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Survival Cave was still showing some supplies ready to ship, Patriot is usually good, but I just checked their site and they're 10 weeks out.
Wise Foods, Mountain House and some of the bigger companies are hit and miss. They'll show something in stock, but it's sold out quick.
I see Sportsman's Guide has some surplus MREs and XMRE brand meals still.
The market is too volatile right now. The companies are working to meet demand, but there are supply issues as well as production limits from existing equipment and my best advice is get on their web notifications so you hear when they have stock to sell.
I dehydrate a lot of my garden produce, but I've never tried milk or eggs. There should be some information on YouTube or some of the survival or homesteading websites about that, I've just never looked for it as I have cattle and chickens and turkeys on the ranch so it's never been an issue.
Thanks will check it out. I have around 40 MREs plus 50 or so backpacking meals that just need rehydrating. Just thinking about rounding out my dried egg and milk supply. Very few shortages at the moment when I went out today so I was able to replenish some canned and dried stock I’ve used without looking like a hoarder.
I’m finding I’m buying a lot more cake, cookie and muffin mixes now, in case store fresh items run out. I also have a fair amount of flour, yeast and oil on hand to make bread and other baked goods, again, if store fresh runs out.
DH got MREs from the WWII era when he was in Vietnam in the late '60s.
Those weren't MREs, those were C-rations or C-Rats. Short for combat rations they were early attempts at what would become the MRE which didn't really appear until the 1980s.
I've had both C-Rats and MREs, the MREs are much better.
The only C-Rat part that was good was if you lucked out and got the pound cake, then either were issued or traded for or otherwise acquired the peaches in juice. Together they were pretty good. Most of the other options were just nasty. About the closest thing I can compare them to is that cheap potted meat you can buy in a can at the dollar store.
Modern MREs are actually pretty good, with some exceptions. Back in the 90s the meals had potatoes an gratin, or as we called them, potatoes au rotten. Needed the whole little bottle of Tabasco that came in the pack to get that down.
Depends on how you define "shelf life". People have eaten 20 year old MREs. Most places that sell them recommend a 5 year rotation but that is based on quality of taste and nutrition. It might be safe to eat a 20 year old MRE but it doesn't mean that you will want to. I have some old MREs and frankly at this point I consider it emergency dog food.
Frankly, I don't see the appeal of them outside of the fact you can rip one open and eat it immediately. Freeze dried food lasts longer, tastes better, and maintains it's nutritional profile over it's lifespan. But it requires finding water and preferably, a way to heat the water. You can eat freeze dried food straight from the container in "dry" form, and some of them like the berries and fruits are better that way. But you have to realize you still need to drink the water and eat it in small portions.
Frankly, I don't see the appeal of them outside of the fact you can rip one open and eat it immediately. Freeze dried food lasts longer, tastes better, and maintains it's nutritional profile over it's lifespan.
I never recommend MRE's unless you just have some left over from getting out of the service a year or two ago, or you are planning, in the next 5 years, to be in an NBC environment. In addition to the shortcomings you listed, they are overly expensive, take up a lot of space, and create a lot of left over garbage.
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