I'm anxiously awaiting snowmobile season and I'm setting up my back pack. I'm pretty well set on survival kit stuff, but what I'm curious about is food. I'm wondering what type of packable snacks are best for a night out in not optimal conditions... I will probably be tired of digging a stuck sled out, or building a shelter, hopefully without sweating, but I'll want some warm food for rewarming my body and for helping my attitude out. But I wonder if I need carb's or quick fix of a snickers bar or protien or fat? I will want to have a quick fix and a more drawn out heat some water and make a meal to kill all the time and pass a night, so please help me with recommendations. I have a back packing meal ie. freeze dried chicken ala king already, but want other ideas, and some smaller items. I currently have a couple of hot chocolate packets, onion soup packet in my pack and I usually pack a lunch with some snickers, but I,m thinking I need some storable food that stays in my pack for the winter....Thanks for any suggestions.

Carbs ans sugar based candies will give you a short term lift. Something you might want in an emergency. But long term like an overnight stay in the cold weather situation you need fats and protein.

A couple of power bars would not be a bad start. But in thecold they get very hard to chew. Hard candy is always a compact package for a boost.

Traditionally pemican has been the food of natives and frountersmen especially in the cold months. Dried meat, dried fruits or berries and rendered fat as a binder and coating. Fry up a couple of slices and when you are cold you would be suprized how good it tastes. Your body knowes what it needs.I've seen a recipe that substitues peanut butter for the fat.

A modern partial substitute is peanut butter. Plenty of protein and fat to fuel the body. There is also the choice of natural peanut butter without all the additives. For that matter any nut can be ground into a paste or butter. A small jar would be good thing to toss in an emergency kit.

MRE's can come with a heating system for a hot meal if you can't build a fire.

Any kind of powdered drink mix, coffee or tea for a hot drink will work wonders on morale on a long cold lonely night.

You'll need everything. Sugar is a FIFO, starches for the midrange, and fat for the night. Trick is nothing with a high moisture content...

Granola bars. Peanut butter cookies (good luck keeping them in the pack) or sandwiches (they can keep in the pack for several days; weeks if frozen). Sunflower seeds. M&M's can chip teeth if they freeze, so if you do gorp, use plain chips. Fig newtons are great.

First thought that came to mind - MRE heater meal, or some civilian equivilent. Warm, meant to be able to be handled in the cold, packable, and a LOT (and I do mean a LOT) of calories. Hint folks - 2 MREs/day are supposed to be enough calories to have a young male survive in battlefield conditions

Heater meals get interesting below freezing. I'd want to try it first.

On my diet (life style), one MRE contains most of the calories I am allowed in one day. I have noticed that the quality of the MREs have improved over the years. the convenience of being able to heat a meal without a fire is a real plus, if you have room enough to carry a few MREs. Sometimes I break down the MREs so they take up less space in my backpack.

Admittedly, I have not tried the heater pack in below freezing weather. It takes very little water to activate them, so I'll just have to try it or recheck the specs on them.

The big risk I see is that if the meal itself freezes, I'm not sure the heater module is hot enough to thaw it. I know that an MRE heater won't defrost a hard frozen MRE; can't imagine these guys are any better off.

The trick is to open the MRE, add the required water, close it back up (w/the help of a paperclip), and then place it inside your shirt, with the T-shirt (or long-johns) between you and everything else that you are wearing.

This "preheats and rehydrates" your meal from the start of your morning to the time that you want to eat. Your meal will be at least 98.6 degrees and ready for the MRE Heater to warm it up properly.

Breaking down your MRE's will reduce the volume (air) that you are carrying around and allows room in your ruck to carry additional items. It also allows you easier access to specific food items that you want (ie: blueberry muffin during a break)

I like to carry a couple of C-Rats like a can of chili, beef stew, chicken & dumplings, etc. A C-Rat every couple of days in the field does a lot for one's morale.

I love breakfast! I'll bake some biscuits and hard boil some eggs at home and bring those along with some raw bacon, and also bring some instant grits or oatmeal. This allows me to have my bacon, eggs, grits (or oatmeal), and biscuits for the time that I'll be in the field.

I am in the habit of saving some salt, pepper, Tony Chacherie's seasonings, taco sauce, ketchup, grape (& strawberry) jelly/jam packets from fast food restaurants to add to my meals.

When I am going to my boat, I keep some of the condiment items as I travel and eat along the way. This keeps some fresh condiments coming into my BoB as I come and go.

These are some of the "tricks" that I use.

Lately, I've been big on gorp with dried fruit in it. It's not something I eat every day, but it sure tastes good on the trail. The dried fruit makes it a little sweeter which is good for a quick pick-me-up. I like Sunbird Spiffy Mix, which has: raisins, papaya, pineapple, apples, walnuts, cashews, and almonds. Sometimes I also just "roll my own" dried fruit and nut gorp from whatever looks good on the dried fruit section of Whole Foods.

I have read on the MRE-heater instructions that for frozen MRE's, you need 2 MRE-heaters: One to defrost, one to heat.