Humanitarian daily rations (HDRs) are food rations manufactured in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

intended to be supplied to civilians and other non-military personnel in humanitarian crises. Each is intended to serve as a single person's full daily food supply, and contain somewhat over . They have shelf-lives of about 3 years, and their contents are designed to be acceptable to a variety of religious and ethnic groups. The meals cost approximately one-fifth of the cost of a

Meal, Ready-to-Eat A Meal, Ready-to-Eat (MRE) is a self-contained, individual field ration in lightweight packaging purchased by the United States Department of Defense for its service members for use in combat or field conditions where other food is not availa ...

(MRE). The rations were first used in Bosnia in 1993. From the time they were created and used in 1993 until November 2001, HDRs were packaged with a bright yellow outer plastic covering; this choice of color, however, proved to be problematic in areas of the world where

cluster bombs A cluster munition is a form of air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapon that releases or ejects smaller submunitions. Commonly, this is a cluster bomb that ejects explosive bomblets that are designed to kill personnel and destroy vehicl ...

were being used, as the bombs were the exact same shade of yellow and recipients of the rations sometimes confused the ration package for undetonated cluster bombs, often spotting the bright color from a distance and making an incorrect assumption; this prompted the

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to reissue the packages with a deep salmon pink outer covering to distinguish them from the bombs (this color has been used in the HDR manufacturing process ever since). The meals are designed to be able to survive being air-dropped without a parachute.. This is safer for refugees than parachuting large pallets of rations, as well as preventing meal hoarding by those able to seize a single, large delivery. HDRs are also made available through organizations such as

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to aid victims of poverty in the United States, and were distributed during Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita to victims of the disasters by the

Federal Emergency Management Agency The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Ex ...

(FEMA).

Packaging and distribution

The HDR packages are delivered in cases of packages, each containing a small selection of food items based on predetermined menus and an accessory pack containing red pepper, pepper, salt, sugar, spoon, matches, an alcohol-free moist towelette, and a napkin. HDRs are typically air-dropped into the disaster area on large pallets. The HDRs initially dropped in Afghanistan were yellow before it was realized that the packages were the same color as the bomblets in American

, which were also dropped in Afghanistan. Later packages were covered in

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus ''Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Oncorhy ...

colored foil. HDRs produced by the

are manufactured by the same companies that produce MREs designed for the

United States Armed Forces The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is ...

. Like MREs, the food components are designed so they can be consumed without requiring additional preparation, including cooking. They do not, however, include

flameless ration heater A flameless ration heater (FRH) is a form of self-heating food packaging included in U.S. military Meal, Ready-to-Eat (MRE) rations (since the early 1990s) or similar rations, capable of raising the temperature of an entrée (main course) by ...

s, which are found in MREs.

Typical contents

* Main

entrée An entrée (, ; ) in modern French table service and that of much of the English-speaking world (apart from the United States and parts of Canada) is a dish served before the main course of a meal. Outside North America, it is generally synonym ...

, two of: **

Lentil The lentil (''Lens culinaris'' or ''Lens esculenta'') is an edible legume. It is an annual plant known for its lens-shaped seeds. It is about tall, and the seeds grow in pods, usually with two seeds in each. As a food crop, the largest pro ...

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley p ...

stew ** Yellow or herb

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

** Red beans and rice ** Beans and rice with tomato sauce **

Peas The pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the flowering plant species ''Pisum sativum''. Each pod contains several peas, which can be green or yellow. Botanically, pea pods are fruit, since they contain seeds and d ...

in tomato sauce ** Beans with potatoes *

Shortbread Shortbread or shortie is a traditional Scottish biscuit usually made from one part white sugar, two parts butter, and three to four parts plain wheat flour. Unlike many other biscuits and baked goods, shortbread does not contain any leavening, ...

* Fig bar * Vegetable crackers * Peanut butter * Strawberry

jam Jam is a type of fruit preserve. Jam or Jammed may also refer to: Other common meanings * A firearm malfunction * Block signals ** Radio jamming ** Radar jamming and deception ** Mobile phone jammer ** Echolocation jamming Arts and ente ...

* Fruit pastry (much like a Pop-tart) * Accessory Pack containing: ** Book of matches (unprinted) ** Salt, pepper and

sugar packet A sugar packet is a delivery method for one serving of sugar or other sweetener. Sugar packets are commonly supplied in restaurants, coffeehouses, and tea houses, where they are preferred to sugar bowls or sugar dispensers for reasons of neatness, ...

s ** Packet of crushed red pepper ** Moist towelette (alcohol-free) ** Paper napkin ** Plastic spoon

Specifications

United States program in Afghanistan

On October 15, 2001, the United States announced a humanitarian daily ration for

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. On October 24, 2001, Rear Admiral John Stufflebeem announced fears that the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...

planned to poison American food aid.
mirror
Stufflebeem said that since the program had been started on October 7, 2001 the United States had dropped 785,000 rations.

References

External links

HDR factsheet
by the

Defense Logistics Agency The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) is a combat support agency in the United States Department of Defense (DoD), with more than 26,000 civilian and military personnel throughout the world. Located in 48 states and 28 countries, DLA provides su ...