Cold War Era Stor-Away Survival Kit & *Bonus Review*

[steve1989]

Back in the good ol' days, this was the take on a what is now the so common Civilian Ration for 2 people for 2 weeks. There are tons of kits like this one filled with various freeze-dried meals and what not - we've all seen em'. They cost about 200 bucks and are in a hard plastic tub. Well, back in the day, they had them packed in metal containers like this one.

I've seen these occasionally floating around on Ebay - and I missed one in perfect shape last year (went for too much $). I got this one for only $20, (+ 20 ship), and it's pretty beat up so I decided to share it with the folks here.


This food was all spoiled and rancid, or tainted by fellow rancid components.

Ever open up an old Ration and there's that "Fruity" rancid smell? Kinda sweet, kinda nasty? Well this was the KING of fruity & strange.



I re-sealed this Ration after carefully replacing the contents.. well I kept a pack of Matches - I wanna see if that Horseshoe Casino still exists in Vegas (Lord help me if I ever go there)
The pictures speak a thousand words - if anyone has questions, I will do my best to answer them and investigate further on anything you guys are wondering.


Thanks for looking!

[steve1989]

Stor-Away photos, continued.

[steve1989]

Stor-Away Photos, continued.

[steve1989]

Stor-Away, right after these important messages..!

***Up next on MREinfo is another strange Cold War Era Civilian Emergency Ration (Made by a company called Life Support INC.) What's in it? Who knows! come back later to find out, but in the meantime, we can go back to the Stor-Away Kit!***

[steve1989]

Back to the Stor-Away Kit - okie dokie, these are the last ones, I think!

[steve1989]

Ok, these are the last ones!

[Norton]

Great Historical pieces from the Cold War

The first can is fascinating to . I look at it's contents and they are indeed a well balanced mix given the times when this would have been put together. Breakfast, dried fruit, snacks and dinner items like beans and mashed potatoes. plus Wyler's juice
Then the canned heat, spoon and matches. All packed in a solid can. For two people this would be a good set up if you had say four cans like this. I could see this being purchased for a fallout shelter and stored away along with normal store purchased canned items. I wonder how much this sold for in the early 1960's. I have reservations about the dried Navy beans as they would take a long time to cook.

The second set with the foil wrapped food, looks like something that would be stowed on a private boat or something like that. I would like to see what they looked like when new. When you unpack it please post. Great post for Cold war buffs like myself.

[steve1989]

Thankyou for your input on this one, Norton! I never thought of that, the Navy Beans would use a ton of heating energy just to cook then, huh? Not very strategic. The folks who developed this thing must have still been working out the bugs of survival and what foods work best in an environment that requires not only the utmost preservation of water but time and energy along with weight, portability, and of course, how palatable and nutritious it is.

I have a couple pantries I make sure are filled with canned food and MRE's, and maybe an addition of several modern (and hopefully more efficient) versions of this sorta kit would certainly add some peace of mind to one's disaster preparedness.


I will add pics of the second set now!

[elandil]

A few things.

1- awesome look into history. Thanks for posting it.

2- I have seen repro recipes for the hersheys tropical and D-rats floating around the net. I may have to try some now.

3- I know military repro rations have been big lately, especially with re-enactments, but i wonder if anyone has thought of doing repros of the civvie stuff from that cold war era?

[steve1989]

Thank you, Elandil! I had a great time examining, and sharing this stuff. Cold War Era stuff is always such a fun and nostalgic subject for many, and people that remember things like Gravy Quik from back in the day might like this thread.

I have been tempted to try out repro Hershey's Tropical Bars or make some myself. Would be fun, and who knows? Maybe a tasty realization. Hehehe


Imagine someone doing repros of something like that Stor-Away Kit! That would be fantastic! I can imagine if it ever happened it would be for a movie or show that takes place during that time. Perhaps a story of an alternate reality of the past (in this case Cold War Era) where the US gets attacked by Russia and there's this couple or maybe a group of people living in a Fallout Shelter and this is one of the things they open up to survive off of. I can just picture everyone fighting over the Camper's Stew.