Budget bugout food test

[Frnc]

I have a few FYP meals about to expire. You can't buy them any more. Expedition type meals are expensive, and most don't say shelf life. They are a bit better for calories per 100g, but cheap supermarket stuff isn't terrible.

So I'm gonna revive the mac'n' cheese experiment, test a few again from Sainsburys and Aldi. I'm also going to try some instant porridge. And I'm going to try cooking Koda noodles in a resealable, thick, stand-up, boiling water-capable plastic bag. The bags are £3.50 for 7.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00BCHNQ2Y/.
These will also do for instant porridge that comes in sachets.

[Frnc]

The basic idea is this.
I have a 1.1 litre titanium pot. A small gas cannister and stove fit inside it. But that's just for boiling water, not getting dirty. Backpacking meals cook in their bags. So I'm supplying my own bags!

Of course you can get some noodles etc that come in pots. But these are bulky. One or two small porridge ones might be ok, but I really want sachets. I don't think supermarket sachets can hold boiling water. Pretty sure not.

[pseudonym]

Use one Freeze dried Meal, wash out pouch, use again.

You can pour hot water into the single serving porridge sachets.

[Frnc]

Use one Freeze dried Meal, wash out pouch, use again.

You can pour hot water into the single serving porridge sachets.

The only sachets I can see in Sainsbury’s need milk added. I only need one or two for a BOB, so I might use the pots, as I don't think they are very big.

[Frnc]

Cooked Koka noodles successfuly in plastic bag (special bag that stands up, is sealable, and can handle boiled water, see link in OP).

First I poured boiled water onto my noodles in saucepan. This was just get the quantity. Poured that into a measuring jug. About 300 ml. Noodles were now hot and wet, but I got them into the special plastic bag (described above). Sealed it up and wrapped in foil backed bubble wrap for about 3 minutes. Despite losing heat doing the first two stages for the measurement, it came out fine.

I ate them with a plastic spork, and drank the liquid from the bag.

Yes, you can wash the bags out, in theory. I don't think I have any washing up liquid in my BOB. It's only aimed at survival for 3 days, so a few bags is easier. But I was using backpacking meals previously, which cook in their own bags. So I may add some W/U liquid.

Koka is 385 calories for 85g which is good.

[Frnc]

Incidentally, these freeze dried meals are extras. The core meals in my BOB are Seven Oceans ration bars. 2,500 calories, 500g. 9 bars individually wrapped. Actually it's 18 in 9 packages. Quite tasty, like shortbread.

I'm going to buy a bag of nuts as well. You need calorie dense food that doesn't need cooking as your core food.

[Peter]

WHAT ...NO CORNED BEEF, NO BAKED BEANS.......SHOCK HORROR, i’ve eaten both cold no prob

[GillyBee]

Yes, you can wash the bags out, in theory. I don't think I have any washing up liquid in my BOB. It's only aimed at survival for 3 days, so a few bags is easier. But I was using backpacking meals previously, which cook in their own bags. So I may add some W/U liquid.

We use a simple system of wiping out with kitchen roll and finishing with a Dettol non-taint antibacterial wipe or two when camping in areas with poor water infrastructure. Seems to work well for a day or two and I would move to this if we got a water outage short term. Might it work for your BoB?
(The non-taint ones do not need rinsing after wiping chopping boards or high chairs so I view them as fairly safe to ingest at this level of use.)

[Frnc]

Yes, you can wash the bags out, in theory. I don't think I have any washing up liquid in my BOB. It's only aimed at survival for 3 days, so a few bags is easier. But I was using backpacking meals previously, which cook in their own bags. So I may add some W/U liquid.

We use a simple system of wiping out with kitchen roll and finishing with a Dettol non-taint antibacterial wipe or two when camping in areas with poor water infrastructure. Seems to work well for a day or two and I would move to this if we got a water outage short term. Might it work for your BoB?
(The non-taint ones do not need rinsing after wiping chopping boards or high chairs so I view them as fairly safe to ingest at this level of use.)

I have done similar in the past, come to think of it. And in a couple of days bugout that would be an option. I've got quite a few of those bags now though, so can probably rely on those. I've not got a container for washing up liquid anyway, and little Nalgene ones are very expensive. Maybe I should have some in my longer term bugout gear, but not 3-5 day version.

[Frnc]

Found one large Batchellors Mac N Cheese in a pot. Expires in 2 days! So I'll be testing that today or tomorrow. The volume is an issue, but actually my main BOB is only half full. The idea is to probably use my bike, and use two panniers. The rucksack would stay mostly empty. So I could fit a couple of the mac n cheese in pots in that.

There is a difference. The ones in pots just need hot water. Most of the ones not in pots say to add milk. Mug shots does not, so I will get some of those. The others could still be viable if I mix in some dried milk, but I'll have to do a test.

So to summarise...

1. Mug Shots Mac n Cheese. Sachet. Hot water only (ie no milk). Cook in stand-up plastic bag that can take hot water. Only down side really is only 250 calories, but it ain't bad. Will probably have a couple of theses.

2. Others that need milk...test with dried milk in plastic bag.

3. Ones that come in a pot. Only need hot water. Bit bulky, but not out of the question. Good thing about these is no bag needed, and the pot is easier to handle. So definitely want at least a couple.

4. All of the above...can add a little veg oil for calories. Need to get a small Nalgene for this.