Survival Rations - MREs, RCIRs, and Other Snowstorm / Trench-Warfare Pantry Items

[DameEdna]

I was looking for some sort of survival rations to lay in, in case we had a real snow storm (unlike the flurries we have had so far). The U.S. military MREs are available. I will have to get some to try. Some references to the various survival rations indicate that French rations are much better. The French RCIR (Ration de Combat Individuelle Rechauffable) look interesting ... particularly the duck pate and the veal stew. The rumor that wine was included is apparently incorrect .... the wine is rationed separately. Anyone know of a source?

[DonRocks]

I'd rather have an MRI than an MRE.

[ol_ironstomach]

I was looking for some sort of survival rations to lay in, in case we had a real snow storm (unlike the flurries we have had so far). The U.S. military MREs are available. I will have to get some to try. Some references to the various survival rations indicate that French rations are much better.

I'm always amazed at how people go into hoarding mode right before snowstorms. Do they shop for groceries nightly? What ever happened to having staple foods on hand?

<survival nut mode on>

Genuine USGI MREs are now fairly difficult to obtain, thanks to a military crackdown about a decade ago over their use as an underground form of payment. They're also incredibly caloric, designed to fuel a sturdy 20-something who is laboring heavily under a lot of gear. What you'll find in catalogs and at militaria shows are "commercial MREs": scaled-back (lower calorie) versions assembled by the same packers who assemble genuine MREs. The food items are largely the same, but you don't get as many items and the accessory kits tend to be missing things like reheaters and the tiny Tabasco bottle. And prices for complete meals are at least as high as what USGI MREs used to go for. They're fairly nasty even when fresh, which probably explains how the researchers at Natick are able to say that the taste doesn't become significantly worse until after 6 or 7 years under refrigerated storage conditions, and that they're still acceptable up to 10

I've never seen RCIRs for sale here.

Since you should be periodically rotating your stock, buy something that you might actually want to eat eventually. My choice: heat-and-eat Indian food. They use the same retort bag technology, but the food is vastly more suitable to the format than typical American items are. I'm not a fan of Tasty Bite, which is easy to find, but head into your local Indian grocery and you'll find plenty of MTR items in the $2 range. Stash a case in your deep freeze. They won't fit in a standard MRE heater, but as long as you can heat water...

Don't forget potable water. Lots of it.

<survival nut mode off>

Or you could just keep a case of Spam on hand. Just like the legendary Art Donovan.

[DonRocks]

<survival nut>

.

[dcs]

On 2/13/2010 at 9:53 PM, DonRocks said:

I'd rather have an MRI than an MRE.

The M.R.E. ups its game:  A Breakthrough for U.S. Troops: Combat-Ready Pizza, by Dave Philipps, September 20, 2018, on nytimes.com.