Meals for 24/72 hour packs

[Chief2009]

What do you guys use for your meals in your 24/72 hour packs? MRE's can be a bit expensive, and kind of big, so I'm looking for alternatives.

DN

[Eclipse]

MRE's are all I use.  I buy a case or two and cycle they every couple of years, including keeping one or two on
my bike for impromptu lunches or when I am teaching.

You really can't beat MRE's for shelf life.  In bulk they are usually about $5-7 each, sometimes a bit more if you have to
buy heaters separate.

Other options like heater meals, canned goods, etc., are going to be just as bulky and/or probably won't last as long.

[NC Hokie]

What do you guys use for your meals in your 24/72 hour packs? MRE's can be a bit expensive, and kind of big, so I'm looking for alternatives.

I have found that MREs are as much if not more cost-effective than any civilian equivalents.  As to their size, you could follow the time-honored tradition of field stripping them to get rid of items that you do not want or will not use.

[tsrup]

I have found MREs for as low as 7 bucks individually.

That's a fair price for quite a bit of food and there are quite a few of them that don't suck.

Not only that but chances are, if you are employing your 24/72 hr gear you are probably being pretty active, and MRE's are made to give you the nutrition and calories needed to sustain that activity. 

And each product inside the Main pouch being individually vacuumed packed is a plus incase your intent is not to eat the whole thing at once.

There is also a lot to be said about the ability to have a hot meal.

That being said, I have on occasion just used the small cans of spaghetti O's.  They are pretty good cold and they have a pull tab top but I am not a fan of having to pack out the sharp can lids, especially since I don't have a pouch dedicated to trash and generally just pack out the garbage in my butt pack with everything else. 

[SarDragon]

The lids will fit right into the empty cans. No sharp edges to worry about. If you're into crushing the cans, do it after putting the lid back in.

[pbcheez]

pringles cuz the chipz dont get crushed. those Lock 'N Lock airtight boxes. i have a looong rectanglular one of those and put a loaf of bread in that. jar of peanutbutter and a canister or 2 of ezcheese. whoppers and milk duds (the big milk cartonlike boxes). a few cool aid packets for my canteen. and ofcourse a set or 2 of silverware with another aforementioned case to prevent bugs from getting at them.

i would also like to just throw this out: Beef Ravioli MRE is will never let you down. Has lots of candy in it.

[CAP Marine]

^^^ WHAT?! I am hoping that this was facetious. If not, not only are you carrying far too much bulk, but what you are carrying is completely unhealthy and could land you in a hurt locker if you really needed that "sustenance" during a mission. I'm not saying that MRE's, ramen, or canned goods are the most healthy thing for you, but they are far superior to candy, chips and PBJ.

YMMV, but if you were on my ground team with that and we couldn't scrounge up enough real food from the rest of the team to make your loadout correct, you would be sitting on the curb waving good bye to us as we pulled out of mission base.

[davidsinn]

^^^ WHAT?! I am hoping that this was facetious. If not, not only are you carrying far too much bulk, but what you are carrying is completely unhealthy and could land you in a hurt locker if you really needed that "sustenance" during a mission. I'm not saying that MRE's, ramen, or canned goods are the most healthy thing for you, but they are far superior to candy, chips and PBJ.

YMMV, but if you were on my ground team with that and we couldn't scrounge up enough real food from the rest of the team to make your loadout correct, you would be sitting on the curb waving good bye to us as we pulled out of mission base.

You're a lot nicer than I am. I wouldn't even scrounge food. I'd just leave him.

[N Harmon]

MREs. They count for 1-2 meals depending on activity level. Oh, and military surplus MREs? No thanks. Who knows if those have been to Iraq, sat in the heat for 9 months, come back to sit in a warehouse for 3 months before going out to your local surplus store. Yuck.

I get my meals from here:  http://www.readymeal.com/    They are made by one of the companies that make military MREs, only these are brand new and have a known quality.

$69.95 + s/h for 12 meals is not a bad deal, either.

[CadetProgramGuy]

While I cannot quote the 24 loadout from the GTM Manual, I count an MRE for 2 meals.  I also seperate the MRE's prior to packing my 24 gear.  I also pack the nastiest ones I can find, so I don't eat them out of bordom.

Corn Beef Hash, Omlet, stuff like that.

[coolkites]

I also pack the nastiest ones I can find, so I don't eat them out of bordom.

Corn Beef Hash, Omlet, stuff like that.

+1  :clap:

[Gung Ho]

I've done some searching with no luck. Can somebody point me to where it says just what kind of food you have to carry with you for a mission?

[SarDragon]

I don't recall that there are any specific rules. Bring whatever you want. However comma use some common sense in your selections.

You don't want heavy, or low density items. You don't want stuff that generates high volume trash that you are going to have to lug back out of your AO. You don't want things that take a lot of preparation. Almost anything else is fair game.

[CAP Marine]

+1 on the common sense!

[P40E Fan]

In my 24hr gear, I keep a tuna fish/crackers snack or two that I find at Walmart, as well as one of the small cans of ham or chicken.  I also grab a couple of Cliff bars or a pack of almonds when I am also filling the canteens before heading out.  It is good enough to hold a person for 24 hours. 

In the 72 hour pack, I have a couple of Mountain House freeze dried food packs.  I also have a small 8 oz cans of tuna, salmon, vegetables or similar small can items.  If I have some pita bread at home, then that will go in at the last minute.  The cans do have a shorter shelf life than the MREs, but if you are keeping up with checking your gear with seasonal adjustments then you can keep the canned items up to date as well. 

The self heater meals are good and I have used them for hunting.  However, I have found that the Styrofoam trays break too easily in either a 24 or 72 hr pack.  There is simply too many other things in the kits.

I also keep a plastic bag with tea and sugar packets in both the 24 and 72 hour kits. 

[CadetProgramGuy]

I've done some searching with no luck. Can somebody point me to where it says just what kind of food you have to carry with you for a mission?

As other have pointed out, there is no direction on this, other than "have meals"

MRE's or other freeze dried, outdoors type food is what you need.

I can get away from really having to worry about this because of where I live.  In the vast wilderness of Iowa, I can walk a mile in most places and find a road or a farmhouse or a vehicle.

Somthing I have been thinking about is getting a "Family size" camping food and have it in the CAP van.  one of those "Just in case" things.

[JoeTomasone]

I can get away from really having to worry about this because of where I live.  In the vast wilderness of Iowa, I can walk a mile in most places and find a road or a farmhouse or a vehicle.

What if you can't leave your AO to go foraging for food?

[Short Field]

If you buying MREs, don't go cheap.  Look for a good price, but make sure you are getting a real (RM issued) MRE and not a cheap knockoff.  A lot of them are sold cheaper because they don't contain everything a real MRE contains.  I ate one of the cheaper knockoffs recently.  The heater was dissolving and covered the main course packet with small blue chucks of something.   The "MRE" didn't contain much more than the main course.

[HGjunkie]

If you buying MREs, don't go cheap.  Look for a good price, but make sure you are getting a real (RM issued) MRE and not a cheap knockoff.  A lot of them are sold cheaper because they don't contain everything a real MRE contains.  I ate one of the cheaper knockoffs recently.  The heater was dissolving and covered the main course packet with small blue chucks of something.   The "MRE" didn't contain much more than the main course.

I saw a cadet at my group GT training bivouac eating an Army Navy MRE, and the heater pack was dissolved, it was in a clear plastic case, it had foil packets for the food, and cheap knockoff accessories. kid paid 7 bucks for it too... I actually sold one of my spare MREs to a cadet who didn't bring much food with him.

[JayT]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/bigcrush/introducing-the-candwich

The answer!

[HGjunkie]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/bigcrush/introducing-the-candwich

The answer!

I might just be tempted to try one of those... 

[CadetProgramGuy]

I can get away from really having to worry about this because of where I live.  In the vast wilderness of Iowa, I can walk a mile in most places and find a road or a farmhouse or a vehicle.

What if you can't leave your AO to go foraging for food?

In my experience, thats hasn't happened yet.......usually even in the most ridgid of SAREX, someone always makes the dire starbucks or McD's Run.

[coolkites]

Our last SAREX (an earthquake scenario with all communications and power considered down) involved a run over to the local pizza joint in order to pick up a dozen pizzas for everyone back at base. glad to see that Pizza hut is still operational even when the freeway has collapsed and there is no power in the city lol

[Gung Ho]

Last big exercise I was on ( non_CAP) the training area we were set up at had a small pizza/burger shop there. It was very busy all the time. Funny thing also at this federal drill was it was setup to run for 5 days. The military flew the press in on CH-47's and gave them all the planned tour and had all the little shows set up for them to see. FEMA had a big show there with all the big trailers and commo gear. Within 3 hours of the press leaving ALL of FEMA's stuff was gone. Once the press had been there they were done playing. Kind of the same thing on this same type of exercise the year before, our state had it's big trailer setup. Problem was even with this drill running 24/7 for 5 days NOBODY from the state was there after 5 on week days and nobody there at all on the weekends. How do they figure this is training them to operate in a true emergency?

[coolkites]

Last big exercise I was on ( non_CAP) the training area we were set up at had a small pizza/burger shop there. It was very busy all the time. Funny thing also at this federal drill was it was setup to run for 5 days. The military flew the press in on CH-47's and gave them all the planned tour and had all the little shows set up for them to see. FEMA had a big show there with all the big trailers and commo gear. Within 3 hours of the press leaving ALL of FEMA's stuff was gone. Once the press had been there they were done playing. Kind of the same thing on this same type of exercise the year before, our state had it's big trailer setup. Problem was even with this drill running 24/7 for 5 days NOBODY from the state was there after 5 on week days and nobody there at all on the weekends. How do they figure this is training them to operate in a true emergency?

Simple. They don't

[Mustang]

^^^ WHAT?! I am hoping that this was facetious. If not, not only are you carrying far too much bulk, but what you are carrying is completely unhealthy and could land you in a hurt locker if you really needed that "sustenance" during a mission. I'm not saying that MRE's, ramen, or canned goods are the most healthy thing for you, but they are far superior to candy, chips and PBJ.

YMMV, but if you were on my ground team with that and we couldn't scrounge up enough real food from the rest of the team to make your loadout correct, you would be sitting on the curb waving good bye to us as we pulled out of mission base.

You're a lot nicer than I am. I wouldn't even scrounge food. I'd just leave him.

Guys, these are not helpful answers.  The poster in question is obviously a cadet, and it's our job as SMs to train and educate them. 

Seriously, this is one of CAP-Talk's biggest problems. 

[Dad2-4]

Having spent many years in Scouting and teaching backpacking, there are lots of options for lightweight, packable, nutritious foods available at your local grocery store if you know what to look for. Do some searching online for things like no-cook trail meals, backpacking foods, etc. Mind you packaged freeze-dried or dehydrated backpacking meals can be pricey. And pack water! Many people don't pack enough water.
Like many CAPTalkers, I agree that if we're doing a "realistic" SAREX, then we should avoid the fast food runs. In all my years of taking kids into the woods, I've NEVER had anyone come close to starving. A bit hungry based on what they normally consume at home, but never starve or even have lack of food health issues.

[Krapenhoeffer]

What I've done is I've pooled cash from my ground team to buy MREs from http://www.longlifefood.com/default.asp

I don't carry any of them in my 24-hr pack, just in my 72. I carry PowerBars in my 24, because I never go out of walking distance of civilization without my 72.

And if you're ever in a situation where you have to take the 72 out into the field, you need the calories that an MRE packs.

[GTCommando]

No matter what your opinion may be on this topic, we can all agree that there are five main qualities that make a good GT food: light, cheap, little trash, plenty of calories, bearable taste. Here's that I pack that usually meets all four requirements:
Jack Link's jack packs. They're light (I can carry at least five in my 24 hour pack), cheap ($1 apiece at most places), little trash, plenty of calories (230 calories apiece), not to mention they taste way better than most MREs. Throw in some crackers, candy, fiber bars (Nobody will bunk with me. Can anyone tell me why?) and a few of the tastier MREs (Because I can!), and you've got enough food for at least a weekend, if not longer. Stay away from canned goods of any kind. Trust me, they're not worth the hassle.

[Short Field]

Guys, these are not helpful answers.  The poster in question is obviously a cadet, and it's our job as SMs to train and educate them. 
Seriously, this is one of CAP-Talk's biggest problems.

The poster in question may still be a cadet, but he talks about his time spent in BMT.