FARMINGTON (AP) — Some Navajo Nation Indians, unable to travel because of muddy roads and icy conditions, are choosing not to eat air-dropped ready-to-eat meals because they can’t understand the cooking instructions.

Nearly 40,000 meals were dropped from helicopters to stranded residents on the sprawling reservation covering Arizona and New Mexico.

Selena Manychildren, spokeswoman for the Navajo Nation Emergency Operation Center, said the problem is the instructions are written in English and many elderly living in isolated areas either can’t read or can’t understand them.

“It is difficult for people who have never had them, and grandma and grandpa can’t read,” Manychildren said.

“There’s a diagram, but you have to understand a little bit about them before it makes sense. People are saying, ‘Gee, what the heck, how do I use this?”‘

The meals can be consumed hot or cold, and include powdered drinks that require adding water, but people who lack English reading skills have chosen not to eat them.

“It’s really not ready to eat,” Manychildren said. “It takes some preparation, and people don’t want to bother with it. They don’t understand it.”

Crews delivered more than 3,300 cases of meals. The food comes 12 packages per case and contain a variety of foods, including spaghetti, chicken, macaroni and cheese, vegetables and desserts.

From planes, crews located people or communities needing supplies and alerted helicopter crews to make drops.

Some snowbound residents used mirrors or strips of red fabric to signal aircraft, according to reports from the emergency operations center.

Meanwhile, The Navajo Emergency Operation Center is asking the public not to dispose of unused meals, but to return them to Navajo chapter houses. For more information call the EOC at 928-871-6883 or 928-871-6918.

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