Home Assembled 'Ration Pack'

[Toadflax]

I'm planning on going to the Wilderness Gathering and for simplicity, I was going to buy a couple of the 24-hour ration packs from Farside Marketing just to save myself the hassle of assembling two days worth of food. These are based on the British Army 24-hour one man packs but are available commercially. At just under £10 a time, they seem a bit expensive at first glance, but if you look at what you might spend if you got 24 hours worth of food from a cafe or food stall or somewhere similar, the price doesn't seem too unreasonable (though it does grate a bit paying money for what used to be issued to me as a 1-man compo pack)...and I suppose anything left over can just go into my daysack for future use...

...but this led me on to think about assembling my own for future outings but I think that the main problem would be the economics of getting the sundry items (e.g. small packets of sugar, coffee, milk powder, etc. which I suspect can only be bought in bulk) and even the main meals themselves. I suppose I could buy lots of little Tupperware containers or something similar, but I wonder if anyone else has tried to do this before (i.e. assemble a ration pack) - and what success you had.

I just want to make it easy for myself as I reckon there will be loads to do and see at the Gathering, and I don't want to spend all my time queuing at food stalls, or cooking meals from scratch.


Geoff

 

[john scrivy]

I use for quickness TEA typoo instant -half a dozen spoon fulls in a small plastic bag carefully folded takes up little space Breakfast Oat so simple Lunch I would recon you take a cup with you -empty the contents of a pot noodal into again a plastic bag and well fold so far every thing mentioned is hot food only requiring hot water and a cup you could suppliment these with mars bars flap jacks my advice if you dont fancy cookin make freinds quick and ponse some food HOPE YOU HAVE A REALLY GOOD TIME WISH I WERE THERE Best of all is making the time and doing things right from the start why are you doing this if you are not prepared to put in effort

 

[xylaria]

Man cannot live by pot noodle alone!!!!

Canned all day breakfast, hot pot etc empty into zip lock bags then carry in tuppaware box. Lidl do a pot noodle ware the powder comes in a sachette in the pot, so these may pack better, they are as mingy as standard pot noodle but half the price, they also do good quatiy salami and a powered fruit tea that wieghs nothing and very nice hot or cold.

Or you could

make freinds quick and ponse some food

say you are a freegan .

 

[Gwhtbushcraft]

Genuine army surplus sell army rat packs for £4.50. The postage is a bit pricey though given the nature of the product.
http://www.genuinearmysurplus.co.uk/pages/products/detail/name=british-army-24hr-ration-pack/rowid=419

altenitavely you could contact jasper a strike force supplies as he often has them in and sells them for £5 but he attends the wilderness gathering and has a stall there. Phone him and reserve some to pick up when you get there.
http://www.strikeforcesupplies.co.uk/
Good luck and see you there. (Im the thirteen year old in the swanndri)

 

[clcuckow]

salt, pepper, sugar, sweetener, vinegar, sauces etc = ASDA or Tesco's cafe

Chinese grocers often do loose soy, chili sauces etc and cheap tasty flavored noodles I got some really good Ko-Lee instant chow mein with four flavor sachets for 28p I just with I could remember which one it was from there are so many good ones around here.

Thali also so do some good boil in the bag rice and curry boxed meal packs that are not to bad a price I get they from Tesco's.

Have you also tried those long life pasta in tomato and Basil, pasta and green pesto microwave meals? Well they also work as boil in the bag.

 

[Eric_Methven]

Next time you're in a motorway service station, pop into the restaurant and stock up on all the small packets of stuff. MacDonalds are OK about handing out 'dips'. I usually ask for a handful of assorted dips when I'm in getting a happy meal for the grandkids. A small tin of PEK chopped ham and pork makes a great substitute for bacon grill, small packets of individually wrapped biscuits can be had from cafes, it's just a matter of collecting odds and sods as you go. Even if you don't need them at that time. Lidl do saches of nescafe with whitner and sugar already added. Just open, pour into cup, add hot water and drink.

Eric

 

[British Red]

Tescos do packets of instant white Nescafe (if you must), crappachino, latte etc. I did track down a suplier of those individual UHT milk pots (since I use them in me bimbles) and they aren't too bad for a big box but the postage is pricey. However moo milk comes in small packs for kids lunches (UHT milk). Raven do okay freeze dried or as other said -dump a can in a boil in the bag plastic bag and buy a cheap vacuum sealer. Throw in the useful stuff - handy packet of tissues, box of waterproof matches, strip of puritabs etc. Screech is available at a silly price in camping stores (instant orange or lemon) but you can get a big tub of instant lucozade powder from supermarkets. Lyons coffee bags are great for a caffeine hit. Bannock can be pre mixed and serve for pancakes, bread etc. Mini marmalades and marmite are sold in stores. Salt, sugar etc are widely available in sachets. Oxo cubes and flavour sachets from all sorts come in handy. I use small ziplocks for herbs and spices..

Short answer is "yes" I do use a variety of content depending on purpose (light weight for backpacking, luxury for car camping). I keep a few made up too for those "nice weekend, lets just go" moments.

Heres a light weight one

Meals
1 Dehydrated Breakfast
1 Dehydrated Main Meal
1 Dehydrated Desert
Sundries
10 tissues (plastic wrapped)
1 box all weather matches sealed in ziplock
Snacks pack (sealed in ziplock)
1 muesli bar
2 chocolate bars
3 small fuit bars
1 small sugar free chewing gum
Drinks pack (sealed in ziplock)
1 isotonic sports drink powder
4 Sugar sachets
2 Drink whitener
1 vegetable stock drink
2 sachets instant white tea
2 sachets coffee
1 sachet latte
1 sachet cappuccino
2 sachets sauce
1 sachet salt
1 tea bag
10 puritabs
Net weight of ration pack 750g (as opposed to 1600g for MRE rat pack).

Hope that Helps

Red

 

[clcuckow]

One the drinks front while on holiday in FL I got a load of unsweetend sachets of Lemon Kool Aid they make up to 1/2 a US gallon and you can add as little or much sugar as you liked, in my case none. I had a swedish folding cup with me and it was so refreshing to add a little powder when ever I got a drink from a water fountain. I only used one sachet all holiday by use folding the top over and they were only 10 or 20 cents each! Walmarts own brand were even cheaper.

 

[reddeath]

If anyone is stuck for drinks sachets i have quite a few nestle cappachino sweetened one cup type, drop me a pm and i will try and get a few to you

 

[john scrivy]

British red > HI > what do you estimate the cost of your ration pack

 

[British Red]

John,

No idea sorry, a bunch of us bought a load of Raven in a group buy a while back and most of the other stuff is either scrounged from hotels (drink sachets, sauces etc.) or acquired from round the house. What it actually cost me - about a fiver I guess but if I had to buy all the bits then more.

Red

 

[wingstoo]

Catering packs of beverages including green coffee beans for Red to home roast can be found HERE

Some good prices if you do a lot of outdoor stuff or a group buy perhaps.

LS

 

[Toadflax]

I have now got a couple of the 24 hour ration packs from Farside Marketing, as my local surplus store don't have any, and I did a bit of research on the cost of building up an equivalent myself. Some of the stuff would be easy /cheap to get hold of but I think the bulk of the cost would be getting the boil in the bag main meal, pudding and breakfast. Online shops seem to be selling these at £3 to £4 per bag (plus postage) so the cost of the Farside pack at £10 does seem a fair price. I'd probably look at replacing the boil in the bag meals with tinned meals if I try making up my own (a la Compo rations) but even these aren't what I'd call cheap. Surplus Army rat packs seem to be cheaper, but if you have to get these mail order, the postage can be prohibitive.

If I was going bushcrafting, then I'd probably take raw ingredients, as cooking from scratch is part of the point of 'playing' at buschrafting. However, for an event like the Wilderness Gathering where I want convenient food that is going to be quick and easy to prepare, these packs look good.


Geoff

 

[philaw]

I like xylaria's tip: "Man cannot live by pot noodle alone!"

Personally, I've got a corner of a cupboard where I've stocked up on long life, light weight foods ready for my next trip. when it's time to go I'll just take what I fancy.

My recent discovery is tuna with sauce in little sachets that are a lot lighter than tins and a great source of protein on the road.

Here's some food ideas:
jerky, burger rocks, noodles, dried fruit and nuts, chocolate, bacon, boiled eggs, flapjack, fresh fruit and veg, tea,coffee and milk, whey protein, parmesan, milk/ powdered milk, dried veg, tofu skin, peanut butter

 

[John Fenna]

All in one meal?

 

[john scrivy]

John if you made that lot up into a meal what could you call it

 

[lou1661]

if you made that lot up into a meal what could you call it

Hi,
If you were to make all that lot up it would be called "pot mess" or "all in one stew", seems to be what i live off!! :yelrotflm
lou

 

[wanderinstar]

Has no one thought about doing a Group Buy for these Raven meals?

 

[Pablo]

Instant tea is good with a small sealable bag of sugar (sweet tooth).

Have you thought about pre-cooked stuff? I (well... Mrs Pablo) makes up some stew or chilli. It's poured into a 'pour and store' bag and then frozen together with small bags of water. The whole lot is packed flat into one of those small cool bags the size of a lunch box (I think you get them from Tescoids - blue colour - fits okay into the top of a rucksack). I can get three main meals from that over three days. The cool bag and frozen bags keep the meals 'refridgerated'. For warmer temperatures it might only last two days. Add a bit of precooked rice or pasta shells.

Oatsosimple is also good for breakfast. Cereal bars and mini choc bars are good as are trail nuts.

I always make sure I take along some fresh fruit (despite the weight) as well and I take Vit C tablets).

Pablo.

 

[Raptor]

Hi Folks,

I have to agree with dgcalvert, if you are going in to the boonies for a couple of days playing at bushcraft, bringing along an MRE / Ration Pack or what ever, means bringing an awful lot of packaging. You have to carry this stuff home, cus your surely not going to leave it out there, and burning it, well thats just a bit smelly. I would go for stuff in re-usable zip-lock bags. Rice, bannock ingredients, pasta with dried sauce, tinned meat, etc. etc. Why do you need to buy coffee in individual little paper sachets !. Stick your coffee in a ziplock bag refill from a bog standard industrial size container or jar. Can't get cheaper than that.



Frank