Posts Tagged meals ready to eat
Storing MREs
Awhile back I posted a video on youtube about storing MREs. Lets just say that some of the comments are either really funny, or really sad – depending on how you look at it.
It all started when a buddy of mine cleaned out his food stockpiles and gave me about 8 1/2 cases of MREs. Not being the one to pass up free food preps, I gladly accepted the MREs and loaded them up in the SUV. On the way home my wife and I decided to get one of those plastic shelving systems from a local big box mart.
One side of my sons closet was cleaned out, the shelving system was assembled and the MREs were put on the shelves in order to when the test / inspect date. The ones dated in 2011 were put on the bottom, the ones dated in 2010 on the second shelf up from the bottom, and the ones that your supposed to test were put on the third shelf up from the bottom. Some backpacks / daypacks were put on the very top shelf.
The following video is the one that I posted on youtube.
Examples of some of the comments:
You should not store the MREs in your house, because they will expire faster – ok, I dont even know what to think about that comment. If you not supposed to store the MREs in your house, where are you “supposed” to store them?
How are you supposed to reach the MREs if SHTF? – Do some of these people live in a fantasy world or something? Do they expect nukes to fall out of the sky at any second, blasting away bridges, roads,,,,. I guess I’am “supposed” to carry the meals around in the trunk of my car, or in the back seat of my truck?
Why do you have the meals stored in your house? You should buy a shed and store them there – Do people not realize that MREs are heat sensitive? The high the temp the meals are stored at, the shorter the life span. Here in East Texas we are in the lower 90s by May, upper 90s in June, and usually in the lower 100s in July and August. Storing the meals in temps that high could take years off their life expectancy.
As a long time survivalist, I just dont know what to think about some of those comments. Is common sense missing from our society these days?
If we were talking about a case of canned soup, would people be saying these same things? Or is just because we are talking about MREs? Storing MREs is no different then storing a case of noodles, or some dried beans, or some soup. Why would people want to move MREs into the 100 degree heat but keep their canned goods in the house?
Please post your comments in this forum thread about how to store MREs.
Sodium content of MREs
For people with high blood pressure, the sodium content in MREs is an important consideration. Before you stock up on MREs as a survival food, first take a look at these numbers.
Beef ravioli in meat sauce – 1,080mg
Beef Stew – 850mg
Beverage Powder, Grape – 150mg
Beverage Base Powder, Lime Lime – 20mg – 150mg
Beverage Base Powder, Orange – 20mg – 150mg
Cappuccino, Mocha – 0mg
Cappuccino, French Vanilla – 0mg
Cinnamon Imperials – 12mg
Cinnamon Scone – 310mg
Cheese Spread (fortified) – 300mg
Cheese tortellini in tomato sauce – 840mg
Cherry Blueberry Cobbler – 170mg
Chicken and Dumplings – 240mg – 820mg
Chicken Fajita – 980mg
Chicken Fajita Filling – 700mg
Chili With Beans – 630mg
Clam Chowder – 340mg – 370mg
Cocoa Beverage Powder – 140mg
Crackers, Vegetable – 230mg
Crackers – 130mg
French Vanilla Cappuccino Powder – 50mg
Grilled Chicken Breast Fillet – 390mg
Jalapeno Ketchup – 180mg
Meatballs in Marinara Sauce – 1,620mg
Mexican Style Corn – 450mg – 580mg
Peanut Butter – 220mg
Penne with vegetable sauce crumbles in spicy tomato sauce – 710mg
Raspberry White Chip Cookie – 160mg
Spaghetti with meat sauce – 810mg
Strawberry Dairyshake Powder – 260mg
Strawberry Toaster Pastry – 190mg
Tortillas – 320mg
Tortillas – 400mg
Vegetable Crackers – 220mg
Veggie Burger in barbecue sauce – 1,130mg
Wheat Snack Bread – 120mg
All of these values came from my own personal stock of MREs. One thing that I noticed while looking through the meals, the sodium content would vary. So your MREs may not have the same “exact” sodium content as what has been posted here.
Pleas post your comments in this forum thread about the salt content of MREs.
MRE VS Mainstay Meals
There is an interesting thread in the forums about MREs VS Mainstay Meals. Both types of meals are good for what they are designed to do. Its not a matter of which one is “the best”, its which one fits your needs the best.
MREs – have a short lifespan, especially if they are stored in a shed, or somewhere where it gets hot, say above 90 – 100 degrees. I think its something like 1 day over 100 degrees takes 1 month off the life expectancy – but dont quote me on that.
MREs are somewhat expensive, with 12 meals costing about $75 – depending on “where” you get them from. For the sake of discussion, lets use the rough estimate of $75 per case. This equals out to $6.25 per meal. If you eat 2 meals per day, a case should last a single person about about 6 days.
Lets say that you wanted to stock a months supply of MREs for one person, this would equal out to 5 cases, 5 cases * $75 per case = $375. Now lets say that you have a family of 4 people, 4 * $375 = $1,500. $1,500 for a months worth of survival meals, for a family of 4 can get a little expensive, especially when you start talking about buying 3, 4 or even 6 months worth of meals.
I like to have a few MREs at the house, they make an easy “grab and go food” for a hiking or camping trips. Its a full meal in a pouch, what more could you want? When your getting ready to go on a camping or hiking trip, MREs make meal planning simple. Just read the outside of the pouch, pick out the meal you want, stuff it into your backpack, and head out.
Some MREs have a high salt content, which may not be good for people with high blood pressure. The main entree I’am looking at right now – Meatballs in Marinara Sauce – has 1,620mg of salt, which is 68% of the recommended daily allowance of salt.
Now for random video about MREs.
Mainstay Bars – Are supposed to have a life span of 5 years, contain 9 – 400 calorie meals divided into individual potions, contain no animal products, and are supposed to be kosher.
The lack of animal products makes the mainstay an excellent choice for people who can not eat meat due to religious reasons or restricted diets.
The mainstay meals are not supposed to induce thirst – but after eating one, it would have been a lot better with something to drink.
Mainstay meals are supposed to be resistant to temperature fluctuations of -40° F to 300°F.
Each serving of a mainstay contains about 23mg of sodium, which is 1% of your recommended daily allowance. If you eat all 9 portions, that equals 207mg of sodium, as compared to the 1,620mg in the main entree of the MRE. For people on salt restricted diets, the sodium content alone is of great importance.
Mainstay bars take up WAY less room then an MRE.
Your going to have less trash with a mainstay bar, as compared to an MRE. Mainstay bars are wrapped in foil, where each part of the MRE has its own packaging.
MRE shelf life
There are several questions that are repeated on the forums, one of them being about MRE shelf life. On the bottom of the case of MREs, there should be a red sticker – with a 2 red circles inside of a red square.
Both of these two red circles should be a different shade of red, the closer the two reds are, the sooner you need to open one MRE out of that case and see if its still good.
On the bottom of the case, there should be two dates – a manufacture date and a test date. However, some cases will use a different form such as “1068″. In this case, the first number “1″ stands for the year (2001) and the next three numbers indicate which day of the year (365 days in a year) it was packed. So “068″ would be day 68 of the year 2001…or March 9, 2001.
MRE‘s are VERY sensitive to temperature. One day over 100 degrees takes about one month off the shelf life. Store the MRE’s in the coolest part of your house, maybe a closet or a basement.