RepackingMRE

One thing that kinda frustrated me about MREs is the amount of space they take up. That outer pouch has a lot of air in it. Then you have the cardboard boxes inside ... there's a lot of dead space in these things! At first I just sighed and dealt with the package as it is: bulky and hard to pack in the rucksack. But since I go thru these kits every year ... this year I decided to get creative.

A quick Google search tought me that the extra air and cardboard is there because these things have to survive air drops.  Well, I'm not going to air-drop them, so I decided to try repacking them. And it's a good way to save a lot of space. Basically, with careful repacking, I can make two MREs fit in the space of one. That means I can carry twice as many - or save room for something else. All I needed was a little time , some scissors, a marking pen, and a desk stapler.

• I carefully cut the outer pouch as near to the seam as possible.
• Pull all the stuff out.
• Remove the cardboard boxes around the entree and side dish. Label the inner packets if they are not labelled!
• I also got rid of the flimsy cellophane wrapping around the spoon/napkin/spices pack.
• Do this for two MREs, then slide everything into one of the leftover outer pouches.
• Staple the open end shut.
• Mark outside of bag with purchase date, and names of entrees and side dishes packed. Might want to mark that on one of the inner food items (back of a beverage power puch would be fine); I notice that even Sharpie ink easily rubs off the ouside of the pouch. I started using the cut-off side of one of the discarded paper boxes, as seen in the pic below.

If I had a seal-a-meal, I could probably fuse the bag shut again. And no, a Bic lighter won't get it done (I tried). No worries; all of the individual packets are air/watertight except for the sugar/salt/pepper which are in paper packets.

In front: four MRE's repacked into two pouches. Behind them, the stack of eliminated trash.