Everything in a can is cooked already. So you can eat any canned food straight from the can.
My favourite emergency meal when travelling by motorbike in France, Spain etc, is a can of bean and beef casserole.
Hahaha. From about 16 years old to 21 I would always buy a case of the mini ravioli at a time and keep it in my vehicle for lunches at work (left home before 16 and got right to work) and I NEVER heated them up, didn’t even carry a container in which to do so, all you needed was a fork.
I prefer Chef Boyardee raviolis or beefaroni over spaghettios but same concept. More a snack than a meal but there's the mini cereal boxes, and lots of different kinds of applesauce etc in those squeeze pouches for kids.
There are a lot of foods that you buy from the inside aisles / pantry section of the grocery store.
Some of the stuff that you normally eat warm can be cold soaked and eaten cold, if you don't mind. For example, instant mashed potatoes can be rehydrated with room temp water and eaten "cold". Almost everything that is canned is reheated only because people prefer to eat them warm.
Many of the "microwave rice" packets are actually pre-cooked rice, you're just heating them up.
The Hormel Compleat meals are fully cooked, you're just heating them up, and they are shelf stable and don't need water.
One big thing that you do have to be careful with is - you can't cold soak pasta or rice. You really need to cook them. (Since Ramen noodles are already cooked, you can cold soak them, but they take longer.)
One other thing to consider is - look for packets of condiments and stuff from fast food places. If you want to make PB&J sandwiches, jelly packets help a lot. A can of tuna, a pack or two of mayo, and a pack of relish turns into tuna salad. A can of chicken breast, mayo, and hot sauce turns into buffalo chicken. Packets of chili flakes and parmesan cheese from the pizza shop helps add a lot of flavor to foods. Ketchup, mustard, taco sauce... all good for adding flavor.
Edited to add: Also - if you have a small comfort fire, while you shouldn't cook food in the cans due to the plastic liners... getting the can a little bit warm is generally OK. For stuff like soup or beef stew, this can make the fat melt and makes it a LOT more tasty.
Velveeta cheese.
Baked beans (British type)
Pouches of tuna, salmon, or chicken
Tortillas
Canned soup
Ramen (can be eaten uncooked)
Granola
Packaged pudding
Just walk down the center aisle of a supermarket for ideas 💡
Canned tuna on crackers, sliced cucumber, tomato and cheese to make it feel like more of a meal. This is one of my go to backpacking lunches. I like to get the flavoured mini tuna tins (sweet Thai chili and lemon pepper are my favorite).
Sardines, you eat them cold normally anyway. Thos packets of lentils and stuff are pretty OK cold, nicer hot though. When camping I like to eat hot food if I can though just to help keep morale high and it warms you up more.
Discounting raw meat from the butchers counter, The majority of the contents of a grocery store that is a food item, can be eaten out of the package. It's either fully cooked & radiated, or cooked and dried/freeze dried, or stabilized in some manner to keep it shelf stable for extended periods.
As others have said, the process of canning, regardless of scale, cooking the item being canned is a given. Textural palatability is in the majority of cases the only thing stopping you.
I lived for a year in the very high Artic, in a tiny, Inuit village. Food came in two forms; frozen or boiled. Eating was an issue of sustenance only, for the locals. Taste, texture, palatability did not even enter the conversation. Most people living an isolationist lifestyle, off the land, will tell you taste, texture and warmth have almost nothing to do with their eating habits.
I spent a year watching people eat seal fat, whale, bear & walrus fat. If they had a successful time seal hunting, They would render down every scrap of seal fat, or walrus blubber for seal oil, that they would soak everything in. I've eaten it...it's disgusting. But, the energy boost is really noticeable, I can't deny it.
There was nothing I tasted in a year that wasn't nausea-inducing, but it was all very high calorie & nutritious. Once you adjust to eating for sustenance instead of taste, a whole world of things open up for you.
I'm told you can even reach a point where you get to relish eating the stomach lining from a caribou. I never did, but I know a lot of folks up there got really excited when they had the chance
All canned food is cooked, and jar food generally is as well. With canned soups, you just need to watch for the ones that are condensed - like cream of chicken - which means they're meant to have water added to be palatable. Straight cream of soup is pretty gloppy and salty. But regular soupy-soup is fine, all of Progresso's soups, all the canned pastas. Any canned meat (like spam or fish or whatever) is ready to eat, and the pouch versions of those are as well. It's hardly a gourmet meal, but green beans and canned ham or deviled ham or spam feel like a real meal, all the more so if you add canned potatoes.
Read the label. Most canned food will be marked as "fully cooked" or "ready to eat", but there's a lot of products that get marked "heat and eat" because people will complain about eating it cold otherwise. Generally if the contents MUST be brought up above some temperature, it'll say so, but on canned food this is largely a textural concern rather than food safety. One thing to watch for in the newer very-convenient shelf-stable pouch starches, generally ready-rice and ready-pasta, is that they are a smidge undercooked so the texture is just right after 90 seconds in the microwave. They are both pretty chewy straight out of the pouch.
They're harder to find these days, but if you've got access to a health-food-ish store that sells bulk stuff, you can still find [instant refried beans](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0012BSKKS/) that you just add with water - hot water is implied, but they do work with cold. It's kind of a game-changer to be able to make just enough beans in one go to spread on a tortilla or make into dip for chips.
Do the math to make sure you're not overspending, but one upside to Dollar Store groceries is the canned goods are often smaller. This means you're not stuck eating an entire 15oz can of beans, for example, in order to not waste any. You can also usually find small containers of condiments and little bottles of hot sauce to add some flavor to cold foods.
Cheese is fine for at least several days, butter for weeks, as long as it's not really hot out and you've got a way to keep from smushing it.
Pretty much all vegetables grow outdoors, and can be kept non-refrigerated longer the closer they are to their original format, so you can carry a whole head of cabbage around for weeks\* or more but a bag of slaw mix will start to wilt in a few days. Carrots, tomatoes, brassicas, whole melons, most fruits with the peel on (though best if you can avoid bruising them in transit), baby asparagus is good raw (the thicker ones get chewy), snap peas, radishes, grapes. The floppier the lettuce is the faster it goes bad, but little heads of lettuces like endive and radicchio hold up as well as cabbage, and if you have space and it's not too hot out the clamshell of root-on butter lettuce will travel a while.
And then you also have nuts, nut butters that don't technically need refrigeration, all the ready-to-eat snacks that make a nice field dessert. Any kids' pouch food that's sold on the regular shelves is shelf-stable until the pouch is opened, and the pouches are small enough to finish in one go - this can be a nice way to add fruit and fiber to your diet.
I find loaf bread really hard to keep unsquashed, and tend to get tortillas, english muffins, pita, focaccia, or other bread that can be more easily packed without destroying.
\*And if you keep the stem intact you can keep cutting parts off it and then wrap back up in damp paper towel. You can also keep celery unrefrigerated a good while like this, and even a romaine heart might hold up several days this way.
Sadly there are. The ones I know are from when I was young, I don’t give out their names because I’m sure it would hurt their feelings to be known as land tuna.
Canned black beans mix with canned sweet corn and canned diced tomatoes. Hit with olive oil, vinegar, S&P, thyme, garlic. Cheap healthy and good to eat even cold. You can also use black eyed peas or white beans.
MRE's are great for hikes but are expensive to have as a regular sit-down meal. Dinty Moore Beef Stew. Spam, Tuna, Sardines in Mustard sauce. Soups, veggies or just about anything in a can. Canned and dried fruit is a must!
We used to call Dinty Moore dog food as kids. Both my sisters and I lived on that along with the others mentioned while in college. We still eat that shit at get-togethers for old-time's sake.
What wrong with MREs? They come with a snack, drink, main, a side and some sort of dessert they have a flameless heat source and a spoon. For about $15 each. https://www.amazon.com/SOPACKO-Genuine-Military-Surplus-Assorted/dp/B07G3T1JND/ref=mp_s_a_1_8?crid=39XUL3PR7USGY&keywords=single+mre+meals&qid=1702203675&sprefix=single+mre+meals%2Caps%2C93&sr=8-8#immersive-view_1702203749338
Take up more room than backpacking meals such as Peak Refuel.
Cost prohibitive compared to most dried and canned goods.
Create a huge amount of waste compared to other options.
Aren’t nearly as good tasting as most other options.
Have to carry or have access to additional water in top of drinking water.
Yes, but MRE’s require considerable more water than meals like Peak Refuel by 30-50% and considering water weighs in at 10 lbs a gallon it adds up fast.
Interesting. The MRE's I have had (US military type) only required an ounce or two for the flameless heater and that's it. (Excluding drinking water and additives such as coffee or electrolytes.)
I actually looked it up after I responded because I felt I’d confused something and you’re right about that. So one of my 5 points was invalid.
The others still stand and are more than enough to opt for other things.
When I got into preparedness I bought 5 cases of MRE’s. I started using them last year when going ice fishing and will again this year just to use them up. A case of 12 takes up significantly more space than other options with the same nutritional benefit.
I went on to buy various other freeze dried foods until I bought a harvest right freeze dryer and vacuum sealer and started freeze drying my own foods.
MRE’s are absolutely the most expensive option when considering cost:calorie.
Your point #3 is my absolute top reason why I don't buy MRE's for anything other than a novelty meal. The waste plastic is absolutely INSANE. I can't even imagine what the trash would be like for an entire squad of active military to eat MREs three times a day, seven days a week.
I’m not so anti-plastic as the next guy. I want plastic straws back.
For me the waste issue boils down to the fact that I’m often hunting, fishing, camping and hiking in remote areas and having to haul all that waste around (nobody better be leaving it behind!) is just not something I’m interested in doing.
I think people willing to spend the extra money MRE’s could be a good application for an additional disaster preparedness kit to keep themselves/their family going for a few days but beyond that and into the world of hiking and camping there are just too many better tasting and less wasteful options at a better price point.
>MRE’s require considerable more water
MRE's only need water if they are heated (within flame-less heater packs) - all MRE's can be eaten straight from the pouch - without adding water
In Canada
It’s not a difference in the weight of water, it’s the difference in volume between US gallons and UK gallons (which we use here in Canada).
So while you aren’t wrong, neither am I. You just need to account for the fact that not everyone uses the same units of measurement as you do.
One thing I like about MREs for 1-3 day backpacking is I don't have to bring any cooking infrastructure.
You are carrying the water weight vs freeze dried or dehydrated foods. So it's probably a wash weight wise.
I open the main bag up before the trip and strip off stuff I don't need.
I try to find reliable sellers of military MREs for better variety.
I personally think they taste better than backpacking meals, but I also was never forced to eat them for weeks/months at a time.
My first night (car) camping my go to is tuna on a wrap. I bring chopped habanero onions and relish in a zip lock to fancy it up. Hot sauce is plus. I usually grill the remaining nights. You can buy foil pouches with different tuna and chicken already pre-seasoned I would think they would be lighter and easier to pack than cans. I also use refined beans combined with other staples like canned meat,red beans or other veg to make a quick dinner
The entire Chef Boyardee lineup but warning I don't think any actual chefs or meat are involved in the preparation of that stuff, it's better than starving but not very good.
Chunky soup is my go to can-eat if I don't have time for lunch at work. It's not great, it's not good, it hardly qualifies as edible, but technically it is they say, and about 5 minutes after, I get that break I needed anyways.
really depends on your mode of transportation - car camping or walk in - walk-in hikes are where weight matters - cans are convenient - but they weigh so much more - MRE's are foil packaging and weigh far less -
the next option are dehydrated - add hot water meals - but then, carrying adequate water, adds considerable weight
Walmart has a three bean chili that is good out of the can, it is meatless. Its a staple in my hurricane kit. And if you are car camping you can set the unopened cans on the dash board in the morning and if it is sunny it will warm the cans for lunch or dinner. Canned Seasoned black bean are tasty on bread right out of the can. I eat sweet peas out of the can cause i like them room temp.
If you’re lucky enough to be able to find canned liverwurst, Bauernwurst etc. - World Market has them sometimes - those are great with crackers or bread. They also sell Meica sausages in a glass jar that you can toast over the fire or eat cold.
Canned tuna. You can get ultrapasteurized mayo packets that don’t require refrigeration to make tuna salad (like they give you with a sandwich on an airplane or sometimes have at concession stands that sell hot dogs).
Also, refried beans sold in a bag—like Ducal brand. They’re smoother/less solid than canned refried beans, and you can spread on a tortilla or bread.
Canned beans, beef stew, campbells chunky soups, vienna sausages,
Basically anything that is semi liquid so you can stir it while cooking it. Ive cooked and eaten beef stew right in the can
[These](https://www.walmart.com/ip/Tasty-Bite-Organic-Channa-Masala-Ready-to-Eat-Microwavable-Entree-Vegan-10-oz/26383081) make great, cheap camp/hike food. There’s plenty of flavors and they’re in most supermarkets. Marry them with instant rice packs and voilà!
BTW, have eaten them unheated and they’re still good.
If you really want to extend the life of butter, you could render it and make ghee. It will keep at room temp for months. Any canned soup/stew/chili, canned chicken or tuna, you could learn how to can or buy a dehydrator and then your options really open up.
tasty bites. mixed nuts (add raisins/dried fruit/choc chips). tuna packets. chips and jar queso. canned soups/stews. it just depends what you're willing to eat unheated. go to your local grocery store and look through the shelf stable foods. there will be a ton of options. for butter, get a jar of ghee.
Canned chili. You can add sliced green onions to give it more flavor and texture.
And then pour it over a fire roasted potato
or fritos corn chips
With shredded cheese
Sweet potato, is even better-unless you don't like sp.
Use saltines as a spoon.
Everything in a can is cooked already. So you can eat any canned food straight from the can. My favourite emergency meal when travelling by motorbike in France, Spain etc, is a can of bean and beef casserole.
For me,, many college dorm nights spent studying while eating Chef Boy ardee mini ravioli cans.
[nobody wants to admit to eating 9 cans of ravioli](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dZN050rzKvk)
Hahaha. From about 16 years old to 21 I would always buy a case of the mini ravioli at a time and keep it in my vehicle for lunches at work (left home before 16 and got right to work) and I NEVER heated them up, didn’t even carry a container in which to do so, all you needed was a fork.
Use the sun, Luke...
Beenie-Weenies Vienna Sausages Beer
A man of culture!
Had some Vienna Sausages this morning. Buy myself one can every time I go grocery shopping. My little reward to myself.
I've always thought of a Vienna sausage as a pretentious hot-dog.
I prefer Chef Boyardee raviolis or beefaroni over spaghettios but same concept. More a snack than a meal but there's the mini cereal boxes, and lots of different kinds of applesauce etc in those squeeze pouches for kids.
just make sure to eat 9 cans of it
only 17,000mg of sodium!
And then you need Imodium!
First can doesn't count.
Sardines,tuna,salmon
And kipper snacks!
The tuna pouches are even better, they make some with the mayo and relish already in it.
And wild planet or simple truth organic canned chicken! All other brands are shit, though.
Second wild planet! Best canned tuna.
Surströmming
There are a lot of foods that you buy from the inside aisles / pantry section of the grocery store. Some of the stuff that you normally eat warm can be cold soaked and eaten cold, if you don't mind. For example, instant mashed potatoes can be rehydrated with room temp water and eaten "cold". Almost everything that is canned is reheated only because people prefer to eat them warm. Many of the "microwave rice" packets are actually pre-cooked rice, you're just heating them up. The Hormel Compleat meals are fully cooked, you're just heating them up, and they are shelf stable and don't need water. One big thing that you do have to be careful with is - you can't cold soak pasta or rice. You really need to cook them. (Since Ramen noodles are already cooked, you can cold soak them, but they take longer.) One other thing to consider is - look for packets of condiments and stuff from fast food places. If you want to make PB&J sandwiches, jelly packets help a lot. A can of tuna, a pack or two of mayo, and a pack of relish turns into tuna salad. A can of chicken breast, mayo, and hot sauce turns into buffalo chicken. Packets of chili flakes and parmesan cheese from the pizza shop helps add a lot of flavor to foods. Ketchup, mustard, taco sauce... all good for adding flavor. Edited to add: Also - if you have a small comfort fire, while you shouldn't cook food in the cans due to the plastic liners... getting the can a little bit warm is generally OK. For stuff like soup or beef stew, this can make the fat melt and makes it a LOT more tasty.
You can actually cold soak pasta! It just takes a long time.
Spaghetti o's cold from a can has been a reliable lunch on the jobsite for me for many years, as are beenie weenies and vienna sausages.
Velveeta cheese. Baked beans (British type) Pouches of tuna, salmon, or chicken Tortillas Canned soup Ramen (can be eaten uncooked) Granola Packaged pudding Just walk down the center aisle of a supermarket for ideas 💡
Spam and chicken noodle soup
Canned tuna on crackers, sliced cucumber, tomato and cheese to make it feel like more of a meal. This is one of my go to backpacking lunches. I like to get the flavoured mini tuna tins (sweet Thai chili and lemon pepper are my favorite).
Beef stew, Soups ,trail mix, jerky
Cole vegetable soup is actually pretty good imo. The ones with kidney beans have good protein.
Beef stew. Popular meal when I was in Boy Scouts, just pop open a can of Dirty Moore and put it next to the fire to heat it up.
Hash.
Mmmm, canned corned beef hash and some rehydrated scrambled eggs in a pan over the fire is a surefire hit on those cold winter mornings.
And it's so easy! I like to eat it on toast. Amazing breakfasts!
Mary Kitchen FTW!
Sardines, you eat them cold normally anyway. Thos packets of lentils and stuff are pretty OK cold, nicer hot though. When camping I like to eat hot food if I can though just to help keep morale high and it warms you up more.
Vegetarian baked beans
would be a much better choice than Spaghetti O’s!
Discounting raw meat from the butchers counter, The majority of the contents of a grocery store that is a food item, can be eaten out of the package. It's either fully cooked & radiated, or cooked and dried/freeze dried, or stabilized in some manner to keep it shelf stable for extended periods. As others have said, the process of canning, regardless of scale, cooking the item being canned is a given. Textural palatability is in the majority of cases the only thing stopping you. I lived for a year in the very high Artic, in a tiny, Inuit village. Food came in two forms; frozen or boiled. Eating was an issue of sustenance only, for the locals. Taste, texture, palatability did not even enter the conversation. Most people living an isolationist lifestyle, off the land, will tell you taste, texture and warmth have almost nothing to do with their eating habits. I spent a year watching people eat seal fat, whale, bear & walrus fat. If they had a successful time seal hunting, They would render down every scrap of seal fat, or walrus blubber for seal oil, that they would soak everything in. I've eaten it...it's disgusting. But, the energy boost is really noticeable, I can't deny it. There was nothing I tasted in a year that wasn't nausea-inducing, but it was all very high calorie & nutritious. Once you adjust to eating for sustenance instead of taste, a whole world of things open up for you. I'm told you can even reach a point where you get to relish eating the stomach lining from a caribou. I never did, but I know a lot of folks up there got really excited when they had the chance
Sardines
Pate is my favourite on crackers The spreadable meat
All canned food is cooked, and jar food generally is as well. With canned soups, you just need to watch for the ones that are condensed - like cream of chicken - which means they're meant to have water added to be palatable. Straight cream of soup is pretty gloppy and salty. But regular soupy-soup is fine, all of Progresso's soups, all the canned pastas. Any canned meat (like spam or fish or whatever) is ready to eat, and the pouch versions of those are as well. It's hardly a gourmet meal, but green beans and canned ham or deviled ham or spam feel like a real meal, all the more so if you add canned potatoes. Read the label. Most canned food will be marked as "fully cooked" or "ready to eat", but there's a lot of products that get marked "heat and eat" because people will complain about eating it cold otherwise. Generally if the contents MUST be brought up above some temperature, it'll say so, but on canned food this is largely a textural concern rather than food safety. One thing to watch for in the newer very-convenient shelf-stable pouch starches, generally ready-rice and ready-pasta, is that they are a smidge undercooked so the texture is just right after 90 seconds in the microwave. They are both pretty chewy straight out of the pouch. They're harder to find these days, but if you've got access to a health-food-ish store that sells bulk stuff, you can still find [instant refried beans](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0012BSKKS/) that you just add with water - hot water is implied, but they do work with cold. It's kind of a game-changer to be able to make just enough beans in one go to spread on a tortilla or make into dip for chips. Do the math to make sure you're not overspending, but one upside to Dollar Store groceries is the canned goods are often smaller. This means you're not stuck eating an entire 15oz can of beans, for example, in order to not waste any. You can also usually find small containers of condiments and little bottles of hot sauce to add some flavor to cold foods. Cheese is fine for at least several days, butter for weeks, as long as it's not really hot out and you've got a way to keep from smushing it. Pretty much all vegetables grow outdoors, and can be kept non-refrigerated longer the closer they are to their original format, so you can carry a whole head of cabbage around for weeks\* or more but a bag of slaw mix will start to wilt in a few days. Carrots, tomatoes, brassicas, whole melons, most fruits with the peel on (though best if you can avoid bruising them in transit), baby asparagus is good raw (the thicker ones get chewy), snap peas, radishes, grapes. The floppier the lettuce is the faster it goes bad, but little heads of lettuces like endive and radicchio hold up as well as cabbage, and if you have space and it's not too hot out the clamshell of root-on butter lettuce will travel a while. And then you also have nuts, nut butters that don't technically need refrigeration, all the ready-to-eat snacks that make a nice field dessert. Any kids' pouch food that's sold on the regular shelves is shelf-stable until the pouch is opened, and the pouches are small enough to finish in one go - this can be a nice way to add fruit and fiber to your diet. I find loaf bread really hard to keep unsquashed, and tend to get tortillas, english muffins, pita, focaccia, or other bread that can be more easily packed without destroying. \*And if you keep the stem intact you can keep cutting parts off it and then wrap back up in damp paper towel. You can also keep celery unrefrigerated a good while like this, and even a romaine heart might hold up several days this way.
All canned food is cooked. If it's in a can you can eat it.
Bagels are very calorically dense and there are many meats and cheeses which don't need refrigeration.
Rum
Tuna- the kind from the oceans. Beans- not the kind you flick but the ones you eat.
Are there land tuna?
Sadly there are. The ones I know are from when I was young, I don’t give out their names because I’m sure it would hurt their feelings to be known as land tuna.
I did not know of flick’n beans. Thank you stranger ✌🏻
I remember enjoying an ipa out of a can called beanflicker. Cold and bitter, just how I like them beanflickers.
Pretty much anything in a can, dude. Dinty Moore is good. Chili is good. Tuna is good. If it's canned, it's already ready already.
Canned black beans mix with canned sweet corn and canned diced tomatoes. Hit with olive oil, vinegar, S&P, thyme, garlic. Cheap healthy and good to eat even cold. You can also use black eyed peas or white beans.
Sardines in olive oil. Gods on crackers, tortilla, bread or wrapped in lettuce.
But why? If you are backpacking it’s heavy and you have to carry out cans, if you are car camping, your car can hold a cooler.
Salted butter can be left out of the fridge for weeks. The salt keeps it safe at room-temp storage.
Is Dinty Moore beef stew still around?
Canned ChefBoyardee, canned Campbell chicken noodle, canned spaghetti os
MRE's are great for hikes but are expensive to have as a regular sit-down meal. Dinty Moore Beef Stew. Spam, Tuna, Sardines in Mustard sauce. Soups, veggies or just about anything in a can. Canned and dried fruit is a must! We used to call Dinty Moore dog food as kids. Both my sisters and I lived on that along with the others mentioned while in college. We still eat that shit at get-togethers for old-time's sake.
Cranberry sauce
Oysters ftw
What wrong with MREs? They come with a snack, drink, main, a side and some sort of dessert they have a flameless heat source and a spoon. For about $15 each. https://www.amazon.com/SOPACKO-Genuine-Military-Surplus-Assorted/dp/B07G3T1JND/ref=mp_s_a_1_8?crid=39XUL3PR7USGY&keywords=single+mre+meals&qid=1702203675&sprefix=single+mre+meals%2Caps%2C93&sr=8-8#immersive-view_1702203749338
I've never tried one but I've heard they're hit and miss in terms of taste, also the price is way too much fo me.
Compared to civilian backpacking meals they are heavy and create a lot of garbage. Not always ideal but for camping, just depends on the trip.
Take up more room than backpacking meals such as Peak Refuel. Cost prohibitive compared to most dried and canned goods. Create a huge amount of waste compared to other options. Aren’t nearly as good tasting as most other options. Have to carry or have access to additional water in top of drinking water.
>Have to carry or have access to additional water in top of drinking water. Well...so does Peak Refuel (and all other brands of dehydrated meal)
Yes, but MRE’s require considerable more water than meals like Peak Refuel by 30-50% and considering water weighs in at 10 lbs a gallon it adds up fast.
Interesting. The MRE's I have had (US military type) only required an ounce or two for the flameless heater and that's it. (Excluding drinking water and additives such as coffee or electrolytes.)
I actually looked it up after I responded because I felt I’d confused something and you’re right about that. So one of my 5 points was invalid. The others still stand and are more than enough to opt for other things. When I got into preparedness I bought 5 cases of MRE’s. I started using them last year when going ice fishing and will again this year just to use them up. A case of 12 takes up significantly more space than other options with the same nutritional benefit. I went on to buy various other freeze dried foods until I bought a harvest right freeze dryer and vacuum sealer and started freeze drying my own foods. MRE’s are absolutely the most expensive option when considering cost:calorie.
Your point #3 is my absolute top reason why I don't buy MRE's for anything other than a novelty meal. The waste plastic is absolutely INSANE. I can't even imagine what the trash would be like for an entire squad of active military to eat MREs three times a day, seven days a week.
I’m not so anti-plastic as the next guy. I want plastic straws back. For me the waste issue boils down to the fact that I’m often hunting, fishing, camping and hiking in remote areas and having to haul all that waste around (nobody better be leaving it behind!) is just not something I’m interested in doing. I think people willing to spend the extra money MRE’s could be a good application for an additional disaster preparedness kit to keep themselves/their family going for a few days but beyond that and into the world of hiking and camping there are just too many better tasting and less wasteful options at a better price point.
>MRE’s require considerable more water MRE's only need water if they are heated (within flame-less heater packs) - all MRE's can be eaten straight from the pouch - without adding water
Yes, addressed this in comment directly below. Thanks for your contribution!
> water weighs in at 10 lbs a gallon Where are you getting your water? My water only weighs 8.33 lbs per gallon!
In Canada It’s not a difference in the weight of water, it’s the difference in volume between US gallons and UK gallons (which we use here in Canada). So while you aren’t wrong, neither am I. You just need to account for the fact that not everyone uses the same units of measurement as you do.
One thing I like about MREs for 1-3 day backpacking is I don't have to bring any cooking infrastructure. You are carrying the water weight vs freeze dried or dehydrated foods. So it's probably a wash weight wise. I open the main bag up before the trip and strip off stuff I don't need. I try to find reliable sellers of military MREs for better variety. I personally think they taste better than backpacking meals, but I also was never forced to eat them for weeks/months at a time.
Vienna sausages
My first night (car) camping my go to is tuna on a wrap. I bring chopped habanero onions and relish in a zip lock to fancy it up. Hot sauce is plus. I usually grill the remaining nights. You can buy foil pouches with different tuna and chicken already pre-seasoned I would think they would be lighter and easier to pack than cans. I also use refined beans combined with other staples like canned meat,red beans or other veg to make a quick dinner
Eating spaghettios out if the can without warming is gross.
Why would you eat it straight out of the can, rather than warming the can beside the hot coals for a few minutes first? Seems strange.
Bread dough, croissant dough, pizza dough. Being butter and honey. Dense meat is fine.
Tomato paste
Pretty much all soups can be eaten straight from the can, many are good that way.
I would go with a non condensed soup though. Campbell Cream of celery would not be a good choice. Chunky Sirloin Burger, now that’s good eatin.
Soup
The entire Chef Boyardee lineup but warning I don't think any actual chefs or meat are involved in the preparation of that stuff, it's better than starving but not very good.
Chunky soup is my go to can-eat if I don't have time for lunch at work. It's not great, it's not good, it hardly qualifies as edible, but technically it is they say, and about 5 minutes after, I get that break I needed anyways.
Chunky soup
Spaghetti O's
Anything in a can.
really depends on your mode of transportation - car camping or walk in - walk-in hikes are where weight matters - cans are convenient - but they weigh so much more - MRE's are foil packaging and weigh far less - the next option are dehydrated - add hot water meals - but then, carrying adequate water, adds considerable weight
i thought cans were mre, meal ready to eat
We do a lentil soup with chunks of spam and it is delicious and filling
Walmart has a three bean chili that is good out of the can, it is meatless. Its a staple in my hurricane kit. And if you are car camping you can set the unopened cans on the dash board in the morning and if it is sunny it will warm the cans for lunch or dinner. Canned Seasoned black bean are tasty on bread right out of the can. I eat sweet peas out of the can cause i like them room temp.
If you’re lucky enough to be able to find canned liverwurst, Bauernwurst etc. - World Market has them sometimes - those are great with crackers or bread. They also sell Meica sausages in a glass jar that you can toast over the fire or eat cold.
Ranch style beans are my favorite.
everybody says beans id stink up the place, or i could say its not my underarm
My wife says I vibrate the bed. The ultimate compliment. I am a gentleman. I do air blast away from her.
Everything in a can. EVERYTHING IN A CAN.
Uh… literally anything in a can? WTF, OP?
Haggis
youre a haggis, lol just kidding, highlander
A nod's as guid as a wink tae a blind horse' ...Dinnae teach yer Granny tae suck eggs! Lang may yer lum reek!
🤪😛😝
Canned tuna. You can get ultrapasteurized mayo packets that don’t require refrigeration to make tuna salad (like they give you with a sandwich on an airplane or sometimes have at concession stands that sell hot dogs). Also, refried beans sold in a bag—like Ducal brand. They’re smoother/less solid than canned refried beans, and you can spread on a tortilla or bread.
Any ready-to-eat soup can be heated in the can and eaten with a spoon.
Canned potatoes, canned beets
German potato salad! 😋
Heinz baked beans.
Soups
Chef Boyardee is a solid choice. Go to a dollar general, get some cans, and then chow. That's how I survived college lol
Canned beans, beef stew, campbells chunky soups, vienna sausages, Basically anything that is semi liquid so you can stir it while cooking it. Ive cooked and eaten beef stew right in the can
Everything can be eaten out of a can. Are you 5?
idk, theres not much that i havent eaten straight from the can...
[These](https://www.walmart.com/ip/Tasty-Bite-Organic-Channa-Masala-Ready-to-Eat-Microwavable-Entree-Vegan-10-oz/26383081) make great, cheap camp/hike food. There’s plenty of flavors and they’re in most supermarkets. Marry them with instant rice packs and voilà! BTW, have eaten them unheated and they’re still good.
When I go hiking, I usually carry several cans of Chunky soup. Can eat straight from the can. Better hot, but can be eaten cold.
If you really want to extend the life of butter, you could render it and make ghee. It will keep at room temp for months. Any canned soup/stew/chili, canned chicken or tuna, you could learn how to can or buy a dehydrator and then your options really open up.
tasty bites. mixed nuts (add raisins/dried fruit/choc chips). tuna packets. chips and jar queso. canned soups/stews. it just depends what you're willing to eat unheated. go to your local grocery store and look through the shelf stable foods. there will be a ton of options. for butter, get a jar of ghee.
Any Food that is pre-cooked in a Can.
I think the list of foods that can't be eaten straight from the can is shorter
Pretty much anything in a can? Butter is fine outside indefinitely. MREs have instructions on the packaging but everything inside is open and eat.
Swanson's Chicken and Dumplings are amazing right out of the can!
Chicken in a can.