four storage plan book 8

FOUR STORAGE PLAN BOOK 8

Chapter Four ( continued )

Bug-In Plan

An obvious choice for bug-in meals is to can your own ready to eat meal such as stews or soups. I'm sure there are even ways to can pasta or rice ( it might warrant extra research ) with the meat. Remember, in an MRE there are no carbs ( one stale cracker doesn't cut it ), and your body will crave it soon enough. Better to have them to start with. The military just focuses on immediate performance, which meat and fat provide.

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If you don't have a pressure canner, it might be too late for that ( and I worry about their suitability long term after an apocalypse ). There are plenty of MRE substitutes in the grocery store. There is the kid favorite Chef-Boy-R-Dee, if you can stomach that as an adult. But they have similar, more palatable, meals in the plastic tray for the microwave types. To me, they are all nasty convenience foods, but to be realistic, “convenience” can be cheap, healthy and filling only if you make it yourself. Store bought is almost always lacking two out of three.

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Plan old tried and true for 150 years tin cans are getting added back to the shelves now. You can eat chili, stews and soups for an almost complete meal. I wouldn't recommend eating them cold unless you are a week into starvation ( not that a shrunken stomach could handle the richness, but you take my meaning ), but opening a can and heating it is still close to no work as you can get unless you go with the previously mentioned jerky and parched grain. Hot meals are really satisfying and elemental, anyway. Try to limit the No Heat meals to bare bones necessity.

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Now, here is one that I heard about that might work for you. The circumstances are limited, but it might be applicable. One guy knew of another in the military who hated government issue MRE's. So he made his own. He would cook up his healthy ingredients, his one pot meals such as stew and chili, then freeze them. Once frozen, he placed the chunk in a vacuum seal bag, then replaced in the freezer. On their four to seven day field exercise the foods didn't spoil as quick because the air had been removed. It wasn't a substitute for a real can or MRE pouch, but it was a short term replacement. I don't know if I'd trust that for a week, even if it took a day or two to thaw out, but I guess the guy never died from it.

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This would be more applicable if you envisioned a EMP massive grid failure or a two week long hurricane power outage ( keeping the freezer shut and wrapped in blankets, the food would take some days before beginning to thaw ). It gives you an extra couple of days before spoilage. I don't recommend it, just bring it up for your consideration ( and you may not even have the machine ). I think plain old air drying is the way to go. That way you get plenty of fruits and vegetables, along with meat and carbs. Dried meat used to be a lot easier, as the meat was generally more lean ( except pigs ) before industrial agriculture.

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But it isn't impossible. You can dry chicken and turkey, what little fat there is easily removed. Lean cuts of meat probably should still be refrigerated after drying, but once your power goes out it will be keep at room temperature for weeks if not months. I've dried hot dogs and suspiciously, they are still good years later. They cannot be beef hot dogs. Those have too much fat. Get the yard bird hot dogs. Now, I know, they are NOT a good value. They are full of fillers. But they are also full of salt and already cooked.

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This is more of a lazy boys jerky. Just cut about nickle coin thin and dry. To eat, let soak in water for five minutes. Drain, refill, five more minutes. Most of the salt is removed and they are still dry enough that their taste is completely different. I can't stand apricots, myself. But once you dry them, they taste completely different. It is same with tube steaks. I hate the taste of hot dogs. But once dried, they taste SOOO much better. But like anything air dried ( I don't bring up home freeze dried, due to cost-it IS a deal, but only if you are making years worth of food ), you can soak in water to reconstitute if you prefer the original form.

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Some store bought “instant” foods are oatmeal, peanut butter, Top Ramen ( although in scarce supply right now, unless you hit the Ramen Lottery. The stores keep getting more in but you must be there at the right time ). For the really lazy and those not diabetic, there is sweetened condensed milk. 1300 calories in a tiny three inch tall can. That might not be light weight, but it is condensed. A jar of peanut butter is about as dense. With a few packs of Top Ramen ( which don't even need to be cooked-you can munch on them raw ) along with either the PB or milk, and some Tang drink mix, you'll basically get all your nutrients.

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Really, if you think about it, there is little reason to actually ever buy an MRE. If you do eat those, at least have some rice to eat along with them. That will go a long way satisfying. But they are NOT needed. Freeze dried meat is almost superior to any other form of storage, but unless you buy the machine those are unavailable ( and at the old price of $50 a can, buying the machine was almost mandatory ). Even a tinned can of meat will last longer than an MRE. And is much cheaper. The only sacrifice not eating MRE's is convenience.

( .Y. )

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