The poor man's MRE?

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Magus

Magus

The Shaman of suburbia.
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Look behind you in that dark corner.
Amish Heart said:
I have seen those compleats for $2 plus a piece. I feel like they're no better than Dinty Moore Stew or Chef Boy R Dee, but just in a microwavable plate. You can eat all of those things as is, ready to eat. Doesn't have much food in those compleats.
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I eat them when I'm out on the road. They're OK. It takes 2 of them to make an actual meal for a grown size man. The problem is, to heat up requires a microwave, and if SHTF that could be problematic. I've tried to eat one cold, and I couldn't do it. Nasty...
 
Spikedriver said:
I eat them when I'm out on the road. They're OK. It takes 2 of them to make an actual meal for a grown size man. The problem is, to heat up requires a microwave, and if SHTF that could be problematic. I've tried to eat one cold, and I couldn't do it. Nasty...
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I thought the same thing. I have eaten them and they taste O.K. The portion size is small, but when you through too much shade as it is, that is probably a blessing, and not a curse.

You do need a method to heat them; microwave or some type of oven. Not going to work well with an open fire or even a grill. I never even thought about eating one cold. Sounds like I'm glad I didn't.
 
Pearl said:
They are fully cooked, you could eat them cold in a SHTF situation!
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You could eat one cold. 😝 I am heating mine, even if I have to use my lighter to do it.
 
They can be warmed in a pan of hot water, BONUS, the tray is not only durable but heat resistant. good to have a stack around for cook outs
when you don't want your soup beans in a plate.
 
Amish Heart said:
I have seen those compleats for $2 plus a piece. I feel like they're no better than Dinty Moore Stew or Chef Boy R Dee, but just in a microwavable plate. You can eat all of those things as is, ready to eat. Doesn't have much food in those compleats.
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Correct. The Compleats have very little food in them. A can of Beef stew has much more. I like the Sweet sue Chicken and dumplings.
 
I know my take on this is a little bit different, but in my BOB's I have meals that are ready to eat. Not meals that are ready to cook. Cooking may not be an option for a multitude of reasons.

The Hormel Completes are great. I have eaten dozens, and yes, I have taken them to work. We have them in the pantry, but it wouldn't be my choice if I had to bug out.
 
I used the Hormel and equivalent shelf stable "meals" as a component in my "Ready Meal" kits.
Zippered 1 gallon bag with a couple of those meals, some packaged tuna/chicken/Spam pouches, Gatorade Drink Mix pouches, trail mix, granola bars, Oatmeal, crackers, and a few other bits to make around a 2500 calorie day ration, trying hard to rely on foods that do not require (or require minimal) cooking or preparation.

Not as small or convenient as true MRE's, but I can tailor them to my tastes. Nothing worse than being stuck eating stuff you don't like in an emergency...

I have a small cook kit (store flat twig stove, small Stainless pot/cup) that I keep in my BOB/GHB that can be used to heat the components (dump in the cup, heat on stove, eat from cup) in under 10 minutes if I have the time/resource.
 
I've been freeze drying different cooked foods and trying them so I can make up meals to take for our upcoming trip. The kid has diet issues so I figure this would be best. Every hotel room has a coffee pot and a microwave now a days. Much better than the store canned stuff.
 
Terri9630 said:
I've been freeze drying different cooked foods and trying them so I can make up meals to take for our upcoming trip. The kid has diet issues so I figure this would be best. Every hotel room has a coffee pot and a microwave now a days. Much better than the store canned stuff.
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There is so much stuff in prepared food these days that we have no idea what some of it is. Things get called by multiple names to confuse consumers. It is frustrating.

This is the label from Better than Bouillon. I considered buying it, but wanted to check out the ingredients first. I need to know if there is msg or gluten.
Better than Boullion.jpg
 
Amish Heart said:
We had a student that couldn't have maltodextrin. He had a long list of couldn't haves.
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Maltodextrin = gluten!
This is why I need to make a list that I print, laminate, and keep in my purse for these kinds of things. Bouillon is one of those tricky foods to buy.

How Is Maltodextrin Made?
Maltodextrin is a type of carbohydrate, but it undergoes intense processing. It comes in the form of a white powder from rice, corn, wheat, or potato starch. Its makers first cook it, then add acids or enzymes to break it down some more. The final product is a water-soluble white powder with a neutral taste. The powder is used as an additive in the foods above to replace sugar and improve their texture, shelf life, and taste.

If you have celiac disease, be careful about eating foods with maltodextrin. The powder has traces of gluten if its source is wheat.
 
I don't care for "soft" packaged foods, I prefer to go with the canned versions. I still have fond memories of the military canned meals in a box, never got crushed pilot crackers or leaking jam in one of those things (unless you ran over it with your car).....

I have had soft packaged foods get pin holes and leak or go bad (not a pleasant surprise).
 
UrbanHunter said:
I don't care for "soft" packaged foods, I prefer to go with the canned versions. I still have fond memories of the military canned meals in a box, never got crushed pilot crackers or leaking jam in one of those things (unless you ran over it with your car).....

I have had soft packaged foods get pin holes and leak or go bad (not a pleasant surprise).
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Back in the late 70's, my dad had a couple cases of C-Rations in the attic crawl space.
He put them there "for emergencies".
Teenage me considered "not having any chocolate in the house" an emergency and routinely raided said stash.
Turns out there wasn't a single meal that I didn't like...

I got in serious trouble for that and dad ended up putting a padlock on the access door...
 
Magus said:
BONUS, the tray is not only durable but heat resistant.
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That reminds me of how great the "Le Menu" plates were back in the 80's. We still have some in service! Never before, or since, has there been a better reusable microwave plate than those old frozen dinner plates. The plates were better than the food that originally came on them as I recall. Didn't they have a snap on plastic cover to control splatter too? I can't remember if that was Le Menu or some other brand of frozen dinner. I can't believe they haven't brought those plates back as individual sale items. I'd buy a ton of them. Maybe their construction is some super-secret recipe like KFC.
 
So I was in WM the other day and saw a big display of those Hormel Completes, they looked different than the ones I remember trying a decade ago, so I figured what the heck, hey it's just lunch.... Tried one or two and they were eatable, so this morning while I was back at WM I bought about a dozen more, 6 of the 2 that I had decided I liked and 2 of each of the 3 that I was willing to try. I could see where they would come in handy as a 1 person light dish.

The other thing is that they take less than 2 minutes to heat up in a microwave, even in a power outage I could power a microwave using an inverter for a couple of minutes.
 
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