Now it's my turn to chime in on this subject and give my take on things. In essence, I too came up with my own FSR version. Hannonmc and I collaborated on this idea and I did help him with some of the parts of his ration. Luckily I can get some stuff rather cheap or free and pass it along to other members here. We e-mailed each other on a lot of ideas and things, but basically we wanted to offer ideas, and a final product, to the forum on what we could do to get a civilian product of the FSR.
Mine took about a week and didn't cost that much to put together other than finding a place that will package items up. To my surprise FEDEX/KINKO's does a pretty good job for not a whole lot of money. I did have to get some stuff from the epicenter but not much. So in the end I kept mine under $20.00. In my version I'm more focused on the packaging problem rather than contents. I kept the contents in the ration pretty true to form in regards to the orignal FSR's with some slight modifications.
Here are some things I ran into:
-Used the MRE INFO logo for mine. Not to be stealing anything but I did e-mail Kman and ask for permission to use the logo. Sorry in advance if I stepped over the line, Kman.
-Mine version is quite thick. Measurements came out to be 11 x 9 x 3 inches, so it's a little bulky even vaccum packed.
-Didn't put the calorie count on the outside. But did list the contents, so you know what's inside. I suspect that if your bugging out or need this in an emergency the calorie count is the last thing on your mind.
-Might take up space in your ruck or kit because so it's so bulky.
-No inner bag to put the rest of the contents into when the main wrapper in discarded.
-Used meat/seafood styrofoam trays as packing material so as to not crush the contents if they go into your ruck. The package stayed nice and tight even with the trays inside.
-Had a terrible time with WINDOWS trying to get a label made for the inside. WINDOWS does not like digital camo images. So I had to improvise.
-Lastly have to give Hannonmc a lot of credit bringing this to the forum. He deserves most of it.
-No FRH, beverage bag or secondary bag. Like I said I'm trying to keep this true to the original but will take those into consideration next time.
For now I'll let you look at the pictures and I welcome any advice or comments.
I'll still be working on another FSR and try to improve on this one.
Cheers.
