Ready Meals  Self-heating meal packs give you hot meals without
a stove. Developed by the US military for battlefield use, these
1,200 calorie food packages, known as Meals Ready to Eat (MRE),
are also widely used by firefighters and emergency workers out
in the field. In theory you could live off two per day.  Each
meal comes in a complete package of two appetizers, main course,
powdered drink, and desert. The main course is contained in a
sealed pouch that you insert into another pouch that chemically
reacts to produce an intense heat. The meal inside gets steaming
hot, surprisingly hot.  There are 6 standard menus, like
spaghetti or beef stew. The taste is okay. If you were hungry
enough you might think it good. We’ve never had trouble
finishing a meal. Sometimes just the fact they are steaming hot
hits the spot. The other stuff in the meal pack is pretty much
generic and always edible. Each of the seven parts in each meal
is individually vacuum packed so there is a pile of litter
generated. Also, all the