Ultimate Portable Food for BOB/BOV is Easy Cheese?

[Tperkins]

This thread reminds me, I need to store a jar or two of PB in my "Equip. Closet". My younger brother is deathly allergic to PB (the airborne scent particles are enough), but in my room its safe, but PB is a good high calorie dense per weight food.

Can anyone say how PB does in a hot car? Any negative effects?

[EricinVirginia]

Hey T, I've had jars of PB in my hot car all summer and they were fine provided that they were never opened to begin with. Once opened, I never left them in my car afterwards as they heat up and it's only a matter of time before peanut oil spills out and messes up the car. But to answer your question, I've never opened it and then left it long enough to see if it goes rancid. I do know that there's some kind of weird fungus or mold that will grow on the top of peanut butter and you can remove it and it's good to go.

[thelight]

Other: Nutella

[Tperkins]

Hey T, I've had jars of PB in my hot car all summer and they were fine provided that they were never opened to begin with. Once opened, I never left them in my car afterwards as they heat up and it's only a matter of time before peanut oil spills out and messes up the car. But to answer your question, I've never opened it and then left it long enough to see if it goes rancid. I do know that there's some kind of weird fungus or mold that will grow on the top of peanut butter and you can remove it and it's good to go.

Sounds good. I dont like nutella by the way haha.

I gotta keep some MRE's in there though.
MRE's, Mainstays, and the ability to catch food are my choices, and beef jerky.

[Big B]

Other: Nutella

Mmmmm, I love me some Nutella!

[Kajira]

I do know that there's some kind of weird fungus or mold that will grow on the top of peanut butter and you can remove it and it's good to go.

Eww. I have never head of that. That is good to know, but I don't know if I could bring myself to eat peanut butter after scraping mold off of it. Ugh.

[Drackar]

For everyone who says ramen....why? God why.
If you want noodles, pack elbow macaroni. The caloric content-mass ratio is higher, they have more nutrition, and they aren't as likely to make you loose vital nutrition and fluids in the latrine.

The same goes for spray cheese...take a two pound chunk of budget cheddar. cut it into eight pieces. Dip each of these chunks of cheese into cheese wax a couple of times. Bingo, you have cheese that will be stable and consumable for YEARS. And actually tastes good.

And as for twinkies? They are stale when they make it to the stores. Let alone when you eat them. They will be about the same level of stale in several years time....so yeah. Just eat the things. NOTHING is as awesome as a actual fresh twinkie. But you only get those fresh from the factory.

For me, dry rice, dried powdered beans, elbow macaroni, and Cliff bars. The first three are very good compact forms of carbs and combined make a nearly complete protein. Dry goods take water...but also mean you carry less weight for your nutrition. Cliff bars are a source of vitamins and minerals and quick sugars and protein...I buy them by the 24 bar case from Costco, have two or three in my day bag at all times, and are my preferred breakfast for early morning jobs, my lunch if I'm at a remote jobsite for long periods of time, and so on.

I also like honey, tea, cheese, and good sausage to be in my kit if I have a choice and can take the weight and bulk.

[Tperkins]

Clif bars are really good, much much better than clif bars. I like the nutritional content of the Clif bars, lots of vitamins, cant recall if they had protien, and about 180 cal. I usually buy the 12 packs at REI, I go to Sams sometimes but I dont ever see them there, maybe I dont look in the right place.

Sams=Costco right?

[EricinVirginia]

Yeah, I don't understand the ramen thing either. EZ Cheese works because it stores forever, when you're done you can toss it and free up space and weight. You can eat it without prep. It adds flavor and calories to anything you put it on. I don't have to dip it in wax to store it. My BOB isn't about wandering off and never coming back. It's about getting from where I am to my BIL or BOL. The Mainstay 3600 calorie packs + chilli + EZ Cheese and I'm good to go with some calories that will last me 3 days and not have me feeling like it's already time to start using cat oil as chapstick. BTW, Mainstay added to chilli is quite good. It gets all crumbly and thickens the chili.

[Drackar]

Costco is it's own entity. Samsclub is an adjunct to the evil empire that is wallmart.

And that only works for spray cheese if you can stand the stuff...me, It makes me ill in ways that real cheese just doesn't.

One Item I forgot to mention is real oatmeal. I prefer Irish oats, myself, but they take more energy to cook properly. A good source of fiber is very important...especially with the other items I tend to pack.

[EricinVirginia]

Fair enough Drackar. As another poster on this thread - Y.T. - noted, the thought of EZ Cheese makes her vomit in her mouth a little. I on the other hand love the stuff. If your BOB is 3 days between Point A and B, then packing stuff you like and enjoy eating makes sense no? Whenever I touch on this thread, I'm always surprised we don't see more people posting liquor, chocolate, and the like. Those have good calorie content as well and add a little something something to SHTF surreality.

[Azraeleternity]

I nearly vomited at the thought of eating easy-cheese.

Voted for canned chili, MREs, Jerky, power bars (assuming Clif bars are in this category, not just brand specific Power Bars), and other.

Other for peanut butter because a spoonful is not enough, and neither is the entire jar. >_>

[Hachiman]

Instant mashed potatoes w/ bacon bits even and maybe cheese powder from mac and cheese
Oatmeal you can even bust up a cliff bar to put in it
powdered eggs maybe with cheese powder from mac and cheese
NUTELLA

rice rice and more rice...it has kept the world fighting for thousands of years

[fourpaws]

I've got British Army boil-in-a-bag rations, 2 lots of commercial hot/cold rations and some sundries in my BOB.... Cheese isn't part of it but trail mix is...which has got peanuts in it.. so Im sort of rootin' for peanut butter !

Clif bars are in there as well .. best thing is that I get them free from the DFAC here where I work so Im constantly topping them up/refreshing them in my BOB when I get home every 8 weeks...Yet to try the white choc chip one .. but the rest are soooooo very tasty...

[EricinVirginia]

Are the UK MREs similar to the US ones? The US ones are about enough to make me just want to starve to death... but are doing quite well in this poll. If you get a chance 4Paws, will you put up some pics of the UK boil in a bag stuff you're talking about?

Peanut butter is all fine and all, but for luxury - Nutella; you can't beat chocolate-flavored peanut butter. And cheese has been around for 1,000 of years... though I pity the fool who first was hungry enough that he actually ate the slimy goo growing near the goat/horse/cow milking area. Can you even imagine? Peanut butter has only been around for about what? 150 years? While it does make an excellent flavor additive... I'll give it that...

[azoth]

i cant believe nobody has mentioned tactical bacon, 50 something strips of precooked bacon with a ten year shelf life.
its my bob food.
http://www.thinkgeek.com/caffeine/wacky ... pg=froogle

[fourpaws]

Are the UK MREs similar to the US ones? The US ones are about enough to make me just want to starve to death... but are doing quite well in this poll. If you get a chance 4Paws, will you put up some pics of the UK boil in a bag stuff you're talking about?

Peanut butter is all fine and all, but for luxury - Nutella; you can't beat chocolate-flavored peanut butter. And cheese has been around for 1,000 of years... though I pity the fool who first was hungry enough that he actually ate the slimy goo growing near the goat/horse/cow milking area. Can you even imagine? Peanut butter has only been around for about what? 150 years? While it does make an excellent flavor additive... I'll give it that...

Hi Eric... apologies for the links only - Im in the process of sorting out a photobucket account -but this is one of the MRE style boxes that I have...

http://www.surplusandoutdoors.com/shop/survival-accessories/survival-accessories/genuine-british-army-issue-24-232865.html

And this is the newer style that the toms on the ground are getting....

http://www.outdoorsmagic.com/reviews/cooking-eating-and-drinking/food/british-army-24hr-ration-pack/5372.html

When I get home, I'll stick up some pics of my own ones and stick a review in.. generally they are similiar to the US MRE's in calorie content, diversity of meals, sundries etc.. of course there is the difference in chocolate/candy and the consistency of the meals as well. I've eaten MRE's over here in Iraq and, okay, whilst not being the best meal Ive ever eaten, they certainly do the job - likewise for the Brit Mil ration packs...

Either way, both of them taste better than that demonically evil EZ Cheese !

[Apollo-11]

MRE peanut butter pouches. That is all. It doesn't seem to go bad, ever. I've eaten some that was 18 years old and it tasted like fresh Skippy out of the jar.

[EricinVirginia]

Yeah, I've been surprised that the pro-bacon camp hasn't weighed in on this thread. However, if you search, there are entire threads by themselves dedicated to just bacon and tactical bacon and bacony goodness.

I personally detest US MREs and nothing said by anyone in the armed services has ever made me think... "Maybe I'm wrong and should give it a try..." So, I'm curious as to how the UK does it. Until you posted it, I guess I had an unchallenged assumption that the MREs were specific to NATO, not the US. Now I'm wondering if Chinese MREs have dried squid and fish in them.

This thread early on had an entire post about honey... and I've experimented with dehydrated honey. It's light, but fairly large in volume, has lots of calories and some other uses. And you can suck on it while hiking. I love EZ cheese, but for the size of the can, it takes up too much space. My dog and kids love EZ cheese too... though the kids are in the midst of a raging Nutella-addiction and need a 9 step recovery program.

[TAB]

I make my own GLORP! I get a BIG (I guess its about .5 gallon) container of peanut butter, and remove it and put it into a large mixing bowl. The container has a wide lid so it is easy. Then I add oatmeal, walnuts, chocolate chips, raisins (any dried fruits), and some honey... add more peanut butter if it gets too stiff to mix. Fill up the original container with the glorp. Its great, requires no cooking, and I'm sure animals can smell it for miles around... good 'ol bringing 'em in versatility, but watch out for bears!

[ineffableone]

You got it. Can't take the heat of your car. I did some research and what I came up with was mainstay bars. I personally carry two packs, why?

Primary Reason:
Withstands Temperatures of -40 deg F to 300 deg F

Secondary Reasons:
These bars taste like a lemon butter cookie and provide calories for one person for up to 3 days.
Easily broken into 400 calorie segments and forified with vitamins A, B1, B2, B7, B12, D, E and other nutrients.
5 year shelf life.
Non-Thirst Provoking.
Ready to Eat.

Yep Mainstay is good.

Survival Tabs are Great.
A GI canteen size bottle of them is 15 days worth of rations! 10+ year shelf life. Comes in a container that can be used to collect water, plastic bag included inside to hold your tabs while you use the bottle to collect water. Visit link for nutritional info http://www.survivaltabs.com/ingredients-and-nutrition-facts.html


And don't for get the pemmican, totally yummy survival food.