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Hey everyone, now before everyone calls me a dumbass and says, "You ever hear of an MRE?" Please hear me out.

I'm looking for some good food ideas to bring with me to the field to keep my caloric intake up, specifically protein sources. I'm currently in the cushy Reserve life while doing my IRR time. I've been taking care of myself much better than when I was active duty (trying to get into OCS) and I find it hard to eat well in the field. I'm usually so busy running around making sure shit gets done that I know I'm not eating enough while out there (obviously I can fix that part). I also lose weight very easily so on longer field ops I shed unwanted mass.

This isn't a huge concern because I understand weight loss is inevitable and just the nature of the beast when it comes to the field, and also, fuckin MRE's are full of calories, but I'm just curious to what other options there are for healthier high calorie snacks. I'm also tired of eating the shit they give us when we get back from the field, which is usually some shitty fast food like Popeye's or honeybuns. Me and another prior service buddy are really trying to stay away from that stuff and we end up either starving, or in my case, I don't react well to the fastfood.

I have a feeling this is a "common sense" thing. Granola and nuts, for example, come to mind. With the experience that the lot of you guys have I'm curious to see if there is anything that I'm not thinking of or could benefit someone else who might be wondering the same thing.

I tried searching the forum so if there is a thread available on this and I missed it, I'll fix myself.

Thanks in advance.

i like full fat cottage cheese and/or greek yogurt. tons of protein and is my go to snack for filling up.

separately, most fast food places have at least one healthy option you can make work, but you may have to eat a little less the rest of the day.

CelticFrost91 wrote:Hey everyone, now before everyone calls me a dumbass and says, "You ever hear of an MRE?" Please hear me out.

I'm looking for some good food ideas to bring with me to the field to keep my caloric intake up, specifically protein sources. I'm currently in the cushy Reserve life while doing my IRR time. I've been taking care of myself much better than when I was active duty (trying to get into OCS) and I find it hard to eat well in the field. I'm usually so busy running around making sure shit gets done that I know I'm not eating enough while out there (obviously I can fix that part). I also lose weight very easily so on longer field ops I shed unwanted mass.

This isn't a huge concern because I understand weight loss is inevitable and just the nature of the beast when it comes to the field, and also, fuckin MRE's are full of calories, but I'm just curious to what other options there are for healthier high calorie snacks. I'm also tired of eating the shit they give us when we get back from the field, which is usually some shitty fast food like Popeye's or honeybuns. Me and another prior service buddy are really trying to stay away from that stuff and we end up either starving, or in my case, I don't react well to the fastfood.

I have a feeling this is a "common sense" thing. Granola and nuts, for example, come to mind. With the experience that the lot of you guys have I'm curious to see if there is anything that I'm not thinking of or could benefit someone else who might be wondering the same thing.

I tried searching the forum so if there is a thread available on this and I missed it, I'll fix myself.

Thanks in advance.

Pouches of tuna or salmon. They make whole salmon fillets in a bag with some type of flavorings. I used to get them at the commissary. When I knew I was going to be in the field or overseas someplace I would stock up on those packages of salmon and foil packages of spam. I was low carb at the time.

CelticFrost91 wrote:Hey everyone, now before everyone calls me a dumbass and says, "You ever hear of an MRE?" Please hear me out.

I'm looking for some good food ideas to bring with me to the field to keep my caloric intake up, specifically protein sources. I'm currently in the cushy Reserve life while doing my IRR time. I've been taking care of myself much better than when I was active duty (trying to get into OCS) and I find it hard to eat well in the field. I'm usually so busy running around making sure shit gets done that I know I'm not eating enough while out there (obviously I can fix that part). I also lose weight very easily so on longer field ops I shed unwanted mass.

This isn't a huge concern because I understand weight loss is inevitable and just the nature of the beast when it comes to the field, and also, fuckin MRE's are full of calories, but I'm just curious to what other options there are for healthier high calorie snacks. I'm also tired of eating the shit they give us when we get back from the field, which is usually some shitty fast food like Popeye's or honeybuns. Me and another prior service buddy are really trying to stay away from that stuff and we end up either starving, or in my case, I don't react well to the fastfood.

I have a feeling this is a "common sense" thing. Granola and nuts, for example, come to mind. With the experience that the lot of you guys have I'm curious to see if there is anything that I'm not thinking of or could benefit someone else who might be wondering the same thing.

I tried searching the forum so if there is a thread available on this and I missed it, I'll fix myself.

Thanks in advance.

Get a box of protein bars. Distribute them between your ruck/daypack/webbing etc. The higher quality the better - but even low quality protein/carb is better than no protein/carb for preserving muscle.

Have you looked around at the different backpacking meal companies on the market recently. There are some really good options out there now. Heathers choice is a company I use for hunting trips and man I wish we had them when I was on deployments. My main diet for seven months was chips, muffins, the occasional MRE if we were lucky, and marlboros. For breakfast, maybe an oatmeal with some protein powder

For snacks I like to eat macadamia nuts, almonds, some kind of granola, and maybe a tuna packet. I like to find foods that have more calories per gram ratio for weight/space purposes. Fats have 9 calories per gram as opposed to protein and carbs which each have 4 calories per gram. Not to say carbs and proteins aren’t equally if not more important, but just some food for thought