While in principle the idea of an MRE or an IMP is great (everything you need for one day in one package), the few I’ve had the chance to try have been soso at best. Some of the individual components I don’t really like, and quite often the meals taste more like preservatives than real food. I guess they’ve been getting better and more diversified over the years, but the ones I’ve tried haven’t been that thrilling. (Maybe that’s why they’ve gotten all sorts of pejorative nicknames over the years. Materials Resembling Edibles, Meals Rarely Edible, Meals Rejected by Ethiopians, Meals Requiring Enemas, Meals Refusing to Excrete, or Massive Rectal Expulsions.) The other thing about them is that they produce a lot of garbage and they also contain all the moisture in the meals, making them a bit heavier.
What I did do though was to take the idea of all the food for one day in a package and make my own versions.
I’ve tried various freeze dried meals, and while some are great, some of them are just awful. I’d love to try them all out to see which ones are good and bad, but given their price, that becomes problematic. Their sizing is often a bit wonky too, as I find they’re a bit too big for one meal, and not really enough for two people. Making my own by preparing a meal and then dehydrating it, allows me to more accurately measure out a portion that suits me.
I can control the calories, the salt, the fat, the portion, the taste. On a winter trip I might want to have more calories or fat, but on a hike on a hot and humid summer day, not so much. Making my own meals, allows me to set them up exactly as I like them. And if you’re making meals with stuff you grew or foraged or hunted – even better!
(Although in these photos I have a meal from MaryJanesFarms. I bought a whole bunch of them at one point, and I’m just using up the last of them. Of all the ones I’ve tried, these have been my favourites. As much as I like them, I doubt I’ll buy any in future since I’m committed to making my own, but if you’re so inclined, they’re good.)
I have at least a week of these ready to go, and try to have at least two weeks ready to go. The older ones are at the front of a RubberMaid bin and I can grab them, stuff them in my pack and be off. I use these often enough that they rotate out fairly quickly, so expiry isn’t such a big deal. The only thing I’ve ever had go bad in them was some commercial beef jerky. The stuff I’ve made myself has been fine though.
Each bag contains breakfast (in a freezer bag), hot drinks – my own hot chocolate mix (way better than any of that commercial hot chocolate mix) or tea with sugar packets), snacks, dinner, dessert.
- Bison Pemmican
- Cashew Larabar
- PC Fruit&Nut Mixed Berry & Almond Granola Bar
- Vector Chocolate Chip Bar
- PC Fruit&Nut Apple & Almond Granola Bar
- Clif Oatmeal & Raisin Bar
- MaryJanesFarm Curried Lentil Bisque
- Beef Jerky
- Vanilla Pudding (pudding powder and milk powder)
- Schuttelaars Salmiak Brokken (Dutch liquorice candies)
- Fruit & Nut Couscous
- Hot Cocoa (milk powder, real dutch cocoa, maple sugar)
- Tissue Packet w/ Antiseptic Wipes
- Fruit Leather
- Mixed Nuts
- Vegetable Curry
- Vega Food Supplement
- Multi Vitamin
Now, MREs have a fancy heater bag - you put the meal in the bag, add some water, close it up, some mad science exo-thermic reaction takes place and it heats up your meal. I just use one of the stoves I’ve made, boil up some water and add it to the meal.
In the morning I take out a bag, get out the stuff for breakfast, boil water, pour it in the bag, put it in the cozy, make hot chocolate, fill a thermos with hot water, and put the days snacks in the cargo pockets of my pants (all I ever use them for). I set off after drinking the hot chocolate. An hour or two later I stop and have the breakfast. I eat the snacks as the day progresses. I may stop at lunch time and use the hot water in the thermos to make some tea or prepare a soup if it’s cold. At dinner time the meal is prepared by adding hot water to the freezer bag and put in the cozy and allowed to simmer for a while. Sometimes I’ll have pudding that I prepare with cold water in a bag and leave for a time in a stream or a lake to have for dessert. While that is happening, a bit of exploration, hammock set up, photography, whatever can be done. Later, the food is eaten, usually another yummy hot chocolate is drank, the garbage is packed in the large zip loc bag. While this obviously still produces garbage, it isn’t as much as the MREs produce, and the ziploc bags can be rinsed out and used for something else if need be.
In the morning I take out a bag, get out the stuff for breakfast, boil water, pour it in the bag, put it in the cozy, make hot chocolate, fill a thermos with hot water, and put the days snacks in the cargo pockets of my pants (all I ever use them for). I set off after drinking the hot chocolate. An hour or two later I stop and have the breakfast. I eat the snacks as the day progresses. I may stop at lunch time and use the hot water in the thermos to make some tea or prepare a soup if it’s cold. At dinner time the meal is prepared by adding hot water to the freezer bag and put in the cozy and allowed to simmer for a while. Sometimes I’ll have pudding that I prepare with cold water in a bag and leave for a time in a stream or a lake to have for dessert. While that is happening, a bit of exploration, hammock set up, photography, whatever can be done. Later, the food is eaten, usually another yummy hot chocolate is drank, the garbage is packed in the large zip loc bag. While this obviously still produces garbage, it isn’t as much as the MREs produce, and the ziploc bags can be rinsed out and used for something else if need be.
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