***Step 1...gather your fixins....anything that can be eaten either raw or cooked, using ONLY water...nothing requiring refrigeration or milk, butter, etc...

*packaged snack crackers....PB on wheat, cheezy, etc., etc...
*bagged/canned tuna, chicken, spam, sardines....whatever meat you prefer....
*packaged instant rice and potatoes...
*instant drink mixes...coffee, crystal light, whatever.....
*tea bags....
*bullion cubes.....
*ramen noodles...
*single servings of salt, pepper, sweetener, or whatever your taste....
*granola/cereal bars...
*candy bars...
*instant oatmeal packets....



***Step 2.....Dig through your stockpile and arrange the types of meals you want to package...remember to diversify if you don't want the same, boring meal every time you crack one open...







***Step 3...Break out the vacu-suck and shrink-wrap your goodies into nice li'l packs....rinse and repeat....*NOTE...don't forget to pierce your packs of rice, potatoes, noodles, and crackers w/a thumbtack or something, or they'll bloat under vacuum and cause your MREs to be bulky....piercing won't harm the contents, as you're delivering them to a vacuum state, and contamination is not a factor........



Choose your foods wisely and you should end up w/a 3-5 yr. shelf life, when properly stored. The line of DIY MREs above cost me about 2 hrs and $75 to make....compare that to a sh*tty tasting, $6 per commercial MRE with a comparable shelf-life, and you figure the savings....

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I have 207 bones in my body...the hardest one to break lies between my ears.....the rest are expendable.

I like your thinking...As for the ramen noodles and rice sides, what's the shelf life for them, even vacuum sealed?

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If it's in your pack, but you don't know how to use it...it's useless. So, always test your skills as a form of preparation...Don't wait until your life depends on it. That's a lesson you don't want to learn the hard way.

Under vacuum, I have been keeping these things for 3 yrs at a time.....no problems to date, and I'm in my 12th year of rotations...

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I have 207 bones in my body...the hardest one to break lies between my ears.....the rest are expendable.

That's some great info. I'm gonna look into making some myself. Thanks for sharing!

That is very good thinking.

I don't buy a lot of MRE's or survival foods either. I use a lot of the same type of stuff you do, I just don't make up individual packets. I pack enough in my BOB to last me 3 days eating enough to stay fat and sassy, and if it looks like I will need to survive longer on it, I can stretch it to 4 or 5 days.

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Hope for the best, but plan for the worst.

NRA Certified Instructor for Basic Handgun and Personal protection in the Home.
V.F.W. Life Member
NRA Member
U.S. Army Veteran

FANTASTIC!!! Things I had never thought of putting in there!! Thank you for getting my *wheels* turning a bit more!!

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~Lori

"Plan for your future...for that is where you are going to spend the rest of your life" ~ Mark Twain

I keep 3 days (1 per day) in my GHB, 2 weeks in my BOBs over 600 in the Tac room, and plenty of bulk stuff at my BOL....

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I have 207 bones in my body...the hardest one to break lies between my ears.....the rest are expendable.

Great ideas!.....Nestle makes several high calorie drinks in very small cans that are excellent to include in your preps. They range from 375 calories to 1200. Trust me...you do not need any more for the day...they taste great and provide all the nutrients you need for staying on top of your game. They do not need refrigeration and pack very well.

Thanks ... good solution for additional storage variety. We had planned on buying a vacuum-sealer so I think I'll pick one up this weekend. Appreciate the tip on pre-piercing the individual bags to reduce overall package size, saved me a step.

I've started making my own homemade "MRE's" with a vacuum sealer. Here are some pictures of what I typically make. The breakfast and lunch meals are for one person. The dinner meal is designed to serve two people.

This one is my breakfast meal. It contains (2) Pop Tarts, (1) package of instant oatmeal, (2) tea bags, (2) packages of sugar.


This one is my lunch meal. It contains (1) single serve slice of SPAM, (1) package of instant soup, (1) package of salted peanuts, (1) small Slim Jim, (2) tea bags, (2) packages of sugar, and (1) package of instant Propel Vitamin Water mix.


This one is my dinner meal. It contains (2) packages of boneless chicken breast, (1) package of instant mashed potatoes, (1) package of instant rice or pasta side, (2) tea bags, (2) packages of sugar, (2) packages of instant Propel Vitamin Water mix.


All meals.

_________________
If it's in your pack, but you don't know how to use it...it's useless. So, always test your skills as a form of preparation...Don't wait until your life depends on it. That's a lesson you don't want to learn the hard way.