The phone rings at 0400 hrs local and your EmComm Leader is telling you it’s time to deploy to BFE Florida after a Cat 4 hurricane. But wait! I’m all out of Mountain House Freeze dried beef stroganoff; what will I eat!
There are plenty of off the shelf foods that are perfectly suited for living in the rough. Before I delve into the foods, let’s talk about calories. Sustainable intake or calorie intake that will not cause weight loss would be in the neighborhood of 2,000 to 3,000 calories a day. That could be one meal at Wendy’s. Of course calorie intake would have to go up as your activity increases but here is an example. I walk 4 miles most mornings at a sub 15 minute mile pace which is faster then most people walk. I burn about 105 calories a mile. To give context, my 4 mile walk is about equivalent to a Snickers Bar.
So what do you need to be self sustaining? There probably won’t be much power available so foods that store without refrigeration would be high on the list. One example is peanut butter or an equivalent. Two tablespoons of peanut butter is about 200 calories, couple that with a tortilla and you are up to about 300 calories or more. Two peanut butter/tortillas per meal and you have 1,800 calories per day. Crackers are a good source for calories. Five saltines are 70 calories and an MRE Cracker packages contains 2 crackers for 180 calories. Add some MRE Cheese Spread with Bacon and you are up to 300 calories. I am former Army and some of this is field “comfort” food.
Another favorite is GORP or Good Ole Raisins and Peanuts. this harkens back to my backpacking days. I often add chopped dates and M&M’s to it. Mandelbrot or Mandel Bread is another high calorie treat.
Before I move on to my list of deployment foods I want to discuss water.General Guidelines are 1 gallon per person, per day. That is a maintenance amount. Add in heat stress, washing (body clothes, utensils) and the number goes up. While in the Army we did a training exercise in the desert. It was over 100 degrees and we were performing strenuous activity. I was almost drinking a gallon of water an hour. Plan on 2 or more gallons of water per person, per day. Jerry can water often develops an after taste so something like Stur or Pur Aqua favoring helps.
Here is a list of foods I consider when getting ready for a deployment. I also use this list when camping and doing something like a POTA activation. Most everything on the list can be had at a grocery store and some like Walmart are open 24 hrs. One last word of advice before I present the list. Do not wait until you are in the field before trying some of these foods. One or more may not agree with you and your suffering may be compounded by poor “facilities”. Here is the list:
B&M Brown Bread
Pilot Bread
Peanut Butter
Jelly
WeetaBix (cereal)
Underwood Chicken Spread
Single Serving Spam
Saltine Crackers
MRE Cracker (Amazon)
MRE Cheese Spread (Amazon)
Flour Tortilla
Wasa Sourdough Crispbread
Foil packed chicken (usually by the tuna packets)
Fresh Fruit
Fruit Cups
Dried Fruit
Raisins
GORP
Granola bars
Ghee (clarified butter)
Instant Coffee
Instant Oatmeal
Ramen Noodles (single Serve)
Remember to include enough protein in your diet. I once did a supply run in south Florida after a hurricane and for 2 days I ate nothing but peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, I was ready for some meat. By the time I got back to civilization (with electricity), Even a fast-food burger sounded gourmet. A lot of this stuff keeps well so you can store some at the house. It’s also a lot cheaper. Stay safe and 73 – Scott
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