MRE for tours
 

...may need to be in touring...


Meal Ready to Eat..... Does anyone eat these?

I think by taking about 3 of them on a tour would not weigh much but would be nice if you couldn't find a meal that evening.

Where can you find these? A few years ago working in car audio, some guy from the army gave us all a few of these and they were really tasty and supposedly high in nutrition and could be cooked by itself without need of any heat source or tools, just a spork.

Not weight much? MRE's are *incredibly heavy*, because they contain a huge amount of packaging, to help preserve and protect them, and have even more moisture than you'd usually find in the equivalent fresh foods.

Also, they're known as "Meals Rarely Exit" because of the almost total lack of fiber, and the consequent effect on your digestive system...

MRE's are the sort of things you transport by truck, not by human power. :-)

Dehydrated camping foods are what you want. I like http://www.hawkvittles.com/ - he's well known in camping circles, and his food is a heck of a lot tastier, and has a lot less salt, than most commercial dehydrated food. He'll also make the food to order, if you want. You can also get commerically packaged stuff at any camping store by companies like Mountain House, but you'll probably gag at the price for just a single portion.





- Rich

Where are you touring that you figure you might not be able to fine food that evening?

I tour in first-world countries, where there's usually at least one store per day, but I look ahead on the map and if there's going to be a long stretch with no stores/towns, I add some extra food to the bags before I head out into it.

I carry one "emergency meal" on tours, and if I eat it, I replace it at the next store. The emergency meal might be just a package of cous cous or pasta, maybe a foil packet of tuna. I usually have some kind of spices and olive oil anyway, to spice things up. Also, I usually have some kind of snack/lunch stuff anyway, like PB&J or cheese & crackers or pop tarts, so even if I don't get to have what is traditionally dinner food, I still don't starve.

I wouldn't carry an MRE, too heavy. And if you are already carrying a stove, the heater (is it chemical?) in the MRE is redundant weight.

I dont want to carry any cooking utensils (stove included), so dehydrated food wont work for me. So far I've planned cashews and some sort of trail mix to get me through, but thought a meal would be nice.

I get worried around west Texas. West of Ft Worth I would take the 180 to El Paso, then from there it looks like no civilization for 60 miles or more on highway 9 to 338 to I-10, but then again I dont know the area. Interstate travel is illegal in NM which by the route I have chosen I would be on it for less than 10 miles, maybe even just 4 if I take 80 instead of 338.

Beef Jerky.

You'd be best off doing what the others indicated; Foil packs of tuna, whatever kind of flatbreads you happen to like, perhaps some hard cheese and/or jerky, and couscous. You mention not wanting to bring a stove, but I just checked, and my "camp" kit of an alcohol stove, fuel bottle, collapsing pot, firestarter, and utensils are approximately half the volume of a single MRE. Their weight doesn't even register on my bathroom scale. If you're not familiar with what's currently available in cooking tools these days, you may want to re-evaluate your decision. There's a lot to be said for being prepared for those days when you just don't want/can't hit a store but still would like a hot meal. :-)

here's some info on MRE's

http://www.ki4u.com/mre.htm

from the looks of it they seem kind of heavy.

and reading the descriptions:

http://www.campingsurvival.com/fulmremilrea.html

the 12 pack case weighs 19lbs. so it's at least over 1lb per meal might as well carry the fuel and stove and use the water in your since you are touring and would be carrying water anyways.

Another thing I'd be concerned with is health, you need energy to tour long distances and these things are made to survive nuclear disasters and 10 year shelf lives. It's pumped full or artificial preservatives that would probably put formaldehyde to shame.