Petition for Sopacko to create a Civilian FSR?

[danpass]

I'd love to see an FSR become available, civilian or otherwise

[3 AE]

Hello to all FSR fans. For the past month I've been researching the FSR contents and menus found on the MRE Info website.Remember this ration was designed to nourish a combat soldier for the first 72 hours in a high stress environment. A little pep in some of the products listed in the FSR will be greatly needed in a combat situation. Personally I find the FSR fills a niche in my emergency food stores kept in my car.I decided to make my own and used as many of the items listed in the menus and reviews by Britman. I was able to source almost all of the items from Epicenter,Meyers Custom Supply,Longlife Foods,and my local supermarket. The mayo problem was solved by buying tuna salad in a pouch made by Starkist.It has a two year shelf life. Found white chicken met in a pouch made by Tyson. It too had a two year shelf life. For the beef jerky,I found individually wrapped kippered beef in plain and teriyaki flavors.Instead of Hooah energy bars,I just used Power Bars and Clif Bars. I used the individual portions of Gatorade to substitute for the Ergo Drinks.I couldn't find Zapplesauce,so I used regular MRE applesauce from Longlife Foods. I was able to use left over accessory packets from used up MRE's. All of the other items like the shelf stable sandwiches,tortillas,wheat bread,crackers,pound cakes,cheese spread,peanut butter,etc. were easily found from the suppliers mentioned earlier.It was a lot of fun putting these rations together.My version of the FSR weighed between 48 and 54 ounces and easily fit in a one gallon slide closure zip-loc bag. Total calories averaged around 3600-3800. I took two of them on a weekend camping trip and never felt like I needed more food. But then again I'm not a young buck half my age humping 100 pounds of gear taking the fight to the enemy! I also gave myself that warm and fuzzy feeling by including a MRE ration heater and a hot beverage bag with coffee,hot cocoa mixes,tea with each of my "Three Strikes and You're Out Rations". I liked being able to somewhat tailor the items to my tastes and preferences. Well,good luck on the FSR project.

[hannonmc]

3 AE,

Great input. I also planned on putting a hot beverage bag with FRH into my version of the FSR to provide a hot beverage.

Glad to hear about a "practical" test of the components of the kits. Seems like we are definitely on the right track with our thinking...

Mike

[fdsman]

3 AE,

Great input. I also planned on putting a hot beverage bag with FRH into my version of the FSR to provide a hot beverage.

Glad to hear about a "practical" test of the components of the kits. Seems like we are definitely on the right track with our thinking...

Mike

I thought you guys might like this, Done by a guy who goes by USNERDOC on youtube made a diy MRE system using a 20 dollar food saver and even figured out how to pack his own soups.





Disregard his recommendation about the baby wipe in a plastic bag as he posted a follow up video.

[PanzerDivision666]

You see, it's discussions like these that made me a huge fan of this site long before i decided to become a member.
A few thoughts for your considerations:
I'm headed to to the Knob Creek Machine-Gun Shoot in Fort Knox Kentucky next Thursday. My primary focus this year( because I'm homeless, for the most part) will be strictly MREs. i hope to have enough for at least three cases, maybe four. Depends on what the paycheck is looking like.

I'm taking at least one case and field stripping every ration inside the carton. I have tried making up different 24-hour kits before, using all manner of items. I like the way the British rations are laid out. Plenty of food for one person. I also like the way HDRs are put together, so i try to put something together that is a happy combo of both. All ingredients are packed into either an empty MRE package or 1 gallon ziplock bag.

I use a mix of civvy items and MRE items, and it usually works pretty well. Also, for every 24 hour pack i put in the ruck, i add one Datrex ration pack. I eat at least two of these bars with what ever food I'm eating, to make absolutely sure i'm getting all i need to keep going. I also like to keep instant rice packed as well to add to my MRE entrees- makes it stick to my ribs more.
Another thing: After studying the contents of WW2 RedCross parcels, i add morale items to each 24 hour pack, being as I'm preparing these for winter. A pack of Lucky Strikes, a Hershey bar, and two sample-size bottles of Jack Daniels or vodka.
Living out in the boonies as i will be doing, and being in the circumstances I'm in, i see no reason not to add a little more weight. Being homeless is bad enough. Morale items like this really help.

[Cracker]

It might be more efficient to buy parts from a cheap supplier, and simply leave all the stuff that you do not need.
It might be more cost efficient, leaving you with more stuff to eat instead of extra instantcoffee, sugar, gum etc.

[3 AE]

Thanks hannonmc for the compliment. And thanks to fdsman for the Youtube link. Gee, there is so much great info on YouTube it beats regular TV programming all to you know what. I subscribed to USNERDOC channel on YouTube. He's pretty good. I came across a couple of civilian items that could be incorporated into anyones homemade FSR. First off is Spam Singles.They come in a regular and a "Lite" version. They're an individual 3 oz. portion in a pouch with a shelf life of about 2 1/2 years. I put one inside a Bridgeford shelf stable sandwich bread I got from Epicenter. Slathered some Dijon mustard from a packet and sprinkled some of those fried onion rings in a can on it. It was pretty good. Next is "Albacore Creations" from Starkist. It's a 4 oz. portion in a pouch that has the seasonings already in it. I had the tomato pesto version. It too had a shelf life of over 2 1/2 years. I put it on two MRE crackers. There was plenty for both crackers. I tell ya guys,it was really,really good. I couldn't believe how fresh the tuna tasted. I didn't have to add any mayo. it was plenty moist and semi-chunky in texture. StarKist makes them in several different flavors and seasonings. I'm going to have to try them all and review it here. I'm also going to check out the salmon in a pouch and chicken breast in a pouch. I saw them in the supermarket and they look enticing for my "Three Strikes Your Out Rations". I can see why the military is trying to get as much off the shelf products for their FSR. The stuff is pretty good grub and very affordable and long lasting. Not as long a shelf life of a MRE, but 2-3 years is pretty good for us civilians.

[hannonmc]

Spam singles... oof... I tried those one day, thinking it would be a good add-in for a homemade MRE. Not a big fan of them. In a pinch, sure...

I'm a big fan of the chicken breast pouch products tho. Throw in some tortillas and you have a nice meal...

[fdsman]

Spam singles... oof... I tried those one day, thinking it would be a good add-in for a homemade MRE. Not a big fan of them. In a pinch, sure...

I'm a big fan of the chicken breast pouch products tho. Throw in some tortillas and you have a nice meal...

My favorite in regards to tuna has to be:

[Bugoutgrub]

BB,

Yes, those are some good thoughts and I bet we, here on this thread, could do much better with our version. I followed the hyperlink to that guy's website and I still did not see any date other than June 24 when his FSR was coming out. If such a product exists. If one did come out I think this guy would be boasting about it and putting it up on his page but I haven't seen a more modern date. Just kind of pointing out the facts. Also I have not seen any pictures of what this "bug out grub" looks like. Has anybody else?

I mean, if he's puting this product up for sale you would think you would have to have a picture BEFORE you bought it. Unfortunately, I can't find one on his site to look over. So right now I'm kind of wondering what's going on with this guy.

Howdy from Texas everybody. Sorry to jump into your thread like this but since you were talking about me I couldn't resist.

We actually *are* creating a civilian version of the FSR, not just a website, and we hope to make it available for purchase *very* soon - perhaps within the next 30 days or so. We've got our suppliers all lined up, and it looks like we'll be able to offer Bug-out Grub for around $22 or $23 each. Hopefully, if the demand is high enough we can make larger purchases and lower that price even more.

The only thing holding us up right now is packaging. We were thinking of duplicating the cardboard and shrink-wrap of the military FSR, but that version didn't hold up very well in field tests. We've also been looking at a 5mil Mylar, zip-lock bag for long term storage. We won't be vacuum sealing the bag, but we will be using an oxygen absorber to add shelf life.

We also decided to move away from the separate tuna and mayo in favor of the new tuna salad package from Starkist.

Hope this clears up some of the confusion. If anybody has any questions or requests, let me know.