Been making my own MREs for years for work and all my kits. Uncle Ben's rice pack, can of olive oil yellow tuna or can of Vienna sauages, bag of gummy bears, protein bar or cliff bar, twist top apple sauce pack, small box of raisins and a plastic knife and spoon thrown in. Get free condiment packs at any fast food place to add in. Not much weight and easy and quick to eat. Even throw in a few small packs of instant coffee, zipfizz or liquid IV and you're set. Put ut all in a zip lock gallon bag, squeeze the air out or for my kits I use a vacuum sealer.
Great... I just began making my own MREs recently and I found that I can buy Mylar bags and those little oxygen absorber packs online or at a big box store... so much satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment doing it yourself and preparing them to your liking... cost much less too than buying a regular box of MRE's...
Excellent menu selection. Thanks for the video. I like dried potato powder with seasoning (garlic, chives, seasoned salt) and some bacon bits in a ziplock snack bag. Just add hot or cold water and stir and you’ve got instant loaded mashed potatoes. I have saved some small “shooter” bottles that contained alcohol shots and fill them with olive oil. You can add that for more calories if needed.
I bought a arctic Dutch MRE for my big out bag, I’m a 5ft female so I can make it last, I also have an English one and a French one and I’ve morphed them all together to make a weeks worth or potentially longer. I’m definitely going to make my own for storage in my home. I use a uk prepper shop and I get sundries from there for around £1.50 each, I get a little oven, coffee, tea, sugar, creamers, water purifiers, fuel cubes, hot sauce, curry powders, salt, pepper I feel like if you can find individual sundries for cheap you can sort out items you’d rather trade and items you’d like to keep. I do recommend the idea of a comfort box for each family member who may not be leaving the house (protecting them from what may be happening) full of their favourite shelf stables, I currently have a couple bottles of flavoured fizzy water, pack of noodles, an MRE brownie and a caramel pudding from the French MRE. Mainly a morale booster especially if you are bugging in long term. Drink packets and ramen broth packets are on my list. I’ve only just started mine and hopefully my parents and sister soon will jump on.
I love that instant rice. Every time I open one up to cook it, I take a bite and surprisingly it's pretty good cold. 😂😂 I just wish it wasn't so expensive.
those pouches of rice, chicken etc... can be heated in a pot of hot water that you boil on a Coghlans Emergency Stove. Old MRE field kits had alcohol pellets, my father, a Vietnam Vet, after had collected all this kind of army surplus. Which all of my prep stock foods is based around heat and eat. Or particular foods that I can expand my meal stocking. Such as canned roast beef in place of ground beef for hamburger helper one pot wonder meals. Ive field tested many, many foods and making one pot wonder dinners out in the woods. requiring absolutely no electricity or refrigeration. Ive made all my camping rations not needing ice in a cooler basically.
Old 1960s joke Camel cigarettes. Know what's in them? A guy on an elevator said - that's nothing but Horse crap and alphalpha. Another guy said - Now that's a goddam lie! There's no alphalpha in there.
Mine are packed for 2000 calories, but had the same idea before hand, I actually added poptarts and cliff protein bars that pack a whooppiiing 290 calories per bar.
Unironically good info. A series I would be interested in is various $50-$100 preps. I usually carry only a jar of honey and a rock for fiber during extended outings.
Spam remains good for years after it expires i went through my cabinets a few weeks ago and found a can from 2022 i fried it up and eat it and never got sick people don't realize that canned food is usually highly processed and will outlast everything else.
I have lived on mre a couple times and they do get better the hungrier you get but I will take tuna alone if I have the choice but there is always one weirdo that loves chicken pesto
Great breakdown on cost benefit versus calorie demand while in the field. Once again another great video. I've been sharing everything you push out. Keep up the good fight. We'll need each other out there if things go sideways.
This is at the core of what I’ve been making for my standard backpacking meals for a while now. Instant rice can be cold soaked very quickly, and in a freezer bag it can be rehydrated on the go with very little fuss. Other starch stand ins that can be cold soaked quickly are Idahoan potatoes or ramen, but rice is my favorite. In the field, I don’t usually miss hot food, but you could always heat it if you have time or opportunity. I also like mayo packets to make a creamy sauce and add some fat calories. Although I appreciate the ability to instantly eat non-dehydrated foods, I prefer to rehydrate because the food is lighter, and that way I can choose to utilize the water weight for drinking or eating depending on need, rather than having it predetermined for me, if that makes sense.
Yeah... very quickly, what half an hour? You don't miss hot food yeah you are such a dude bro and the best at everything. If you are going out on day trips and are moving then ready to eat is better than taking forever and finding a clean-ish water source where you still need to purify the water. Are you taking hour long breaks to make completely trashy cold food? You are trying so hard to look cool and all you are doing is showing off the opposite.
Yeah because your family has been prepping for the past 200 years... just say that you are preppers and stop trying to be impressive with this 200 years BS.
No, no it isn't, it is far from the best. It is only 1400kcals so not enough for a whole day but yet it includes a breakfast. So it is really confused about what it wants to be. Then the oatmeal, yeah that isn't a ready to eat thing. I mean you could choke it down but lets be realistic, he would have been better off throwing some poptarts in there, not only is their shelf life better but they are higher calorie and actually ready to eat and it doesn't make it so much of a breakfast item. This dude is trash at making MREs
I always keep a few cases of dry ramen noodles (not the cheap crap) or canned goods with a bunch of dry veggies and bouillon powder for emergencies tucked away in a air tight tub in my closet, Its helped me a few times when money got tight and i honestly recommend anyone out there if you have the spare funds now at least make a small food stash that could last you a few months/weeks.
Great video!!!! I do have Freeze Dried foods, MRE'S, canned foods, etc. I do choose to make my own MRE'S, though. It helps with morale when you have foods you like in your pack or emergency storage.
Overall, I would say one year. However, some foods last longer. And though it goes against the FDA warning, most food is good past it’s expiration for a period of time.
Two packets of the meat two tortillas plus condiments, salt pepper etc. Refried beans, Soaked jerky Rice Cheese two tortillas Peanut butter/sunflower seed butter, jelly/jam, honey, dehydrated banana slices, sunflower seeds, tortillas. Each pouch of the peanut butter is between 180 and 250. (And they are just over an ounce) Ramen with a peanut butter packet or meat pouch works too
The good thing about “ real MREs” is they store for a few years (in good conditions) If the ones you are making don’t last a year then you’re just packing snacks for the short term. If that’s the case this is the way to go. Wayyy cheaper and better quality, but do they store well…..
Thanks for taking the time to make this video. Some great ideas. I’m kinda confused however as to when you would use this as it’s breakfast and lunch ( no dinner) and only 1400 calories so not enough to sustain the average person for a day. Would be good for fishing/ hunting I suppose if your going to supplement it further?
I carry full fat dehydrated milk and black tea bags (as I'm a tea drinker). DIY MREs are way better than bought stuff. I also carry rice (takes 11 minutes to boil) and can be cooked with anything fished or hunted or trapped.
Depends on the product you put in it, Today's food is highly processed and will probably still be edible long after we pass i found a can of spam from 2022 i fried it and eat it and didn't get sick.
This is nonsense... it is a poorly thought out MRE, not a single meal and not a 24 hour ration and doubling it up leaves you in a weird spot also. The oatmeal is also not ready to eat... the dude if he stopped and thought for a second would have just thrown a couple poptarts in there instead of the oatmeal... the whole MRE he makes is kind of dumb.
Never understood the idea of "Homemade MRE's" This is all store bought items thrown into a sealed bag If you have a shotgun hanging over your kitchen I am willing to bet You are ready for extreme scenarios And yet you will still have to depend on stores being open? finding sources of food in packages And cans? ...My own scenario would be that having my own MRE's would only supplement my food supply of wild foods..Plant life, And small to large game And fish. Knowing how to hunt And trap Which plants are edible And the uses for them..This week i have been collecting Ramps As they are in season By themself Not to much flavor However Dehydrated with lemon zest And mixed in powered cheese with pasta - There is one meal alone, 50 cents? Catch a fish And add that with it.. 2 meals
The average person doesn't know how to survive if the grid goes down. Making your own MRE is a must. I would start collecting beans and minute rice and chicken bouillon. And vacuum pack your own meals.
Pre-making your MREs isn't really a survival trick... that is just using what you stocked up. You are talking like you aren't an average person to boost your ego... you are average, pull your head out.
A "thing" of Uncle Ben's rice. 4:09 Amazing what all can be described as a "thing". We all do it, when we can't think of the word we want to say , on the fly. What you have there is a small "package" or "container" of Uncle Ben's rice. 🙃
here we go again shop around i can get a case of mre s w s/h for 1 mre thats $ 7 each one mre has enough in it to last all day vs yr 3 mres you make per day military mre s 5 year shelf life your mre s 2 years maybe 3 now in the long run which is cheaper be honest
Really? Please point me to these all day MREs that have 2000kcals or more (minimum for a day should be 3k-ish) and only cost 7 dollars a piece... oh you can't because you are full of s**t. Yes his homemade ones are trash but you lying is much much worse.
Is this intended to be entire day's worth of calories? Or do you count on eating other things like bars and stuff? How many calories do you try to hit a day? I may be wrong but didn't the issued ones have 3000?
Most military issued MRE’s are around 1200 calories a day. Your calorie intake is heavily dependent upon what you’re doing. Are you an infantry element conducting a 48 hour reconnaissance patrol? You may only eat 1 MRE a day, and have an emergency spare. If you’re simply planning for a long term bugout emergency, you may plan to eat closer to 2000-2500 calories a day as logistics allow. Supplementing calories with granola bars, protein bars, dehydrated meats, etc outside of your meals is always encouraged as space allows.
Please work on your audio. You don't need to spend money on a wireless mike. A wired mike with a wind screen would do just find. Don't use the microphone of the camera. There's much reverberation. $13.98 on Amazon with a 10ft wire.
The main problem with military style MREs is they have a TERRIBLE shelf life in hot temps! At a 120 degrees, which the inside of a car during the summer can easily reach, they will expire in ONE MONTH. Even at just 85 degrees they expire in 18 months. For hot weather emergency food, I go with thinks like Millenium bars which are rated for 5 years at high temps. These home made MREs are great for backpacking trips or cool temp backups.
I have a large tote full of Peak Refuel meals. Sure they cost $11-$15 each, but I enjoy one anytime I do not want to cook. Just keep your hot sauces and spices handy also.
That is freeze dried... which is for a totally different use. These are MREs Meals Ready to Eat... which you use when you are on the move and aren't sitting down for an hour or two to have lunch.
@@Mightyenas_Revenge Yeah you are making comments about freeze dried meals on a video about MREs... you do get that you are the one off topic here, right?
@@thomgizziz I made a comment about my choice of meals, I didn’t know this was the Soviet Union. The real issue here is most likely adults getting bent out of shape over my comment. See my point here? Have a mid strength beer and chill the hell out, how bout dat?
@@Mightyenas_Revenge Awww are you angry? The person that calls the other person irate on the internet is usually the mad hoe. I don't really care that much either way. I forgot I even wrote that initial comment until I saw your reply. Hope you aren't an angry boy anymore.
Great vid. Personally i would substitute in an epic bar and an rx bar instead of two cliffs, and sub in a liquid iv or hydralyte for the lemonade. Dont forget about easy mac and ramen noodles
In the field... aka you maybe camping. Get a grip and stop pretending you are anywhere even near to the military. Also your cheap MRE isn't that cheap and it isn't an MRE you can't just eat your oatmeal. Unless you are sitting on your butt all day 1400kcals isn't going to cut it and doubling up one of these with a breakfast option in it is going to be sub-optimal. Why are there so many people on here that seem to be enamored with the idea of making MREs but clearly don't go anywhere where they are even remotely required at best you are making little lunch baggies and they are usually nonsense ones at that.
You seem cool but you messed this up. TWICE! First, if it needs water (like Mountain House) it is not ready to eat! You need water, and heat is optional. You really want to eat oatmeal soaked in cold water? Sounds really yummy,... it is your homemade NOT AN MRE bro. The "free packets" are in fact things you bought. when you went to the drive through! Walk into a fast food restaurant and ask for a bag, no you aren't going to pay for it. It is a free way to start a fire! Then load that bag with ketchup packets,... Not in anyway an MRE
Good stuff man, really like the idea of a DIY MRE Another good source for trail/backpacking nutrition & water purification info is GearSkeptic here on YT His videos are a bit long, but the info is well worth it if you've got the patience lol
