I ate a MRE tonight.

I've had a few sitting on my shelf for a while, for emergencies. Took one out and saw it expires in 2008, so I thought I might as well try it out.

OK, tear open the package. Inside is a package of chicken and noodles with vegetables, crackers, peanut butter,pretzels, applesauce, M&Ms, cocoa mix, and a package containing coffee, sugar, and seasonings (including tabasco). Also a little heater. Pretty complete.
So, I fill the heater bag with water to the line, and reinsert the heater along with the chicken and noodle package. Hold it level for a minute until it starts to get warm, then set it down at a slight angle for 10 minutes (ate the pretzels and M&Ms while I waited). It didn't get all that hot. Waited an extra 5 minutes (instructions said 10-15 minutes) - it still wasn't very warm. So I took out the C&N, opened the package into a bowl, and nuked it for a minute. That did it. It was pretty good, I'd say a little better than canned food. There wasn't much, but I assume it's enough for a soldier in the field. Drinking the cocoa now - it tastes like your basic instant cocoa, not bad. In a bit i'll try the rest of the stuff.

Just thought I've give a report - other than the heater not working very well (maybe that's why the expiration?) it was a decent meal for something that had been stored for several years. I don't think they're very cheap (package marked $7.35), but worth looking into for an emergency meal stash.

I've never eating an MRE myself, but I've wondered about them.

I actually killed 4 Marines because they got the Omelet with Ham and I got the Corned Beef Hash.


What do you really think?

you didn't have the "Ham & Lima Beans" can from the C-rations of the Vietnam era. Better known as "beans and motherfuckers"

and didn't want to sound like I was complaining. There's a certain point where everything tastes good. At a point, everything better than hammered dogshit tastes good. You know.

they have a heck of a lot of salf peter in them. I remember in basic while I ate MRE's during rifle training I do not remember getting it up for about 4 weeks.

and granted, it doesn't get that warm, but you trade the peanut butter and pretzels for the crackers and hot sauce that come in other MREs and you have a pretty decent meal. You mash the crackers into the Chicken, and dump in the hot sauce, and you're rockin. There's no such thing as 'hot' in the field, so you can either use the heaters to somewhat heat your food, or you can combine them to make a fun explosive. Usually, we opted for the latter.

Is there a cookbook? Should there be?

We've been there ;-)

My recipes will be useless because all the stuff I ate are now outdated, and the MREs of today are lightyears ahead of what I ate.

<http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=MRE+recipes&btnG=Search>

prepare an MRE, Google won't be around.

i think their 32 different meals. You start experimenting. Like if you mix some of the cheese spread with the jumbalaya and spread it on the hamburger bun, tastes great. Although i would be weary of the chemical heater, use a little amount of water not alot. (my fav was the salsbury steak)

Used to eat them cold. Horrible.

than C-Rations, even starvation. Plus, the cans made them heavy as hell to lug around.

MREs sound pretty neat, all the way around.

... peaches. (Nothng else edible comes to mind.)

wasn't bad. It was best to combine... in a steel helmet. Take your pork steak, add your turkey loaf, add your spiced beef, add your whatever. Heat over C-4 explosive, and serve with C-rat crackers, or C-rat bread, or even pound cake. Serves 4.

MMMM... good eats. Wash down with coco or coffee or water with the purification pills in it.

While we're strolling down the helmet-cooking memory lane.... remember the constipation that resulted from that diet? Only cure for it, of course, was the runs from bad water.

I didn't go looking for Charlie. Didn't need to. He know where we were in Long Binh ... and had the coordinates down pat. Hard to miss one of the biggest bases in Viet Nam. I only had to live in the field and eat Charlie rats a couple of times. I doubt I had to eat them more than a dozen times. I just remember the canned peaches. Maybe they were all I could deal with. Hell, I can't even remember what I did with my P38.

Little packs of 4 cigarettes if I recall correctly. If you got menthol you had a snowball's chance of trading for something else.

had to borrow one. The meat looked like dog food. You could tell how old the rations were by the packs of smokes.

just about enough to wipe a gnats ass.

Usually Camels, Lucky Strikes, or Pall Malls. Think I came across Chesterfields one day.

I'm going to guess the vintage upon which you dined is from an earlier period when the brands you listed were more popular. Right?

This was around 1966. I was not in the Army at the time. Worked for the U.S.Forest Service. They issued us two days worth of C rations for our field packs. The ones we were getting we mid 1950s production. Guess the Forest Service good a good deal on expired rations.

Big money when you're making $79 a month. Also, watched a pretty good fist fight over peaches.

The "Boned-Chicken" was the one everyone tried to trade..and never could.

And, the goddam "chocolate" that turned to dust when you opened it.

at fifty yards.

A medical miracle.

chain. We took what we could get. C rations, dehydrated meat, powdered eggs. It was better and safer to eat the mystery meat at downtown diners than eat off the greasy metal trays at the mess hall. The worst case of food I ever had poisoning was from Army hospital food.

going to the military surplus store to buy 'em at a steep discount. They were good when you were really, really starving!

What, you didn't dismantle your claymores for c-4 to heat your cans? I think over fifty percent of our perimeter defense were unusable because the c-4 was missing.

Vomit in a can.

Beanies & Weenies was the one most sought after.

a group of us that shared a large open office (all of us were TAs or RAs or Instructors)... we would make our own "instant cocoa" powder mix and keep it in a 30 gallon plastic sealed trashcan. Needless to say, that much powder would keep (if you didn't allow it to get wet) for years. I think we would make 30 gallons of the stuff once every two years. Bottom of the barrel tasted as good as fresh. And the cost per cup of cocoa was peanuts, like maybe a penny or two... beat the hell out of vending machines and colas.

College was great for learning penny pinching survival skills.

In case of earthquake or loss of income. Maybe I should try one out so in an emergency I won't be fumbling around for Flap A. It sounds like a lot of salt and sugar, though.

I ate cases of them back after Ivan hit Gulf Breeze back in ??? The National Guard was giving them out to residents while we were waiting for the utilities to come back on. I also kept a couple of cases for camping, emergencies, and such.

I'd love to be able to get my hands on another 5 cases or so.

But you still did it wrong; MRE's are social meals. Never eat one alone. Have lots of people with you to trade various elements back and forth until you get a treat you like. Me, I would have traded the chicken and noodles for some meatballs in spiced sauce. Yum! :9 And the M&Ms would have traded well for the MRE cookie, a legendary treat. It was just a grainy butter cookie coated with chocolate. But, Lord, it was delicious!

i remember the ravioli and some fruit cocktail stuff

my roommate and i were just amazed at the little heater thing

I look forward to them at the end of the trip when all the fresh food is used up first...

even the re-constituted scrambled eggs were not bad...

my fave is the beefy noodle dishes...

last night's tuna casserole with green beans (instead of your traditional peas)

and i only heated it for 39 seconds in the microwave--so it wasn't that warm either.

i put ketchup on it to cut the over-peppering job i did on it last night.

we have so much in common...:loveya:

(well, at least we have the cocoa!)

1 MRE packet of cocoa beverage powder
1 MRE packet of coffee creamer
1 MRE packet of sugar (optional)
water.

Mix together creamer, powder and sugar. Add water and stir. Yum!

...Oooh...the good old days!

Having the coffee now - was going to save it, but changed my mind.

Another interesting recipie: I used to do a lot of ocean-racing on sailboats. standard fare during the night was instant coffee. A steady intake of that was damn near enough to eat your stomach lining out. We ended up making a 50/50 mix of coffee/cocoa... much easier on the stomach!

I've always wondered about how the MREs are compared to the old WW2/Korea K-rations.

I heard they really upgraded the MRE field rations. Apparently it's pretty good. As compared to the old K rations anyway. I don't suppose a long term diet would be that great, but it's nicer than what my dad had in the sloppy ditches of Europe during WW2.

edited to figure out that K9 and K rations are different thing ENTIRELY! (Old-Timers Disease striking)

on it for some two to three hours so it mixes again... and is edible over the crackers....

YUM! NOT

But I imagine the govt spent a few bazillion dollars figuring out how many were needed.

They're also high in fat and sodium.

If you mix the coffee and the cocoa you get a poor man's latte that ain't so bad at 5:30 a.m. in the middle of nowhere.

Come to think of it, I'm not sure what happened to them.

I never could figure out why they included toilet-paper. Totally useless, except as emergency cigarette paper, or lighting fires. After we ate the stuff we were marching ads for Ex-Lax.

You can get NutriSystem food for that, plus an extra two weeks tossed in for free if you use their sign up deal. The food is all either room temp stuff or microwaved. No refrigeration/freezing required. And I like the taste just fine.

I don't know how much time you can get on it before it expires, but I think it's at least a year, probably more.

why didn't they use rice noodles, powdered shrimp, dried seaweed, ground nuts, and chili powder? that would be a lot healthier. rice noodles only require warmish water, not boiling temperatures. and powdered shrimp, dried seaweed, with ground nuts provide a nice balace, while also being light and flavorful. granted it would be closer to vietnamese pho soup than traditional american food, but...

We used to go to a place that served a cup of vegetable chili for $1.45. With being seated, you got free water and also these little bread knots they baked fresh and hot with parmesan and spices. That was the cheapest meal. Across the street at brothers pizza, you could get 2 slices and a medium coke for $2.45.

:shrug:

and I figured some DUers hadn't eaten one and may be interested in how it tasted and how it heated.

the case my family kept getting after Katrina was full of basically pasta MREs. A few days of those and you got sick of them fast.

I'm glad for the food ,but I just wish we had gotten a little more variety. At that point we were all too addled from the storm and busy picking up stuff to experiment with food.

The Lemon Poppy Seed cake is good as well. I was happy if the pouch had that or some candy in it.

As for the heater, it always got hot enough to completely warm the food.

I've had a few, gifts from a couple of people in the military.

I put the meatloaf in the heater pack as instructed, then shoved the buttered noodles and the heater pack bag together in the box the meatloaf came in so they would both be hot. The box helped keep the heat in.

The mini Tabasco sauces were very cute! My ex-in-laws kept them for their knicknack shelves.

I've had the sweaty ham slice, too. Not bad at all.

I'm down to one MRE in my car for emergencies. Some vegetarian thing, like chow mein. Yuck.

If the overtime keeps up, I probably should buy a couple of cases. Keep a few packed in an emergency evactuation/disaster backpack, a few in my car's emergency kit, and same the rest for a hike or something.