Helpful Info. What is a Tray Pack Ration or T-rat

[Silent Bob]

So here is a video that I've made for our forum. I hope that you will find it interesting and maybe it might be something, you might want to augment to your on-going food preps. They have a pretty good storage life if maintained below 75 degrees. Great for mass feeding and quick feeding if you have lots of work to do and not enough time for prepping regular store bought food, fresh kill or just tired of the MRE's.



This video is made by Epicenter, the folks I bought the T-rations from. Shows good product. Note the lady who doesn't eat processed foods, if she is saying its not bad, then it worthy of feeding to the family. My kids were okay with the sausage T-ration. Sorry for the commercial.



Their is some dispute on shelf-life of product...some say 4 years, I have product that has gone beyond that.

 

[Warriorhealer22]

Just seeing those sausage links gave me flashbacks of some of the interesting places I've had to perform Class 1 downloads (defecate) due to these! In Desert Storm somehow my unit got 2 weeks worth of only one meal- Chicken Caccitore. I liked it the first couple times. This stuff is edible and better than bark and berries. These are good if you have quite a few mouths to feed.

 

[Roninsensei]

Woohoo!!! Welcome to the video family Silent Bob!!!!

 

[Silent Bob]

Woohoo!!! Welcome to the video family Silent Bob!!!!

Needless to say..my technical son helped me with the download. Tried the WinRAR route, but then after reading Clyde's How to Do threads, I realized I needed to create a Youtube account. I am sure from now till eternity or unless I am wearing a Baclava or lol, as mask...their is no way, I am placing a body shot out there....just not photogenic enough. Thanks for the warm welcome! Kid was impressed I knew how to do a Youtube video download...so I guess I earned some stars with him. Typical of me, I just started pressing buttons and figured it out.

Just seeing those sausage links gave me flashbacks of some of the interesting places I've had to perform Class 1 downloads (defecate) due to these! In Desert Storm somehow my unit got 2 weeks worth of only one meal- Chicken Caccitore. I liked it the first couple times. This stuff is edible and better than bark and berries. These are good if you have quite a few mouths to feed.

Warriorhealer22,

Same goes for me, it was an all or nothing thing. I asked the guys at Epicenter when did the manufactuer went to a more plastic like primary container, the older ones that you and I were made of aluminium and had to be opened by a P38 or can opener...these new ones, all you have to do is peel them back. Epicenter has only a few line items on their website....found another site that has blueberries...so ordered them today. I hope to try and score some bacon and corned beef hash. One of the big areas that the dehydrated cans don't cover much are the meat items. I've got about 10 cases of Yoder's bacon. Quite tasty, but if I can score some Bacon T-rations those were the real McCoy and you could get seconds out of them, when I went up to the mess guys. Okay, it was the Army cooks, but I wasn't complaining...way better than tuna noodle casserole...do you remember that one. I do and trust me I also had to inspect a gross ton of them in Turkey too.

So while it might sound totally awful, I made up some dehydrated eggs, poured some sausage gravy and sausage...with some MRE wheat bread and home-made biscuits...Only thing not from the ration stockpile was the coke, orange juice and coffee. Speaking of coffee, I found a MRE packet of Mocha Cappachino...so I ordered them. Going to see if they rival Starbucks.

 

[Warriorhealer22]

Needless to say..my technical son helped me with the download. Tried the WinRAR route, but then after reading Clyde's How to Do threads, I realized I needed to create a Youtube account. I am sure from now till eternity or unless I am wearing a Baclava or lol, as mask...their is no way, I am placing a body shot out there....just not photogenic enough. Thanks for the warm welcome! Kid was impressed I knew how to do a Youtube video download...so I guess I earned some stars with him. Typical of me, I just started pressing buttons and figured it out.




Warriorhealer22,

Same goes for me, it was an all or nothing thing. I asked the guys at Epicenter when did the manufactuer went to a more plastic like primary container, the older ones that you and I were made of aluminium and had to be opened by a P38 or can opener...these new ones, all you have to do is peel them back. Epicenter has only a few line items on their website....found another site that has blueberries...so ordered them today. I hope to try and score some bacon and corned beef hash. One of the big areas that the dehydrated cans don't cover much are the meat items. I've got about 10 cases of Yoder's bacon. Quite tasty, but if I can score some Bacon T-rations those were the real McCoy and you could get seconds out of them, when I went up to the mess guys. Okay, it was the Army cooks, but I wasn't complaining...way better than tuna noodle casserole...do you remember that one. I do and trust me I also had to inspect a gross ton of them in Turkey too.

So while it might sound totally awful, I made up some dehydrated eggs, poured some sausage gravy and sausage...with some MRE wheat bread and home-made biscuits...Only thing not from the ration stockpile was the coke, orange juice and coffee. Speaking of coffee, I found a MRE packet of Mocha Cappachino...so I ordered them. Going to see if they rival Starbucks.

I've had the newer T rations in plastic as well. All I can say is a good seasoning and hotsauce collection should be stored if you, or others, plan to use these things. Heck, its a good idea no matter what one's food preps are. When we used 1 MRE per day, Airborne and Light infantry units, we used to make this appetite killer: 1 pack MRE crackers crunched up, salt packet and hot sauce container dumped into it- filling and it didn't make you want to eat again for quite some time!

Another advantage to these packages is they are already made for family size elements. Of course they are not as portable but an "at location" idea.

 

[Silent Bob]

I've had the newer T rations in plastic as well. All I can say is a good seasoning and hotsauce collection should be stored if you, or others, plan to use these things. Heck, its a good idea no matter what one's food preps are. When we used 1 MRE per day, Airborne and Light infantry units, we used to make this appetite killer: 1 pack MRE crackers crunched up, salt packet and hot sauce container dumped into it- filling and it didn't make you want to eat again for quite some time!

Another advantage to these packages is they are already made for family size elements. Of course they are not as portable but an "at location" idea.

Natick and the Log Dogs...got one right for the first time in our military's history...they got the packers to create the "First Strike Ration"...you and I are from the same mindset of combat stripping the MRE. These new "First Strike Ration" in my opinion are to die for...slim jims, high performance energy drinks, sandwiches (Pepperoni is my favorite)... I've bought a few cases, when they can be had. I plan to build up about to 30 cases spread out over a eight year period, for shelf life reasons.

I've attached the Natick PDF on it, if anyone is interested and like all MRE's, they thought to diversify the menu.

 

[Myrrph]

good stuff! don't have to feed so many people, so I'll stick with MH for the time being

 

[Silent Bob]

good stuff! don't have to feed so many people, so I'll stick with MH for the time being

Like fire building and how to make drinking water safe...you should have three or more ways for to survive....food that means to me....Store bought, MRE's (Various manufactures/ration type), dehydrated food (10 can, small pouches), bulk items such as rice, hard wheat, sogrum, corn, etc), seeds both types, and yes the T-rations add to this option. While that doesn't work for everyone's plan, like weapons, etc...firm believer if you have more options at your disposal and you can afford it for your preps, it opens up more possibilities and strengthens your overall plan.

I failed to mention in the video, the big reason for T-rations, they would be used in conjunction with my new First Strike Rations, while we are in the initial phase of setting up, reconstituting and making our place more defensive. This is typical of the first 72=96 hours at the location, T-rations, MRE's and FSR's are best in this type of condition because they don't require any type of preparation or long-term cooking. Note that in the video, I said you can eat this stuff cold (not my recommendation, but some of it is not bad cold either). When your Op's planning for the eventuality...then you have to consider having some options in how your going to do long-term feeding and watering. Simply sending one of a two man fire team is somewhat degrading your Security plan. So FSR and T-rations/UGR's as they are known...will expand your capacity.

I know it sounds redundant and may not make sense for most and as I said its only a recommendation, I think it will help in building capacity. Certainly if your focus is only on store bought food or dehydrated, your going to need some time to prep or reconstitute it with water, time that you could better use in making your BOL or if your hunkering down...time to rest or just time for a break...rather than focus on one more survival need.

Remember hot food, water and rest = increased reaction time and impact on your health/mental well being.

 

[Silent Bob]

Dear All, I mentioned the cost of shipping on my video and I wanted to pass this on from John from Epicenter to help better explain their shipping related charges.

First Email:
1) Shipping Charges: We ship most orders via UPS Ground. In general, shipping-to-merchandise ratio modestly decreases for larger, heavier orders. But, if your order weighs more than 200 pounds, there is a substantial discount. Furthermore, if an order is sizable enough to shrink-wrap on a pallet (400 plus pounds), we will ship by freight truck, selecting the best possible quote from competing freight companies. (We always try to find the most cost effective shipping method, passing the savings on to the customer.)

2) Tray Packs: Unfortunately, MRE Tray Packs appear on the market rather randomly. We have a close relationship with the suppliers, so we will be sure to notify you if we get news of the availability of the two favorites you mention. (We haven't seen Bacon in Tray Packs before. Sounds like a winner.) For those interested I asked about UGR Bacon and Corned Beef Hash (taste like the stuff right out of the can). Okay, some will complain, but if you've had the cold eggs in a rain storm, you always knew two things were going to be hot in a thermo can...one corned beef hash because it is just lumpy enough to hold the heat before you got to place your first spoon full in your mouth and hot coffee...I didn't mean it was coffee, I meant it was hot that looked like coffee. How can anyone screw coffee up, but the Army sure does. Navy coffee is much better...strong and piping hot for those that had anything to do with the military. Air Force, well we just rent the Cappachino machine before leaving CONUS from Starbucks and tell the custom agent its a secret weapon!

Second email: Following my apology for stating their shipping charges on the video:
We are as chagrined as our customers about recent UPS rate increases. And we are confident that the word will spread about our shipping rates on bulk quantity orders. (Regarding smaller-order shipping charges, when it comes to the MRE Tray Packs, which are quite heavy and ship expensively, we actually sometimes take a loss on recouping our shipping costs, depending on how we are able to pack the trays in either one or multiple boxes.)

Also note, that Epicenter does have cream beef that can be reconstituted. I am going to buy some on the next order....I know...but hey...some things grow on you.

 

[Myrrph]

SB,

I have a river 10m away from my home. As long as that is not compromised, it should be ok.

Enough solid fuel, alcohol, h33t to last me 2 weeks or more.

For a short term thing, I should be ok. Anything more, will just have to wing it.

 

[Gazrok]

Just remember that cooking during the day the old-fashioned way, can give away your position for miles and advertise (hey, someone's here and is eating food...). A Dakota fire pit is one way, but a rocket stove or just cooking at night (after the SHTF, will be DARK at night) may be better. If we have electric, then of course the oven, but that's a lot of wattage. Best rule = dry wood plus hot fire equals little smoke.

 

[Myrrph]

yup. I know how to make a dakota fire pit if need be. But since i'm bugging in an apartment like @Overlord I think I should be ok. Just worried the delicious smells will attract people. lol.

 

[Overlord]

yup. I know how to make a dakota fire pit if need be. But since i'm bugging in an apartment like @Overlord I think I should be ok. Just worried the delicious smells will attract people. lol.

if we have our butane stoves and LPG, we are good for a spell. But eventually, we may have to bug out.

Here in the Philippines, we have that option. HongKong and Singapore would be a challenge.