If you plan on rotating your MREs every year, you can eliminate much of the bulk by removing much of the packaging. We used to do this for the same reasons. I do not know how long they are good for in storage once you begin to break seals though. We would eliminate the cardboard and the large amount of air in the main bag, along with whatever you do not plan on using. The foil bags will remain sealed, and inside the main plastic bag, then they can be compressed much more and taped closed. We did not use this for long term storage, however.