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This edition of my Bug Out Bag Essentials Series will be a focus on compact calories. One of the most important aspects of any Bug Out Bag (BOB), Get Home Bag (GHB) or whatever you want to call your survival kit. In every kit, you have a very limited amount of space in which to get all of your necessary supplies in. This edition, Compact Calories, will hopefully give you a few ideas as to how to fit enough life sustaining calories into your survival gear to survive when the zombies attack.

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Meals Ready to Eat are the military’s version of combat food. These meals are relatively inexpensive, very calorie dense and have a shelf life that will outlive you according to some sources.

The MRE’s components look like the picture below:

And contain:

The military makes a few changes to the menus every year so you will find a different menu listing for each year. In general, though, each MRE contains the following:
• Entree - the main course, such as Spaghetti or Beef Stew
• Side dish - rice, corn, fruit, or mashed potatoes, etc.
• Cracker or Bread
• Spread - peanut butter, jelly, or cheese spread
• Dessert - cookies or pound cakes
• Candy - M&Ms, Skittles, or Tootsie Rolls
• Beverages - Gatorade-like drink mixes, cocoa, dairy shakes, coffee, tea
• Hot sauce or seasoning - in some MREs
• Flameless Ration Heater - to heat up the entree
• Accessories - spoon, matches, creamer, sugar, salt, chewing gum, toilet paper, etc.
Each MRE provides an average of 1,250 calories (13% protein, 36% fat, and 51% carbohydrates) and 1/3 of the Military Recommended Daily Allowance of vitamins and minerals. A full day’s worth of meals would consist of three MREs.

As you can see, MRE’s are an excellent option for any survivalist. That being said, they’re laden with lots of wasted space. Read below to figure out how to make this calorie rich food more compact.

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The below post was written by MisterFluffy and originally posted on the Zombie Squad Forums. This is an excellent example of how to reduce wasted space that comes from traditional packaging that conventional survival foods typically have. MisterFluffy wrote the below information, I’m simply the editor.

After reading through the Bugout gear posts, I’ve noticed that like me, a lot of you carry MREs. But I’ve noticed that an awful lot of people will just toss in a few of the big brown plastic packs and call it good.

Well, I don’t mean to talk down on anyone, but doing it that way is a waste of space (bulky), weight (trash), and time (opening up all the friggin’ layers of packaging). Not to mention it leaves an awful lot of trash to deal with, no good if you’re trying not to leave a trace. Why pack around or have to dispose of extra trash?

I thought that, since I was field stripping some fresh MREs today to replace the ones eaten on my last bugout exercise, I would take a few pictures to illustrate my point, as well as give some folks who’ve never seen inside an MRE an idea of what delicious wonders they hold.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Do not field-strip your MREs for long term storage. I neglected to mention this the first time through and forgot to realize that most people may not have received the same boring lecture and crappy handouts. The average shelf-life of a current generation MRE is 3-5 years when in its original packaging. When field stripped the shelf life decreases by approximately 50%. So DO NOT just let them sit around forever like this!

Here we have three MREs in their from-the-factory glory. I wish I’d taken a picture of them on their sides, as the Chicken and Salsa is a particularly bulky one.

This is the aforementioned Chicken and Salsa out of the brown plastic outer bag as well as the inner semi-shrinkwrap bag. Notice the brown boxes? Yeah, those have gotta go. Ditto the extra plastic all over everything. Also, since when were Reese’s Pieces ever included!? Freakin sweet, I hate M&Ms.

Note: If you need to know the ingredients of your food, now is a good time to write them down. The only place they’re listed is on the brown cardboard, so if food allergies for you or a partner are an issue, make note now.

Here are the rest of the MREs (three total) taken out of the two sets of outer wrapping and brown cardboard sleeves. The drink mixes, crap pouches (Tabasco, TP, salt, etc) and spoons have been separated at the bottom. The top row is all of the food items, to include BBQ sauce. Calories are calories.

This is what’s left of all the crap in the bottom row of the last picture. I took two spoons, the toilet paper, a couple matchbooks, a Tabasco, and the salt. Threw out everything else (the drink mixes are crap, ditto everything else). Threw out the water-activated MRE heaters, too. They taste the same hot or cold, and the water necessary to heat your meal would be better used to stay hydrated. Then I put the “keepers” into one of the drink mixing pouches.

Note: Never, ever try to actually mix the drink powders in that stupid bag. You will not be able to drink without spilling it, it will probably leak while you’re shaking it, and you will look like a dumbass during the whole process. They’re useful as little plastic baggies, otherwise.

This is the final pile - just about everything edible. The best part of doing this is that you can easily separate out the types of food. If you’re the type that likes an LBV, throwing the candy and crackers/cheese/jelly into your vest, or even an easy outside pouch on your pack, makes a decent way to access a quick bite without digging out the whole pack. And it makes things a hell of a lot easier to deal with in the dark. The various pouches and types of food have very, very distinctive feels to them.

And now, the money shot. On the left is the entire useful contents of three MREs, packed into ONE outer bag, just for reference on the space savings we’re talking here. And on the right is all of the crap you don’t have to deal with anymore:

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Here are some more food options that I’ve written about in the past that are great ways to get compact calories in your survival systems.

Mainstay Emergency Rations

Mainstay rations are what I consider to be one of the ‘perfect’ bug out foods. These rations are impervious to heat and cold, have a 5 year shelf life and don’t make you thirsty while eating them. Each bar, which is roughly the size of a standard paperback book, contains 3600 calories which is enough to sustain an adult at a moderate level of activity for 3 days.

Mainstay’s Website Writes:
• 5 year Shelf Life
• Non-Thirst Provoking
• Withstands Temperatures of -40°F to 300°F (-40°C to 149°C)
• Ready to Eat: Each package contains 9 pre-measured 400 calorie meals.
• Individualized Portions eliminate the messy breaking-up that occurs with other bars.
• Allows for on-land emergency consumption in a high-stress active situation.
• Contains no cholesterol or tropical oils.
• Meets the US Coast Guard standards (160.046/23/0). It’s new modern packaging even meets the stringent guidelines set by the Department of Defense (SOLAS 74/83).
• Enriched with vitamins and minerals exceeding the RDA requirements.
• Pleasant lemon flavor which appeals to old and young alike.

I personally carry 4 mainstay bricks in my main bug out bag and tend to stash one or two away in every Bug Out Bag/Get Home Bag/Truck Bag I own.
An excellent review on the Mainstay Rations of JRod
Discussion of Mainstay vs Mayday Ration Bars
Iridellamas’s BOB containing mainstay rations

WHERE TO BUY

SURVIVAL UNLIMITED
EBAY
AMAZON
BRIGADE QUARTERMASTERS
SURVIVOR INDUSTRIES

Datrex Emergency Food Rations

Some individuals don’t like the lemony flavor of the Mainstay rations and would prefer something more palatable. For them, a good option might be the Datrex Emergency Food Ration.

Datrex Food Ration Bar Specs:

* Provides 3600 Calories (18 - 200 calories per bar)
* High Energy Value
* Made to be Non-Thirst provoking
* Pleasant cookie taste
* Small and lightweight
* Non affected by high heat or freezing cold (think,
car trunk emergency kit or cruise ship lifeboat in Alaska)
* All natural ingredients
* Vacuume sealed packaging locks in flavor
* Tabletized bars make for
easier rationing and dispersing
* No cooking or heating needed
Eat straight from the package
* Minimum 5 year shelf-life
* U.S. Coast Guard Approved
* Canadian Coat Guard Approved
* EC World Coast Guard Lifeboat Approved

Nutritional Information: Each bar contains 200 calories, 3gm of protein, 21gm of carbohydrate, and .75mg of sodium. Total fat is 10gm, saturated fat is 2gm, mono-unsaturated fat is 7gm, and poly-unsaturated fat is 1gm. Cholesterol is .378mg. Additionally, each bar contains Vitamin A and C, plus Thiamine, Riboflavin, and Niacin. [/quote]

Red Cross/Home Depot Pre-Made BOB featuring Datrex rations

General Food Bar Discussion

WHERE TO BUY

Nitro-pak.com
CampingSurvival.com
Preptek.com
Google Product Search

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Here are a few other calorie dense foods that pack up small in your BOB.

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This edition the BOB Essentials Series was just a brief glimpse into how to properly prepare your BOB’s food supplies. For a more in depth view of BOB foods, feel free to visit the Zombie Squad Forum’s Bug Out Bag section by Clicking This Link Thanks for reading.

Welcome to another great Zombie Squad Equipment Review. This one was submitted by AlphaMMA for his debut article. I am simply the editor of the article, so be sure to direct all credit, kudos or death threats to AlphaMMA. I’m also editing this one personally as I carry the knife under review and think it’s a fantastic survival knife (see picture below).

On with the review:

Gerber LMFII ASEK Survival Knife: Great BOB knife for a chump change price.

Manufacturer’s Link

Instructions:

I like documentation. Out of the box it came with [i]two[/i] sets of instructions, but perhaps LAPoliceGear just slipped in two sets for me. The instructions came in the form of a 8×5″ piece of paper printed in Black and White. Scan up in the morning. Gerber’s instructions claim that it is a “HIGHLY ADAPTABLE 10″ SURVIVAL KNIFE”. I agree. The instructions give detailed step by step, AMERICAN ENGLISH (sorry you limey ZS Brits) directions on how to attach to PALS webbing, the calf strap, or Belt/Thigh attachment. Check the images below for the mounting options. It also provides 4 cool images on how to smash Plexiglass, use as a hammer, convert to a spear, and use the integrated sharpener on the sheath. Scans of both sides are below

Sheath

This sheath is almost worth the $70 alone. It comes in two parts: the Kydex sheath that houses the knife, and a ballistic nylon backing to attach it using the methods described in the previous section.

The sheath has two small Modular Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment (MOLLE) straps with snap buttons. The snap buttons on this sheath, despite being made by commie Vietnamese, seem very strong. All of the stitching on the “ballistic nylon” (which I believe is 1000 Denier) is redundantly supported by two or three rows of threads. The two MOLLE straps are, if you haven’t figured out already, used to affix the sheath to the Pouch Attachment Ladder System (PALS) webbing.

It also comes with two thick, nylon straps for attachment to the calf. They have strong buckles (I heard from someone that they were Fastex, but I can not verify). The straps are impregnated with elastic in order to better grip your pants, although you’re going to need to tighten it just perfectly if you don’t want it to move around while sheathing/unsheathing your knife.

The MOLLE attachment strap also made it easy for me to affix the sheath to the shoulder strap of my back (Camelbak BFM). There is a little bit of movement, but I attribute this to my pack. I’m going to have to sew down the strap on my backpack so it can’t move. In the meantime I held it down with a safety pin.

One of the plethora of sweet features on this sheath is the fact that it is ambidextrous; you can position the sharp edge of the blade to your left or right. Good news for you leftys. Good news if you want to mount it upside-down, as well.

Another considerate feature is the built-in sharpener. To use this, you need to remove the sheath from the 1000 Denier backing. Simply stick the (non-serrated portion) of the blade into the hole in the Kydex sheath, and draw consistently through the hole. It came razor sharp out of the box (I cut myself shaving hairs off my arm). Just the way I like it.

The nylon backing for the sheath has two straps with snap-buttons that secure the hilt of the blade, although this is just another example of redundancy in this tool.

There is a strong plastic spring clip that clips onto the Guard. It holds the blade so tight that some weeny on Youtube actually complained that he got a boo boo from the clip when he bought it at the mall. Despite this guy’s classification of this feature as a con, all you have to do to remove the blade from its sheath is grasp it by the hilt, and push with your thumb, as you pull with your index finger. Your thumb should be on the clip, and it comes right out. Make no mistake, this blade will stay in its sheath until you want it to come out. Very well designed. +1

The Business End

This 10″ Drop-point blade is made of 12C27 Stainless Steel (which I believe is a specialty of Finland); this knife is sharp. As mentioned, I was able to shave a small patch of arm hair quite easily out of the box. That is, after I wiped the cosmoline off with an isopropanol soaked cotton ball. There was a bit of oil inside the sheath too, because after I cleaned it off, sheathed, then unsheathed it, there was a bit more on the tip. We’ll see how long it holds an edge with use, although I plan on keeping this on the hiking backpack.

The first 2.75″ of the blade is unserrated. The next 1.875″ is. The serrations slice through paracord like it was melting butter. I held a piece of 8.5×11″ paper taught and pulled the unserrated portion of the blade across it. There was not a single tear. It sliced through it, again, like a hot knife through melted buttery goodness (which makes me think of lobster…mmmm)

This blade is NOT full tang. It is separated from the butt end (which I’ll get to in a minute) by a Glass-filled nylon with TPV overmolded hilt. It has tiny circles on it, and gives a good grip even when wet (or bloody). The idea behind not being a full tang is that it is electrically insulated. If you click on the LA Police Gear.com link at the top of this review, there is a story by some sniper in Iraq who cut a hot power cord with one. It arced and wielded a piece of the blade, but the soldier is still alive serving his country. The hilt is quite soft and easy to scratch. I’m betting that after a few months of use its going to be missing some chunks- but I think the strong grip characteristics far outweigh this.

Now to my favorite part of the knife: the butt end. It has a plexi-glass punch, although I’m willing to bet that it will punch through all sorts of glass. Perhaps if I find some spare plexiglass in the garage I’ll put it to the test. But for now, you can view this video, again on Youtube.

The hilt has two holes, and the plexi-punch has a hole for lashing to a spear. I tied it up to one of my hiking poles. The holes are quite a convenience; perfectly shaped for paracord and they are positioned perfectly. It is pretty front-heavy, so I’m assuming it would be good for defense. I wouldn’t want to throw this knife in a survival situation. Not a chance that I’d want to be separated from this tool if TSHTF.

I have enormous hands ( size XL gloves ) and it fits just perfectly in my hand. If I put my thumb on the ridges on the guard, the meat of my palm hits part of the plexi-punch, but it’s against one of the tapered sides– not the point. It wouldn’t be a problem during intricate cutting operations.

Blade is 3/16″ thick, or about 5mm. I’d feel safe prying with it, although I’d personally hold it by the blade during prying, since its not a full tang.

The center of gravity is at about 4″; about 1.5″ below the guard. I don’t know much about throwing knives, but I bet you could learn how to do it with this blade with some practice.

Instruction page 1:

Instruction page 2:

The drop-point blade:

The Kydex Fire-Retardant Sheath:

Unsecured:

Secured:

The glass/zombie skull obliterating plex-punch

Showing the built-in sharpener. There’s a Phillips head screw to remove and clean the angled stones inside:

The Kydex sheath has holes for lashing, and 3/4″ slats for strapping:

Mounting options:

From pistol belt (no thigh strap)

Pistol belt with thigh strap (much more secure on the draw)

From shoulder strap:

On PALS webbing:

On calf:

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If you liked this article, feel free to contribute to the Zombie Squad Forum thread on this knife by Clicking Here. Thanks for reading.

Please Donate to Assist US Midwest Flood Victims!

In June, river levees throughout the Midwest were breeched due to heavy precipitation which has caused severe flooding in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The impact of the damages are still coming in as the flooding continues to destroy communities. To make matters worse, most of these floods came only a few days after a series of tornadoes tore through some of these same areas, including some Mid-Atlantic States. Our national disaster response charities are tapped out due the overwhelming need for relief aid. Some charities, such as the Red Cross, are reporting that they are now seeking loans to support its network of experienced workers and volunteers, due to their funds being depleted. The need your help more than ever.

Please donate whatever you can:
Donate to American Red Cross
Donate to Direct Relief International

Whoever you decide to give your money to, be sure to investigate them before you give.

If you are in the area or willing to travel, volunteers are always needed:
Volunteer for AmeriCorps
Volunteer with the Red Cross Disaster Services

A few images of the flood and tornado damage:

Feel free to spread the word with the banners below: