Looking at the original references a TV Dinner weighed about 12 ounces or 340 grams. About 1 ounce (30g) of this was packaging. Let’s be conservative and say adding a dehydrated drink and utensils kit adds another 1.5 ounces (45g) If the only thing dehydrated is the drink, the packs weigh 13.5 ounces or 385 grams. One month of those is 1,303 ounces or about 82 pounds or about 37 kilograms. If everything is dehydrated then the weight would be 6 ounces (170g) including packaging. 96 meals is 575 ounces or 36 pounds (16kg) This presumes packaging and utensils remain about the same weight as today. If you want to adjust that for higher tech levels probably take 10% off. Their mass to the original food mass is a small fraction of the total. Dehydration is a much bigger factor in final mass. The amount of H2O needed for a full dehydrated meal is about 19 fl oz or 570ml.
Great write up! The ship already has to carry potable water, or crack it out of asteroids. So stealing this for my game!
ReplyDeleteHow much would they weigh?
ReplyDeleteLooking at the original references a TV Dinner weighed about 12 ounces or 340 grams. About 1 ounce (30g) of this was packaging.
ReplyDeleteLet’s be conservative and say adding a dehydrated drink and utensils kit adds another 1.5 ounces (45g)
If the only thing dehydrated is the drink, the packs weigh 13.5 ounces or 385 grams.
One month of those is 1,303 ounces or about 82 pounds or about 37 kilograms.
If everything is dehydrated then the weight would be 6 ounces (170g) including packaging. 96 meals is 575 ounces or 36 pounds (16kg)
This presumes packaging and utensils remain about the same weight as today. If you want to adjust that for higher tech levels probably take 10% off. Their mass to the original food mass is a small fraction of the total. Dehydration is a much bigger factor in final mass.
The amount of H2O needed for a full dehydrated meal is about 19 fl oz or 570ml.