Food options for backcountry adventures
One of the items I received for Christmas this year was a 24 ration pack from the company Go Native. It is a complete one day ration with all of the items you would need to sustain you for a 24 hour period.
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| Looking at the Go Native 24 hour ration |
Go Native is based near Wellington and they produce a range of food items for the commercial market as well as contract work for government agencies like the Ministry of Defense, DOC, Emergency Services and SAR. Go Native produce the ration packs used by the NZ Defense Forces as well as manufacturing items contained in Australian/Singaporean and Malaysian military rations.
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| Go Native 24 hour ration and side dish pack |
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| Contents of the Chicken Italiano 24 hour ration |
The packs have food items for breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as a couple of snacks, drink kits and salt/pepper. There are three versions of the ration pack available and the only item which changes is the entrée pack and accompanying side dish. Varieties include Chicken Italiano, Beef Casserole and Vegetarian Curry.
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| Breakfast/lunch/dinner and snacks in the Go Native pack |
Here is a breakdown of the contents of one of the rations:
- Breakfast: Natural Muesli with Milk Powder, Jed's Coffee, Creamer and Sugar
- Lunch: Tuna on Cream Crackers
- Dinner: Chicken Italiano Casserole served with Potato, Salt, Pepper, Tea, Creamer and Sugar
- Snacks: Jack Links Steak Bar, Go Native Fruit Bar
All of the items are inside a heavy duty plastic bag with a tear seal and Ziploc closure at the top. This makes the ration waterproof and able to be resealed to keep the contents in one place. Once empty the bag would make an excellent rubbish bag.
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| Preparing to lay out the contents of the Go Native pack |
There is a cardboard insert inside the main bag. If you take it out it has information on both the outside and inside about the ration. On the outside is a photo of the contents of the pack showing all of the items contain within the package.
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| Tear tab and Ziplock at the top of the Go Native bag |
The inside of the card has a bit of information about the company, a nutritional breakdown of the contents and cooking instructions. There is information about the Go Native Website where you can find additional information and an online store where items can be purchased.
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| Information on the cardboard insert, Go Native ration |
There are also a couple of Sudoku puzzles and a general knowledge quiz to give you something to do in camp. It is a useful and thoughtful use of what would otherwise be a blank space.
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| Quiz and Sudoku card in Go Native ration |
Here I have broken down the ration into three meals...the mains are muesli with dried fruit for breakfast, crackers with tuna for lunch and a retort pouch of entrée food and a side dish as the main.
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| Go Native 24 hour ration laid out |
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| Dinner is a retort pouch of food and a side + tea with sugar/creamer |
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| Breakfast is muesli with fruit, a Jed's coffee pack and sugar |
You can heat the dinner meal in a number of ways...boil in the retort bag, bury in hot sand, using a FRH (or Flameless Ration Heater) or tipping into a pot and simmering. An FRH is a bag with a pouch of chemicals...when you add water it starts to react and heats the meal through thermo-chemical action. Personally I would boil these in the bag and just eat them straight from the bag.
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| ..my US pattern Cups Canteen I have owned for 37 years... |
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| One method of heating the entrée in hot water |
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| ...or fold the entrée bag into your pot sideways... |
Go Native sell most of the contents of these rations as individual items and you can buy the muesli, fruit bars, entrée packs and rice/mashed potato. They are readily available in outdoor stores across the country...I have seen a good selection of these in items in Hunting and Fishing, Bivouac Outdoors and Macpac. I have used the rice and potato before and both are good.
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| Holding one of the Go Native side dishes |
There are a range of other entrees available in store and online including the following:
Spaghetti Bolognese
Chicken Italiano
Beef Casserole
Beef Ragu
Chicken and Chickpea Curry
Chilli Con Carne
Butter Chicken
Vegetable Curry
You could easily vary the menus you carry by swopping out the entrée from an existing 24 ration.
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| Go Native Spaghetti Bolognese entrée |
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| Go Native instant potato pack |
Calorie count for these rations is 2400-2600 which is the minimum to keep a person going for a full day. Of course you could supplement these packs with additional items if desired. I would be inclined to add a powdered drink sachet, chocolate, more sugar and a couple of extra snacks. This would take the ration up over 3000 calories.
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| Al the contents of the Go Native 24 hour meal pack |
You would want to be careful about how much you added as the pack already weighs 690 gms. A good weight to calorie count is important and you should be aiming for around 700 gms/ 2800+ calories per day.
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| Go Native meal packs are a great option |
These rations would be excellent for an overnight trip as they are or as a part of a wider menu for a multiday trip. With only three different options food fatigue would soon set in and they are quite expensive at $35 per pack. My homemade rations come out at around $25-$30 so this is not an outrageous price.
Worth a try in my opinion and I will be taking this one out sometime in the next couple of months so look for a review at that time.
YouTube: Go Native 24 Hour Food Pack
