[UT] What would future MRE look like?

[WaterAndWindSpirit]

Hello!

So I've been wondering what would future MREs look like.

One of my ideas is more or less blocks of tofu-like patty, with varying texture, only enriched in nutrients and give artificial flavoring, which can either be eaten cold or heated up, depending on preference. Either it would be made in such a way to expand in the stomach to fill it, or come with an appetite suppressant so that you don't feel hungry because of an half-empty stomach despite having access to all the nutrients you need.

I would imagine soldiers would be given some compact water purification gear and minerals tablets to mix with clean water so that as long as they have access to water (even their own urine), they won't die of thirst.

I know my idea may sound boring, but it definitely seems practical. Hell, if UT artificial flavoring is advanced enough, military rations may taste better than my cooking.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by WaterAndWindSpirit

Hello!

So I've been wondering what would future MREs look like.

Depends on tech assumptions. In the end, there isn't a lot you can do to reduce the dry weight of food (for an MRE, about 40g protein, 50g fat, 160g carbohydrates, and a small amount of vitamins and minerals), so differences will almost entirely have to do with:

• Whether and how water is incorporated in the meal.
• How the meal is preserved.
• How the meal is packaged.
• How the meal is rendered palatable when opened.

In general dry food is easier to preserve and can be stored separately from its water, reducing its weight, but is harder to render palatable after opening. Advanced tech might have better methods of reconstituting dehydrated foods, but on the other hand manpower requirements are often lower at high tech, meaning weight reduction is less important. Advanced insulation and power supplies might make frozen food a credible choice.

The nanotech solution, which is actually more realistic than a lot of nanotech, is that you have containers of dried nutrient, small packets of bioengineered seeds, and a programmable incubator. You put nutrient and water into the incubator and program it for what you want; it puts in the appropriate types of seeds, incubates for a while, and produces a facsimile of whatever food you wanted.

[(E)]

Here is one idea I wrote up a while back.

http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.p...&postcount=109

[Refplace]

Dehydrated food is great if you have access to clean water. So I think it will continue but nutrition, taste, and texture improve.
UT batteries could power cooking, boiling, and water reclamation technologies.
Appetite suppresents and timed release nutrients might be seen too but I doubt they would be popular with soldiers.
I'm leery of food that expands in the stomach though. I see exploding pigeons from eating rice in my mind!
I think long lasting gumdrops would be safer and more desirable. Something that slowly melts in your mouth and is tasty but nutritious. Might even be good for sentries, similar to cigarettes but with less drawbacks. Supply energy and distraction on long nights, even better if it has flavored layers.

[Daigoro]

You might have programmable nano-tablets that directly stimulate the nerves in your taste and smell receptors to mimic any desired flavours. Then you wouldn't notice or care what your nutrient sludge tasted like.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

You might have programmable nano-tablets that directly stimulate the nerves in your taste and smell receptors to mimic any desired flavours. Then you wouldn't notice or care what your nutrient sludge tasted like.

It might need to mess with your sense of touch as well - texture is a big part of palatability (just ask anyone who hates mushrooms).

I do like the previous suggestion of carting around nutrients and “seeds” to make vat-snacks when needed, but I’m not certain just how quickly you can manage this. The fastest doubling time I can find with a quick online search is a bacterium, C. perfringens, with a doubling time of 10 minutes. For eukaryotic cells, activated T-lymphocytes, can manage a doubling time of 5.3 hours in humans (but can only sustain this rate for around 5 days). Assuming these are near the limits of what is achievable, if you can make due with prokaryotic seed cells, an hour would be enough to turn 1 oz of seed cells into 4 lb of food. You’ll need to add nearly 4 lb of water, and at least (assuming nearly 100% efficiency in turning food into cells) 6 oz of nutrient mix, to this.

Giving it some thought, you aren’t going to get better weight ratios than with fully dehydrated food using this method, so just working out a way to make dehydrated foods more palatable when reconstituted is going to be a better option. An alternative, if you have energy to spare, would be a “plant machine” that turns carbon dioxide and nutrient stock into some sort of food (just as a plant does via photosynthesis). Possibly not terribly enjoyable, but it’s hard to beat the mass efficiency. I’ve seen this done in stories with nanotech, although realistically waste heat would be an issue if done at a high speed.

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by Refplace

I think long lasting gumdrops would be safer and more desirable. Something that slowly melts in your mouth and is tasty but nutritious. Might even be good for sentries, similar to cigarettes but with less drawbacks. Supply energy and distraction on long nights, even better if it has flavored layers.

Having seen Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, I would be hesitant to even try that one.

[Flyndaran]

Maybe a combination; dehydrated compressed protein/fat scaffolding upon which nanites using embedded minerals, vitamins, and added water "grow" into proper food.
That would take the metabolic pressure off the nanites into a little more plausible time frame, I think. They wouldn't have to actually create anything, just move things around at a tasty molecular level.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Maybe a combination; dehydrated compressed protein/fat scaffolding upon which nanites using embedded minerals, vitamins, and added water "grow" into proper food.
That would take the metabolic pressure off the nanites into a little more plausible time frame, I think. They wouldn't have to actually create anything, just move things around at a tasty molecular level.

This is just a more advanced method of reconstituting dehydrated food, but would theoretically be able to match fresh food in terms of taste and texture. So, same weight* as dehydrated, but as tasty as “real” food (if the nanites can handle oven temperatures, their waste heat could potentially get it up to “freshly cooked” temperatures; otherwise, use something else to heat it if desired). I could certainly see that.

*I’m assuming the weight of the nanites is negligible.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by WaterAndWindSpirit

So I've been wondering what would future MREs look like.

One of my ideas is more or less blocks of tofu-like patty, with varying texture, only enriched in nutrients and give artificial flavoring, which can either be eaten cold or heated up, depending on preference. Either it would be made in such a way to expand in the stomach to fill it, or come with an appetite suppressant so that you don't feel hungry because of an half-empty stomach despite having access to all the nutrients you need.

I would imagine soldiers would be given some compact water purification gear and minerals tablets to mix with clean water so that as long as they have access to water (even their own urine), they won't die of thirst.

Your food idea is probably indistinguishable in terms of game stats from UT's "food pills". Nutrition just isn't going to get more compact than that if food pills are even possible. Dehydration wouldn't even make food pills more compact though re-hydration might make them more palatable.

The water solution is UT's Vapor Canteen. It pretty much makes everything else unnecessary and/or undesirable. Much preferable to reclaim water from exhaled breath and skin evaporation than urine. In extremely hot conditions urine will have a low percentage of water in the first place. In the second place you can get even that water after you let the urine evaporate in the heat.