Average Joe MREs

[ChickenMomma91]

Help me end a debate with DH. We've been needing to cycle out our homemade MREs but he wants to find a better alternative to Ramen noodles.
The basic list of stuff in the MREs:
Whole package of random ramens
Instant oatmeal pack
Small pack of dried veggie
Small pack of dried fruit
Vaccum sealed starkist tuna pack
A random assortment of drinks
And seasonings sealed in straws.

A single ramen noodle package has 380 calories total. My argument is calories are calories, it's something warm and filling and the dehydrated veggies should cover some nutrition. DH wants something that has more nutrition.

 

[tc556guy]

If you're breaking into your MREs, they'll be both nourishment and morale rats. Plan accordingly. Think what you'd like to be consuming at the end of a long day stuck out in inclement weather, for instance. Or in the dark when you're feeling around in a buttpack by feel for the package contents. Or have to eat cold because you have no way to heat it up. Given that possibility, it might be worth your cost to buy some of the actual MRE heater packs to toss into your homemade version so you can heat up your entrees or your drinks. Whatever you make up, it has to be something you'll actually eat, and enjoy eating. The MREs themselves today use so many commercial products that are simply repackaged that you should be able to find something you can whip up as a home made variant that everyone enjoys eating. Be sure to come up with a decent number of meal variants. There's a reason that the actual MREs have 24 different meals. The same thing day after day can get dull....

 

[wyoDreamer]

I have sprouted the hard red wheat for the chickens. They love it!
I sprout corn for them also, just ordinary popcorn from the store. We had a 20# bag of popcorn in our food storage. A red squirrel got into the basement and chewed the bag open and over 1/2 the bag ended up in a pile on the floor. That squirrel must have thought he went to heaven! I wasn't going to throw out 20# of corn, but I won't eat it once it was on the floor and dug through by a squirrel either. So sprout it for the chickens was about my only choice.

 

[terri9630]

I'd keep the ramen. You don't have to use any/all of the seasoning packet that comes with it. You could make your own instead.

 

[Britesea]

that sounds great. I also found a site that sell powdered soy sauce and other things like powdered vinegar, Worcestershire, buffalo sauce... all sorts of cool stuff firehousepantrystore.com You could make little packets of sauces for the rations too

 

[Denim Deb]

Can you dehydrate your own veggies and use them along w/some quick cook noodles and seasoning? Doing this would cut down on the salt content and would probably be healthier.

 

[Mini Horses]

You don't mention health concerns, so I'd suggest you add vitamins and protein powders to the kit. Lipton used to make several flavors of dehydrated soups, a box had 8 pkgs, I think (cup o Soup). Would give some variety. All processed foods will have certain things we don't want. If ever there is a need to subsist on them, I believe we would be thankful for the stash, even with salt, sugar, chemical issues.

You know you can get powdered P-nut butter now. They replace the oils with sugars but...back to above. Powdered milk?

You could pack seeds in vacuum sealed pouches that could be sprouted at use..excellent nutrients in those if selected for same. Many are very tasty.

 

[Britesea]

Consider something like a lentil/quinoa mix. If you use the red lentils, they and the quinoa will only take about 30 minutes to cook. Or, in the interest of saving fuel you could precook them and then dehydrate it. Then it's just a matter of rehydrating with hot water for 10 minutes. With the protein in this mix, you could even lose the tuna pack (I'm not real keen on ocean fish these days unless I KNOW it was caught in the Atlantic).

 

[baymule]

I'd keep the ramen and if your DH wants more nourishment, then toss in packs of beans. Anasazi beans cook up quickly, a lot faster than pinto beans do. The ramen cooks quickly and in a SHTF scenario, quick cooking means you can eat a whole lot sooner.

 

[baymule]

Another option is, when you go to the grocery store and buy one of something, buy two. Use one, keep one. Next trip to the store, same thing. Things that you use on a regular basis, just buy an extra here and there and you will gradually build up reserves.