MRE's / USA and foreign

[airdrop]

https://mremountain.com/ This site sells them
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKrhfYf3bJM This guy tests them , very interesting .

[apache235]

$85 for a 24hr pack? Seems a bit steep.

[0utlaw]

Gastrointestinal distress in multiple languages....

[redman2006]

I wish we could find something similar in a soy free version for an emergency.

[W.Lynn]

redman, how bad is the distress going to be if it's not soy-free?

I know my allergy (not soy,) a couple epinephrine injectors, and maybe some Benadryl, probably be ok, talk to another medic asap, etc. Lots of people don't have even generic injectors.

[redman2006]

Horrible headaches, vomiting and diarrhea. Not life threatening. Very miserable and somewhat incapacitating.

Thing is, the teen daughter has the same issue now. It is not as bad as her mom, but bad enough and getting worse

They both can tolerate some in food, but it build over several days, so even a very small amount daily will put her in misery after two or three days.

Going out to eat, with very few exceptions, is a bad plan. Mexican (small local restaurants only) and sushi (no soy sauce) are two of the few things we can enjoy safely.

Chain restaurants are terrible. Even something like breakfast is bad as now most of the oils and nonstick sprays actually contain soy.

I bought a case of pilot biscuits and can't use them as two of the three adults are now intolerant of the soy.

Anyway, if she had to, we could use a little soy food with a lt of other stuff to dilute it, but that sure makes the point of grab and go long term emergency food a moot point.

[airdrop]

You can use this mix of MRE's to put together your own type of quick food packs from the grocery shelf .

[W.Lynn]

How about the single-ingredient freeze-dried foods from emergency essentials? Still my go-to, since Thrive uses so many of ”here's a complete thing, with our seasoning blend!" (And doesn't list the seasonings, and it's a common enough one that makes my mouth & nose start swelling.)

[W.Lynn]

To be fair, both have good single-ingredient foods like the fruit, and I haven't had trouble with the yogurts. They taste good straight up, and rehydrate ok, but with soy issues, I would want label info. Also, talk to Mark (? I'm used to just thinking of him as armor dude,) I believe his wife has more allergies than anyone I know.

[redman2006]

Lynn, we have freeze dried and dehydrated foods that are ok, but right now, I keep a few packets of emergency go food, no heating, no cooking at the ready. Nothing has a decent shelf life though. That is where an mRe shines. Tornado, bad storm, local evac for something like a gas leak, etc, I would love to have a long shelf life, quick meal on the go.

We had a gas leak that kept up out of our home for 2 days. It overwhelmed the local restaurants with people, motels were packed, and so on. It just would have been much simpler to have something like an mre. The same as when I get stuck at the clinic on snow days for several days running. I can get out, but there is nowhere to go if I do.

[0utlaw]

Red we have much the same dilemma here with hurricanes, we are in place where we can usually ride out the storm but afterwards we are on our own for a good while. We consider evac but there is really no where to go that isn't overrun. Weighing the two options we usually opt for aggressive self rescue and stay put.
I can see where allergies could seriously complicate that decision making matrix. At least you are taking the time to address the issue ahead of time, it will certainly help when the SHTF.

[W.Lynn]

I do understand, we use the shelf-stable stuff every time the river is over the highway (and it's almost that time of year again.) The allergies are the hard part, soy is in so many things. Want a stabilizer and not lose your "grain-free" label that makes the fanatical Paleo, or otherwise anti-gluten people happy? Use soy lecithin! Want to stretch the meat ingredients with something that has a nice texture, but is cheap? Little spongy chunks of TVP, essentially, bits of spongy soy protein.

It must be a lot like being allergic to corn, with corn this, corn that, and modified corn starch or some form of corn syrup in nearly everything.

[redman2006]

We were all prepped last year for a huge hurricane...that never hapened. I fully intended to stay in place. The baby has complicated that a little.

This last storm hit out of nowhere. It drove home the need for grab and go non cook type food in the pack.

[W.Lynn]

You know those cookie and brownie mason jar gifts? There's currently a meal-in-a-jar theme that pops up sometimes.

The answer may simply be to practice with the long-term supplies and get the recipes figured out. Make up a few cases of jars, dump this jar of freeze-dried, pre-measured stuff in a pot, add two jars of water, soak 1 hour, then heat and simmer until edible? I'm not measuring things out into jars, but that's pretty much why I buy the small packages to experiment with. I work it into the regular menu, which also preps the family to eat it.

[redman2006]

That makes sense, and we have some of those as 'intermediate" foods. It requires heat and extra water water, which is why I would like to go the other route with a fully prepped meal that could be eaten cold, but might be better warm. it is not an insurmountable issue, but it is frustrating that I can't just throw three or four in a pack.