On our most recent camping trip, my brother and I tried out some new sleeping bags and some 4patriots emergency food. If you read my “Early Spring Camping Preparedness” post you will remember our cold, wet weather and lack of supplies. I haven’t had an opportunity to replace the tent, but new sleeping bags made a big difference.
We bought two different brands of mummy bags to try out:
I chose the Suisse Sport Alpine 0-5°F bag and I am extremely pleased with it. It doesn’t have a cloth interior, but felt very nice and soft against my skin. I think I might actually prefer not having cloth inside. The weather was about 40 degrees at night and I didn’t use the hood with the drawstring but I was very comfortable. The bag was roomy and much too long for me, so the padded footbox is a mystery; but it’s there if you are tall. I suppose you could also pull it up if you wanted to (Weight 4lbs 5oz, size 33×84).
My brother chose the Ridgeline golden bear 3 season bag with a 10° rating and he said it was also very comfortable. He slept with the hood under his head but didn’t need it pulled closed. The Ridgeline’s fabric lining was soft and comfortable. He is 6′ tall and had plenty of room. (Weight 4.2 pounds, length up to 7 feet).
Having good sleeping bags helped us sleep more comfortably and we didn’t have a backseat full of blankets that could get wet if the tent leaked.
Since our trip was last minute, we went to Big 5 to buy our sleeping bags rather than buying the ones I thought I would get from Amazon.
You might recall from the Preparedness article, that I neglected to pack food on our last trip. This time I decided to take a 72-hour survival food kit from 4Patriots and try out. 4Patriots does not sponsor me; we received the 72-hour food kits when we purchased something else from them. We didn’t take anything else to eat, other than a small bag of beef jerky. I also took some instant coffee, half and half, and a bottle of port wine for fun. We could have taken all kinds of food, and we had our propane camp stove, but this was an experiment.
Upon opening the bag, we realized that these packets were made assuming that people were either at home or else had some basic equipment. My brother, who served in the army, told me that their MRE’s always came with a spork and a small container of tabasco, sometimes salt and pepper. The 4Patriot emergency food kits did not have these items, but I had brought along a large stirring/serving spoon and some silverware.
Also, for a 3 day supply, the bag had 3 packages of food. One 4-serving bag of mac and cheese that had to be boiled for 20 minutes, one 4-serving bag of creamy rice and broccoli, also to be boiled for 20 minutes, and one 8-serving bag of grandma’s sweet oatmeal, to be boiled for 3 minutes. Now my main question is: if one person is eating this for 3 days, where will they keep the leftovers, to be eaten the next two days. We had the mac and cheese the first night, but of course didn’t have tupperware or a fridge to keep it in…and how do you reheat it? It tastes pretty good, a little better than kraft in a box, and didn’t require extra ingredients.
The next morning we had the oatmeal. Instead of trying to make 8 servings of oatmeal that we would have to throw away, we measured out a cup of oatmeal and boiled it in two cups of water. How did we measure it, you ask? We used a plastic camp cup and guestimated. We then put the remainder of the dry oatmeal in a baggie. While we were boiling it, it smelled sweet, like maple. But when we ate it there was no sweet; no taste at all really, other than plain oatmeal. I thought that perhaps the flavoring was in the bottom of the bag but I cooked the rest when we got home and there was still very little flavor. I added some cinnamon and blueberries for a little pep.
All in all, we did survive. The food was filling and it tasted ok without extra seasoning. If all of the emergency bags have these exact three foods we’ll hope the emergency doesn’t last too long. I would recommend to 4Patriots that they either make smaller serving sizes or warn people that they’ll need tupperware or a baggie and a cooler box to store the extra food. They might also include instructions on how to reheat 8 cups of oatmeal.
Stay tuned for our extended camping trip on Memorial Day weekend. We plan to do some more elaborate cooking and to try out some new gadgets!
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So these are indeed called Mummy bags!
Yes. I was a little skeptical at first, but they are very comfortable!
Glad you got some new sleeping bags! 🙂
Did your brother also tell you about the MRE heaters that come in the same packet?
These rations sound pretty decent… might not be bad to have in the emergency stores…
Hi Lilly,
He did tell me about the little heaters they used. Last year with the food shortages caused by hoarding and the nearby fires, we bought a couple of those 3-4 week survival food tubs from 4patriots that are supposed to have a 25 year shelf life. We received two 72-hour kits as a gift and since we hadn’t tried any of it out, we thought it might be a fun experiment. 🙂