school me on MREs for a hunting trip

#51
Re: school me on MREs for a hunting trip

Echoing what everyone else said - forget MRE's and go with Mountain House dehydrated food, ramen, instant oatmeal, instant rice, raisins, jerky, trail mix, peanut butter, Clif Bars, summer sausage, crackers, pilot bread, tea, coffee (the kind in tea bags), Baby-Bel cheese (stays good a long time without refrigeration), etc. It's lighter & tastes better, and won't mess with your stomach as much as MRE's. Coupled with a small, lightweight stove & pot you'll stay well fed and happy throughout your trip. I had a disdane for MRE's while in the Army (in both Iraq & Afghanistan) and almost always carried my own food into the field. Needless to say everyone was mighty jealous when I was cooking up hot soup and coffee while they were huddled under their poncho shelter eating cold MRE's...

Edited to add: The ONLY MRE's that are worth keeping are the Cold Weather ones. They have a dehydrated main meal like Mountain House. They're pretty tasty...
 
#52
Re: school me on MREs for a hunting trip

For me duck hunting from a boat if I want hot food, a MRE is the best option unless you wanna haul a bunch of extra shit with you that you don't have room for already so I just throw an MRE or 2 in my bag and I am good to go and have hot chow when its 30 degrees before the sun comes up.
 
#53
Re: school me on MREs for a hunting trip

Hey guys,

I've been following this thread & would like to make an offer...

The first THREE 'Hiders to reply to this thread will get their choice of 3 from the following "MRE" Entrees from Wise Foods:

--Cheesy Lasagna;
--Creamy Chicken Pasta;
--Pasta Alfredo;
--Savory Stroganoff;

I'll send them to you for FREE. All I'm asking is you come back here with your opinion of the 3 respective meals.

I'm interested in getting some feedback as to how these taste, whether they make for good "bug out" meals, etc. While at SHOT in January, I spoke with the Mountain House folks & had planned on adding them to the deltaoutdoorsman.com lineup. However, at the time they were backordered on some of the more popular offerings so I put them on the backburner. In the meantime, I came across Wise Foods, who came recommended and seems to provide some good stuff.

Bottom line, I'd like to know whether YOU GUYS want me to add Mountain House! Or, is the taste & quality of the Wise entrees better??? You make the call...

Thanks & I promise I'm not trying to hijack this thread.

Ceylon
deltaoutdoorsman.com
 
#56
Re: school me on MREs for a hunting trip

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: ceylonc</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Hey guys,

I've been following this thread & would like to make an offer...

The first THREE 'Hiders to reply to this thread will get their choice of 3 from the following "MRE" Entrees from Wise Foods:

--Cheesy Lasagna;
--Creamy Chicken Pasta;
--Pasta Alfredo;
--Savory Stroganoff;

I'll send them to you for FREE. All I'm asking is you come back here with your opinion of the 3 respective meals.

I'm interested in getting some feedback as to how these taste, whether they make for good "bug out" meals, etc. While at SHOT in January, I spoke with the Mountain House folks & had planned on adding them to the deltaoutdoorsman.com lineup. However, at the time they were backordered on some of the more popular offerings so I put them on the backburner. In the meantime, I came across Wise Foods, who came recommended and seems to provide some good stuff.

Bottom line, I'd like to know whether YOU GUYS want me to add Mountain House! Or, is the taste & quality of the Wise entrees better??? You make the call...

Thanks & I promise I'm not trying to hijack this thread.

Ceylon
deltaoutdoorsman.com </div></div>

Having tried them all EXCEPT Wise Foods, I'm down to be your guinea pig. Send some chow my way!

PM inbound
 
#59
Re: school me on MREs for a hunting trip

Alright, that was FAST!!! Here is who will be the "taste testers":

<span style="font-weight: bold">TBannister
hoosierswat
TXPACS</span>

Please reply here which 3 flavors each of you want to try. I'll get them shipped tomorrow. Please send me a PM with you mailing address...

Thanks, looking forward to hearing how these meals compare to the other ones discussed here!
 
#60
Re: school me on MREs for a hunting trip

I just got back from a hunting trip to Alaska. I spent the last 10 days eating Mountain House meals. That might make me an expert. Last year I ate Mountain House Meals for 9 straight days while in Alaska.

The big advantage to Mountain House is the weight since they are dehydrated. You can stuff a lot of Mountain House meals into a plastic tote. And when flying in those bush planes weight is everything.
 
#61
Re: school me on MREs for a hunting trip

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: VJJPunisher</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: J-Ham</div><div class="ubbcode-body">VJJ, what's a 'track pad'?</div></div>

Actually what we always called a "track pad" was the chocolate covered oatmeal cookie bar, looked just like a bradley's track pad, same era of mre as the ham slice FM mentioned though </div></div>
^He got it
 
#63
Re: school me on MREs for a hunting trip

I treated an E-6 that bent over a burning trash pit to secure a fully loaded AK mag one of our mechanics threw into the pit. A piping hot chicken ala king exploded, searing his left eye and face with 2nd and 3rd degree burns. Heard later that they failed to save his eye. I always wondered what the write-up was on that injury. Eye loss via chicken ala shit
 
#66
Re: school me on MREs for a hunting trip

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: ceylonc</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Hey guys,

I've been following this thread & would like to make an offer...

The first THREE 'Hiders to reply to this thread will get their choice of 3 from the following "MRE" Entrees from Wise Foods:

--Cheesy Lasagna;
--Creamy Chicken Pasta;
--Pasta Alfredo;
--Savory Stroganoff;

I'll send them to you for FREE. All I'm asking is you come back here with your opinion of the 3 respective meals.

I'm interested in getting some feedback as to how these taste, whether they make for good "bug out" meals, etc. While at SHOT in January, I spoke with the Mountain House folks & had planned on adding them to the deltaoutdoorsman.com lineup. However, at the time they were backordered on some of the more popular offerings so I put them on the backburner. In the meantime, I came across Wise Foods, who came recommended and seems to provide some good stuff.

Bottom line, I'd like to know whether YOU GUYS want me to add Mountain House! Or, is the taste & quality of the Wise entrees better??? You make the call...

Thanks & I promise I'm not trying to hijack this thread.

Ceylon
deltaoutdoorsman.com</div></div>

I've only tried the Creamy Chicken Pasta, but IMO it was barely acceptable survival food. Better than an emergency food bar, of course, but still for use in emergencies only, not for enjoyment. Realistically it tasted about as good as a ramen brick, with about the same degree of flavor. Maybe I just got a bad flavor? The Cheesy Lasagna would be the real test for me...if that's bad, forget 'em.
 
#67
Re: school me on MREs for a hunting trip

I was at a gun show last year and got to talking to a dealer abt MRE's, he said that he had them but also had some French rations and a bunch of lrrp rations. I got two of the French rations in a box and they put anything else to shame. The box had so many things in it and some of the best pastry i have ever tasted. the lrrp rations were basic meal,spoon shit paper and not much more. I bought all he had and have eaten them up during power outages. I have not seen him or found any since. I cut the top of MRE's, take out the trash and add other stuff then seal it with a seal a meal. It cuts down the size a lot and i know what i have and nothing is wasted. Seal a meal machine is the way to go. Wise puts out a good product but most of them are high in sodium. MM
 
#68
Re: school me on MREs for a hunting trip

Found a box of C rats from 1952 at the embassy in Liberia. One tired night on mids I figured "hmmm a can of 38 year old meatball with sauce sounds good". As the point of the P-38 sunk in to the can a gas release could be heard than the meatball sauce erupted from the can for the next 10-15 seconds to a sufficient height that it created a stalagtite on the fibreglass drop ceiling panel above my post. It took me most of my shift to clean that up and it stunk.

My suggestion is to buy newer rations.
 
#69
Re: school me on MREs for a hunting trip

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: pmclaine</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Found a box of C rats from 1952 at the embassy in Liberia. One tired night on mids I figured "hmmm a can of 38 year old meatball with sauce sounds good". As the point of the P-38 sunk in to the can a gas release could be heard than the meatball sauce erupted from the can for the next 10-15 seconds to a sufficient height that it created a stalagtite on the fibreglass drop ceiling panel above my post. It took me most of my shift to clean that up and it stunk.

My suggestion is to buy newer rations. </div></div>
LOL!!! Bet you won't do that again!
 
#71
Re: school me on MREs for a hunting trip

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Strive4More</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Everytime I go to the field I simply ratf*ck any MREs they give us for Peanutbutter and the crackers. I have survived for weeks only eating that. Alot of the extras in there are garbage and just take up space and weight. Otherwise the vaccuum packed salmon and tuna steaks seem like a good choice also. I'm packing some for JRTC next month. Remember most military MREs have between 1800-2500 calories per meal. Usually 1 is enough for a day not just a meal. I've seen plenty of guys eat 3 a day in the field and come back 5 or 10 lbs heavier. Beef jerky/ some sort of peanut butter packs/ and crackers keep it simple and light</div></div>

MRE's, to put it bluntly, are basically dog feed for humans. Keep that in mind. You buy dog food because of convenience, not because your dog prefers that to fresh slow cooked rump roast or pork loin. Army buys them out of convenience too. They are also heavy as shit, keep that in mind. Strip 'em down if you do use 'em, that would be good advice.

No joke, I'm kinda in here with him. Lots of soldiers are, but when you get hungry enough you'll eat it. One time I didn't pack any food at all for a week other than a big hard loaf of bread and a container of humus. But some guys became MRE chefs, mixing shit from different packs and coming up with pudding, cakes and all kinds of stuff.

The MRE's are rich, but in the field you burn up calories faster. As a grunt, I've seen folks LOSE 5-10lbs eating 3 a day. We were always told to never diet in the field.

Still, if I were you I'd pack anything BUT MRE's. If you are deadset on getting them, just get a case or two. They change them up from time to time, what you get now isn't all the same as in '00 or even '04. I'm sure they are all completely different now.

But typically the stuff that sounds like it might be good out of a packet is better than not. Wet stuff is better than dried stuff; the "hamburger" was SHIT!!! I hated that worse than the damn bean burrito.

One time in NTC, we got so damn sick of them, ate them for a month straight with nothing else to break up the monotony, NOTHING no fresh kills or mermites, so our platoon ended up with a 5ton truck FULL of ratf*cked MRE's. Everything was there except the snacks and the heaters.

We packed the heaters in empty bottles (about 50 or so per) and wrapped them up in duct tape, added a little water and threw them in the air driving around the desert for a big bang --dangerous as shit, but when you're bored... The heaters are actually quite useful in the field for other stuff, especially the hard thin square of crushed magnesium!

Yeah, MRE heaters are GREAT for starting fires in the wet woods if nothing else. Of course they come with matches...

NASA food is supposed to be pretty good, I don't know if there is a viable source for it or if they only sell it to civvies as a novelty. But some of that stuff looked decent. I'd look into that before an MRE. I had several cases I stocked away a decade ago and sold them to a guy in the end. I used to keep a few in the truck and car, they are good for that if you pick the stuff that will last in heat. MRE's, btw, are supposed to be stored in a refrigerator. I don't think they keep as long as the Vietnam C rations and stuff I STILL see for sale in Tillicum.

Funny, MRE's are such a popular topic!
 
#72
Re: school me on MREs for a hunting trip

<span style="font-weight: bold">My Wise food samples from Ceylonc arrived today! I'll be taking a camping trip to the coast in a couple weeks & will give a thorough review with pics after that.</span>

First impressions, they are 2 serving packs & similar in size to mountian house & the like. Looking at the nutrition label there is a lot of sodium but that is the same with all of these types of foods it seems. I don't require a low sodium diet, and the extra sodium would probably be used up working outside/hiking anyway. <span style="font-weight: bold">What surprised me was that all three flavors are very low in cholesterol. (5mg or 0mg)</span> I'll do some research just to be certain, but every mountain house I've ever eaten had anywhere from 20-40+ mg of cholesterol.
 
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