Multi tiered food Carrier...or is it?

     This is a new (brand new) Multi-layered food carrier.  It is available online from several distributors.   Food carriers are a multi use item.  You can keep dry food in them, transporting foodstuffs over long distances or time and you can cook in the stainless steel containers.  

www.amazon.com 

This item is also available in brightly colored, insulated models, but that is not my personal style.  You may look up this item as 'Multi tiered lunchbox' or 'multi layered food carrier'.  It is shiny and again, new. I like the vintage models.  

I have a memory of my step dad describing his school days lunch box.  He told us: the top layer had fresh milk, the next layer down contained whatever had been left from the night before's dinner and the bottom layer had a couple of tablespoons of molasses syrup and a biscuit.  The school teacher would let the children place their lunch boxes around the heater as needed to warm the foods.  On a day without leftovers, he had two eggs in the bottom container that left near the heat, would cook by lunch time.  He tore the top off his biscuit and used it to clean out the dinner layer and then he ate the syrupy bottom biscuit as dessert. 

www.eastmanutensils.com 

I have been lucky enough to find two of these at my favorite thrift store for under $5 each.  I have a three tier and a four tier carrier.  I have used them to carry foods out to campgrounds in the past.  They lock into place beautifully and even though I have not transported watery liquids in them, I have suffered no spills.  

As a prepper and as a person that just likes to be ready to go, I like this style carrier.  It fits into the curved side of a backpack.  Right now, as they hang from the kitchen ceiling, they are packed with a layer of rice, a layer of beans and a layer of condiments like salt, pepper, and the folding utensils I can use on the go, also some tea bags and sweetener packets.  

The rice is measured for two persons who need traveling calories.  Just add water and heat over a fire made from a few sticks or a heat tab.  The beans are measured the same and if you add the water in the morning, the beans will be soaked and ready to be heated in the same time as the rice.  The top layer can be emptied at campsite and used for making coffee, tea or just boiling the water you need to drink.   

Yup, I have taken a totally average piece of restaurant or kitchen accessory and turned it into a mess kit with food, ready to heat and eat!  That is the definition of prepping and preparing for hard times of any kind.  See an item, see what it is and see what it can be.