MRE Menu 16: Chicken Burrito Bowl

[Straight Shooter]

I was given some MRE's a few years back ....still have them ...off one of the lads...not tried any of it ,but it is packed in my bob and ghb .....which reminds me , i need to make some hard tack .

[Mortblanc]

SS you need to check the dates on the MRE if you have had them several years. They do not have the extended shelf life of canned foods and when they do hit their expiration date they begin losing their integrity and taste rapidly.

They can look like new and when you open them you are met with a horrid mess.

I used to keep hard tack as a staple when I was reenacting and doing teaching demonstrations. I have not made any in years. Have not even thought about it since I was diagnosed with T2 diabetes last year. That put the stop to the hard tack, soda bread and any of the other breads I love so dearly.

[Straight Shooter]

As i typed the post MB i thought i will have to check the dates ....but did not have the time .....busy getting ready for high winds and rain due tonight Wednesday thru Thursday .....now sorted.

[Pete Grey]

(17 September 2018, 23:40)Pete Grey Wrote:

(17 September 2018, 15:53)Mortblanc Wrote: .........On a patrol or in a "bug out" situation, you can have the best food around and not be able to eat it due to not being able to stop and heat or cook a meal.

It is the easy to eat sides and snacks that make a good ration and not so much the main courses........

I think we should all bare this in mind when packing a BOB or GHB or just for a long hiking trip.

As i don’t have access to MREs and have not been satisfied with commercial freeze dried meals for campers/hikers, and with MBs and CHs comments on eating on the move, these are my thoughts for my BOB (maybe not for yours - we’re all different).

Allow one meal a day, for three days, preferably that could be eaten hot or cold, straight out of the can, even if it’s only corned beef or tuna chunks in oil, or baked beans with sausage for example, with biscuits. Kept in main compartment of backpack.

Then cram as much chocolate, cereal bars and high energy stuff as i can where it’s easy and quick to get to.

Water on the move might be a problem without a hydration pack.

Over the next couple of weeks i will scrutinise the supermarket shelves for suitable products.

[Mortblanc]

What you are doing there Pete is going back to the old C-rations, except adding modern snack goodies.

But you are probably doing the right thing and bypassing part of the problem with any ration system.

That is the moment you open the pack and look at the contents and say "Oh crap they left out the biscuits!" or even better, "Ham and MFs again! All I have had for three days is Ham and MFs!"

Or the dreaded realization that you are going on ambush tonight and all you had to eat for two days was bennie weinees (sausage and franks to you)! Now that right there will make your body parts pucker!

If you are building a short term get home bag, 48 hours or less, I would not even bother to include what you would call a "main course" or meal. Dump the cans entirely and replace that weight with high energy trail foods. Your goal is to get home not to make a documentary on travel foods for the BBC.

Replace the "need for a hot meal" with good stiff tea blends and extra sweetener. You can even make your snacks do double duty by heating a cup of water and adding a chocolate bar, or even an energy bar to produce a sweetened portage.

Back in the day when "hard tack" was the main food of marching armies the standard of use was stop and make coffee or tea, crack up a piece of hard tack and add it to the hot drink.

Now right here is where the remains of an MRE would be handy. Using an MRE heater you can heat water while on the move. No stopping and no flames, smoke, fire building skills or other fuel sources needed. Drop a small water bottle into the chemical heater and five minutes latter you are having tea.

This is also where all those protein bars and energy bars and pressed sweetened cereal bars come into their own. Along with natural energy snack foods that were spread all over the world just due to the need for what we are discussing all through history.

I am going to make a suggestion at this point. I am going to recommend a high energy, calorie dense food that has been around in the American back-packing community for decades. It is called GORP. It was probably the first thing anyone came up with that resembled "trail mix".

You take a large zip lock bag and add one pound of raisins, one pound of chocolate chips, one pound of peanuts. Mix them all together and hide them from the kids and do not ever under any circumstances give anyone a sample taste. If anyone finds your stash it will be gone in 60 seconds.

The peanuts release long term carbs, huge calories, and sugar while the raisins and chocolate give a quick energy burst and extra sweet flavor that makes eating it a treat. You can eat a handful on the move or sit down and have a snack while resting.

It was a staple of diet on the hiking trails for years before the commercial products came along.

Sitting around and snacking on this stuff is like releasing a calorie bomb into your system. It is best reserved for situations of intense exertion when calorie replacement is the primary goal.

As for the water needs, we have discussed that for decades now. We now have access to some of the best water filters available to mankind and at prices so cheap that not having one in the GHB is not even thinkable.

If one can not afford a "hydration system" then flatten out a 2 liter plastic bottle and stick it in the pack for emergency use. Better yet, start keeping some one liter bottles of water in the boot. Drink the water and reuse the bottle.

[Pete Grey]

Thanks MB your advice is appreciated, and my thoughts are now........

Because a BOB and a GHB have completely different uses they are quite opposite.

A BOB is kept at home ready for instant evacuation either on foot but preferably by vehicle, ideally in our camper van. Because you are evacuating you need food for several days. This is where substantial rations may be needed.

Our GH kit is kept in our daily runabout and consists of a small day sac in which is EDC gear and a water bottle and some snacks, the rest of the GH stuff, and also extra food and water is kept in a separate bag (and which will go in the day sac in an emergency) it will now be just snack food.

Normally we would be able to get home on foot in a day so high energy snack food would be ideal.

But i have made up a food pack (with an esbit and pan) which i will keep in the vehicle in case we can’t get away and have to wait until things quieten down even if we are close to home, belt and bracers.

[Pete Grey]

(20 September 2018, 23:23)Pete Grey Wrote: ............But i have made up a food pack (with an esbit and pan) which i will keep in the vehicle in case we can’t get away and have to wait until things quieten down....

Bug**r i’ve forgot the TP........

[Mortblanc]

I also include an Esbit in my GHB and a couple of other comfort items also. The vehicle also carries the very food items I said I would not carry on foot, no need to waste the vehicles 1/2 ton carrying capacity!

since my great concern is the long term traffic delays of 8-10-24 hours, not associated with SHTF, on the motorway where I can not get off the road and take surface roads home my GHB more than doubles in sized winter to summer. Winter is when most of these delays occur.

I keep a big bucket candle, yes a big candle poured in a small metal bucket, in the vehicle so I can light it, sit it on the floor of the vehicle and have a minute heat source used with Mylar space blankets draped from windscreen to seat backs. That candle will burn for a week. (a simple tea candle will burn for 5 hours and a votive will burn for up to 17 hours, yes I have timed them)

The rule of never running below a half tan also applies here. Many people have perished due to not having presence of mind to keep a full tank, and not enough trust to cut a deal with the driver next to them to both sit in one car until it runs low on fuel, then switch to the other car.

Instead thousands of vehicles idle until empty with one person in each vehicle.

[Pete Grey]

Sharing a car to save fuel in a long delay is a good idea, pack a deck of cards to eliviate the boredom.

[CharlesHarris]

I do essentially the same as MB, but you must be careful not to let your beer freeze:

The freezing point (°C) of beer = (-0.42 × A) + (0.04 × E) + 0.2, where A is the percent of alcohol content by weight, and E is the original gravity of the wort (°Plato). Therefore, each 1% increase in alcohol content lowers the freezing point by 0.42° C and each increase in gravity of 1° Plato raises it by 0.04°C. Thus, no beer will freeze at -1°C, and products at higher alcohol concentrations (including high-gravity brews prior to dilution) will withstand even lower temperatures.

So, if your ABV is 7% and your OG was 1.07, you'd get the following:

A = 5.6
E = 16.84

(-0.42*5.6) + (0.04*16.84) + 0.2 = -1.4784*C or 29.33888*F