Have you ever eaten a MRE?

[undeterred]

How was it?

[sakabatou]

1. What is an MRE?

[auntAgonist]

2. Meal Ready to Eat ...

never have had one.

[yvr girl]

3. Meal Ready to Eat

Military food - that they take with them went there can't be a chow line.

[xmas74]

4. My brother says the vegetarian ones are pretty good.

Others are not so good.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

5. Yes, it wasn't that bad. nt.

[ET Awful]

6. Some are okay, some are pretty nasty.

I understand that they've changed the menus considerably since I was in the military though. From what I hear, they're all pretty acceptable these days.

They usually include a tiny bottle of tabasco or something of the sort to spice it up (or kill the taste, depending on how you look at it).

It wouldn't be my first choice for dinner, but if there's no other food handy, not only do they taste faily decent, but they are very high in calories, so can provide enough energy to keep you going for a while.

[xmas74]

8. My brother was in when they were changing them(again).

He said the veggie ones were the ones everyone traded each other for (I believe he said that the pasta primavera was the best-I think that's the one).

[YankeyMCC]

7. Yes

All the ones I've had, about a half-dozen different ones. Have been pretty good - at least as good as any prepackaged food you'd get at a supermarket.

I love the oatmeal bars that come with some.

[bleedingheart]

9. I remember our 6th grade teacher making one for us...it was gross

but that was in the 1980 or 1981

[Akoto]

10. After the hurricanes last year ...

I live in Florida. Because all the store stocks were wiped out immediately following both hurricanes that hit here (due to people grabbing everything at the last minute), there was a period of several days where there was no food to be bought. We had prepared for that contingency, fortunately, but I had friends who had not.

One of them had gotten some MREs, and I remember it looking distinctly unappealing. I shared my food with him. :) For people who don't have a friend to share with, though, it's certainly better than no food at all!

[Sgent]

11. My Brother

who got out of the Corp in '00 says they are edible -- unlike some of the older ones.

They also provide full nutrition and 1 is enough to survive on w/ no other food.

Some of them do require fresh water though for heating stuff (self contained chemical heat pouches), so with no water they could be much worse.

[Philostopher]

12. It wasn't exceptionally good ...

if you were a dependent and the MREs were 'pushing their expiration date' and you were sitting around New Year's Eve eating them as a sort of joke.

However, I suppose if you were starving and it was the only food you had, it would seem pretty decent.

It's typical camp food, or a least it was 20 years ago -- freeze-dried and vacuum packed stuff that isn't susceptible to spoilage or contamination.

A few points, though -- the MRE meals of that era weren't very well balanced, since they wrre designed for economy and the most basic nutritional provision. They were intended to be ideal for troops in the field who will be burning a lot of calories and doing strenuous things. Many of the ones they used to distribute back in the 80s had additional vitamin or mineral supplements to replace what the MRE didn't.

They weren't designed for anything but sustenance, but if you have nothing else, sustenance ain't half bad.

The ham patty they used back then was a disguised Brillo pad, no matter what the label said. No amount of boiling in water made it taste like anything but a Brillo pad.

DISCLAIMER -- this all refers to MRE rations provided in the late '80s, when my ex was in the AF. They may have changed since then, but back then, they were exactly what they needed to be and nothing more.

[ahem]

13. Yep. It was 9 years old and not too bad.

And the crackers were plenty crispy.

[proud patriot]

14. Yes , it was the peanut butter and jelly one

and was good . That's the only one I ever had.

[Wcross]

15. Yes, hundreds over the course of a 4 year hitch.

Most were acceptable. I was in from 1981-85 and had the pleasure of eating both the canned C-rats and the first generation MRE. The only entree I didn't like was the freeze dried pork patty and the beef patty. It always seemed that when you went out into the feild and ate only the mre's you became real regular.

[ET Awful]

19. Hehehe, the infamous beef and pork patties . . . BLECH

When I first joined they used to let people walk by and choose their own MRE out of the box, after the line kept getting held up with people arguing over who was going to get stuck with the patties, they started hiding them and had a server reach under a blanket and grab blindly to avoid favoritism.

I used to make a few bucks while on KP by making sure my friends got decent ones :)

[Wcross]

23. I never could get them to taste right.

I always thought they gave you too much toilet paper with those things. (I know this is gross but) Never really had to use more than one sheet.

[Wetzelbill]

16. actually yeah

a few times. My brother ordered some for the helluvit and then I used to work with a NG member in my first summer job ever. I ended up trying a few of the ones he brought to work and just kept around. Pretty good actually. Nothing like a really good home cooked meal or anything, but it wasn't bad.

[amerikat]

17. The "four fingers of death" aren't too bad.

That's franks and beans. I only had the early ones. I hear they are better these days.

[Wcross]

24. Those were always a one of the good meals. n/t

[matcom]

18. lived on them in the field

an 'aquired' taste

[Aristus]

20. Thousands of them.

7 years in the Army.

[The Night Owl]

21. The chicken soup MREs are pretty darn good.

Certain MREs seem to cause constipation.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

22. Meals Rejected by Everyone?

I've heard some are OK. I once had a taste of the tuna casserole, and I have to say, cat food would be an improvement. Blech.

[jmowreader]

25. I liked the beef patty, but I seem to be an exception

The original MRE lineup included a meal entitled "beans with meatballs."

When you opened it up you expected to find a good-sized bag containing beans with meatballs, right? Wrong answer, GI: you got a bag containing meatballs in barbecue sauce, and a second bag containing...what would you call "pork and beans" if there is no pork in it? Well, that's what you got. This was THE premium MRE, man, don't accept any substitutes.

Unfortunately, the second-iteration MRE lineup dropped the beef and pork patties, plus the beans & weenies, plus the beans & meatballs. They replaced them with (IIRC) chicken & rice, spaghetti, omelet with ham and some damn thing I can't remember right now. Omelet with ham was useful for one thing: if the supported brigade's commander showed up at your site with his entire entourage expecting a full dog & pony show and to be fed (naturally, you didn't remember to bring enough food for thirty fucking people who don't know what the hell you do anyway), you just start passing out the omelet with ham MREs. Do you know exactly how long it took, and how many good MREs I had to save up, to trade for a whole footlocker full of omelet with ham MREs just for this purpose? This footlocker did have the desired effect, though; after three or four trips to my site, getting served omelet with ham MREs which really, really suck (no one likes it), supported unit commanders started staying away from my site.

They tell me there are some decent MREs out there now. However, NOTHING will ever compare to Chicken or Turkey, Boned, out of the old C-rations. I had a warrant officer who would sign literally anything if you put a Chicken C-ration and a can of apricots on top of the 4187. I managed to get five PV2s early promotion to PFC by using chicken C-rations and apricots.

[usedtobesick]

26. I also loved the beef or the pork patties

I would mix them with the fortified Cheese spread and the beans and two of the little hot sauces and make chilly. I ate these things for 13 years and still buy a case when I go hunting. heat em up and eat them quick and it's not so bad. I HATED the Chicken ALA King. I could eat anything but that one.

[political_invader]

27. I spent 6 yrs in the USMC >>

Stay away from the " Franks and Beans " and the" Bar BQ BEEF " other than that I believe they are good. If your hungry you'll eat anything.

[haele]

28. Oh yeah...

Packaged, ready to eat Flavored Salt and Crisco.

If you get any cheese in your packets, you can go through a couple days on patrol or in combat without having a BM.

Best thing is the peanutbutter-n-crackers or the mini-tabasco sauce containers.

Or so it was a few years back when I was exposed to a situation where "lunch" and "dinner" were MRE's.

Haele

[SOteric]

29. Yes, once,

mostly out of curiousity. It wasn't the premier dining experience of my life, but I expect it could keep body and soul together without inspiring a yark.

[undeterred]

30. So if you were a disaster survivor, and very hungry

you'd be happy to get one.

[Wcross]

31. Have you heard of people turning them down? n/t

[gizmo1979]

32. Yes I have and c rations too

MRE's were like gourmet food after c-rats.But the p39 was awful handy.

[nytemare]

33. MRE's suck after a month

Actually, ate them for about 3 weeks in Iraq before they got our field kitchen up. Then we had t rats. T rats were much better.

Pretty much anytime I went to a field exercise after that, I would buy a bunch of lunch buckets, and give my MRE's to the other troops.

[BamaGirl]

34. Mostly they suck

I had them in the Army. Don't ever eat the tuna!! Nasty stuff. :P