Cape county buys MREs by the case

On Thursday morning, Cape Girardeau County emergency operations manager David Hitt will head to Jefferson City on a mission to pick up 200 cases of food he hopes will never have to be used.

The surplus military field rations, known as Meals Ready to Eat -- MREs -- would be used in emergencies that make food deliveries difficult or impossible, Hitt said.

The rations will be split between a number of local agencies. At $15 for each case of 12 meals, Hitt convinced the Cape Girardeau County Commission they will be worth the cost if ever needed.

Half the shipment, or 100 cases, will be set aside for the sheriff's department. Another 40 will be for the Cape Girardeau Fire Department's emergency operations center. Other agencies taking portions include the county building and grounds department, the parks department and the coroner's office -- six cases each -- and the county health department, which will take 15 cases.

The remainder will be stored at the County Emergency Operations Center.

The meals are being purchased from the Missouri State Agency for Surplus Property, which provides surplus state and federal goods to local governments at a nominal charge.

The dehydrated meals will last for years, making them ideal emergency rations, Hitt said. "We hope we never have to use them," he said. "They will still be good long after you and I are done doing what we are doing right now."

Coroner John Clifton said the meals will come in handy in case of a major disaster such as a tornado or earthquake that keeps him and his staff in the field for long periods.

"There are things you buy you hope you never use," Clifton said. "I would recommend that everyone, not just people in emergency services, have MREs as well as other emergency provisions."

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126