New to MRE’s

[Curry]

Greg,

You may have a civilian MRE or a Humanitarian Daily Ration (HDR) since you say it came from a Hurricane Sandy relief effort. HDRs conatin 2200 total calories and are meant to be a full day's worth of calories, etc for an average person. Conversely, military issue MREs are usually only one meal of about 1200-1500 total calories, so a military person would be issued at least 3 MREs per day.

Also, to answer your question, if I'm not training for something, then my average caloric intake per day would be about 1200 or so. So depending on the age, height, weight, activity level etc of the person, 1200 is not that low. Remember, we Americans are the proud owners of the most obese population per capita on earth precisely because our sense of portion control and realistic approach to how much food, or calories, we actually need to eat daily to support the physiology of our body's systems and functions are completely skewed towards a more is better mentality.

BL: chose the food you want to eat and are willing to carry.

[James Marco]

2000-2400C/day sounds like a lot. I gain weight at 2000C per day except when I am out paddling or camping. I usually get by on about 1100C/day just sitting around the house. But, I agree this number varies wildly. I think that WWII germany showed that you could not starve someone at 2500C/day in a year doing hard labour, on average. They did some really terrible things to people…that was one of them. 1200C/day is bare subsistance level doing nothing but being a couch potatoe. MRE's were designed for bare subsistance. Leave it to the military to make sure you starve a little. It actually heightens awareness…

As far as lightweight food goes, you can get stuff that is very calorie dense. Parified butter or ghee is about 240-25C/oz. Olive oil is about the same. But, it is hard to eat large amounts of fats per day. I usually limit this to an ounce or two mixed in with other stuff. Fats/oils are good at calorie density and fat soluable vitamins.

Macedamia nuts, almonds, peanut butter rate close seconds for calories per ounce.

Pemmican is a mix of stuff and makes a good trail food at about 120C/oz. Lots of dehydrated foods are around 110-125C/oz. Dried sausage, salami, dried hot dogs (done in a microwave) supply lots of protiens, vitamins and other nutrients besides just fats and oils.

Good semi-sweet chocolate bars, honey, etc are down on calories a bit but still have lots of other nutrients that are hard to get otherwise. I avoid most sugars but carry some hard candy for quick energy.

Rice, pasta of any kind, flours (bisquick) etc are good for calories at around 100-110. Some protiens and other nutrients.

Cocoa mixes (skim milk, chocolate, sugars) are good. Fats and sugars. some other nutrients.

Generally, I pack about 130C/oz in about 18oz or about 2300-2400C/day. I have plenty of reserve, so I don't worry about loss of weight, I am rarely hungry but have been if I am out for a month or so.

Along with salt (a mix of lite salt and regular salt,) spices, and a few packets of gravy mixes/sauce mixes, this adds up to about 1.2pounds per day. Sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less. I eat late, usually close to bed time. This keeps me a bit warmer at night.

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