? That was nice.
Spicy pork with rice!
www.longlifefood.com
I have always gotten first rate product there - and the MRE's of today are much better than those of even 10 years ago...
"K" rations or "C" rations only...
Same here...except I was USAF..
Thank you! I had noticed them on Google - your recommendation means a lot.
The one that's always missing from the box, unless you get there first.
I happened to stop at a Wal-Mart near but West of Asheville. I noticed they had a bunch of freeze dried meals on clearance. I think they were Morton or something similar. Anyway, they weren't really cheap even half price so I decided to buy a few just to see how good they were.
They turned out to be extremely good but I have never seen them again.
Why bother with MREs? Take some cans of Spam, corned beef hash, beans, veggies, maybe some bags of rice or instant potatos, pasta and so on, put it all in a plastic container ready to be tossed in the trunk along with a camp stove if you have to evacuate and you'll eat better at less expense. Replace the 'emergency' food every so often and eat the old stock.
Ah. And a can opener.
Have one from C. Crane that I love.
They can all pretty much be made acceptable if you have enough packets of taco bell hot sauce on hand.
Do you still have to knread the peanut butter to mix it to look normal. cheese paks too?
In Iraq I was on the far end of the supply chain, so the chow hall food was little better than MRE's. After seven or eight months I lived almost exclusively on MRE's. I ate them all. The worst was Jaimacan something.
Always carry a leatherman tool or gerber tool and you are covered.
Bump!
Best reply so far! All of the things you listed are very much better to eat and are sustainable for 2-3 years if stored properly. Given the rotation that you explained you will always have a fresh cache of food, but it does require some maintenance, which isn't necessary in the case of traditional MREs.
I was doing something very similar with a not so long ago over hyped event(cough). Even though the said event didn't come to pass I realized that it was a good thing to do anyway, and have done so ever since. My plastic container of choice was a large sealed cooler. A little off the subject, but also have the means to defend your self in such an event, and expect to do so.
One line that always cracked me up was from my Master Chief when going through the chowline on my ship: "They spend thousands of tax dollars and it takes six months to teach these guys how to f*** up perfectly good food."
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