Questions

[Cohiba]

My department is searching for ideas on how to add good food replenishment to our rigs.

Tyipcally, we have several wild fires that put us on the scene for longer than 4 hours. We carry tons of water/gatorate for hydration. However our department had an issue with one of our own going down on the line and we are toying with the idea of food now.

Anyone have any suggestions? We need some type of energy bar/nutritional snack that is easy to carry around in our packs and rigs. We need it to have a long shelf life and of course not to melt

Im hoping people have some ideas on what types of bars we should carry and what type of nutritional value would be critical for the job we all do.

[NonSurfinCaFF]

I know this will sound weird but Payday candy bars are great. There is no chocolate to melt, and they are covered with peanuts so the cady interior doesn't get stuck too bad. Peanuts for protein and sugar for quick energy what more could you ask for.

Other things I keep in my webgear for extended fires that are not long enough to justify cracking open the MRE's are packets of nuts, and beef jerkey.

If you are looking for something more substantial like an MRE there are a couple of companies that offer MRE like boxed meals you can keep on the engine.

The Supply Cache carries Coyote Camp but there are others out there.

http://www.firecache.com/products.asp?dept=144


Firefighter brand actually has some pretty good stuff, I got some free samples at a convention last year and found it was more than just a gimic, their stuff was decent and their sports drinks etc really does seem to be targeted towards the fire service. They also donate a portion of their sales to local fire related charities.

http://www.firefighterbrand.com/home.asp

Hmmm, looking at their website now I don't see the jerky, "gatorade" type drinks or energy bars they gave us as samples.


Of course a well stocked sporting goods store should have a decent supply of backpackers food some of which would probably work well for you.

[BirkenVogt]

All the MRE replacements I have found are lousy and give me a stomachache.

Just get the real deal, they are $8-$9 a pop, however they are like 2000 calories so if you want to spread them out into multiple meals or share them around you can. Modern ones taste really good compared to the old ones too.

Birken

[ramseycl]

I break down the MRE's and just carry a few pieces of it. Then you can pick what you want to carry and not take up too much room. Another good idea is the foil packets of tuna, they keep forever and are easy on the stomach.
I typically carry a few granola bars also, they might melt and get smashed but they still taste good when you need a little sugar, but Payday bars are very high on the list of good things to take, they have a high salt content which can help replace the sodium you loose working hard.

[Cohiba]

I know as an alternative, soda drinks are bad because of the sodium actually working as a diaretic (sp). But it makes sense to have high amount of sodium while working as long as you drink water.

We have tons of MRE's. But it seems that on about half of our wild fires we arent there long enough to break them out. Not to mention the cost factor included. Feeding 30 guys 1 MRE can get expensive.

Im going to check into that PayDay bar. And I never thought about the jerky. I also did some searching and found this energy bar called a Cliff Bar. Anyone hear about that? I thought it would be bad because it has 20% (of DV) of sodium. But from what you guys say, thats what we need.

Thanks for the comments and assistance so far.

[ramseycl]

Cliff bars are pretty good and they have a lot of flavors, I also like Luna bars. They are marketed for women, but are really for anyone (marketing ploy) they have some really good ones, and taste better than cliff bars, I think they are both made by the same company.

[RxFire]

Clif bars are good... not the long shelf life of the MRE, but certainly edible after a year of floating around in my line gear. There are several energy bars out there, your local grocery store probably has some, as well as the sporting goods stores. Online, try like www.nashbar.com, www.performancebike.com, to name a few. IMO, I would avoid powerbars, from personal experience, they tend to melt a bit, not as bad as a chocolate bar, but more than the grain type.