Spicing Up Those Hurricane Rations (Otherwise Known as Canned Food) (lakes, house)

[jasper12]

A note on the freeze dried food, get a couple of big jugs of oil, peanut oil, olive oil..(rotate it so it does not go rancid), but that freeze dried food, really needs fat in it to be palatable, and healthy. Re-hydrate it in water, add a few tablespoons of oil, there is your meal. (don't forget the Tabasco!). I take the freeze dried food hiking alot.

[Wilson513]

Where in the heck are MRE's in this thread? Its the only sensible emergency food that needs no cooking equipment, clean up, waterproof storage, utensils, etc. Stores for years and tastes delicious (after a day or so without a good restaurant around). I can't imagine anything else. Certainly not some dogfood cheeseburger with tobasco sauce on it. Or a freeze dried snack.

Seven days with that crapola in the CNN article and you'd need a gastroenterologist more than good meal. Lolipops and fruit juice and peanut butter? Has the writer ever spent a week without power?

[SCGranny]

Aw, Wilson513, let them alone!
They cain't help it, and as Ron White says, you can't fix them.

The more people think that geedunk is 'survival' food, the better. While they are fighting over Twinkies and sitting on toilets wondering what happened, the rest of us will be eating well.

Jasper12, I far prefer my rendered lard to oils...

[oddstray]

For adding flavor to savory food, Worcestershire sauce is your friend. Low-salt, too!

[stonecypher5413]

Originally Posted by Wilson513

Where in the heck are MRE's in this thread? Its the only sensible emergency food that needs no cooking equipment, clean up, waterproof storage, utensils, etc. Stores for years and tastes delicious (after a day or so without a good restaurant around).

Here's my philosophy:

MRE's, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Excerpt:

MRE's eaten over a period of time will make you quite sick. They high in fats and low in fiber and have "something" in them to keep your from having regular bowel movements. Or it's just their low fibre content. Their high calorie content means that you can survive on just one per day, although you'd definitely not feel full all day.
One the really serious side effects of MRE's is that they will also "stop you up" rather badly. You will have a hard time going to the bathroom. In fact, it might be a bit serious and extremely unpleasant. This is a very widespread and common complaint about MRE's.

No thanks -- I'll stick with my canned and dried foods storage plan.

[Wilson513]

Originally Posted by stonecypher5413

Here's my philosophy:

MRE's, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Excerpt:

MRE's eaten over a period of time will make you quite sick. They high in fats and low in fiber and have "something" in them to keep your from having regular bowel movements. Or it's just their low fibre content. Their high calorie content means that you can survive on just one per day, although you'd definitely not feel full all day.
One the really serious side effects of MRE's is that they will also "stop you up" rather badly. You will have a hard time going to the bathroom. In fact, it might be a bit serious and extremely unpleasant. This is a very widespread and common complaint about MRE's.

No thanks -- I'll stick with my canned and dried foods storage plan.

If you believe everything you read on the Internet, God help you. No one likes emergency food so of course there are anecdotal complaints. You cited an unsourced blurb from a place that sells you the dried stuff. Find me a definitive study and I'll believe the US Military is intentionally making its soldiers sick.


Stick with your dogfood and fruit treats if you want to, but the only reason that MRE's are undesirable as a long term diet is that they have too many calories. They will not stop you up and they will not give you trouble in the bathroom. You want trouble in the bathroom, eat a bunch of freeze dried stuff.

An average male sheltering, (as opposed to migrating), needs between 1200 and 2000 calories per day to stay healthy. How many cans of dogfood are you going to eat to get, say, 2000 calories a day? A nice 16 oz can of beans has about 200 calories. How do you think you will feel trying to get 2000 calories per day from canned beans. That's 10 cans of beans. I bet that will give you a little problem in the toilet. I don't think I could one 16oz can. Dried fruit has some calories, but no nutrition and how much dried fruit does it take to make you sick? A cup?

A single MRE has about 1400 calories. That means two MRE's per person every three days.

I'll have one for dinner tonight just to celebrate no flood here. The menu for tonight?

Cheese Tortellini
Spiced apples
First Strike bar
Peanut butter, chunky
Crackers
Candy II
Beverage, carbo electro
Spice, seasoning blend
Accessory packet B (Lemon Tea, Salt, Chewing Gum,Toilet Tissue, Towelette, Spoon)
Hot beverage bag

Of course I won't eat everything, and the chewing gum is not my thing, but the tortellini is quite good and the chunky peanut butter is Skippy not Jif.

=============================================

OK, I looked at your dried food plan. did you know that what you get for breakfast on the first day in the plan is a packet that looks like a 4" by 5" thin, dried gravy type packet in foil, that says: "Western Omlette?" Hahahaha. you're kidding, right?

[ChrisC]

Eeeh, I'll stick to the basics. Luckily, my tastes do not require gourmet foods or prepackaged "meals." I'm perfectly happy eating porridge over a steak dinner at Sizzler. I can eat either, but frankly it doesn't matter much to me. Food is food. So I store the sorts of things I tend to eat anyway and are easy to store--lots of grains, beans, corn, some canned foods, and some freeze-dried bulks, a bit of cured meats.

I don't have much in the way of MREs or prepackaged freeze-dried meals (just a few day's worth). They don't appeal to me as much having things like a bucket of oats or wheat. So I concentrate on the oats and wheat. It's just easier for me to deal with, easier to store, and prepares to the sorts of things I eat most often.

I do realize I'm a little odd in that regard, however. Sure I like spicy foods, but at the same time, I don't mind what most consider "bland" foods. I remember one time in a history class, a classmate actually made some gruel (the stuff that's supposed to be yucky from the middle ages). She gave everyone in the class a small bowl of it. The intent was to show how horrible life was way back when by demonstrating how bland the food was. Heh. I actually liked it. Not much different from oatmeal, which I eat every day. I went on the internet and found info on how to make it (or course, there's really nothing to making it--easy). I still have gruel sometimes for dinner (I usually make it from millet). I'll take gruel over MREs.

[295linda]

If you find yourself in a situation where there is no electric power and no way to heat canned food and are stuck with eating cold, mushy canned food, it is a godsend to be able to add a crunchy texture to those canned pork and beans, corned beef hash or chili with beans. I recommend always having in your pantry small cans of whole kernel corn and small cans of sliced water chestnuts (dice these up). Either when mixed with cold, canned food with give it a nice crunchy texture without substantially changing the flavor.

[Driver 47]

The Great Ice Storm of '08 was a wake up call for many in the northeast. That's what got me heavily into home canning. Combined with several 5 gallon buckets of rice and large tins of various pasta and beans I believe we could go several months without resupply if need be.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

I'm always slightly mystified by people who can't figure out what to eat. But no longer surprised by it.