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15K views 34 replies 24 participants last post by  IamZeke 
#1 ·
Just curious to know if anyone has ever made their own MRE's....just the entre' not the entire meal with all the extras.

I was thinking that you could make something on the order of Beaf stew or similar and pour it into a small....say 5x8" mylar bag,squeeze out as much as as possible,then seal it.
 
#7 · (Edited)
Here's the bill of fare for one of my home made MRE's as an attachment. I can tell you for a fact that the Nutrigrain bar and the chewy granola bar didn't fare well. Vacuum packing badly affected the consistency of the product. It was edible. I'm learning a few things by trying these out. I think I'll have a reasonable substitute soon.
 

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#8 ·
MREs are basically canned food, except that the can is in the form of a bag.
But they're still hermetically sealed in a sterile environment.

IOW, you'd have to apply the same principles to home canning otherwise your food will go bad.

If you know how to do that in mylar, more power to ya. If not, you're risking botulism.

I agree with the previous poster: Start out with some canned food (stew, chili, etc.) and add other items that have a long shelf life (ramen noodles, cup-a soup, etc.)
 
#9 ·
Thanks all for the replys.I honestly didnt think it was doable.....I've thought about it for some time now and I seriously doubt I'd go any farthur then simply thinking about it.
I do alot of dehydrating(144 quarts of asst'd vegs to date) and I have about 25 5 gallon pails of Soup beans,rice,lentils,powdered milk...11-16 bean soup beans mix,etc.etc.
....And many cases of asst'd can goods....all stuff that mama and I eat on a rotational basis.:D:
 
#11 ·
Thanks all for the replys.I honestly didnt think it was doable.....I've thought about it for some time now and I seriously doubt I'd go any farthur then simply thinking about it.
It's absolutely do-able. And a good idea, imo. MRE'S are simply food thats ready to comsume on the go. Easy to pack & carry.

But they shouldn't be your staple items. Canning, and other food preps are best for long-term storage in situations where one might dig-in, or stay (e.g., BOL's, saferooms, pantrys, etc.)

But I would make some MRE type meals (or buy them. I prefer to make up my own according to what I like) for your GHB or 72 Hour Kit.

I buy small zip-loc type bags to hold things like sqwincher singles, instant coffees, clean-wipes, salt, sugar, pepper, etc.

I buy tuna steaks in single foil pouches, buy bulk dried veggies & fruits, rice, chocolate, peanut butter, honey, oatmeal, power bars, cliff bars, etc. You get the point.

Vac seal these things like you find the MRE's packaged.

Keep these meals in your kits and packs for unforseen emergencies. Sure you can have all your preps nicely tucked away at home or hideout, but having enough food to last 3-5 days packed away is just good insurance.
 
#10 ·
Try to figure out one days meals in such a wat that it fits into a gallon ziplock bag.

Instant oatmeal
Instant coffee
Granola bar

Top Ramen
Gatoraid powder
Power bar

2 slices of Spam
Granola bar
Instant coffee

Vitamin packet
Hot cocoa
Tea bag
Various condiments salt, pepper, honey and a bullion cube etc

That's not all I have in mine, just all I can remember.

Sure it takes a lot of water to prepare, but you'd be surprised what fits in a gallon Ziplock.
 
#12 ·
You'd have to process them in some way to make them shelf stable. I don't know if the canning guidelines would apply. The MREs are made by putting sterile food into sterile bags in a sterile environment from what I've heard. I don't know if they're heat processed after that or not, but they appear to be by the way some of the foods have melted/molded themselves to the bag.

You'd have to find bags rated for whatever processing you would need to use. I'm sure google would turn up info for or against.
 
#14 ·
Doc Simonson, Never heard of "hard tack" what is that? you have it listed as a side.

As far as MREs, I make my own too. I use the tuna foil packet things like you can get spam singles in, they work great. I use my daughters capri sun packets (rinse the hell out of them) and then fill them with rice and food seal them as nice little mylar packets, or throw in some noodles, a ramen packet. I also add stuff I like or use, fast food salt/pepper packets, gas station condiment packets (mayo, mustard,relish) and silverware packets/sporks. I really like the tuna with mayo, relish and pepper, hmmm. I add single serving green teas, single serving drink mix, sometimes soup broth, or Lipton instant soup packets just depends on time of the year. Finally I add something crunchy that I can snack on like trail mix, peanuts, sunflower seeds, dehydrated fruit etc. I can make MREs that I like far far cheaper than store brand ones. I through them into gallon ziploc bags and am done. If I want to look "special" I could seal them in a food saver bags, but those are pricey to waste in my opinion. Mainly I have it all in the plastic tupperware shoebox containers in my spare pantry (ie guest bedroom closet) :)
If weight is not a concern, I will use ready made soups like Chunky or Progresso, cans of Dinty Moore, etc.
Enjoy, experiment, make what works for you.
 
#16 · (Edited)
Doc Simonson, Never heard of "hard tack" what is that? you have it listed as a side.

As far as MREs, I make my own too. I use the tuna foil packet things like you can get spam singles in, they work great. I use my daughters capri sun packets (rinse the hell out of them) and then fill them with rice and food seal them as nice little mylar packets, or throw in some noodles, a ramen packet.
Outlawed by the Geneva Convention, hardtack is an unleavened type of bread that is so hard it can conceivably break teeth. It is nutritious if you can ingest it, and so I make hardtack nuggets rather than cracker sized pieces. I've found that you can put them into soup and they turn into a very odd dumpling of sorts.

From the Hi-Point Forum:
Army Hardtack Recipe
Ingredients:

4 cups flour (perferably whole wheat)
4 teaspoons salt
Water (about 2 cups)
Pre-heat oven to 375° F
Makes about 10 pieces
Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl. Add just enough water (less than two cups) so that the mixture will stick together, producing a dough that won’t stick to hands, rolling pin or pan. Mix the dough by hand. Roll the dough out, shaping it roughly into a rectangle. Cut into the dough into squares about 3 x 3 inches and ½ inch thick.

After cutting the squares, press a pattern of four rows of four holes into each square, using a nail or other such object. Do not punch through the dough. The appearance you want is similar to that of a modern saltine cracker. Turn each square over and do the same thing to the other side.

Place the squares on an ungreased cookie sheet in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Turn each piece over and bake for another 30 minutes. The crackers should be slightly brown on both sides.

The fresh crackers are easily broken but as they dry, they harden and assume the consistentency of fired brick. (An underestimation in my opinion!) Honestly, you could use it for a weapon.


If you open the foil packs of tuna, spam or chicken just right (snip away 3 sides) you are left with a nice cutting board. If your knife is sharp, you won't have to exert too much pressure, so no worries about cutting through the bag.

I'll have to try the juice container trick. That sounds really useful.
 
#19 ·
Maybe you really want to make up some K rations, as opposed to MRE. The home technology for an MRE isn't really there, but you could do K rations if you wanted to. Check out wikipedia.

Here's what the old rations carried: Breakfast: canned chopped ham and eggs or veal loaf), biscuits, a dried fruit bar or cereal bar, water purification tablets, a 4-pack of cigarettes, chewing gum, instant coffee, and sugar.

Dinner: canned processed cheese, ham, or ham and cheese, biscuits, 15 malted milk balls or 5 caramels, sugar, salt packet, a 4-pack of cigarettes and a box of matches, chewing gum, and a powdered beverage packet, lemon, orange, or grape.

Supper: canned meat, either chicken paté, pork luncheon meat with carrot and apple, beef and pork loaf, or sausages; biscuits; a 2-ounce emergency chocolate bar, or "Tropical" bar; a packet of toilet paper tissues; a 4-pack of cigarettes; chewing gum, and a bouillon soup cube or powder packet.

That's a good starting point. If you're thinking to do up a few of these for your bug out bag or pantry if you have to bug in with no power, or to hand out to relatives, it's interesting what they included: gum, cigarettes (today maybe some hard candy, or trail mix instead) matches, chocolate and toilet paper. Just add water, and it's all the essentials of life! Add some vitamins and a travel toothbrush and you're set.

The bullion and flavored drink packets encourage you to drink more fluids. Bullion and sugar cubes are super light but give you energy and fill you up. If it carried the boys through WWII, it should keep you going through your bugout. Just personalize to meet your own familes' needs. You could use hot chocolate mix packets, tea bags, protein bars, peanut butter and cracker individual packets, etc. There's a lot of stuff at Sam's or Costco that could go in there easily.
 
#27 ·
K rations as opposed to MRE



Thank you, it was confusing. I was trying to find out how to make a healthy, good tasting, low salt MRE, the kind that heats itself. But I can now stop searching and just fill plastic bags with quick ready to eat healthy snacks and use the canned food for real meals to heat on a little stove or fire.

Not sure how well the guys in WWII survived, they all looked like skin and bones. Real vitamins, not synthetic are essential.
 
#20 ·
The grocery stores are carrying more and more items in bagged forms that seem like they should keep just as long as any MRE if stored in the same way. The bagged tuna with seasoning added are very good, I like the sweet & spicy one the best. They also have premade burrito mix with rice, chiken, beans and spices now that are pretty good. Both of these items are about $1.70 and about the same size as the main meal portion in an MRE.
 
#22 · (Edited)
For those that say "you cannot make home-made MREs last that long" I just grabbed 2 of mine and decided to look at the dates, here is what I found. I made 10 of these in April 2010, they are the oldest ones I have, based on my notes and what I normally do, I made about 10, and have these 2 left. I have some I made in November of 2010 too, but those are only 4 months old so not a great example. I figure these from 4/2010 which are now about a year old are a good example.

"MRE" #1
-Two 2.5 oz foil packets of Bumble Bee Premium Tuna, Expiration Best by 2/2014
-Four small boxes of Rasins, best buy date 12/2013
-Drink mix packet (use by 1/2013) but I have used these 2 years past best buy dates with no issues
-3 ounces dry rice with dehydrated peas/corn, mylar sealed (by me) should be good 4 years easy
2 packets instant oatmeal with strawberries, best buy 1/2014
Condiments, salt, peppar, chicken broth cubes, sugar packets, and instant tea.
total cost to make MRE#1 (based on prices at Safeway store this morning) less than $5.00


MRE #2
-2 foil packets Pink bonless skinless Salmon, best buy 1/23/2014
-6 oz peanuts best buy 12/2013
-Lipton chicken noodle soup mix, best buy 10/2013 (eaten this over 1 year past that, no problems)
-4 oz dry pasta heat sealed by me (cut spagetti by the feel of it) dated 5/2013 by me (probably from the original package, but heat/vacuum sealed should be longer).
-2 packets of Quaker instant oatmeal w/brown sugar, best buy 2/2014
-2 instant lemonade drink mixes, best by 1/2013 (same as above in MRE#1)
condiments, similar to MRE #1
Total price for MRE#2 based on Safeway prices this morning, about $6.50 (however I could probably feed 1 adult/1 kid with this one if needed).

As designed each MRE had at least 30g of protein if not more, and at least 2000 calories.

Now I have friends that can get fresh MRE cases through the BX/PX for about $65/case, which is roughly $5-6 per meal (same as me above), yes they last longer, however:
1) I don't like all the meals, I have no control over the "extras" candy, fruit, etc that comes with them,
2) I have no ability to pack based on season, or location etc where I am going.
3) From a "parent" stand point, they are harder to convince a kid to eat, lets face it, they often look bad, smell bad, and don't taste great, getting a 4 year old to eat normally isn't easy, some of those meals forget it. I would be hard pressed to eat "chipped beef in cream sauce" even if I was hungry. My kids know what Quaker oatmeal should look and taste like, they know what to expect when I open a foil packet of Tuna, etc.

Also I can build these MREs at my own pace on my budget when I want to, how I want to and it is easy to rotate stuff back into our normal diet when due dates are approaching. Are they going to last for 10 years, nope, they aren't, both MREs I built should be good easily for 44 months from the day I made them ( 4/2010-12/2013) since I don't worry about the drink mix in either and I know in MRE 2 the noodles would be good for atleast another 8 months vacuum and heat sealed. So my home made MREs were good for 3.75 years. :)

If I wanted to go "budget" on my meals I could get them even lower, the foil fish packets I usually pick up for $1.25-$1.50 depending on sales, and type of fish, 5 ounce cans I pick up for $0.44, that would cust easily a dollar off each meal from what I made, but increase the weight a bit so it just depends on your goals/purpose. I take mine camping/finishing so I like minimal trash so the foil packs fit my purpose better.
 
#28 ·
I vacuum-sealed our home-made MRE's 5 years ago, and they are still good, still sealed today. Most of it is dry stuff, however- oats, sugar, freeze-dried soup mixes, instant coffee/hot chocolate, milk, etc. I would re-do the vitamin thingy however, next time- they seemed to decompose inside the package...perhaps they need to be left in a plastic container. That was the only thing that I have seen that didn't hold up, and that I would do differently.
 
#35 ·
I would re-do the vitamin thingy however, next time- they seemed to decompose inside the package...perhaps they need to be left in a plastic container. That was the only thing that I have seen that didn't hold up, and that I would do differently.
Nothing you can do for vitamins. Whatever the date is on the bottle that is the max life date. After that they degrade, if not before. Vitamins have an actual expiration date, not a best by date.

Vitamin tablets should be removed from your food LTS. Freezing won't help either. Just use them up by the date on the bottle.

Best way to store vitamins is inside food.
 
#31 ·
entrée items only for info is 'Rip-n-Ready' meat and sauce packs. over cooked noodles, taters, rice, pasta or grits/polenta quite good and plenty for 2 hungry men, can feed more women/kids of course.
seems it's 'el paso' that makes the burrito fillings - quite good.
also the foil 'bags/packets' there's spam, chicken, tuna and chili w/beans (seems Hormel can't recall except fairly tasty compared to 'c rats') and also 'libby's' foil pack seasoned beef crumbles - really tasty mixed into hot cooked rice. those and a can of beans/peas as side is filling and nutritious.
don't rule out canned pasta sauce some comes with meat and adding small can of chopped seasoned tomato really stretches it out. mushrooms cheese and/or veggys. atop freshly boiled pasta topped with parmesan, romano or other 'dried' cheese good and feeds 3 men or 4 gals with kids. not my favorite by long shot but easy to make for variety sake and can add some gleaned wild veggys to. can simmer down mr squirrel, rabbit or raccoon pull/chop the meat and add in to simmer.
I'm leaving out tips for instant milk, granola/energy bars (some can be homemade almost like pemmican), bisquick and packaged bread mix (should be obvious if you pack a pan with lid) instant drink/juice powders and more. many of these are used commonly in rv camping or trailer.
 
#32 ·
I think canning is the way to go. Harder to carry with you, but I don't know if I would want to try and recreate the MRE at home. Safety concerns number one.

I am going to hit canning hard in the next spring to fall. Also want to try doing the pie in a jar for deserts.

To carry in the pack I will stick with jerky, my own trail mix and power bars.
 
#33 ·
I make short life MRE's to take to the woods hunting...Most stuff in them will last 2 years easily and as I use them I make more Entree's are chicken salad and cracker boxes...salmon salad and cracker boxes and tuna salad and cracker boxes we can get at the local grocery store...Those "Lunch on the run things! I pack a couple of Capri Suns in it...(no corn syrup...100% fruit juice) or a bottle of water. Juice boxes would also be good....A Pack of Peanut butter crackers and a pack or two of single serve fig bars and a plastic spoon...I throw em in the shrink wrapper and just pull the air out a little to hold them close but dont actually vacumm pack them...keeps them airtight and dry this way....Here's a few links on the subject!

http://pacnorwild.blogspot.com/2012/06/diy-mre.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U01oc8aiu-o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg9NCeEsbj4


http://www.shtfblog.com/diyhow-to-make-your-own-mres-at-home/

The third link is if you carry water and maybe a small pot and rocket stove....With all the stuff you can put in a home made MRE it can go big or small.

http://www.directive21.com/blog/2014/03/diy-mres/
 
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