Thanks for the rations, Uncle Bob!
The Humanitarian Daily Ration (HDR) is a Meal Ready to Eat (MRE) that was developed to feed displaced people under emergency or refugee situations. As such, it needed to be suitable for a wide range of dietary restrictions and possible allergies.
In this video, we tested out "Menu 1" out of five different variants. We are both vegetarian so we reflect a possible dietary use case. The lentil stew was particularly good. At the end, we supplemented the meal with a few garden veggies, too, which may be another possible use case for rations.
As someone living in the United States, I am aware that the fictions we create about survival often focus the strength of the individual overcoming the brutality of their conditions. However, in reality our lives are much more interdependent. Human survival through difficult times is most often a collective effort. As survivalism becomes a home industry, we would be better prepared focusing on collective efforts to aid in sustainable food networks and logistics than arming ourselves to the teeth. True disaster preparedness is a collective effort.
As we face real-world catastrophes, I hope we can center compassion for those affected. In our fictions or our politics, it would do us good to have empathy and a shared desire to alleviate human suffering.