Jul 26 2008
Buying MRE for Hurricane Preparedness
I strongly recommend MRE for Hurricane preparedness because it is truly ready to eat and can be heated with a flameless ration heater or “FRH”.
Electricity can be unavailable for weeks in some areas after a hurricane so the ability to have a hot cooked meal with no equipment required is a huge benefit.
Commercial MRE comes in 12 meal cases usually the FRH is included. The meals are usually 1000 - 1300 calories (check this before you buy MRE) so 2 meals per day will be more than enough to get by.
Don’t wait till there is a Hurricane approaching to buy MRE though, as local stores will sell out of MRE quickly.
MRE has a 5-7 year shelf-life if stored in cool place below 80 degrees Fahrenheit, so you should plan to stock up every 5 years or so and always have 1-3 weeks supply .
You can buy online at Amazon.com, however with shipping the total cost from Amazon is over $89 per case. This cost is higher than most other online outlets, but you are probably not as familiar with the other small ones, so you may trust ordering from Amazon more. However, when you buy MRE from Amazon, it is not directly from Amazon you are buying but rather their “Amazon Prime” partner, which is in fact a smaller outfit than the 3 retailers listed below.
I have had good experiences with these online MRE retailers to date and have seen only positive reviews on them from others;
Nitro-Pak
The ReadyStore
MREfoods.com
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Great idea. A guy at an army surplus store actually discouraged a friend and I from buying MRE’s because he said they’ve got more preservatives than canned goods. However, as a short term kind of thing for getting by in the aftermath of a storm, I personally wouldn’t be too concerned about that.
John
Hi John,
My understanding is MRE does not contain chemical preservatives. Commercial MRE is made by the same manufacturers as military MRE but just sold for commercial purposes, and the product is similar. They use thermostabilization and the durability of the MRE layered container package to preserve MREs.
The quote below from a a US army article on MRE can be found here;
http://www.usariem.army.mil/nutri/milrat.htm
“The U.S. military does not use irradiation (a process which applies radiation to food products to destroy parasites and germs that may cause the food to spoil) nor chemical preservatives to preserve ration items. Many military food items are preserved by a heat process called Thermostabilization. Rations also contain some natural food preservatives such as Vitamins C and E which are antioxidants.”
Hi…
great with MRe are available in the market…. im from the philippines and we are commonly visited by typhoons and its getting stronger and more victims especially me. we were strucked by typhoon frank and we are almost a week that we dont have to eat. hope that Mre are also available in the philippines. do these company have branches in the philippines were we could buy or order the mre. in case that there is a typhoon .
Hi Crice,
Importing MRE is often difficult in most countries because it is a food product, especially a food product that contains meat. Many companies are reluctant to export even if it may be ok to import into your country because they don’t want the hassle.
I am not familiar Phillippine customs regulation so I can’t advise.
However if you find out there is no problem importing I would suggest contacting a friend or relative in the US and have them buy it for you and ship it to you.
other options;
1) military surplus stores
2) department stores especially sporting goods departments, under camping food
3) Auctions sites - this one below is based in the Phillippines, however the item is sold out;
http://www.sulit.com.ph/index.php/view+classifieds/id/349156/MEAL+READY-TO-EAT,+BOX+OF+12+INDIVIDUAL+MRE+
Hope this helps
Kevin
Hi Crice,
You should also ask your question to MRE Info website http://mreinfo.com/
There are many of very knowledgeable and helpful people in the forum who may have more information or ideas on how you can get MRE in the Phillippines.