Humanitarian Daily Ration

[41mag]

All meat entrees, 12 heavy MRE bags in factory carton. I've tried to post image tonight but so far no luck.

What's the shipping worth from Shedd to your doorstep?

 

[Jbsheepdog]

All meat entrees, 12 heavy MRE bags in factory carton. I've tried to post image tonight but so far no luck.

What's the shipping worth from Shedd to your doorstep?

Shedd is a ways. I was hoping for local pickup. Ever make it to Portland or Vancouver

 

[41mag]

sometimes Salem.

 

[Yarome]

sometimes Salem.

View attachment 1222273

"Pork chop" label on the "Beef Stew"?

Those really are ancient and looks like it was packed for civilian retail distribution. I'm sure I haven't seen them all, but never seen any with that packaging and labelling scheme before in any military grade MRE.

The olden day Ameriqual's??

 

[Knobgoblin]

"Pork chop" label on the "Beef Stew"?

Those really are ancient, and looks like it was packed for civilian retail distribution. I'm sure I haven't seen the all, but never seen any with that packaging and labelling scheme before in any military grade MRE.

The olden day Ameriqual's??

Y2K overstock

 

[308]

Y2K overstock

I have 6 cases I keep dragging with us whenever we move that were Y2K purchased.

Don't forget a case or two of these to go with the Meals Refusing to Exit…think of them as after dinner/before bedtime treats. You'll need them.

 

[Stomper]

I have 6 cases I keep dragging with us whenever we move that were Y2K purchased.

Don't forget a case or two of these to go with the Meals Refusing to Exit…think of them as after dinner/before bedtime treats. You'll need them.

View attachment 1222373

As one who's (past) Army unit subsisted on MRE's for over a month straight (several times), I can attest to the validity of the implications of the above post, with the additional mental imagery…. "square brick, meet round hole."

 

[308]

As one who's (past) Army unit subsisted on MRE's for over a month straight (several times), I can attest to the validity of the implications of the above post, with the additional mental imagery…. "square brick, meet round hole."

Visions of me trying to get a section of 13" dia fence post into the ground but I only have a 9" auger….

 

[Certaindeaf]

As one who's (past) Army unit subsisted on MRE's for over a month straight (several times), I can attest to the validity of the implications of the above post, with the additional mental imagery…. "square brick, meet round hole."

Wombats!. the new wolverines.

 

[Camelfilter]

For the thousandth time was reevaluating my preps and thought it might be a good idea to have some kind of prepackaged food for those times when someone might have to travel away from the ranch for some reason. Figured it would be quicker and easier to just grab a box/can/pouch and hit the road than it would be to put together traveling food from scratch. My first thought was MRE's, so I hit the internet and started looking. During my search, I came across these:

Humanitarian daily ration - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Each packet has about the same number of calories as 2 MRE packets, but they are substantially less expensive, and from what I've seen online appear to equally as shelf stable as the MRE.

Does anyone here have any experience with these or thoughts on their suitability as a substitute for the traditional MRE?

From the link those have a 3 year shelf life. Similar to MRE's, depending upon how stored & such.

So I guess it would depend upon what your thinking.

ie just to have grab & go stuff for an "emergency" or simple convenience within the realm of relative "normalcy" & something you will use before useful self life?

-vs-

Prepared grab & goes which will last an "extended" timeframe in storage? (a secondary "just in case")

If the former, yeah those or MRE's would be reasonable. IF YOU USE THEM & ROTATE THEM.

If the latter, making up your own would be seem to be the most reasonable. Rice & beans/lentils. Hardtack. Quick oats. Pasta. Freeze dried foods. 100% cocoa. Sugar. Instant coffee. Tea. Salt. True brand flavor packets of your liking (orange, lemon, lime etc). That sort of thing.

Oils/fats seperate, & rotated as needs be.

Supplement the prior with "whatever " you may have developed as shorter term shelf stable *IF* "something happens" & normalcy is no more...

 

[arakboss]

Wombats!. the new wolverines.

What the physics, I mean my dog poops triangles but I never thought I would see squares.

 

[Yarome]

It's been awhile since I ate an HDR, so to be fair, I decided I really should go back and refresh my memory to see if they are really as "off" as I was remembering.

Yeah... no bueno! I cracked that last case open and pulled one out. 05/22 inspection date so the timing for this to come up was fortuitous. I will say, in their favor, some of the sides are pretty decent. This #4 had a shortbread (basically a sugar cookie) and oatmeal cookie (nice!), a non glazed pack of pop-tarts (actual foil 2 pop tart pack inside the foil HDR package). It also had your typical MRE vegetable crackers... of which I'm a fan. Then your standard MRE peanut butter and a jelly pack.

Not quite sure what I was supposed to put the peanut butter and jelly on though. Ruin my vegetable crackers? We had some salmon dip left over from the day before so... MRE veggy crackers + salmon dip = BLISS! The point being, it's not uncommon for HDR's to contain components that might leave you scratching your head.

A good reminder for me too though that they do have some decent elements.

Then it all came rushing back when I got to the entrees. "Peas in tomatoe sauce". That's actually.. beans, in a tomato and peas puree sauce. The unmistakeable flavor of peas infused into tomato sauce over beans. Yum! I mean... who thinks this stuff up??

The other was the "rice with vegetables". Mush, flavorless, sticky coagulated glob. "Vegetables" are few and barely flakes. More like rice overcooked in a vegetable infused stock. From past experience, both entrees where heated for increased edibility, but it didn't help much.

They WILL keep you alive and I think they are a great option to store for those with tighter budgets, but when you're eating one and thinking, "damn, I wish I had an MRE"... you gotta question what the heck you were thinking.

That's all to say that, If you are consuming and cycling your MRE type stores (we do), it's pretty rough trying to cycle HDR's. What might also play a part is that you never really know what you're getting until you actually open the pack. You get 2 of each menu in each case, but you don't know WHICH #4 you're getting until it's opened.

Ie., A #4 could be a #4 A, B, or C menu. It's random with no external markings. So... the above described turned out to be a #4 "B" menu. The other #4 in that case could be an "A", a "C", or I hope to high heck it's not another "B". The HDR menu's can be found by scrolling down this page. Much creative license seem to be given to the entree name vs. what's actually inside. Beware.

What comes into play then is... what would you grab for a camping trip? An MRE BBQ Pork Ribs and a Chicken Fajitas pack... or... "dual entree mystery vegetarian" pack?

In the pro column, there is absolutely no denyig that HDR's are much more affordable to stockpile. 20 meals per case is a steal! They contain the calories and meet all basic nutritional requirements. After all, in a survival situation, who cares how good they taste!?

In the OP's presented casual usage scenario though... I'll stand by my orignial opinion. "That's just mean!".

 

[Yarome]

NOOOOo!!!! I opened a #5 and it's identical to the #4 with the exception of lentil stew instead of rice with vegetables. Friggin "peas in tomato sauce" again. What are the odds??!!

Oh well. More vegetable cracks and an oatmeal cookie I can handle.

 

[JustSomeGuy]

Thanks for all the feedback folks. After buying a box and trying them for myself, it appears these "rations" give a whole new meaning to the phrase "giving someone a ration of s#it". Awful, just awful. And, how anyone could use the word "Humanitarian" in referring to them is beyond me.

 

[Unicykle]

I've tried a lot of emergency/freeze dried foods and nothing has it all, healthy, tasty, easy to prep, cheap, long life. Mountain house is about the best all around but I stock up on peakrefuel and mountain house The peak refuel only has a shelf life of a handful of years and is a couple dollars more expensive but it's quality food and I actually enjoy eating the majority of their entrées. I think in a true SHTFsituation having some meals that actually taste good it's going to be important to your psyche

 

[308]

Thanks for all the feedback folks. After buying a box and trying them for myself, it appears these "rations" give a whole new meaning to the phrase "giving someone a ration of s#it". Awful, just awful. And, how anyone could use the word "Humanitarian" in referring to them is beyond me.

Yeah, humanitarian means different things to different people. My dad thought giving his expired canned foods to the food bank was a way of blessing the leas fortunate. But then again, I saw some of Bill Clinton's tax write offs where he gave his used underwear to charity….

 

[Mikej]

I've tried a lot of emergency/freeze dried foods and nothing has it all, healthy, tasty, easy to prep, cheap, long life. Mountain house is about the best all around but I stock up on peakrefuel and mountain house The peak refuel only has a shelf life of a handful of years and is a couple dollars more expensive but it's quality food and I actually enjoy eating the majority of their entrées. I think in a true SHTFsituation having some meals that actually taste good it's going to be important to your psyche

Been without taste or sense of smell for going on two years now. Let me tell you. TEXTURE, mouth feel is HUGE! A few of the foods I've loved most of my life now nauseate me if I eat much of it. I might actually be good with some of the meals described?

 

[Yarome]

Been without taste or sense of smell for going on two years now. Let me tell you. TEXTURE, mouth feel is HUGE! A few of the foods I've loved most of my life now nauseate me if I eat much of it. I might actually be good with some of the meals described?

Texture alone, most of the bean based entrees aren't bad. It's the rice based that'll get'cha! Overly saturated so the grains are overblown, but not near enough to be "soupy", but more of a dry pasty/clumpy with "bits" in it type mouth feel. The memory recall it invokes for me is when I was a kid and late getting back from chores for breakfast. The cooled oatmeal leftovers.. when the grains are "overblown" and it's clumpy but also a bit "dry" (for lack of a better word) so it's more difficult to swallow. If you can relate to that experience...

 

[Mikej]

Texture alone, most of the bean based entrees aren't bad. It's the rice based that'll get'cha! Overly saturated so the grains are overblown, but not near enough to be "soupy", but more of a dry pasty/clumpy with "bits" in it type mouth feel. The memory recall it invokes for me is when I was a kid and late getting back from chores for breakfast. The cooled oatmeal leftovers.. when the grains are "overblown" and it's clumpy but also a bit "dry" (for lack of a better word) so it's more difficult to swallow. If you can relate to that experience...

I love your descriptions!
Losing taste and smell totally twisted my eating and cooking habits. There's a disconnect between deciding what to cook for us, or eat for myself. I have to depend on the wife now, sometimes, to come up with something that sounds good to her. There are days I probably don't eat as much I should, along with forcing myself to eat sometimes.

So back on topic. I don't have a stash of long term food. But what I was thinking is, what ever the texture or flavor, I'm not going to care. Thinking of what would be going on around the hood to force us to use emergency food? Am I really going to care? Seems like staying warm and alive with the zombies roaming in gangs makes the taste/texture of food less important. Having shelter, ammo and clean water will be the biggies.

 

[JustSomeGuy]

I've tried a lot of emergency/freeze dried foods and nothing has it all, healthy, tasty, easy to prep, cheap, long life. Mountain house is about the best all around but I stock up on peakrefuel and mountain house The peak refuel only has a shelf life of a handful of years and is a couple dollars more expensive but it's quality food and I actually enjoy eating the majority of their entrées. I think in a true SHTFsituation having some meals that actually taste good it's going to be important to your psyche

I'm lucky in that I already grow/raise 99+ percent of everything we eat and TEOTWAWKI won't change that. So, any food I might stash away is just an insurance policy against some freak occurrence that would take my land out of production.