Post #3942099

@ashten@woem.men I don't buy *full* MREs for a couple of reasons. 1) I can be a bit picky with what I like and don't. Buying full meals means I would end up with a lot of things I don't like 2) Most of this stuff is being used as on-duty rations for SAR deployments, when I need to keep my pack loaded with two days of food 24/7 and be ready to run out the door on zero notice, but it might sit around for a while. When I'm on a mission, I might have just had a big dinner at home, or I might be running out the door before breakfast. What I actually consume on a mission varies a lot. Full meal pouches are not a good fit to this. 3) MREs are expensive. I use MRE components when there is no satisfactory equivalent on the civilian market, but e.g. clif bars and beef jerky are cheap at Safeway. 4) On a mission I'm generally spending a lot of time hiking and not a whole lot sitting around (except in base, where there's sometimes tastier food available if e.g. someone brought in pizza or the Soup Ladies came). So I specifically bias my food loads towards snacks and things I can eat on the move - the pocket sandwiches/pastries, pound cakes, etc feature prominently, while I might bring one of the big entree pouches per day and only actually eat maybe 1-2 a year outside of training weekends since it's so rare I have time to stop, pull out a spoon, and make a hot meal. I prefer something I can tear open, take a bite of, fold the foil back over, and shove it in my chest rig until next time I stop to shout our missing person's name or wait for someone slogging through a patch of heavy brush to catch up or something.