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Post by spinifex on Mar 5, 2019 20:28:55 GMT 10
More energy and fat is desirable in cold conditions as are heated foods. In high temp climates 'heavy' foods (ie fat/protein rich) make me feel crappy after eating them so I'd avoid them.
I took a dig through the pre-packaged section of the supermarket looking for complete pre-made meals. Looks like the older style meals packaged in heavy foil trays that one could drop onto a small fire to heat up, are superceded by plastic containers designed only for microwave. That's progress for you.
As a point of interest: Japanese troops marched all over the tropics on little more than plain rice, bean paste and bully beef. Beef being more of a luxury. They consumed something called 'parched rice' while on the march as it didn't need any further cooking. Survival rations can look very basic and be very boring indeed. I personally think that for average folks, the hard-core utility of a ratpak needs balance with items that are a bit enjoyable to help keep morale up.
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feralemma
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Post by feralemma on Mar 6, 2019 10:43:17 GMT 10
As far as adding lightweight, cheap food try making hard tack but with some variations. Ie, add rolled or quick oats, and sugar or golden syrup. Make savoury ones with some beef stock flavoring or plenty of salt. Dehydrate and powder vegies and vac seal to add to rice or noodles. Deb mashed potato powder. Cup a soup packets can be added to noodles to make them more filling and tastier. Tea, coffee, milo/hot chocolate can make a huge difference to energy levels and morale, without adding much weight or cost. Sweetened condensed milk is your friend. Boiled lollies like barley sugars are fantastic. Agree with the jerky and biltong, or use foil packets of tuna, mince etc. For the $40 it cost you to make that rat pack, you could have bought 4 full dehydrated/freeze dried meal packets from BCF (or other camping stores) when they're on sale! Given that the rat packs may have to last a long time before use, keeping the cost down and using items with a long shelf life are the main priorities in my view 😊 they don't need to be fancy, or full of treats, they just need to provide enough energy to keep you going!
Just got my hands on a cheap dehydrator so going to be trying to make some roo jerky this week.....which should work out nearly free instead of costing a fortune like normal jerky!
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frostbite
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Post by frostbite on Mar 6, 2019 11:48:20 GMT 10
Indian supermarkets have the boil in the foil meals, but they are all vegetarian.
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norseman
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Post by norseman on Mar 7, 2019 7:08:36 GMT 10
... We can read and learn from many soldier accounts of the universal practice of “Field Stripping” conventional Ration Packs to get rid of all the “useless sh*t”! Saves weight, saves bulk, creates simplicity within their personal fighting system but wastes a lot of money! Please remember Defence Organisations everywhere including both Public and Private funded regard pre-packaged field rations to be the most expensive, most inefficient way to feed their people. This is why in my opinion it is not a good idea to create a model styled completely on these ration types. The modern issue US “First Strike” Ration was developed to reduce the weight, complexity, cost, shelf-life issues and packaging found in conventional ration models. The “First Strike” is the type of ration I would suggest emulating if you are going to build this stuff! The UK among others have also recently started to introduce similar ration types. What if you were to limit your Ration Pack design to say (random) six items, what would you select? How would you package it? I've been off googling 'First Strike' Rations... good tip. The ones we have are still pretty bloated (especially the kids ones!!) - i got my kid to field strip hers yesterday so it's a little smaller now but we'll go and field test them in a week or so and that should help weed them out a bit. To answer the question about climate: we're in Gippsland in the middle of all the fires but weren't affected directly. It rains 9 months of the year but we aren't up a mountain so it doesn't freeze. Out of curiousity, how would you change a ratpack for heat vs cold weather? Do you need less energy in hot weather or something? Here is the prototype / early trial ration version:-  Unfortunately later versions virtually become as complex as their standard rations! |
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Post by Joey on Mar 24, 2019 10:44:35 GMT 10
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