what you can do is just take the food items. you do not have to carry the entire mre package. I think the mre meals are a good alternative to freeze dried or home made stuff. I like to bring some of each thing, a few mre's, some Freezerbag cooking stuff and some commercial freeze dried meals for some variety. The only mre I have gotten that was inedible was an omelet, otherwise they have all tasted ok, but i'm not very picky. I also like to pick up some of the side dish items like peanut butter, crackers, cobblers to eat on my lunch breaks.