The League Against Ration Packs

[trail2]

You need to to pack more Cruzan next time
Jon R.

 

[traderran]

How did you preserve your meat en route?[/QUOTE

The meat was smoked in a smoke house. And smoked
meat keeps quite well in a cool climate our trip last year was to Montana. But even in Texas you can carry smoked meat smoked
the old way for a couple of weeks with no problem

PS by the way the old way is to smoke it for 7 to 8 days it is completely cooked at this point and will keep for a good long time with out refrigeration
I have a old gent that lives by my place that still smokes his meat this way lucky for me he will smoke meat for me as well.

 

[traderran]

You need to to pack more Cruzan next time
Jon R.

I quite agree with you almost ran out.
and Rum is not drinking Rum is surviving.

 

[Steve M]

I meant more how did you preserve the meat from the game you hunted, or did it just get cooked and eaten really quickly

 

[traderran]

I meant more how did you preserve the meat from the game you hunted, or did it just get cooked and eaten really quickly

The temp up there at that time of year is +20 to -10 so the meat is
frozen overnight so keeping it is no problem.
The real problem is bear,s you need to hang the meat up out of their reach and out of the camp.

 

[ForgeCorvus]

A soup leather

Thats called Loblolly, Nelson's navy used to feed it to convalescent sailors, it was cooked up by the surgeon's assistant (known as the Loblolly boy) as all things military it was made by the lowest bidder and is supposed to taste foul......and this was compared to the standard rations

 

[Shewie]

http://www.onepanwonders.com/

I quite like that site.

Good link BigShot

Missed it first time round

 

[BigShot]

Glad you like it.
There's some very odd looking recipes on there, but some I'm really looking forwards to trying.

I've only made a couple of the things on there, but the whole idea of recipes intended to be cooked in one pan is a pretty good one for lightweight travel/camping.

 

[nige7whit]

Ration Packs (I have only experienced the UK ones, both before and after boil in the bag meal contents), and would only use them, if they were Free (as they would be, if I were using them).

For the online and ebay price of a ration pack, I could buy a day's food requirements, and add extras for a trip. The only benefit to the cardboard box ration pack is that it's already packed, and ready - good for an emergency, bad for a well planned trip.

 

[Sisyphus]

I don't understand the fascination with ration packs/MRE either, it's all grimey bare-essential sustenance and their popularity seems to be at odds with the "bushcraft is about being comfortable outdoors" mantra. Surely planning and sourcing good food is an essential element of being at home in the outdoors, and bringing along the vacuum packed equivalent of a tv dinner is a bit of a cop out no?

I do get the feeling that there is an element of "playing soldiers" which some people seem to be into but that's no doubt been discussed to death here already...

 

[Deleted dude 7861]

I have to come to the defence of rat packs too but the French ones...Paella, pork & lentils, pork rice & pineapple and my fav; sausages, duck confit & beans - yummy Hard to get hold of but the best tasting food I've had of any rat pack or boil in the bag camping food...well actually the best tasting food I've had in ages

If only I knew somebody in France who could get hold of them more easily........uppy_dog

 

[gunslinger]

I don't understand the fascination with ration packs/MRE either, it's all grimey bare-essential sustenance and their popularity seems to be at odds with the "bushcraft is about being comfortable outdoors" mantra. Surely planning and sourcing good food is an essential element of being at home in the outdoors, and bringing along the vacuum packed equivalent of a tv dinner is a bit of a cop out no?

I do get the feeling that there is an element of "playing soldiers" which some people seem to be into but that's no doubt been discussed to death here already...

There are a lot on here who have been soldiers and in other branches of military service,who would take offence at that comment.

Bushcraft means different things to different people,most do not want nor have the capability to chase their dinner round acres of land.
Rat packs are convenient and although I would not use them all the time,they are nevertheless a useful item to have.
Other than the ubquitous "Treacle" pudding they are quite edible and IMO dont taste bad at all.
Where else can you easily obtain food with a few years shelf life ???

The other alternative is to make them up yourself,boil in bag bags are easy to obtain.

GS

 

[MartinK9]

There are a lot on here who have been soldiers and in other branches of military service,who would take offence at that comment.

Bushcraft means different things to different people,most do not want nor have the capability to chase their dinner round acres of land.
Rat packs are convenient and although I would not use them all the time,they are nevertheless a useful item to have.
Other than the ubquitous "Treacle" pudding they are quite edible and IMO dont taste bad at all.
Where else can you easily obtain food with a few years shelf life ???

The other alternative is to make them up yourself,boil in bag bags are easy to obtain.

GS

Well said

 

[Steve M]

Where else can you easily obtain food with a few years shelf life ???

Why is this actually useful for bushcrafting?

 

[John Fenna]

Quick, easy to prepare, easy to store, cheap, filling and reasonably tasty....what is not to like?
I can get ratpacks for a lot less than it would cost me to buy the ingredients individually.
I also use fresh/dried/tinned meat, veg, bannock etc - cost more, take more prep, hardr to store, take longer to cook but taste better....
Horses for courses....
That is the course between soup and fish I think....

 

[BigShot]

Just to chip in...
...I don't see why anyone would be offended by the "playing soldiers" bit - especially services/ex services and their friends and family.

Personally I thought "our boys" had slightly thicker skin than being sensitive to what people thought about rat packs and their relationship to bushcraft.


Anyway, I just thought I needed to point out that it really wasn't an offensive comment. The only military types (that I've met personally) I can think of being insulted by such a comment, are the ones who served for a few weeks in a barracks and were kicked out, given a discharge after injury or just couldn't hack it yet want to portray the bullet-spitting SAS/pathfinder/para/commando/whatever image... oh, and the ones who never actually served at all - but they don't count.

 

[Steve M]

I can get ratpacks for a lot less than it would cost me to buy the ingredients individually.

I find that incredibly hard to believe. Yes, if you have no ingredients whatsoever, you have to buy lots of things and you might be tempted to add the price of an entire bag of flour to the cost of making biscuits, but that's really not good stats

At school (the recent job, not when I were a lad), we would make 3 course meals for a pound or two a head. Yes, we had in staples like herbs, and yes, the first course was always soup, but it really doesn't cost a lot to make food from scratch.

 

[pheasant plucker]

I like ratties but only the Brit ones, I can't bare the French or American MRE's but that's just my personal choice as I don't like herbs and the like (what I'd class as fancy foods, and there's a few on here know what I'm talking about lol). I do try and use fresh food as I do base camping not light weight hiking as I can't do it any more, so I don't need really lightweight stuff. But I generally take a couple of tins of bacon grill, stewing steak and then some tortilla bread, but what I do for brekkie is Derbyshire style oatcakes which is just finely ground oats and a different version of bannock but it's warm, filling and helps you go to the loo ; )
PP

 

[sapper1]

Smarvell you need to look at what is actually in a ration pack.It is all you need to live for 24hrs,it doesnt just contain food .2 bars of yorkie chocolate 1 pack of tissues,there's your two pounds gone already.1 tin of meat paste(pate?)another pound,We haven't even opened the boil in the bags yet.

 

[BigShot]

It is all you need to live for 24hrs

[pedant]Basic first aid kit, tinder, matches, a bit of kindling and a tarp?[/pedant]

Haha.

Didn't realise there was so much in them actually. Nice they've gone for some proper chocolate too! In fact - you've now got me dying for a Yorkie - thanks a lot!