Food Storage: MREs (Meals Ready To Eat) Freeze Dried and Dehydrated Foods

 

With these you will have a nice hot meal without having to cook. As they  are  all equipped with a disposable MRE heater which  provides a chemical reaction to heat the food.
They are  easy to  carry  making it a  definite plus.  Small and easy to store, they are perfect ifyou  need  to leave for any  reason.  They are  also  excellent  for storing in your  car kit. They  can , however, be  rather  expensive  and they do not provide n  adequate amount of  roughage.  We  all know that  roughage ( fiber) is necessary for proper digestive  function.  Therefore it would not be  advisable to eat only  MRE’s for an  extended  period of  time.  However,  if you  supplement  with  grains , vegetables and fruit you  will be  fine.
There  are  many  companies out there  that  sell  MRE’s.  You can  also  look into  freeze dried  foods.  The varieties of individual  cans  of  freeze dried  foods  is incredible.  There are  companies  that  sell anything  from   freeze  dried milk and  butter  to  tropical  fruit and meats.  These  companies  generally  sell their products in  #10cans, although some  may  be available in  Mylar  pouches. The  choice  is clearly  up to  you.  They  are  available  by the  case as  single  item purchases  or in  complete sets which  can  provide  the  ingredients  for  full meals for one  person  anywhere  from  3  months  to one  year.
These  complete sets are  good  for those  who do not  know or  do  not  want  to  worry  about  what to  store.  They take the  guess  work  out  as  they provide a pertinent  amount  of  meat, vegetable,  fruit , even  milk and  simple  baking  items (depending on the company).  Even some of the  membership  warehouse  outlets have their  own  brand of  freeze dried  packaged  foods  available.  Both  in  single  #10  cans and the complete  sets  we  have  already  discussed.
If  you  want to  save money  and  take  advantage of  sales  then you could  venture  into the  food  dehydrator.  I  purchased 3  in  Big Lots for  $25.00 each  last year.  I  dehydrate  anything  and  everything  I can.  I have  dehydrated fish,  fruits, herbs ,  spices, veggies and  even snacks like fruit leather.  It  takes some  practice to  get the hang of  dehydrating  properly.  Once  you  get the  hang  of  it  you  can  dehydrate  almost  anything. You  can  even  make  jerky  with the   right   dehydrator.
The  most  important thing to  remember  is to  reduce  the  moisture in the  foods  you are  dehydrating  as  much  as  possible before  placing  in the  dehydrator.  This  will speed  up the  process and insure that  your  foods  do not mold  over due  to  excess moisture.  If you are  going to use   frozen vegetables  then you  must  thoroughly  defrost them.  Once  defrosted you  must  either  place  them on a  towel for about  30 minutes or so to absorb the excess  moisture.  Or  you  must  place  them on a  cookie  sheet  and  into a  warm  oven  until all traces  of  outer  moisture  has  disappeared.  Once the  vegetables  or the fruit is dry to the  touch you  can  proceed with the  dehydration.  Follow the  instructions in the manual on the tray  rotation as this is  crucial  for proper moisture removal  of  all the  food  in the  dehydrator.  Some   dehydrators  will have  only a heat  source to accomplish the process .  Other  more  expensive  models  will have a  fan that circulates  the  warm  air  around the  food to accomplish  the  dehydration process.  Please  follow  the  manufacturers instructions  on  how  to  properly  use  your   dehydrator.
Once  you have  learned to properly  use  your  dehydrator  you  can  start experimenting  with the  foods  that  you  want to  dry and store.  It is  amazing  how many things you  can  actually dehydrate  successfully.
Storage of the dehydrated  foods  is as  important  as  all the other  foods  you   store .  You  must  keep it  safe  from  light,  heat , moisture and  air.  Properly stored  dehydrated  foods  could last for 5 years or  more  depending on the food and the it’s fat content.  Fats  tend to  go  rancid when  stored  for too  long, so please  keep that  in  mind  when  making  jerky and drying meat  products.
Here are two  playlists that  I have  put together to give  you  some ideas  on  how  to  dehydrate  foods, what  foods  you can  dehydrate  and   also on making  your own  MRE’s.  These  will help  you  get a  feel  for  the processes.  I hope it  helps.
How to dehydrate and store food

 http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0BB88C2BB3D15B0E&feature=view_all





Make your own MRE’s
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL00ABA2F91DC07421&feature=view_all