Quest for the One Can Meal

[rebel heart]

I don't know if anyone's brought it up yet but pre-packaged food is generally quite terrible from a nutrition prospective. I shudder to imagine the ingredients.

[s/v Beth]

Yeah I hear you Eric. I think when I sail into SF bay I'm going over to sailorchic's for dinner!

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by onestepcsy37

hormel compleats meals in a package.

although they're intended for microwave heating they also provide instructions for heating in boiling water, which is what we do. just drop the package in for 8 minutes. can use sea water as the water never enters the package. just like canned food, the contents have already been cooked and the heating process is only for warming the contents and not for cooking them.

they come in many varieties; we prefer the ones with beef or turkey. we also add a small can of peas to them but it's not necessary.

they're also relatively cheap. we've paid as little as $1.67 and as much as $2.49. they have a long storage life and occupy little space.

+1

My father doesn't cook on principle, and so his boat's lockers are always full of these. They are surprisingly tasty, and cheaper than cooking from scratch (I don't understand how a $12 MRE can be "good bang for the buck").

If we cruise to enjoy life, then setting aside time for proper cooking surely ought to be de rigeur. The galley on my boat is hardly worse than the kitchen in my apartment, so I have no good excuse. Nevertheless, there are so many occasions (hard day at sea, for example) when your fondest dream is just to eat without all that effort, however pleasant that effort might be in other circumstances . . .

We don't have anything like these Hormel "Compleats" in the UK, that Ive been able to find. So canned food on board here is mostly "The Big Soup" and similar from Tesco. Another semi-prefab food we keep on board is pasta and jars of bol sauce. Depending on how much trouble you're willing or able to go to, you can just boil the pasta and micro the sauce, or make a much nicer sauce by adding onions, meat, and other fresh ingredients which happen to be to hand.

[RainDog]

If you like Indian food, the boil in the bag prepared indian meals are quite good. Especially MTR brand. You can get them for $2-$3 each in most Indian grocery stores. Make sure the check expiration dates carefully. Especially if they are on sale.

Ready to Eat Food.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by s/v Beth

Yeah I hear you Eric. I think when I sail into SF bay I'm going over to sailorchic's for dinner!

I'm all about being lazy and if the weather is lumpy you do what you can but eating bland food with nothing fresh for even a few days straight turns a passage into a bataan death march.

[rebel heart]

A one pot meal that really isn't too hard:

- quinoa
- canned chicken
- siracha sauce

Chop up a tomato or some other vegetable of opportunity if you have one.

[onestepcsy37]

Originally Posted by onestepcsy37

hormel compleats meals in a package.

although they're intended for microwave heating they also provide instructions for heating in boiling water, which is what we do. just drop the package in for 8 minutes. can use sea water as the water never enters the package. just like canned food, the contents have already been cooked and the heating process is only for warming the contents and not for cooking them.

they come in many varieties; we prefer the ones with beef or turkey. we also add a small can of peas to them but it's not necessary.

they're also relatively cheap. we've paid as little as $1.67 and as much as $2.49. they have a long storage life and occupy little space.

hope i didn't leave the impression that hormel compleats are regular fare on our boat. the admiral and i are actually very good cooks and we can usually make something good out of not many ingredients (secret ingredient; spices). my specialty is stir fry. i prefer it when it's my turn to cook because there's only one pot and two dishes to clean.

but on passage or too tired hormel compleats are preferable to canned spaghetti, imho. otoh, pasta or rice dishes in their many varieties are generally easy to make, accept most any ingredients, and leave few pots and dishes to clean.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by mr-canada

Best bang for the buck? Military Rations. MRE (Meal Ready to Eat) $12 a meal in low volume, $10 per meal in cases of 12. Less if you buy more. Comes with a main entree, secondary starter (like a soup or bread), coffee, tea, creamer, sugar, moist wipe, even the spoon or fork that's needed. You can cook it all by putting it in boiling water or leaving it in the sun. Entrees for dinner like beef ravioli, mac and cheese, spaghetti and meatballs, etc and breakfasts like hash browns with bacon and maple flavored pork sausage with bread, peanut butter, pop tart even chewing gum. I stopped buying food for camping at the grocery store years ago now after a nasty bear eating everything I brought except military rations experience. Now I eat like a king bring food back home and leave behind no garbage because the rations come in bags. Lasts forever 15 year shelf life because its all irradiated to kill any remaining bacteria after the canning process, no BPA from cans. the list goes on and on. every meal even comes with a soldier bar which is an extra kick of calories and protein and its way better than a powerbar Cant beat MREs for solid good tasting food. Thats why the soldiers march with it - best bang for the buck and tons of calories

Good lord I can tell you never had to eat the stuff for months on end whilst living in a tent in the middle of a desert. Stuff becomes absolutely horrible, but you learn with enough hot sauce even MRE's are edible, just barely

[JPA Cate]

" with enough hot sauce even MRE's are edible, just barely" especially on the chocolate cake, eh?

Just funnin' ;-)

Ann

[Aussiesuede]

Is great for making "Instant Ravioli Lasagna"





Or put into Pita Pocket Bread to make "Ravioli Pizza Pockets"




Or Spagettios filled into a bread pocket ain't half bad:




And of course there's the old college staple "Ramen" that you can add a whole host of stuff to.

[a64pilot]

Never, ever seen chocolate cake in an MRE, but I retired in 02. You sure you aren't thinking about K rations? K rations came in big cans and were mean't to be heated in water and fed several people, they had pretty decent desert in a can too.
Come to think of it, there was sometimes some kind of desert in MRE's, it was as I remember some kind of chocolate chip cookie sort of a bread / cookie kind of thing. Cake? not even close. In their infancy MRE's were almost entirely freeze dried, even the meat, then some genius discovered that dehydrated food and the water you had to carry to rehydrate the food weighed approximately the same as the food does prior to dehydration, so dehydration was almost completely dropped.
Know who makes these abominations? The "Right Away Food Corporation of Mcallister Tx." I have to make sure I never get close to McCallister Tx.

[Rhapsody-NS27]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Never, ever seen chocolate cake in an MRE, but I retired in 02. You sure you aren't thinking about K rations? K rations came in big cans and were mean't to be heated in water and fed several people, they had pretty decent desert in a can too.
Come to think of it, there was sometimes some kind of desert in MRE's, it was as I remember some kind of chocolate chip cookie sort of a bread / cookie kind of thing. Cake? not even close. In their infancy MRE's were almost entirely freeze dried, even the meat, then some genius discovered that dehydrated food and the water you had to carry to rehydrate the food weighed approximately the same as the food does prior to dehydration, so dehydration was almost completely dropped.
Know who makes these abominations? The "Right Away Food Corporation of Mcallister Tx." I have to make sure I never get close to McCallister Tx.

I'm still serving at the moment but there are "cakes" in the MREs right now (mostly look the same but tastes differ). There's Pound Cake, Poppy Seed Lemon Cake, Chocolate/Chocolate Chip Cake, and I think others. There are other desserts too. I like the (cherry or blueberry?) Cobbler, Brownie, things that are supposed to be energy bars and much more.

I remember the dehydrated MREs in the dark brown bags. My dad brought some for me and my brother when he got back from the field. The only thing I liked was the dried fruit.

I would stay away from any place that makes MRE items too.

[a64pilot]

Your right, I remember the pound cakes and others now too. I remember bringing home a freeze dried pork pattie and letting our baby Daughter eat it, my wife wasn't amused

[NornaBiron]

After three months in the desert living on British Army rat packs, MREs were a treat......for a day or so! I can't imagine eating anything worse that military rations when I have a choice.

[JusDreaming]

canned chicken has a multitude of uses, but I guess not a "one can meal". I do eat it and tuna alone but the wife says it is disgusting all alone. But I also consider "Vienna Sausages" as tasting good