The spice of life

You have your BOB, GHB, Car bag, Camping bag whatever you may wish to call it.  In it you should have at least 72 hours worth of food or calories.  I say food or calories because some of the stuff I"ve seen in various BOB/GHB/CB/etc can in no way be considered "Food".

I've tried some of that stuff.  The cookie dough emergency rations that tastes like lemons or coconut, or some other flavor to try to hide the blandness of the calories you need to consume.  I've tried the food "Tablets" that you chew a handful of and it's supposedly enough calories to get you through a few days of HARD labor to get you to where you are going.  Those come in 3 flavors IIRC, Vanilla Malted, Chocolate Malted and Strawberry Malted.  And all three taste like chalk to me.  Then there are the "Energy" bars and meal replacement bars and all that other gunk.

Now I understand WHY the this stuff doesn't taste too good.  If it did, instead of eating your last resort food last, you'd eat it first.

However that's not saying that you cant do something to improve or hide their taste.

In my kits I add my "Spice" packs.

You know those small jars that have the rotating lid that holds like 6 different spices?  Like THIS one?  I have one of those in my kits, I also have a bead tube  Like THESE, full of extra salt, pepper and garlic powder.  I also have Ketchup, Mayonnaise, Mustard, Pickle Relish packets, in addition to Sweet and Sour Sauce, Mexican Hot Sauce (Taco Bell), Soy Sauce, Tabasco Sauce, A few Rooster Sauce Packets, and some other various sauces I've gotten over the years.  Asian Markets that sell to restaurants are a good source for many of these (Other than Taco Bell Hot Sauce).  Now I know in most bags space is a rare commodity, so lots of people wouldn't think about making room for spices and condiments.

Think about it.

Seriously.  Think about it.  If you were ever in the military and had to eat C-Rations, or MRE's, you KNOW!  You need something to zing up the food.  Especially as you might be forced to stretch your 72 hours bag to 96 hours, or even longer.  You might have to eat stuff you gather in the field.  And as anyone would tell you, meat tastes better with a bit of salt and pepper.  Greens with a bit of mayo gives you more calories.  And very few things cannot be improved with a touch of garlic.

And there is another thing you you need to consider.  Morale aka mental health.  If you are stuck eating bland blah unappetizing food, it can affect your emotional and mental state.

So having a few treats to spice up your food in your kit should make it a lot more bearable.

So think about it.  Should you make a little room in your kit for something which can have a major impact or your ability to survive? 

Or not?