Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Do It yourself MRE Drink Mix and more!

This post was inspired by K over at http://planningandforesight.blogspot.com/  Every week it seems, he reviews MRE's  and I was paging thru his back posts today about them. I noticed the price tag on the MRE drink mixes and then got thinking about how the Grey Knight likes these little Wylers packets to mix into his water at work.

 Now last time we bought these several months ago I was shocked at the price. Was roughly 3.50 for a box of 8 of these, which makes 16 8 oz servings. However at Aldi, I got this container of drink mix for less than 2.00 for 60 8 oz servings.

So quick math just to give myself a headache...
 .21 a serving for the Wylers
 .03 a serving for the cheap Aldi brand



Now we all know, carrying around a container of drink mix while hiking, camping, bugging out, etc takes up alot of room in any pack. How about a easy way to tote these around?

The bright yellow package with all the fancy labeling is of course the Wylers package.

The other one is mine. Here's how you do it. It's very simple and can be adapted to hold instant coffee, powdered creamers, any dried beverage mix.

First off you get ahold of some clear straws. One straw gets cut in half. This half will hold your individual serving.

You will need a candle, any one will do and a pair of needle nose pliers. Pinch the straw between the pliers at the end leaving a small tail to it. Hold this tail over your candle to heat seal the plastic from the straw... like so...

 Pour 3/4 tsp of the drink mix in (may need all of the straw for things like coffee etc.) This is a tedious job, something to do while watching tv or a movie or such.  Heat seal the other end and you are good to rock. You could probably fit 50 of these or more in a qt ziplock bag. Just throw in a pair of nail clippers to open the end of your homemade drink straw and add to your water.

10 comments:

  1. Wow, very innovative! I like this very much, especially the price. I am always looking for a mreo frugal way to do things. My question is this: Does the humidity affect the Kool-aid mix? I have found that the packets allow the moisture into the mix and makes it rock hard. Perhaps an experiment is in order? The moisture problem was the biggest reason that I liked the MRE drink mixes, but this could negate this. Thanks for the plug too!

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    1. If it's sealed properly it shouldn't allow humidity in, like with a kool aid canister. Yes the paper packages let the humidity in. You could probably do this as well with vaccumm sealer or one of those press and seal dodads.

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  2. bahahahahahahah! this is just awesome and ingenious - thanks Beth, buddy!

    your friend,
    kymber

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  3. What a great idea! I'm always looking for ways to save money and be practical.

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  4. Arrived here from Gravy and Biscuits. This is the #1 tip of the year. (thanks, hillbilly for the pointer).
    And, thanks to you, Beth, for sharing an incredible idea.

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  5. Y'all are gonna get me blushing. Now I just have to find the time to sit and make a ton of these for our use. Hopefully some cool time in fall.

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  6. I tried this today. We have really thin straws and using a syringe and meat seasoning needle worked to get the powder into the straw. The problem was I needed 3 teaspoons (1 tablespoon) to flavor 8 ounces. That’s not going to fit into any normal sized straw. ¾ teaspoon just doesn’t sound like enough flavoring, unless it’s really watered down. I’m wondering how yours tasted?

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  7. A debt of gratitude is in order for sharing the post.. folks are universes best individual in every existences of individual..they need or must succeed to manage needs of the crew. Eversafe MREs

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