I am concerned with the issue of the rations in my vehicles emergency kit going bad faster than it should. I live in the Tahoe basin area of Nevada where the nights are WELL below freezing and the days are Well above freezing. I know this is terrible for the rations in my vehicles kit. Freezing, thawing,freezing,thawing.. I have access to Real MRE's, cold weather ones and the regular ones. I have the regular ones in the kit now and when I check them the main entree is frozen. but when considering putting the cold weather ones in my vehicle that would mean I would have to carry more water to hydrate the contents and a way to heat the water. Taking up even more space in my vehicle. I am trying to keep my gear compact enough to fit under the back seat of my truck. Is squirrel food, oat meal,granola and power bars my only option?

From http://www.mreinfo.com/mre-longevity.html

“Avoid fluctuating temperatures in and out of freezing level.”

I store 2 weeks worth of canned food in a travel trailer parked away from my house. I know that I go through the same freeze-thaw-freeze-thaw cycle that you do. I rotate the canned food once a year and have yet to find any that didn't taste good, let alone any that were spoiled. But MRE's are too expensive to rotate like that, at least for me. I just bought two cases of regular MRE's and have been keeping them in my basement at about 55 degrees F. I think I'll keep them there and stick to canned for my vehicle kits.

Regards, Vince

This was mentioned a few weeks ago, but I like the idea:

Stick your food and water in a good cooler, and toss a hot pack in it every night. Use the reusable ones and you should be good. Simple, effective, and cost effective. Brilliant.

I was in North Dakota for four years when I was in the Air Force. We kept C-rations or K-rations, I can't remember, in the trunk, but it remained below freezing for months at a time. :-> I'd eat the survival food somewhere along the line every summer, just to rotate it out. A winter in the trunk did no damage. Again, the the freeze/thaw cycles were really stretched out, and I don't know how it compares to Tahoe.

In the case of MREs (and most other foods that are preserved by heat process canning), the heat/thaw cycle is not going to significantly alter the character of the contents, since the processing itself has already significantly broken down the constiuents.

One thing about canned foods. Freezing the contents can burst the seal. It isn't as bad with MRE packs because they have some expansion capacity, but the canned goods off the shelf at the grocery store don't have much give and won't take much internal pressure.

I prefer keeping dry goods in my car for emergency rats. They are less prone to damage and deterioration due to weather extremes. Of course, they don't take physical stress as well. My last cracker packet had been turned into cracker dust due to improper storage methods.

We keep our MRE's in the basement. Mostly because we will shelter in place when possible.

Our car rations do not need to be long-term so we keep 3600Kcal Mayday "food bars". They taste ok - I always check how thigs work before adding them to our supplies. They will keep you alive for a couple of days. These are made so that they are impervious to changes in temperature. (as far as nutritional value)

H2O is a different matter. It DOES freeze in your trunk.