Why is Emergency Food Worth Mentioning?

In 1991, I lived in a truck in the deserts of Saudi Arabi, Iraq and Kuwait.  All we had to eat was MRE's and a few other things that came in cans and packages.  It was possible to combine the individual components and come up with something edible.  Once the wiring is there, you sort of keep thinking of that after that phase is done.  Today there are so many above average things you can do to make things taste great on the fly.  I would not consider them as a way of life, but it's good to know how to do it.

When I was a commercial truck driver, I hated the food that was available on the road.  Any place you could park a 70 foot long tractor/trailer meant fast, greasy and tasteless food worthy of having your brain removed and strapping on a feed bag to bear it.  I decided to pick up a Burton Stove to Go down in North Carolina one Friday night.  There are cook books that drivers have written for this, but I found that common sense questions such as:  "How can I do this with the least possible cleanup?"

I figured out that if I shopped at Super Walmarts accross the country because of adequate parking, I could but meat and vegetables to keep in the fridge in the truck. I would set up a cooking bag in the afternoon with a couple of country style ribs, asparagus and marinade. Place the bag in the foil pan, foil pan in the stove, which was insulated. Then about 3 hours before stopping for the night I would reach down to the stove on the floor, plug it into the cigarette lighter and when I stopped for the night, that little stove opened as sweet as a single serving crockpot on the kitchen counter. Cleanup consisted of carrying the oven bag to the nearest trash can. I guess the point is, we don't have to eat crap even though statistically our situation suggests we are supposed to.