What would you recommend - Mainstay or Datrex rations? I've tasted the Daytrex - interesting sugar cane/coconut flavour, less sodium than Mainstay. Or perhaps a MRE/IMP ration with a heater? I live in Canada and a frozen MRE/IMP just doesn't cut it in the winter. Most common winter survival problem is to have vehicle problems and stuck on a loney road for overnight - the intent of rations would be as a psychological pickme up and create internal body heat.

With a vehicle wieght and space is not a consideration vs a bugoutbag. However, freshness is, especially in a vehicle subject to wide temperature extremes. You mention a hot meal as a morale factor. A MRE with heater pack would be the optimum solution. Using a stove in your car risks toxicity depending on the fuel. Opening a window to vent loses valuable warm air. A thermos with a hot beverage and a small selection of cold foods; candy, trailmix,driedfruit, powerbars etc. make for variety and are easily rotated.

As hydrogen is the byproduct of MRE heaters, you'd still need adequite ventilation, but I agree MRE's may be your best bet for a warm meal

Good point about the MRE heaters, they throw quite a bit of gas. (Both during cooking, and after eating <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />) I'm always using them outdoors when camping, so it's not a problem, but, in a car it might be. (The hydrogen anyway, your mileage may vary on the methane you need to deal with later...)

Another option, if these suit your fancy, are Mountain House style freeze dried backpacking foods. They now make a flameless heater for them also. It's a little different than the MRE heater, but, they still just need water to activate.

http://www.mountainhouse.com/data/new_prdcts.html#oven

I have a couple Full Meal MRE packs with heaters in the trunk, so that gives you a main course, side, snack, drink, and a spoon, wet nap, coffee mix, gum... You only get one heater with the MRE's, so if you want to heat your Country Captain Chicken, AND heat your mashed potatoes, you might want an extra MRE heater. You can try to jam both packs close to eachother in a box or wrapped in something, but, the MRE heater is really just designed for one packet at a time.

Having said that, I also have a brick of Datrex rations in the trunk bag. If I am forced to eat on the move, it's a lot easier to choke down a couple of those ration cookies than stop to eat the MRE's. Sitting in the car though, I'd go for the MRE first! The MRE's usually have an energy bar or some other type of snack in them also.

In the back of my truck I carry some canned goods and a few cans of Sterno to heat them with. As it is alcohol-based it should be reasonably safe. I rotate the food and water once in the fall.

Can/do canned goods freeze where you live? If so, I would be very interested in the range of temperatures you experience. If severe, prolonged sub-zero cold could similarly effect my supplies then I need to re-think my food stash.

Regards, Vince

I've never tried Datrex. I have eaten a lot of Mainstays and (though some think I'm nuts) I actually like the taste. I have eaten them exclusively for a 3 days straight on 2 occasions before finally giving in and going out for a hamburger. I haven't gotten past 3 days yet but they say the third time is a charm. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Maybe next time I can go 6 days before the desire for 'real' food overwelms me. The irony is that the Mainstay are A LOT healthier than my normal fare. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I live in a world of extremes:
-67*C with windchill (-40*C base)
+45*C with humidex (+40*C base)
8 hrs sunshine in winter to 16 hrs in summer.
If I kept any type of food in the car kit, it would have to be cycled out at least once a year. I see canned goods as no better than MRE/IMPs, actually they would be less usefull in the winter except as weapons to ward off Yeti.
I've given up trying to store water during the coldest months as I would need seveal heaters to melt it in the winter - either that or put them on a hot running engine!

Something that helps with your water rations freezing... Rather than keeping the water in the trunk, you can keep a supply in the passenger compartment. It will still freeze, but, once you start driving and have the heater going, it will thaw again. Something flexible that can either go under the seat, or hang near a heat vent on the passenger side like a flexible Platypus water container works well, and it can be placed out of the way. They make them in all different sizes, and I've had them go through many freeze/thaw cycles with no problems.

Wow, that's cold. I believe that -43* F. is our state record and we could approach that in the mountains at times but that would be extreme. But I like to plan for the worst.

You wrote: "I see canned goods as no better than MRE/IMPs, actually they would be less usefull in the winter except as weapons to ward off Yeti."

Is this because canned foods freeze and burst in extreme cold, or is it just that they require thawing? I am interested in whether or not a can of Sterno will thaw out a can of chili in a reasonable time at -40* F., or if I'm better off packing my single burner white gas stove.

I agree that MREs would make a better choice, but due to the heat (at times above 120* F. in the back of my truck) I'd still end up rotating them every year and they are so much more expensive than canned that I doubt it would be worth it, to me at least.

Regards, Vince

Tin cans have a lot more food-to-area ratio which means that a frozen tin would take a lot longer to thaw out than an MRE. With an MRE, you would probably need two heaters - one to thaw it and one to heat it to eating temperature. But my other idea has some merit - just put the MRE or tin can on the engine block to thaw and while running the engine to heat the passengers, it thaws the meal as well.