DIY MREs

[k15n1]

I'm tired of fast food. It's not so fast, it's not good, it's not good for you, and I don't want my kids to develop a habit. Instead, I'd like to try my hand at some home-made family size MREs. Something I can stash in the car at the beginning of the week and pull it out when needed. At 21 $/trip to a restaurant, I figured I could have some fun with it and still save money.

Found some flameless heaters on amazon.com. It looks good, but I figured some of the survivalist types have a better idea of what's out there and what a fair price is.

Mountain House 20657 Mountain Oven (5 Uses Per Kit)

I'm thinking I'll bring canned foods, like soup, and heat it with the chemical heater pack. Any ideas on capacity? Can I heat up 2 C of soup in a cooler? How many heaters would I need per meal?

 

[k15n1]

Oh, I guess I should have used the google machine before posting.

http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-MREsa-tutorial/

 

[SSDreamin]

Oh, I guess I should have used the google machine before posting.

http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-MREsa-tutorial/

That is such a fantastic idea! Thanks for the link - I bookmarked it.

 

[Bettacreek]

I read somewhere that Campbell's was going to discontinue their canned products and start packing them in pouches instead. Some of them could be a MRE for one or two people all by themselves.

 

[k15n1]

mil spec for heater packs is heating 8 fl-oz water to 100 oF in 12 min. That's pretty generous, I think. You could probably do the same by rubbing your hands together for 12 minutes.

Mountain House offers an "oven" that has similar characteristics---about 20 minutes for a 10-fl-oz item. Costs about 3 $/heater. It's a little spendy, but compared to 5 $/person at Old McDonalds, that's probably fine. Besides, not every meal must be hot.

 

[k15n1]

Now I need a vacuum bagger. I know many of you have and use these things. Any brand suggestions?

 

[k15n1]

Too late. Got the manual FoodSaver. Bags seem expensive. Can I buy off-brand and have it work OK?

Made a bunch of family-size MREs. Also made a bunch of lunches, for testing purposes. Spent about 190 on bags, vacuum, and food for 11 single-serving MREs and 4 5-serving MREs. That's about 5 $/meal, but I have a lot of left-overs.

Some of them require hot water, but most are actually ready to eat. The chemical heaters are in the mail.

I'm going to have to get some more of those handy little 4-oz canning jars. I could put up venison or other stuff that requires sterilization. I used a bunch of half-pint jars, too. I should make some cardboard sleeves to make it easier to handle it when it's hot. And I should include a napkin and proper utensils. Just because it's convenient doesn't mean it has to be completely disposable.

Wow, this was fun. I'll have to write back as I start using the food and learning best practices.

 

[k15n1]

Field tested a single-serving meal today. It was interesting. The cheese slices really mashed together. And the crasins had enough moisture in them that it oozed out in the bag.

I'll have to slit the edges of the bags to make it easier to open. Had to borrow a co-worker's box cutter to get into my lunch today!

 

[k15n1]

Found out about retort-pouch food preservation today. It's basically the MRE-type bag that you can run through the pressure cooker. I read that special sealers are needed. Whatever that means. Higher heat is needed? A wider seal? You could double seal in the same spot or do one seal next to another... I'll have to do more research before doing this.