Do you guys make your own ration packs?

[Mkim340518]

I was just wondering how many of us make our own ration packs from various MRE and other ration components?

What kind of ration pack would you make for a 3-day and 3-night trip into the woods?

Any contents or components preferred over the other and why?


Any help would be great, THANKS!!

Mike Kim

[MCIera]

What you're thinking of doing would be the food component for a 72 hour pack. I have advised on the construction of such packets for CERT teams, and civilian emergency preparedness for audiences where military MRE components may not be of much interest. What you have in mind is indeed workable and you can tailor the food to your own tastes and preferences without the constriction of being limited to MRE components. Almost all of the components can be found locally in retail food sources. The entree component can be anything from retort packaged items to canned goods and is only limited by your imagination and budget.

Hormel Compleats are a good entree component that is affordable and generally appealing. Other companies that have similar retail products are the Kraft Taco Bell and the Truitt/Del Monte brands. As your folks are in the Asian retail food business, there are also a lot of Asian components that are now retort packed that you may also find appealing. Retort packaged food is big business in India these days, and you can find Indian (also Thai and Chinese "style") entrees in retort bags.

You can use the MRE menus as a guide, along with the nuitritional labels on the retail packages as a guide to building your own ration packs.

I have assembled some ration bags where there are no MRE components, others where the only MRE component was an FRH and a HBB, along with some where about half of the components were easily recognized as being MRE components.

What was it that you had in mind, and is your trip going to be on foot or will you have some sort of transportation? That's important for the weight factor.

I was just wondering how many of us make our own ration packs from various MRE and other ration components?

What kind of ration pack would you make for a 3-day and 3-night trip into the woods?

Any contents or components preferred over the other and why?


Any help would be great, THANKS!!

Mike Kim

[German_EPA]

thats the new style "build your own ration"

http://adventure-world.eshop.t-online.d ... inzelteile

watch especially the last sites - more single items from the german army following.

btw: anyone remembers DANDY mint chewing gum from the 1980 out of the EPA?

[Mkim340518]

Hey MCIera,

Thanks for sharing your expertise with me and I really appreciate your help since I'm pretty new to the "rations world".

My main purpose for this 72hr ration pack was for my up-coming solo camping trip. Most of my trip will be on foot with the exception of getting to and leaving the area by car.
I am planning on spending the three-days and nights experimenting with survival techniques and survival gear to see which works better for me. So, i guess making shelters, traps, fires and other stuff will burn a bunch of calories. I'm guessing since I will be by myself that I will be burning about three-times the normal calories that I would usually need.

I have thought about making a ration pack with only store bought items. i already made a twenty-four hour ration with store bought items and they are HEAVY so, I can't imagine carrying three days worth of food in that manner.

So, I thought about making my 72hr ration with a combination of MRE and store bought items but, I'm not sure of what to include. BUt, I'm sure I don't want to include the egg breakfast MRE LOL.

What items did you include for your ration packs MCIera? And what do you recommend I pack in my rations?

Thanks

Mike

[MCIera]

Oh stop whining! When I was young, rations can in tin cans and they were heavy if you carried 3 days worth of c-rats, and on top of that you had to carry a mess kit, utensils, and a canteen cup. (I'll get into the walking 5 miles in the snow to go to school routine later )

Seriously though, you are correct. Wet pack foods are going to be heavy regardless of whether you use commercial or MRE food products. Realistically, the military does not generally deploy troops with 3 days worth of food. A friend was over in Desert Storm before he retired and mentioned that they were supplied 2 MREs each day (and he was mobile, not on foot.)

There are a couple of options that you may want to consider or use as a guideline in preparing your pack. One is a mixture of retort or canned items that will be consumed early in your trip (the weight is reduced as you consume them) and dry or freeze-dried items for later in the trip. Another one would be the RCW substitute that I replied in another of your postings (3 of those should last you 3 days) The military currently plans on a single LRP per day as a restricted caloric intake diet for those longer patrols and the current LRP contains less food than the RCW did. For the type of trek that you're describing, a little less food won't kill you; a lack of water may though. While the consideration for adequate caloric intake is understandable, bear in mind that 3 MREs a day would supply almost 4000 calories or almost twice the RDA.

If you want to go the lightweight route, the RCW menu using commercially available components would probably be the way to go. You'll need 3 Mountain House Pro-Paks for 3 days and that should run about $16 (MSRP) The rest of the stuff is minimal in cost.

Some of the commercial stuff that I use for entree items are:
Hormel Compleats, Taco Bell Bowlz, or Del Monte Harvest Selections
Tasty Bite meal packs (vegetarian entree package and rice package, both retort)
Retort tuna packages (5 oz filet or 3 oz albacore)
Retort chicken packages (filets or chunk)
SPAM Singles in retort packaging.
Indian ready meal entrees (in retort packaging, various brands)
Trader Joe's Curried Tuna (3 flavors, all retort)
Instant Mash Potato (dehydrated instant packs)
Lipton Cup-a-Soup
Brunswick Kippered Snacks (canned 3 oz)
Soy and grain enriched rice meals (retort packaged, Asian grocery item)

For crackers, I prefer either Nabisco Crown Pilot (New England only item) or Cream Crackers (various manufacturers in Europe and Asia) as they're a bit sturdier than saltines)

I have a lot more items that I use regularly, but I'll have to compile a list for you as it is too numerous to remember right off the top of my head.

Of course, don't discount the use of canned items for use when you are not on foot. They have a longer shelf life than retort packaged items and cost much less. An 8oz can of Van Camp's Beanie Wienies and an 8oz can of fruit along with a couple of Pop-Tarts can make for a pretty hearty breakfast. And the 5oz cans of tuna, chicken, turkey, or ham, are pretty much what we got in MCIs back in the dark ages. Pasta dishes in cans with a pull top make for a decent sized meal as do cans of chili, beef stew, and corned beef hash. If you use canned items, try to get the ones with pull tops where possible (just in case you lose your P-38/P-51)

More importantly, you'll want to make a means of gathering and purifying water, it's the most important component that you'll need and I presume you won't be carrying that all with you. As for a solo trip, you'd probably be better off going with a buddy, but if not, you'll want to have an established point of contact with regular check-in times. That way if you don't check-in, they can summon help. I'm sure you probably remember the tragic incident a while back with CNet's James Kim and his family.

I have thought about making a ration pack with only store bought items. i already made a twenty-four hour ration with store bought items and they are HEAVY so, I can't imagine carrying three days worth of food in that manner.

So, I thought about making my 72hr ration with a combination of MRE and store bought items but, I'm not sure of what to include. BUt, I'm sure I don't want to include the egg breakfast MRE LOL.

What items did you include for your ration packs MCIera? And what do you recommend I pack in my rations?

Thanks

Mike

[Mkim340518]

Hey MCIera thanks for all that valuable info!
And yeah yeah I know you dinosaurs walked 10 miles through broken glass in the snow barefooted everyday and had many other hardships that my candy-ass generation couldn't even dream of but, hey you guys never had to deal with your Plasma T.V. burning out or your computer being infected...hell talk about inections all you guys had to worry about was some freakin crabs, we got crap that'll make you little buddy fall right the F*ck off!!!. LMAO

And I think that RCW's with a mixture of store bought items you suggested might be the best route to go for my solo trip. And my trip does have to be solo for my experiment to work. I'm trying to see if a single person can produce a sustainable shelter in the woods and still be able to accomplish all the tasks related to wilderness survival ie. collecting fire wood, finding a water source and purifing water, maintain shelter, set traps and etc...

This trip will determine the length and equipment that I will bring on my next planned trip which I intended on staying in a survival situation for 7 days or longer.

And no I will not let a incident like James Kim's tragedy happen to me. I have prepared a map and route guide to my camp site, will have a GPS unit along with a cell phone (for saftey) and to make established contact points, all family members and appropriate authorities will be given all the proper information to my intentions and where-abouts and I also have visited the site where I will be staying a few times to ensure that my first solo survival trip/experiment will not be a last one.
And I watched all the episodes of Survivor Man and Bear's show so, that makes me a expert in survival so, really I should be fine no matter what...LMFAO



And that other list that you were talking about would be greatly appreciated when you get the chance to send it over my way!


Thanks again MCIera...you old fart LOL

[Bypah]

Survivorman and Bear???!!!!! ...lol
Wow! Kee it up maybe the company spooks at Langley will recruit you for their next assigment.....hmmmmmm Iran, interested???

lol...j/k Have a good one Mkim


PS
Learn farsi.....lol

[housil]

What kind of ration pack would you make for a 3-day and 3-night trip into the woods?

Mechanized or walk?

If I had to walk, I would take a German EPa leicht with me. Its enough (freeze dried) food for 4 soldiers 3 meals a day or 1 soldier for 4 days. It will be similar in weight and space as approx. 3-4 MRE´s. All you nedd is (enough) water but I guess it´s easier to find/get water there than anything else to eat - if you don´t prefer "bark of a tree spaghetti" also

But I don´t have to walk - I can take a whole case of MRE´s with me...

[German_EPA]

dont forgett to take some spices with you for the mainmeals housil

What kind of ration pack would you make for a 3-day and 3-night trip into the woods?

Mechanized or walk?

If I had to walk, I would take a German EPa leicht with me. Its enough (freeze dried) food for 4 soldiers 3 meals a day or 1 soldier for 4 days. It will be similar in weight and space as approx. 3-4 MRE´s. All you nedd is (enough) water but I guess it´s easier to find/get water there than anything else to eat - if you don´t prefer "bark of a tree spaghetti" also

But I don´t have to walk - I can take a whole case of MRE´s with me...

[Mkim340518]

Survivorman and Bear???!!!!! ...lol
Wow! Kee it up maybe the company spooks at Langley will recruit you for their next assigment.....hmmmmmm Iran, interested???

lol...j/k Have a good one Mkim


PS
Learn farsi.....lol

Oh thanks Bypah, now I'm going to be looking over my shoulders the rest of my life thinking that a freakin Hummer is going to come rolling down the street loaded with recruiters trying to hunt me down and throw my butt into the middle of Iraq....great....and now I gotta spend another 200bucks and buy the Rosetta Stone for Farsi so I can ask where the shitter is over in Iran. Yeah thats just going to be a blast, thanks BYPAH LMAO!:evil: