ChevyGuy91
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What kind of shelf life do .mil MRE's have?
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What have you done recently to prepare? Please include How-To's also
- Thread starter GM-GUY
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What kind of shelf life do .mil MRE's have?
P-14
NES Member
The freezer will help you save money in normal times. In survival mode, it will be the first food you use because the electric may be off or never coming back on.
![[wink]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/002.gif "Wink [wink]")
My thoughts only.
The freezer will help you save money in normal times. In survival mode, it will be the first food you use because the electric may be off or never coming back on.
My thoughts only.
easy enough to run for a few hours a day to keep everything frozen with a generator though...i just have a small chest freezer enough to fit about 2 deer worth of meat in.
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it varies...indefinite if frozen...kept in heat/warm, about 4-5 years.
P-14
NES Member
This will work unless it gets really bad and you run out of fuel for the genny.
Then, it will be the first food you use before going to other food supplies on hand. I see a huge bbq in your future if this happens.
![[smile]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/001.gif "Smile [smile]")
JayMcB
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Crap. Just finished removing a shit-ton of badly expired foods from my pantry. Some rotation errors, some overbuying, some dietary changes. My chickens will be getting a lot of canned vegetables over the next few months.
Duxprep
NES Member
5 Years Officially. Stored properly much much longer. Think of them like canned food except they don't take on a canned flavor. Flavors and textures may be off as well as a drop in nutrition as they age. Note that when you buy them the ad may list the "inspection date" That's three years after the date of manufacture. In addition when looking at individual packages they use Julian Date markings. For example "6234" would mean 2016 234th day. However "9071" would mean 2009 71st day of the year given we haven't gotten to 2019 yet. MREINFO has a lot of great information
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If that's the case, why wouldn't 6234 be 2006/234th day?
FrugalFannie
NES Member
The freezer will help you save money in normal times. In survival mode, it will be the first food you use because the electric may be off or never coming back on.
My thoughts only.
Very true but saving money on meat now allows me to stock up on other items.
I also have been canning every week. Right now, lots of tomato sauce and some vegetables.
xtry51
NES Member
Define "badly expired"? I have canned vegetables from 2011 that are still fine.
Palladin
NES Member
exactly. the date on the can is meaningless..
Take a class to become a "Preparedness Leader":
https://www.ready.gov/preparedness-leader
Volunteer:
https://www.ready.gov/volunteer
Really now, some of these have some merit. Another idea would be to put together "common sense" classes on preparedness, including firearms training, etc. Take it to the next level, and engage the public. And so on.
https://www.ready.gov/preparedness-leader
Volunteer:
https://www.ready.gov/volunteer
Really now, some of these have some merit. Another idea would be to put together "common sense" classes on preparedness, including firearms training, etc. Take it to the next level, and engage the public. And so on.
JayMcB
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green beans. turned very soft
canned corn. turned brown
also some canned tomatoes with swelling in the cans and rust on the edges. Straight to trash
FrugalFannie
NES Member
dehydrated okra and now I'm dehydrating some tomato sauce as well. I also need to get some more sauce cooking but other things on the list today that are more urgent. (of course that means I should get the hell off the internet so i can get the otehr things done!)
xtry51
NES Member
Brands? I'd like to know what to stay away from.
JayMcB
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The beans were green giant.
The corn was green giant too, I think, but need to check
the tomatoes were Contadina. In fairness about the rust, they were lowest on the shelf, and even though i run a dehumidifier 24/7, it's probably the 'wettest' place where I was storing food
Jason m
NES Member
Well got my two goats in there larger enclosure, so now I sit back and let nature do the rest. Hopefully next march or April I will have a few little ones to sell off or butcher once they mature, but the biggest thing I will have steady supply of milk.
Which my wife is all ready trying to make butter from our friends goats up the road.
Next is chickens or rabbits.
Jason.
Which my wife is all ready trying to make butter from our friends goats up the road.
Next is chickens or rabbits.
Jason.
cockpitbob
NES Member
I used to do a lot of backpacking and have 2 small white gas stoves. I decided to dust them off and test them. One I haven't used in almost 20 years but both fired right up![[grin]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/041.gif "Grin [grin]")
. I also used fuel from a 7 year old can of Coleman gas and it smelled and worked fine. I just bought another gallon of Coleman gas. 2 gallons of fuel and one of those little stoves will boil an enormous amount of water, so I'm all set for a long term power outage. There's always cooking with a wood fire, but I hate scrubbing blackened pots and pans.
. I also used fuel from a 7 year old can of Coleman gas and it smelled and worked fine. I just bought another gallon of Coleman gas. 2 gallons of fuel and one of those little stoves will boil an enormous amount of water, so I'm all set for a long term power outage. There's always cooking with a wood fire, but I hate scrubbing blackened pots and pans.
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RubiconLJ
NES Member
Several years ago I purchased a hose and adapter kit to run the propane lantern and stove off a 20# tank. Always keep a spare in the garage plus the one that is in the grill.
Similar to this one, don't remember the brand I bought.
Similar to this one, don't remember the brand I bought.
FrugalFannie
NES Member
We are buying a freeze dryer from Harvest Right. Ordered it today. FD food has better texture and your options are more flexible than dehydrating or canning. While we will likely still can and dehydrate, I think we will primarily switch to FDing. Stoked to be getting this and will post pics, etc after we get it and start using it.
I hope to buy one some day, those things are really expensive, but if I look back and counted all $ I've spent in the last few years on freeze dried food I'm sure the machine would have paid for it self by now.
Will you use bottles, cans or mylar to store your food after you freeze dry it?
I am a bit jealous. I remember coming across them a while ago but got a bit of a sticker shock from the price. From what I understand though it's pretty much the bees knees in food preservation. I'd be happy with a less crappy dehydrator at this point.
FrugalFannie
NES Member
They are down to $3K now and you can put it "on layaway" without paying interest.
Mostly mylar.
FrugalFannie
NES Member
dehydrated some tomato sauce.
When I made the sauce, I kept it very simple, just tomatoes cooked down. But sometimes the sauce was a little thinner than others, depending on the tomatoes and how many hours I was willing to keep them cooking down.
But then I decided to dehydrate some of the sauce for powder as I really didn't have enough sauce to run the canner again. It worked out absolutely great! You let it dry until brittle, let it cool (maybe 30 minutes). I just slide the trays about half way out of the dehydrator. Then I used my food processor to powder it up. It really comes out as small pieces, some powder, whatever. I store it in pint sized jars sealed with my vacuum sealer. After about an hour or so, I shake the jar to get the powder to break up as it likes to stick at this point. It usually only takes 1 shaking.
So then my husband decides to make pizza and we need pizza sauce. I take out a pint of sauce and my powder and use the powder to thicken it, 1Tbsp at a time, add, stir while it rehydrates and thickens the sauce, then add some more as needed. And WOW! It tasted SO amazing!
I think one thing most "preppers" fail to do is actually use their preps. We eat what we store and store what we eat.
When I made the sauce, I kept it very simple, just tomatoes cooked down. But sometimes the sauce was a little thinner than others, depending on the tomatoes and how many hours I was willing to keep them cooking down.
But then I decided to dehydrate some of the sauce for powder as I really didn't have enough sauce to run the canner again. It worked out absolutely great! You let it dry until brittle, let it cool (maybe 30 minutes). I just slide the trays about half way out of the dehydrator. Then I used my food processor to powder it up. It really comes out as small pieces, some powder, whatever. I store it in pint sized jars sealed with my vacuum sealer. After about an hour or so, I shake the jar to get the powder to break up as it likes to stick at this point. It usually only takes 1 shaking.
So then my husband decides to make pizza and we need pizza sauce. I take out a pint of sauce and my powder and use the powder to thicken it, 1Tbsp at a time, add, stir while it rehydrates and thickens the sauce, then add some more as needed. And WOW! It tasted SO amazing!
I think one thing most "preppers" fail to do is actually use their preps. We eat what we store and store what we eat.
JayMcB
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I've been experimenting with making jerky to preserve meats. So far I just grab something out of the freezer and test. What it has shown me is that I am drastically understocked on salt, pepper, soy, worcestershire, ginger, garlic, etc.
Chicken breast really dries out and gets brittle. Hard to eat, but maybe I dehydrated it too long, will try again
Turkey jerky, tasty and lean
Beef is easy, but marbled beef is out if you want it to last, because the fat will go rancid, marinated or not.
Pork tenderloins make OK jerky too, but going to lean towards smoking that.
Venison gets tough if you cut it too thin.
I've found that you don't need a fancy vacuum/marinade attachment. I use a half-gallon mason jar with the meat and marinade, and leave it in a vacuum state overnight in the fridge.
Have a batch with low sodium soy, brown sugar, garlic, ginger pepper and siracha and sesame seeds drying right now
Chicken breast really dries out and gets brittle. Hard to eat, but maybe I dehydrated it too long, will try again
Turkey jerky, tasty and lean
Beef is easy, but marbled beef is out if you want it to last, because the fat will go rancid, marinated or not.
Pork tenderloins make OK jerky too, but going to lean towards smoking that.
Venison gets tough if you cut it too thin.
I've found that you don't need a fancy vacuum/marinade attachment. I use a half-gallon mason jar with the meat and marinade, and leave it in a vacuum state overnight in the fridge.
Have a batch with low sodium soy, brown sugar, garlic, ginger pepper and siracha and sesame seeds drying right now
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ChevyGuy91
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That's a pretty good one. I taught myself how to use my wife's machine a few years ago.
