How to Make Your Own $5 Homemade MREs

MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) are no doubt a prepper favorite, but they can get fairly expensive. In this video, I put together some DIY homemade MREs with Mylar bags and some shelf-stable foods found at any grocery store. I was able to put together 4 of these emergency food kits for around $5 each. Much better than the $15 to $20 a military MRE costs.

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[brandonrhoades]

Shelf stable and temperature resistant candies like Skittles are a great addition. Plain M&Ms if you need a chocolate fix. Sugar free gum can act as a toothbrush, distract from hunger when on the go, and chewing has a known calming psychological effect.

[jameskelly]

Great video. Couple of things I like to add:
Sailor boy pilot bread. I take 3 of them, which is a good serving size for a pouch of tuna or chicken. Put it in a small mylar bag. You can either pull a vacuum on it and seal it, or you can add an oxygen absorber and seal it. Lasts darn near forever.
Tortillas. Fold in half, which unfortunately will put a crease in them, but cannot be helped. Add an oxygen absorber and seal. Should last a year or more. You can use regular store bought tortillas. This would work really well for using a tuna, chicken, or pulled pork pouch to make a wrap.
You can also add things like ready-to-eat rice or pasta instead. Any of these would boost your carbohydrates and calorie count way up.
Dollar tree has some excellent snacks that could be repackaged in mylar for long life. The Combos and the Corn Nuts are exactly the same as the ones in MREs, both available in various flavors. If you repackage them in mylar and add an oxygen absorber, they will last a long time.
Us old guys remember the very early MREs with the freeze dried fruit square. They were a favorite. They are still good 40 years later if you can find one with a good vacuum seal. If you want to do your own, Dollar Tree and Walmart both sell various freeze dried fruit pouches such as apples, bananas, berries, etc. It's not a square of styrofoam like the old MREs, but they are still delicious. They last a really long time as long as they are sealed up.
Big fan of peanut M&Ms. Calorie dense, good mix of carbs, protein, and fat.

[justkelly]

Remembering my days in military back 45 years or so a couple of items to throw into the MRE should be. A book of matches wrapped in wax paper and sealed with wax, a a small ration of toilet paper. Also if you can find it some canels or chicklet gum. A couple of those peppermit gum rocks easily overcame the horrid taste of the Lima beans and ham or the ten pound pound cake. A single use handi wipe or sanitizer wipe in foil packet would also be advisable.

[Krazyfaceoldman]

My favorite homemade mre can of pork and beans

[wjf]

One thing you might want to do, is when putting an O2 absorber in with something that is hard and has sharp edges, like beef jerky, wrap the beef jerky in a paper towel before putting it in the mylar bag. Then when the oxygen is removed and you have a tight vacuum seal, the sharp edges on the beef jerky or rice in my case, doesn't slowly start poking holes in your bag. The paper towel acts as a nice buffer or padding, and you have extra towels if needed. Keep up the great work.

[deboraheriksen]

If you have a vacume sealer with a hose port, and either a jar sealer or canister set, you can put the unused oxygen absorbers in a Mason jar and vacume seal them until you need them. Keeps them good for a very long time.

[normangage]

Great idea, like the packaging. Oxygen absorber for the jerky or you will get moldy jerkey. Need to logically lay out your bfast, lunch, and dinner so each of your packs makes daily sense.

[jelkel]

I got things down to more meals ready to cook than ready to eat. You can still get cheap dehydrators out there so you can make cheap backpackers meals that just need rehydration, you can put water in them while you are setting up your tent and then they just need warming up. You also have more choice about what is in them including your level of spices you prefer.

[atrukid]

The oxygen absorbers should be put in a sealed container, like a mason jar, sealed up tightly. That ensures that the potency is retained as opposed to sitting them out in the open air. Second;y, what strength oxygen absorber are you using for the beef jerky packet and the larger packets themselves? That would be important to know. Thirdly, the sealer machine has a light on the end that goes off when the seal has finished. I have one of those machines.

[solanisomeni]

Think about adding a couple of the individually packed sugar and powdered milk for the coffee loving folks. Yep, I drink milk with coffee... 😁 This will also add a few calories as well as the instant boost of energy from the sugar. Not long carbs but still, more energy and they don't take up much room in the pack. Otherwise, excellent idea you've got going there!!

[grsatan]

"Prepper Happy Meal". You sir, have just coined an excellent phrase. Well done!!!

[IgorL-rvmn]

You can reuse those bags even stuffing with insulation materials to filter water. Those resealable bags look good

[VibrantMotion]

Brilliant, I'd only put biscuits and nut bars in my bag before, I'll give it a go which will save me some money when I go walking and sleeping outside rather than popping in a shop. Thanks, Stefan, Channel Islands.

[shockwave]

One thing that might be good to pack into these is a handful of Vitamin tablets to have with each meal. Maybe even use Vitamin C gummies as a fruit snack alternative.

[BKerlin]

Microwave precooked rice packets are good as well (like Uncle Ben's). You don't need to heat them, mixing in your meat packets would be good, and does a good job filling you up with carbs.

[dayaninikhaton]

As much as I love seafood I'm really leery of keeping them as preps. I know the best by date isn't set in stone but as someone who has had to deal with the aftermath of badly expired seafood- I am a stickler for going by the date.

Those fruit jellies are great. The sugar and citric acid will keep them a long while and they're loaded with vitamin c

[DanielGonzalez-zckw]

Protein or meal replacement powder would be a good addition.

[jessicathompson]

We put peppered jerky or shelf stable bacon pieces, mashed potatoes/stuffing/noodles/rice, dehydrated veggies, gravy powder, dehydrated onion, powdered garlic, salt and pepper. Plus some oil.

Canned clams, oysters, muscles, pouch of fish, with coconut milk, mashed potatoes, powdered butter, plus salt and pepper and herbs.

[ironseabeelost]

Wet wipes, one enclosed single per your MRE's

[tjrobertson]

This is nice you are able to personalize your to go meals mre"s are very limited. 😊