Long term food rations

[Bersalover]

If the mre meals are unhealty, anyone have any good ideas of food that will stay good for multiple years at a reasonable cost in the event of a disaster ?

 

[shibumiseeker]

What makes you think MREs are unhealthy?

 

[Sailor]

Calories is calories.

Cheap calories, 50lb bags of rice, popcorn, and feed wheat.

Use that as a base and supplement it with small amounts of veggies and meat, like most of Asia does now.

 

[Iroquois]

Higher protien grains like oats and quinoa, soy if you can tolerate it. store it below 40deg
to reduce insects and keep it very dry...buy a good grinder[manual]

 

[Ronald]

Beans, rice, and certain canned foods. You might also want to consider learning to garden to get some fresh vegetables too.

 

[.452browning]

Rice and beans is where I started my survival food supplies. 50lb bags of white rice was around $20 last time I was at Sams club. Add on canned goods which should be rotated every year or so, which I have read. Canned goods include vegetables, fruits, meats, etc. dont forget water. We have a water purification system and a large supply of water. We have a flowing creek, pond, and pool for water supplies.

MRE's are healthy. A lot of troops lived on them for quite some time. They may not be the best tasting but they give you calories. They do lack roughage, which can give you digestion problems after a few weeks. The biggest problem with MRE's is price. Good for camping or hiking or a couple days of food, but way too expensive for long term survival.

 

[PriestEG]

MRES are unhealthy if you go about eating 3 of them a day like some people think would be necessary since its called a MEAL ready to eat when in reality its more like MEALS ready to eat. one MRE is roughly an entire days worth of calories. back in the day (a few years ago) when my unit would hit the field, we each would be given 1 mre/ day in the field and that was plenty!! those things have around 2k - 2.5k calories each. unhealthy.. id so no but its kind of like Mcdonalds making kids fat. if you eat to much of them on a dailybasis you will get fat. but if you maintain the appropiate caloric intake/day with what the body is doing, no problem.


and hell i ate nothing but MRES and the occasional can of tuna or beef jerky slice while i was over in the suck, and never had a problem with digestion or weight gain.. just my 2cents

 

[Sailor]

An MRE is about 1250 calories, a moderately active adult male needs about 2500 cal a day. Three MRE's is not too many if you are active.

 

[TheDude]

If eating a lot of MREs, might I suggest a laxative?

 

[Sailor]

If eating a lot of MREs, might I suggest a laxative?

Aint that that truth. And the rubber veggie omlet will clear a tent of any size.

 

[TGUNTER]

I ate MRE's for a lot of years while not very tasty they never bothered me.

 

[Lead Head]

However you get it, protein is a make or break in long term survival from everything I've read. It also causes constipation so fiber still needs to be introduced.

Sometimes survival will trump healthy.

 

[Lynn Smith]

One thing I do is portion my rice, beans, and bread packs and then freeze them for 4 days. I use a food saver and bags to vacuum seal them. This should kill weevils and just about anything else that could be in or on the stores.

From my reading that lets my bread packs last about 4 years (it is the flour that will go bad) and the rice and beans will last anywhere from 10 years to indefinitely depending on what book or website you read.

Of course keeping them in a cool, dry, dark place will keep them better than a hot sunny place.


Have fun,

Lynn

 

[Mens Rea]

Rice and beans for sure, and MRE's as well. I have never heard they are unhealthy. However if you are in a situation where you have to eat them, they are still going to be better than nothing and hopefully it will just be a short time where you are forced to resort to such eating methods.

 

[Icarry2]

Just a suggestion..

Long-Term Food Supply

 

[fireblade]

freeze dried foods 30 year self life and good price for 18 #10 cans




Costco - Easy Meal® Entrée Kit=

 

[nemo97]

These folks will be at the Fort Wayne Gun show Thanksgiving weekend: Dawn Mays - Online Store The stuff they sell has a stated shelf life up to 30 years.

Rice, wheat, suger and the like also have a 25ish year shelf life properly stored.

 

[Classic]

Mountain house has a good variety of #10 cans of freeze dried, 25 year shelf life foods in a pretty good variety. You can pick up a can or two or get cases of it. I like to stagger my purchases and types so not all goes over date at same time.

 

[nemo97]

I want to buy a few samplings of some of the different companies as I plan on making a major purchase rather soon (i.e. a year's supply). Thinking maybe a week supply from a few of the options out there and taste test them as I think it would help stave off starvation to actually have good tasting food if/when SHTF.

If you have experience with the different companies would you share your thoughts on the quality of the foodstuffs?

 

[fireblade]

easy meal and mountain house are the best tasting and are the same company just diffent brands......... you can buy pouches of mountain house at walmart camping area for about 4 dollars a bag there all good a cheap way to try them out keep in mind the pouches (bags) have a 7 year self life ... i have bought alot of easy meal from costco online good tasting and good price .....it been my experince mountain house and easy meal products are the best tasting....