Survival Food - Freeze Dried & MRE

The ReadyStore has an online offer to save $100 on new products when you order over $1000 of new products until February 16th, 2009.

Some of the new survival food and products include;

Quad-X-treme Auto Emergency Fuel & Survival Kit

ULTIMATE 3-Month Supply of Freeze Dried Food - #10 CANS

1 Month MRE Supply

3 Month MRE Supply

6 Month MRE Supply

1 Year MRE Supply

MSR Reactor™ Emergency Stove

The 3 month MRE would be a great compliment to a freeze dried food reserve for a family of 3 or 4. Freeze dried food is the best choice for cost and taste.

However MRE has added benefits of

• flameless heater pouches available that, with a little water added, heat the meal in 10 minutes
• No drinking water and nothing else needs to be added to prepare meals
• ideal for trips longer than a few hours becuase they need zero preparation

Back in January I did a price comparison of cases of MRE. Below I have updated that comparison with today’s pricing. I used a Tampa Bay, FL zip code for 3 distributors that charged shipping costs depending on zip codes.

MRE is available now to order at these associated distributors;

• Nitro-Pak

• The ReadyStore

• Amazon.com

For the same reasons as hurricanes, and a few more, the best Earthquake preparedness food is MRE.

MRE (meals ready to eat) or military rations are just that - ready to eat. They are a complete meal with no water needed to prepare.

Most importantly they can be heated with “flameless” ration heaters which is much safer than using an open flame or other cooking equipment after an earthquake.

Since you may not have utilities for weeks in some areas after an earthquake it is much more convenient to have ready to eat meals for this period.

Since you can buy MRE in 12 meal cases with 6 different meals in each case, the variety offered makes them a better choice.

MRE is not the tastiest food and some people have difficulty digesting them so I don’t recommend using MRE as a survival food longer than 3 weeks at a time. This however is hopefully much longer than you will need an emergency food reserve after an earthquake.

According to Nitro-pak, each of their MRE’s typically include;

1. Soda type crackers and a spread, like cheese, peanut butter
   or jelly as an appetizer
2. A main course entree, like beef steak, chicken & noodles, turkey breast, etc.
3. A complementing side dish like fruit, rice, soup or potatoes
4. Some type of dessert, snack or candy
5. An accessory packet which includes: matches, spoon, wet wipe, salt, pepper,
   coffee and sweetener (some may include an alternative beverage powdered
   drink, too).
6. Military versions also include a mini roll of toilet tissue.

MRE lasts 5-7 years if stored in cool place below 80 degrees fahrenheit.

If you store a few cases in a basement, it would be best to have them under a table near an external door that you can break down if need be. That way you can access the MRE meals after an earthquake.

Three places you can order MRE online;

Nitro-Pak
The ReadyStore
Amazon

.

Although MRE has a long shelf life of 7-8 years if stored in a cool place, there is a desire by some to make it last longer.

The belief by some is that if you freeze MRE, it will be edible longer and therefore not needed to be replaced as often. That is if you are fortunate not to have a disaster where you will need it in the course of 7-8 years.

There are several reasons you should not to do this.

Over a long period of time (years) you are likely to have power outages. While they may not last long enough to ruin your regular frozen food, each time the MRE is partially thawed and re-frozen the more likely the packaging will delaminate and contaminate the food.

Also meat products, as we all know, should not be thawed and re-frozen. But you won’t be able to tell if there was any re-freezing until you open the MRE when you need it. And since the food will be stored over long periods it is more likely a thaw will go unnoticed.

What a time to find out your food is inedible.

Finally, whenever you freeze food a lot it’s nutritional value is lost, so it is better not to freeze food especially food that stores at room temperature a very long time.

There is no benefit at all to freezing freeze dried food on the other hand, as it lasts longer and freezing it would only degrade it’s quality.

Below is an updated survival food comparison chart.

Freeze dried food, MRE, and canned food are compared in catagories to determine their merit as a survival food.

In my opinion (and scoring of course) freeze dried food is the clear winner. However it is important to note that MRE is very useful as an initial emergency food and a mobile emergency food. So you should have both MRE and freeze dried, but mostly Freeze dried food.

Only the small percentage of us who utilize bulk grains for our cooked food on a regular basis, have reliable heating alternatives for cooking, and ample food and water storage space could rate canned food/bulk grain higher.

MRE is not usually mentioned in the same sentence with words like gourmet or delicious. It is at best compared to food from a can.

It has many derogatory acronyms referred to by soldiers such as “meals refusing to exit” for it’s digestive properties, and mystery meat for taste, etc.

With this in mind before you choose MRE as a survival food, you should make sure you and your family find it tasty enough to survive on and digest.

You may think now that they will be satisfied with “any food” if need be after a disaster if there is “no other choice”.

But there is another choice - not to eat, and that can become a serious problem.

It will be a risk to morale and safety if the food you eat causes more distress on top of the situation you are in.

So it would be best if you can do a trial run eating whatever food you choose for preparedness for a few days. If you and and your family are not thrilled with how the food tastes at least you have an idea what to expect in the event you need to use it. If it is impossible for some of your family to eat, make a decision to look at some other type of food option such as freeze dried food.

While you may not find the taste of MRE as bad as mentioned above, and there are actually some people who really like it, one consolation is that it is easily heated. In 10 minutes you can have a hot meal by adding water to the MRE’s flameless ration heater pouch most MRE comes with.

If you are cold and wet, hot food tends to taste delicious no matter what you would have thought otherwise.

I found a recent blog post on MRE taste and digestive implications here;

Tales from around the world - The MRE

The post pretty much validates my opinion that MRE should only be considered for a 72 hour mobile kit or at most a one week emergency food source for preparedness.

Here is a interesting video on some Utah chefs who tasted MRE for a review.

This statement, in an American Red Cross press press release from August 2007 (below), tells you that there is a need to make things easier.

Otherwise, if it is not made easy as another statistic in the same press release indicates, 93% will continue to not be prepared.

You can order online an 72 hour emergency kit, with all the supplies the Red Cross recommends, in minutes.

You can order kits and long shelf life survival food from trusted online stores that existed for decades as real brick and mortar stores, not some fly-by-night “eBay store”.

The two main survival foods (after food bars in 72 hour kits) are MRE (meals ready to eat) and Freeze dried food. You can order various food reserves that will be enough food for one week, one month, or even one year. It can be delivered to your house and then stored in less than an hour.

How easy is that?

MRE can last up to 5-7 years if stored in a cool place. Freeze dried food will last up to 30 years. You won’t need to replace these items every 6 months or every year. This is a key point if you want your food reserve to be ready when you need it, without having to replace parts of it often.

The challenge with completing the 72-hour kits will be the things that are custom to you and your family; maps, medications, etc that can’t be included in a general 72 hour kit. Other than these custom items, everything else is only few mouse clicks to your door.

Where can I buy kits and survival food?

American Family Safety - Great Selection of 72 hour kits

Nitro-Pak - 72-hour kits MRE Freeze Dried Food

Below is the August 30, 2007 press release from the American Red Cross

*****************************************

Media Advisory:

September is National Preparedness Month: Only 7% of Americans Have Taken the Necessary Steps to Prepare for Disasters

Red Cross Survey Indicates 82% of Americans Would Get Prepared if it Was Easier to Do

WASHINGTON, Thursday, August 30, 2007

VIDEO FEEDS: Thursday, August 30, from 2:30 – 2:45 PM ET

September is National Preparedness Month yet only 7% of Americans have taken the steps necessary to get prepared, according to the American Red Cross ¹ . Why? Many people just don’t have the time. In fact, an American Red Cross survey indicates that 82% of Americans say they would get prepared if it were easier to do ². Additionally, among Americans who had not put together a disaster kit, 65% agreed that they would be more likely to have a kit if one were available for sale and contained basic items to get them started ³.

The Red Cross is using National Preparedness Month to urge every family to “Be Red Cross Ready”: to get a kit, make a plan and be informed. One way the American Red Cross has made it easier for families to get prepared is by offering a variety of first aid, health, safety, and emergency preparedness items.

“We’ve tried to make it as simple as possible for everyone to get prepared,” said Laura Howe, spokes-person for the Red Cross. “In purchasing these items, the public can feel good about not only preparing their families but also supporting the humanitarian mission of the Red Cross.”

Red Cross items available to the public include first aid kits, disposable and heavy-duty work gloves, hand sanitizer, emergency preparedness kits, hand-crank radios, auto safety kits, and a variety of essential education guides. Additionally, the Red Cross has a line of infant health and wellness products that help par-ents get prepared, encouraging them to take Red Cross courses in infant first aid and CPR. These items are available online, at many Red Cross chapters, and at a variety of retail locations nationwide.

Proceeds from the sale of these items go directly back into supporting the mission of the organization. Over the last few months, the Red Cross has responded to meet the needs of thousands of disaster victims affected by severe summer floods in nine different states; every dollar helps.

The public is also invited to take a free online education module available at www.redcross.org/BeRedCrossReady, which walks visitors through the three simple preparedness actions: to get a kit, make a plan and be informed.

This story is provided by the American Red Cross.

The US army has shown new MRE and new “first strike rations” today, the associated press and ArmyTimes reports.

The demonstration featured new menu items for “Meal, Ready-to-Eat” and “First Strike Rations”.

The new items won’t be available anytime soon, with buffalo wings slated for release in 2009, and southwest beef and blackbeans coming out in 2010.

The first strike ration for more mobile forces are less bulky and lighter. They are scheduled to be released this summer. The meals are packed with high-protein, high-carbohydrate foods upto 3000 calories to provide energy for fast moving forces.

I thought it would be a good time review some MRE Brands.

The first Brand I will review is MRE Star.

Located in Hollywood, Florida MRE Star’s maker is International Meals Supply has been in the food industry for over 30 years.

All of their MREs are US made and their plants are USDA/FSIS, as well as FDA approved. They are a certified supplier of emergency rations for the DoD/DLA, Defense Supply Center Philadelphia.

They use fully automated equipment to produce a wide variety meal recipes. They operate 24/7 in emergency situations.

Their “M-018 12-MRE Full Case” has 12 complete MRE meals with an entree, side dish and more. There are is six different MRE entree varieties, 2 of each in each case. The six varieties are;

1. Beef Stroganoff with Egg Noodles
2. Beef Stew with Potatoes and Vegetables
3. BBQ Chicken with Black Beans and Potatoes
4. Chicken Noodle Stew with Vegetables
5. Cheese Tortellini with Marinara Sauce
6. Vegetarian Chili with Beans

In addition to the Entree, each MRE meal comes with;

• 4.5 oz Side Dish (Apple sauce or fruit cocktail)
• 2 oz Raisins & Mix Nuts
• 2 oz Oatmeal Cookie
• Drink Mix (orange flavor)
• Accessory Pack (spoon, coffee, sugar, creamer, salt, pepper, napkin, moist towel
• Optional: 12 flameless heaters individually packed

According to MRE Star’s website, “Each MRE has an average of 1,100-1,300 calories, which replicates the calorie count of a complete meal. There is no need to add water to an MRE.”

You can purchase MRE Star 12 meal MRE cases at Nitro-Pak. You can also get bulk order discounts there.

What is an FRH, a Flameless Ration Heater?

Convenience is the best advantage MRE (Meal Ready to Eat) has as a survival food.

This convenience is important in a crisis or mobile “on the go” situation. As the name implies MREs are really “ready to eat” no preparation or cooking required. However you may prefer to eat your main course hot as most people prefer a hot meal.

This is where MRE really shines. The military for years has included an FRH or Flameless Ration Heater with their MRE.

It is a plastic pouch that you can put your MRE into and heat in ten minutes by adding a little water.

How do Flameless Heaters work?

When iron rusts it is oxidizing, that is oxygen in the air is reacting with the metal to form an oxide commonly referred to as rust. This process produces heat. It is a slow process so you will not be able to fry an egg on the rusting hood of a car in the winter.

However if you have iron in the form of a fine grain powder and mix it with sodium, magnesium and then add a little water you have a fast reaction producing lots of heat in a small space. This will heat your MRE main course in 10 minutes.

It is important to note that you should not heat you MRE over an open flame as this will melt the container into the contents. The best way to heat MREs is with the flameless heaters.

Most distributors include the flameless heaters with the MRE they sell but check carefully that they are included. You can still eat MREs cold as they are already cooked and ready to eat, but there is nothing like a hot meal when you may be cold, wet, or injured. It will really lift the spirits of you and your family.