I ate a lot of MREs and worse when the SHTF overseas for weeks/months at a time. I somewhat became accustomed to eating food for fuel. Lately, I eat a lot of snack food (jerky, nuts, berries, Cliff Bars, etc …) when I’m hunting/backpacking. When I can, I eat hot meals for breakfast (before hunt) and dinner (after hunt). IF I think I can tolerate the weight, I sometimes bring ribeyes deeply frozen, wrapped in a couple layers of foil, in a ziplock, and contained in a lightweight semi-insulated bag. They’re coated in olive oil and steak seasoning beforehand. I just through them in the foil in the fire pit, turn them after 6-7 minutes and then eat about the same time later. Tasty high-protein treat that sometimes is worth the cost in weight.

Mostly, for hot meals, something like MH is more than tasty enough after a long day of hiking or hunting that we don’t yearn for anything else when having it hot and along with some decent coffee/Bourbon. I do “improve” the MH meals often though. For example, I bring bacon jerky, add it to the scrambled eggs or breakfast hash stuff, with just a little bit of extra of water and add it to the package before sealing it to cook. I sometimes do the same with some good jerky with the beef stroganoff meals. Makes them better, much better.

Here’s my son eating cooked jerky bacon with eggs and hash on a recent backpacking hunt. All smiles, even for a finicky 10-yr-old:

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