Home Assembled 'Ration Pack'

[andythecelt]

I use tubes of Primula, you can get it in cheap food shops, sometimes for a quid for 2 tubes and it doesn't need refrigeration. I prefer the ham variety. I sometimes use parmesan too just to 'posh up' the cheesy goodness. I've kept that a week in a very hot pack and it was still perfectly good. Lidl do it at a decent price.

As great as army rations are, the instant coffee is designed to keep you awake not for enjoying a decent cup of joe. I like to carry camp coffee, as it tastes just right.
The new Knorr stockpot/ gel is a great alternative to powder sachets for soup, Custard powder is great when it comes to fruit cake or bananas. Lucozade powder is almost as good as screech but if anyone can find Kool Aid then it is worth carrying.

Can anyone suggest a easy way to make cheesy macaroni without using kraft.

 

[mcniac]

i dont prepare rations packs as such, but i have a few meals that i prefer while bushcrafting or so.
some ready to cook rice chow fan and other called primavera (springtime) are my favourites
i also normally carry some dryed sausage and cheese

Cheers
Esteban

 

[Jellytot]

you can buy lots of crackers and wafers which have individual packs of 4 or 5 crackers in,
if you're taking an insulated bag then individual cheese portions and fromage frais in tubes make good additions. Morrisons have a massive individual portions section, drinks like crystal light can be bought from ebay and each drinks straw will do a 500ml water bottle.
Kenco 2 or 3 in one will do coffee & whitener nescafe capuccino in double choc is very nice. John west do tuna in light sauce in packets not tins, pek comes in lovely little tins for a nice change to pate on crackers.
Oxo cubes make a hearty hot drink and are tiny to carry.
tabasco is a good small bottle for spicing your meal up.
I no longer recommend curry to go, lots of tasty sauce but not much meaty goodness anymore.
I would recommend a small bottle of hand wipe, pocket pack of tissues and a box of tic tacs too! Tesco do tins of processed cheese too! Horlicks an ovaltine both come in small tube sachets too. humble cup a soup will add in at very little weight.
Condensed milk comes in a handy squeezy tube!!!!
Making your own rat packs can be very interesting and varied!
You've gone and made me all hungry now!!!!!

 

[Ogri the trog]

For stomach filling stodge I carry supermarket Christmas puddings.
They're sold off dirt cheap after the festive season and often have "use by" dates of around 18 months or more, so great for storing and throwing in your pack just in case.

Gotta comment on some other thoughts though - the pot noodle quote is wrong in my mind it should be "Man cannot live by Pot Noodle at all!" - if you want noodles and sauces, take something worthwhile and tasty.

Cat & dog foods are perfectly edible, I used to work for a large company who ran taste panels to critique new recipes and even the head of the company would famously "dig in" to taste the results.

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[apj1974]

ooops not woke up yet

 

[Harley]

I hope you guys are joshing about the dog and cat food for human consumption, email the pet food makers and see if they dare tell you about how safe that is!

 

[andythecelt]

There was a pet food factory near where I used to live producing feed for a major dog food manufacturer. I went for a job there once, absolutely disgusting. I just couldn't have worked there having seen it. Piles of rotting meat and bones being moved around by JCB to feed the industrial grinders, all of it declared as unfit for human consumption even before it went off. I had to have my suit dry cleaned because the smell just wouldn't fade. They took any meat that was offered and threw it in the grinder, including dead animals from the wildlife park. When I was there an emu and a horse were being chopped up for the grinder.
The same production line was used to dispose of a lot of contaminated animals during the foot and mouth epidemic. When I asked how long it put the line out of service while it was disinfected the bloke said "we don't bother, we just get the worst of it through the other end then switch to dog food again".
I'm the last person to tell anyone how to live their life but if it was a choice between hunger and pet food I'd tighten my belt. It'd have to be eat or starve before I put any of that in my mouth. I'd resort to cannibalism first.

 

[TeeDee]

There wasn't a bloke called 'cut-my-own-throat-dibbler' at the same time getting some stock was there?

There was a pet food factory near where I used to live producing feed for a major dog food manufacturer. I went for a job there once, absolutely disgusting. I just couldn't have worked there having seen it. Piles of rotting meat and bones being moved around by JCB to feed the industrial grinders, all of it declared as unfit for human consumption even before it went off. I had to have my suit dry cleaned because the smell just wouldn't fade. They took any meat that was offered and threw it in the grinder, including dead animals from the wildlife park. When I was there an emu and a horse were being chopped up for the grinder.
The same production line was used to dispose of a lot of contaminated animals during the foot and mouth epidemic. When I asked how long it put the line out of service while it was disinfected the bloke said "we don't bother, we just get the worst of it through the other end then switch to dog food again".
I'm the last person to tell anyone how to live their life but if it was a choice between hunger and pet food I'd tighten my belt. It'd have to be eat or starve before I put any of that in my mouth. I'd resort to cannibalism first.