MREs · 7:20am Apr 10th, 2016
Meals Ready to Eat, and other lies.
They aren't meals, they aren't ready, and you can't eat them.
I'm not ashamed to admit that I've spent many hours in surplus stores. Even if you've never had the pleasure, you've probably heard about soldier food.
Prepacked rations go way back. There are some foods that were just simply easier to store for long periods and provided the necessary nutrition. Things like hardtack and beans. A ration of lime juice for treating scurvy could also apply.
Not exactly modern, but the idea of having a package of all the food a solider would need for one portion packaged together goes back to at least World War One. Often, canning was used to keep the food fresh, but cans are heavy and bulky, not exactly ideal for the mobile combat of WWII, Korea, and Vietnam.
Many civilian foods came from the military trying to develop efficient calories. Spam and other fused meat is the primary example. M&Ms are another. Dehydrated cheese powder led to Cheetos.
The basis of the modern US military MRE was developed in the 1960s, though it wasn't until Desert Storm that MREs were widely used.
The average MRE contains about 1,200 calories, give or take. They are designed to withstand drops from 100 feet (30 m) without a parachute and have a three year minimum shelf life at 80 degrees F (27 C). I would say the average MRE is about the size of a Harry Potter hardcover, though only weighing 1 to 1.5 pounds depending on contents.
Each MRE contains an entree, a side dish, a powdered drink, a chemical heater, some sort of snack, a plastic spoon, and an accessory pack that has gum, toilet paper, moist towelettes, and might contain matches, salt, pepper, sugar, creamer, spice, and/or instant coffee.
Original size image
This unpacked MRE contains chili mac, wheat snack bread, cookies, Tootsie Rolls, chocolate drink mix, jalapeno cheese spread, a chemical heater, and a full accessory pack.
The spoon is heavy duty. There are (very unconfirmed) reports of MRE spoons being put into service as improvised mele weapons.
You put water in the chemical heater and put the food inside it. I've never actually used it, mostly because I was indoors and the heater offgasses hydrogen. Supposedly it works pretty well.
So how's it taste?
That depends entirely on what meal you get. MREs come in 24 varieties (4 are vegetarian) and the menu changes every year.
Here's a few reviews of ones that I've eaten. Some lists of items are incomplete because I've forgotten.
Chicken Pesto:
Contained chicken pesto, raspberry applesauce, wheat snack bread, cheese spread with bacon, orange drink, and chocolate pudding mix.
Chicken pesto is not my thing, but it contained pleasant chunks of chicken. Wheat snack bread is okay. It's like a large soft cracker. Cheese spread tastes okay, but is like thick grease. Chocolate pudding was amazing. Orange drink smelled like Tang. Didn't taste as good. Applesauce was applesauce. Hard to screw that up.Pork Sausage with Gravy:
Contained gravy with pork sausage, cookies, cheese spread with jalapeno, wheat snack bread, and lemon lime drink mix.
Sausage bits in gravy. Not as good as biscuits and gravy down at the old corner diner. Jalapeno cheese spread tastes like spicy grease. Cookies were thin, brittle, vanilla crackers shaped like stars. Not bad, though. Lemon Lime drink mix was acid green, but fairly tasty.Beef Patty:
Contained a beef patty, two wheat snack breads, cheese spread with bacon.
Horrible. Gelatinous, and covered in both white and yellow fat. The beef patty MRE is so bad there's even comics about it:Buffalo Chicken:
Shredded chicken in buffalo sauce. Tasty. Also came with Tootsie Rolls. They're still in their little wrappers inside the plain brown package.Cheese Tortellini (vegetarian):
Bland, but not bad.My cousin told me about hot dogs, from the early 2000s MREs. They were apparently so bad they were called "the four fingers of death."
I've heard rumors that some MREs include full size packages of Skittles or M&Ms. I've never seen it, so maybe they don't any more.
Source
Relevant Terminal Lance again. Apparently this is a true story.The menu changes about every year, so flavors come and go. It's difficult to track down all the varieties, because it seems there are several companies that make MREs.
I value my health, so I don't experiment with MREs very often. They're pretty filling and high in fat and salt to sate troops on the go. Rumors are that they're low in fiber and cause constipation, though I've never had a problem. Remember to drink water.
Criticism aside, an MRE is a fine thing to eat, provided you don't have anything else. They're like Lunchables for
adultsbig appetites.
Despite standard MREs being so ubiquitous, other kinds exist. Cold weather MREs come in white packages and are dried so they won't freeze. Kosher/Halal MREs are available. The Humanitarian Daily Ration is designed to be air dropped to civilians in need of assistance.
What comes next for MREs? Despite not being canned, the packaging is still pretty bulky. The military is investigating new materials. I've read about zien, which is a kind of biodegradable plastic made from corn.
Special Operations Forces have already started experimenting with lighter fare, like the First Strike Ration. They also are looking into more energy bar-like food, something that requires zero preparation.
What do other countries eat?
I don't know, but the internet says that many of them have gone to prepackaged fare like the US.
Canadian Individual Meal Pack. This one apparently contains a cabbage roll.
Australian Combat Ration One Man. (two meals, one package) Contains a Field Ration Eating Device, a combination of a can opener, a bottle opener and a spoon. Wikipedia notes that it is also known widely as the "Fucking Ridiculous Eating Device."
French Individual Reheatable Combat Ration. I'm guessing it's supposed to be two meals. This one has lamb stew and tuna salad.
Want to try MREs? The going rate is $90-$100 for a case of 12. You might also find them individually. The companies that sell them to the military also produce them for the civilian market, although the shadier surplus stores might have the real deal.
Unless you're really keen to try them, I'd recommend eating real food with a cheaper price and generally better quality. Still, I enjoy learning about MREs even more than eating them. If you'd like to know more, Imgur has many posts regarding MREs. Here's one about a Ukrainian meal: http://imgur.com/gallery/9zVbh On YouTube, this Emmy person seems to eat a lot of military meals from around the world.
Hungry?
My uncle sent us MREs once. They were....OK
What, no mention of the abomination that is the vegetarian omelet?
That Ukranian MRE gave me heart disease.
Jesus.
I've heard M.R.E. are also called "Meals Rejected by the Enemy" lol.
Has anyone seen a rock or something that I can use?
That chemical cooker seems pretty awesome if it works well- Aus MRE's I've had all use Hexamine tablets instead. I can attest to the spoons being a bitch to break, even knew a guy who used a spoon to hold his webbing and kit together when we ran out of duck tape.
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As an army cadet I once spent a week living off of the CR1Ms and can attest to the fact that you usually heat them over a fire of some kind, though any method of heating water will do. The upside is once your done heating your meal you've got hot water to make a cup of tea or coffee with.
Also the rations are quite nice.
Eeehh, naming issues and details aside, I had MRE's once a week or more during my brief stay for Basic Training at Fort Jackson before I came to terms with the fact the Army's just not for me. Yes, the best food was at the cafeteria itself, but the MRE's were all likely still more nutritious and decent than some of the fast food joints near and around the base. I can hardly say anyone around me complained about them anywhere NEAR as much as the Hot Ace(affectionately referred to as Hot Ass by a colorful few) meal times... Except regarding certain sweets, as we were told to NOT eat M&M's and other similar things from them as per ordered, regardless of condition(not that I ever encountered anyone stating their meal was spoiled by any means).
Ive seen some youtube videos on eating MRE's it looks terrible
Especially this one
yeah the german ration packs are the worst apperently.
Eh, they're not so bad. You get used to them
They do, but those are rare, At MCT I traded a pack of skittles for two main meals. Dude was super stoked. Of course, so was I. That cornmeal is good if you heat it.
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I haven't had the omelete, but I did once have the misfortune to be left with only the vegetarian lasagna. you couldn't pay me to eat that again.
I swear they taste better on a plate.
Cant speak about the rest of the world but the Canadian ones aint so bad. sometimes ya get lucky and its something really good
I had the Singapore Army Combat Ration during my basic training. Going off the top of my head: Prepackaged with a main course, soup/drink, an energy bar (milo bar), (butter and chocolate) biscuit packs and a pack of instant noodle we could cook with the mess tin. Heating was some white candle/fuel thing that we lit on fire in a hole.
Main course and soup/drink are the size of the MRE pack. Had glutinous rice and black pepper pasta for the main course. They're squeezed out into our mouth like food tubes, except they're rectangular and flat and paste-y. No cutlery needed. Good thing glutinous rice are already sticky, so it's decent. The pasta was tasteless and the black pepper overpowered everything.
The green bean soup was pretty good, sucked to drink it out of a pack without straw, though. The milo bar was the kind you could buy from a 7-11. The biscuits were the best thing that came out of the whole combat ration, probably the tastiest.
3860667 Thank you for the input.
3860615 Just to give you an idea of how bad it is: the omelette looks like Spam...
Ah the MRE . . . I had one once on a dare when a recruiter came to my old highschool. Won ten bucks for being the only one to eat over half of a pair of those giant crackers in under three minutes. (without a drink, mind you.)
Some time ago, I aquired a Russian one to eat so you dont have to, and of course I filmed it,I dont recommend them, find a british or French one instead
MREs are nice, only thing extra needed is water.
3860722 Perception check-
"The can has large, ominous writing on it."
The only time I can remember having actual MREs was 10 years ago when my JROTC unit made a trip up to Fort Hood. Wasn't bad and certainly not the worst thing that could be used for military rations (hardtack, dwarf bread, etc.). And yes I did use the fancy magnesium heater bit.
Most of my experience with Calorie dense, lightweight, dried foods were with Scouts and depending on whats being offered I would take the MREs at times.
Ref: IMP, the cabbage roll is disgusting, the plastic spoon always breaks, those ritz are literally poisonous and taste of bleech, and if I recall, the dessert was a chocolate cake that was so sweet it could kill pinkie pie...
That being said, if you want to know more about Canadian IMPs, let me know.
I've personally had an MRE once. It was Chicken Fajita, and it's actually pretty okay. The jalapeño cheese sauce was to die for tho.
I often found they can be nice for camping trips, but definitely not a regular pick. The Canadian ones tend to be pretty palatable in my limited experience.
3860627
Bruh, plating is everything.
Fun fact: Canning was invented by the French to feed Napoleon's armies.
Can confirm that some MREs do, rarely, have the large size candies in them. Both of the chili MREs are, in my experience, delicious. Chicken pesto is alright. Pork gravy and sausage is also another good one. The ratatouille vegetarian meal isn't all that bad. Both of the rotini meals are pretty good. I think the only beef patty that I've seen in any sort of condition as the above comic is referencing is the 'maple sausage' MRE.
Never again.
I sometimes toss a few MRE pouches in my backpack for when a fishing trip fails to involve the presence of fish...
Instead of home or restaurant-prepared meals, I'd have to compare MREs with off-the-shelf canned entrees from any grocery in the US here. The quality of an MRE is about the same as the average "Chef Boyardee" product, but the price is higher in exchange for the longer storage life and easier portability.
Take care you're not getting after-pull-date MREs that the military has released for sale. They don't last forever. If an aftermarket dealer has repacked them in a box without a date code, that's kind of a tip.
Hormel ComplEATS are sort of a crossover between the two. If they were field-heatable, I'd choose them over an MRE.
I don't live here, but Ashens did an Estonian ration
Some are terrible, some are great. The M&M's and Skittles are TRUE. I have taken to buying both menu cases once a year and stowing it with the first aid kits (even a couple in my trunk). They are listed on the package to be edible for a 5 year period. great for emergency rations in case of tornado, flood, earthquake, zombie outbreak, or Trump becoming president. If something happens, I know I can have a hot meal. typically stow some clean water with them. They only require a bit of water to heat up and prepare, and are edible even cold.
I recommend taking an MRE familiarity course presented by a former military member, much more of survival interest in these things than just some food. This can then be "filtered" for appropriateness for a family planning event. A good, wholesome family activity that may come in handy for those you love.
3860876
Yeah presentation is very important.
Don't forget the rock or something you need to use in order to heat up your meal.
Also Chili Mac for the win.
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http://www.duffelblog.com/2016/03/inventor-rock-or-something-mre/
3860586 Meals Rejected by Ethiopians.
Okay. There's one big mistake in this post that's oddly enough, nothing about MREs.
It's about SPAM.
SPAM was NOT invented for the military-- in fact, it first appeared in 1937, and for an entirely different market.
Jay Hormel, of the Hormel Meat people, was kinda annoyed that a part of the pig was usually going to waste, the shoulder. The bones were kind of a problem for most cooks, (a bone in roast of shoulder is a bitch to carve) and certainly couldn't be canned easily. Hormel had made a lot of money selling canned hams to hotels, but no hotel was going to buy a canned shoulder.
So he starts a project to make use of the shoulder meat. and has a revelation. If the hotels would buy canned hams, well, a home-targeted canned pork product would sell nicely. especially if it was cheap, this being the depression and all.
It took about five years to work this out. YEARS. The invention of SPAM was not an easy road.
To his chagrin, SPAM didn't do so well at the markets at first. Housewives were uncertain about meat in a can. It didn't become a major thing until WW2 and the military suddenly needing vast amount of protein that could be transported easily to the front.
And so... SPAM did NOT go to war. See, with a few exceptions, most of the SPAM sent to the Army, Navy, and other poor beggars wasn't actually SPAM. It was a specially formulated, heavily salted and spiced "pork luncheon meat, canned" manufactured by Hormel and a few other packers to Army specs, to survive both freezing temperatures all the way to Pacific jungle heat. It came in five pound cans, it was perfect for the job the military had envisioned, and there was far far far too much of the damned stuff. It wasn't that this pseudo-SPAM was bad-- it was that the quartermasters sent out so much of it that poor camp cooks had to deal with it two to three times a day for weeks on end.
And of course the troops figured that out quickly enough.
Most didn't know what it WAS until a temporary shortage of the Army stuff, so something had to be sent out to take up the slack. Thus, SPAM in actual SPAM labels were sent... and soldiers learned the name.
Meanwhile. SPAM became a much more popular in the US, because it wasn't on the same rations as fresh meat.. and you could get more for less and have points left over. Where housewives were serving it once or twice a week, the boys in green were eating it... all the damn time. Thus certain reputations were born.
In other words, the army didn't make SPAM... but SPAM pretty much made the ARMY.
4491446 That sounds like a blog post in itself. Where can I read more?
4491628
I would suggest SPAM: A Biography, by Carolyn Wyman. Easily found on Amazon, it's a paperback with frankly insane amounts of SPAM information.
Been backreading your blogs, had to remark: The shredded beef/steak/dolphin/other assorted mystery meat MRE remains my favorite. I've taken to calling it the Alpo-MRE. But overall I've not had a bad one yet (Though I do avoid the spaghetti ones with a passion). I have a ton of the pouches sitting around from trading/looting what other people won't eat