Have you ever eaten an MRE?

[Target_For_Exterm]

I bought a few for my emergency kit. Most of them are really, really, really disgusting. Ew - yuck!

It makes me feel even sorrier for our boys in Iraq and Afghanistan. Poor things have to eat that crap. It's a wonder they can still function.

[Redstone]

1. C- and K-rats were worse.

Redstone

[Monkeyman]

9. fruit wasn't bad the rest well I get band if I said what it taste like

[TahitiNut]

51. Peaches. Yum.

The rest? Ugh.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

17. I stll get nauseous remembering the "Boned Chicken".

But, the little rolls of TP they included came in handy for starting fires. Being utterly useless after the alleged food completely stopped everyone up.

I did see one of the cans of peaches go for $2 once.

[acmejack]

46. Beanie-weenies were the thing.

But the dreaded "Pork Patties with Gravy" were to be avoided at all costs...

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

50. Beanie-weenies were considered a stroke of good fortune.

Remember the handy-dandy little can-openers that everyone hung on the same chain as their dog tags?

Ahhh..those were the days. Eating garbage, shitting (when you could) in little holes and living in the dirt.

Fortunately, I was in the Air Wing of the Marine Crotch and only had to play grunt on the occasions when I couldn't get out of it.

[Billy Ruffian]

18. I concur with Redstone

MREs are much better that what they used to have.

They're also pretty tasty, esp. if you remember they're fuel, rather than food.

They're not too bad to have on hand for emergencies. I'm going with another product, though. I'm getting packaged lifeboat rations for our emergency kits. 3600 calories in a package about the size of 4 packs of cards.

[Redstone]

35. Lifeboat rations? Sounds like a good idea. Can you provide a source?

I'd appreciate it.

Redstone

[BrotherBuzz]

Other then Ham & Mothers...

C rations were great. Never really knew what you were going to get - a veritable cornucopia of neat stuff. For a period of time, I suspected supply high graded all the good stuff because I always seemed to end up with them damn Ham & Mothers - even doctored, they were awful.

[Redstone]

34. But at least they included cigs!

Redstone

[BrotherBuzz]

41. You bet, and I even started to enjoy those non filter 'old people' Cigarettes...

Pall Mall, Camel, Chesterfield and Lucky Strike. ;)

[Redstone]

43. Hey, they're easier to field-strip without a filter, aren't they?

And my grandfather smoked three packs of Chesterfields a day until he was 78, and he lived to be 93. I guess they're not that bad for you, after all.

Redstone

[BrotherBuzz]

45. Zip strip spit and flip

Yep, just tear it apart and lose the tobacco, then spit on the paper and roll into a tiny ball and flip. It would pass mustard muster on any parade ground.;)

[Redstone]

47. Truth to be told, I didn't do any parade grounds. I was a civilian under contract.

No use of the "M" word here, OK?

Redstone

[BrotherBuzz]

52. Well, us dumb draftees spent an inordinate amount of time policing the damn parade ground

All we ask of you civilians is to respect our hard work by not violating it, OK? ;)

[Redstone]

53. And painting those rocks white too, yes?

I'm a civilian, but was in combat, so I respect anyone who served. I worked with many who did.

Redstone

[BrotherBuzz]

55. I was stationed in a cold climate that had snow....

We painted them red. :rofl:

[Redstone]

63. No shit? I've never seen anything but white. I grew up in Vermont, and lots of folks

had the white-painted rocks, never mind the snow, not to mention the white-painted tractor tires with the flowers planted inside...where were you based?

Redstone

[BrotherBuzz]

66. Northern Europe and Germany

[Wiley50]

76. Vonnegut's been smoking pall mall's since he was seven

Says he's gonna sue the company
'cause it says on the side of the
package that they will kill you

And they haven't and He's pissed about it

[Bigmack]

69. Only way to eat ham and muthers....

was to make a giant stew in somebody's steel pot. Ham & mothers, pork steak... whatever. Add a little of that water with the halazone in it... heat over some c-4.

MMMM... them's good eats! And festive ambiance, too.

Not!

[BrotherBuzz]

70. Lima beans ain't in my vocabulary

End of story!

[GenDem]

77. I remember c-rats

from my husbands years in the Marine Corp in the late 70's. They came in those standard green cans with the black print. They were not good, and I only ate them on a dare.

[mandyky]

92. I lilked C rats!

esp eggs and ham and beans and franks :)

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. I tried the tuna casserole once.

Let's just say... cat food is a huge improvement.

[dsc]

3. Our college ROTC gave them away on our multicultural day

they weren't as bad as I thought they would be but they sure weren't good either.

[cwydro]

4. Yes,

they gave them out by the dozens down here after Hurricane Wilma...

[bluemarkers]

5. yes

yuck is right.

Texas Pete is included in any packages sent to the troops. :)

[Solly Mack]

6. Sure have

[Lone_Star_Dem]

7. Yes

They're nutritious and taste like mushy crap. They're no better warm than they are cold.

Do they still come with the little tabasco sauce? If so use it liberally.

[Ron Green]

8. The last field chow I had was K-rations. Complete with 4 cigarettes, compliments of

our government and their bosses, the tobacco companies.

The food was actually not too bad, as I recall.

[jannyk]

10. Do you have the little heaters?

We carry some all the time and have them in our earthquake kit. We used some of the 'older' ones camping and they weren't too bad warm - cold they were awful.

[Target_For_Exterm]

14. Yes, I bought heaters for most of them. I also can warm them

on my wood stove. Some of the stuff in an MRE is OK. Other stuff is just plain BAD, BAD, BAD. Like their Cheese omlette with vegetables. :puke:

[jannyk]

24. I don't see how that one would ever work

reheated, reconstituted powdered egg - yuck! And who serves omeletes with veg?

The franks and beans are my fav - but deadly in the tent later :)

The beef stew and mexican chicken are not bad either. The kids love all the little packets of condiments etc.

[TheDebbieDee]

11. I liked the beef stew MRE and the ham patty MRE.........

Do they still make those?

My favorite dessert was what seemed to be a soft chocolate chip cookie.

[Feron]

12. I've eaten many after Katrina...

They really are pretty good although there are a few bad flavors like Chicken Cavatelli. However I got tired of eating samey things like tomato sauce and pasta after awhile.

But then again, if the entree isn't to your liking, there's plenty of other stuff in it to eat.

[edwardsfeingold08]

22. They must have improved them in the past ten years

I never would have thought of using the words "mre" and "good" in the same sentence.

[Selatius]

26. They've been continuously improving them since the 1st Gulf War

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/mre.htm

[Redstone]

40. "Ergo Beverage?" What the hell is THAT?

Redstone

[CatWoman]

13. yup

and was constipated for about a month afterward :puke:

[nytemare]

15. I think they are better now than when I was in.

Tuna casserole was icky. I had to eat them for a few weeks when I was in Iraq in '91, until the field kitchen got set up. Then we had T rations, which weren't too bad.

I used to make peaches and cream by pouring water in the dehydrated peach pouch, and putting some coffee cream in there.

[Aviation Pro]

16. Oh, they aren't that bad.....

...ya just got to know how to prepare them in the field. We had some pretty inventive ways of heating the pouch on a tank and they include Tabasco sauce to make the taste just piquant enough.

[edwardsfeingold08]

19. unfortunately, yes

The weirdest thing about MRE's is that there is a warning not to eat the beans before flying.

I've tried to put it out of my mind, but isn't there a ham and chicken loaf?

The other hard thing to eat is the clam chowder rat packs. I ate cold new england clam chowder for breakfast, lunch and dinner for five straight days. That was ten years ago. I have never looked at clam chowder the same way since. That stuff is not intended to be eaten cold.

[DBoon]

20. yes

I thought they are actually OK really.

I've had commercial pre-prepared food that is worse.

[uppityperson]

21. where did you get them from?

looking for a source of legal ones.

[Target_For_Exterm]

28. There's a bunch of different places you can get them.

MRE Depot has a civilian version, Saratoga Trading Company has some, you can get them from www.beprepared.com. There are some others, but I forget off the top of my head. If you do a search on the internet for MRE, you should get a list of likely places to buy.

[uppityperson]

31. thanks.

found some on ebay but was suspicious as to where they came from, want to get some from a legal source.

[Selatius]

23. MREs are not as bad as C Rations. I'd rather eat an MRE if it was between that and no food.

There should be a magnesium pouch you place your food packet in. You pour water in and shake until it heats up because of the chemical reaction.

When hot enough, just take your food packet out of the pouch, open it, and eat it.



When you're in desperate territory like that family up there in Washington or Oregon that got lost in the winter wilderness or when you're in a trench on a battlefield, MREs, however bad, can remind you of home, even if it is only a pale representation of home cooking.

[Jed Dilligan]

86. Looks about like the crap on planes these days.

(which I've been very happy to get on long flights--though it wouldn't pass my lips at home.)

[MikeNearMcChord]

25. Never eat the dehydrated potatoes, without adding water

I got heat sickness from that(of course I did that at Ft. Bliss Tx after scaling down a cliff) I was one of the few who loved the pork. Oh and for some un-PC trivia, it was once called Meals unfit For Ethiopians.

[eppur_se_muova]

27. Are you sure it wasn't Meals Rejected by Ethiopians?

That's the 'secret' meaning of MRE!

[MikeNearMcChord]

74. Yeah that's what I meant,

this was back in the 80's.(Having senior moments now) Oh BTW I was also in the military at the time they switched from the old steel-pots to the Kevlar helmets, ever take a brain-bucket shower with the steel-pot?:)

[Bigmack]

83. "Meals Ready to Excrete" ! nt

nt

[architect359]

29. Yup

I thought cold would be OK and boy was I wrong. Having them warm goes a long way though. Oh, there is a meat loaf version that was er,... not that good. It tasted pretty much like it was made from liver - and it wouldn't surprise me if that was the case. I guess as some above eluded to, something is better than nothing when you're hungry.

[conscious evolution]

30. MRE Three lies in one

Lie one It is meal.
Lie two It's ready.
Lie three It's food.

[nadinbrzezinski]

32. Yep

still have memories of them wonderful packages of peanut butter in boot, and those crackers that I swear could pass for hard tack

[MrSlayer]

33. No and hopefully I never will.

I'm an extremely picky eater. I couldn't choke that slop down if I was starving to death.

[nadinbrzezinski]

37. Trust me, if that was all you had

you would.

;-)

When you are hungry, as in REALLY hungry, the pasta carbonara tastes like heaven, even the deviled ham does.

If you are well fed... well that is another story.

[Mythsaje]

36. Yup...

As any soldier will tell you... some are better than others.

[Catchawave]

38. Oh yeah...all my life !

World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Beirut, Gulf War I......like I said, my dependent's i.d. card has never expired, so I've sampled them all my life :D I must say, they've definitely improved over those years.

[usaftmo]

39. The peanut butter is awesome!

Just make sure you knead it first. The oils have separated so you need to knead it for a minute. Never found an entree that I liked though. The bread is also really good, surprisingly. I don't want to know what they put in it to keep it fresh!!!!!!!!!

[roamer65]

48. Ask Dow Chemical

They may tell what they do to keep the bread fresh. j/k

[usaftmo]

61. Possibly something from the dumpster

at their nuclear reactor! Or is that nukular? That's the way dumbya says it.

[karlrschneider]

60. Probably made by the Twinkie people...their stuff has a shelf life about

like Plutonium 240.
;-)

[usaftmo]

64. That's the funniest thing...

I've heard in years! You just made my day :-) Here's to you :toast:

[karlrschneider]

81. HA...thanks, and welcome to DU

Biloxi? How are you guys making out down there?...I haven't been down that way since Katrina...

[usaftmo]

89. Thank you

We're managing down here. I arrived late summer this year, and to me it seems that Katrina arrived a week ago! There's nothing on 90 anymore. The IP and Beau Rivage have reopened (on land). The casinos got permission to do that so at least there's something to do.

If I can tolerate the heat I might stay here until I retire (4 years and some change).

[Karenina]

42. They're "functioning?"

:shrug: I guess everything depends on your definition.

[demosincebirth]

44. I've eaten a bunch of C rations and they're Ok if you haven't eaten in 3 days

[HeeBGBz]

49. Do you have the ones that are chemically heated?

Those are an improvement over the ones that you had to eat cold.

[Target_For_Exterm]

59. Yep, I have the heaters. I don't like 'em warm or cold.

[HeeBGBz]

90. If you're hungry enough

They start to taste better.

[Jack Rabbit]

54. No, I go back to the days of C-Rations

That's a predecessor of the MRE.

They were pretty disgusting, too.

[LittleClarkie]

56. I had one I think was from Vietnam. At the least I think it was from the 70's

when was the last time they had brown m&ms anyway?

The pound cake looked like it had been pounded.

If you can get a newer vintage, or get the MRE's that are packaged for consumers instead of the military, they're not half bad. I don't mind them for camping. It was a mealtime adventure.

[karlrschneider]

57. I just hope for the sake of our troops they're not as bad as Ramen Noodles

:puke: :puke:

[Target_For_Exterm]

58. They're worse. Trust me.

:puke:

[karlrschneider]

62. Ewwww.....

bleah

[Xithras]

72. Lol! I lived on Ramen as a college student.

I keep a case of them in my home emergency kit. Not the greatest food ever created, but not THAT bad. You just have to undercook them slightly to keep them from turning to mush.

[Nickster]

65. Eaten plenty of them during my time. Thank goodness for tabasco. n/t

[Maddy McCall]

67. The ones we got during Katrina were great...except for the breakfast ones.

[ReverendDeuce]

68. A friend is in the National Guard... brought us a few...

They were not half bad, honestly. I was really surprised. I certainly would not want to eat them all of the time (they have something like 8000 calories and are loaded with preservatives), but overall they were enjoyable.

[Xithras]

71. Dried foods are better in an emergency kit.

They'll last longer, and are far more tolerant of heat and cold. More importantly, if you have to evacuate your home after a disaster, dried foods weigh less and are easier to transport.

Just make sure your emergency kit is also equipped with a high quality water filtration system. I have a Katadyn Pocket which I also use when hiking (http://www.amazon.com/Katadyn-8013618-Pocket-Water-Microfilter/dp/B0007U00YE/sr=1-1/qid=1165459988/ref=sr_1_1/105-9928768-8822044?ie=UTF8&s=sporting-goods). It's a little pricey, but it will do up to 13,000 gallons and can turn any water (even thin mud) that isn't chemically tainted into drinking water. If you have chlorine neutralizer tablets (I do), or run your filtered water through a Brita or Pur filter with a chlorine neutralizer after the Katadyn is done with it, you can even use dirty swimming pools as water sources. Mine has proven itself in some fairly gunky high Sierra streams, so I have to say that it's well worth the $200 I paid for it.

Edit: I forgot to reply to the original question. I pack MRE's on shorter hikes, and while some are nasty, there are a few I really like. My kids are huge fans of the Spaghetti MRE's, I personally love the Chicken Fajita's, and the Beef Enchilada is pretty good. That said, I'd rather starve than eat the Chicken Cavatelli, Chicken Noodle Soup, and any MRE with eggs in it. Barf.

[Aristus]

73. I actually liked the MRE's when I was in. I enlisted in 1986, when they

still had the dehydrated beef and pork patties. Those things were awful! But if you could scrounge some boiling water, you'd soak the patty, then cover it in the powdered ketchup, drain off the water and chow down. It wasn't too bad then. Later on, they added MRE bread slices that you could use to make a handy sandwich. The bread even by itself was pretty good. I loved trading around until everyone got something he could eat. There was always some weird asshole who LOVED the Tuna Noodle Casserole or Chicken A La King. And the Chocolate Nut Cake was treasured like a bar of solid gold. You could get almost anything you wanted for it. And not just food. Out in the field, the Chocolate Nut Cake was currency that allowed you to score a clean pair of socks, a box of Crunch 'N' Munch, or a Playboy magazine.

And the chocolate-covered MRE cookie was simply delicious. :9

[Llewlladdwr]

85. Hey now...

the Chicken A La King rocked! I was really disappointed when that one got phased out. Altho' the Chicken Stew wasn't bad either, hot or cold.

Never did like the Meatballs & BBQ Sauce tho'...

[Aristus]

87. Okay, I guess I'M the weird asshole then; I LOVED the meatballs and BBQ sauce!

That stuff was delicious! (Well, to me, anyway). :-)

[cynatnite]

75. Yep, only liked it when when there was PB and chocolate mix...

The rest of it was ICK! But I did love mixing the peanut butter and chocolate mix together. Put on crackers and it was very good.

We were out in the field for over two weeks. You get hungry enough, you'll eat it. Goes with the territory.

[funkybutt]

78. ate quite a few of them after returning to NOLA

back before any of the restaurants and stores had reoppened. That was pretty much all there was to eat. They weren't very good but better than going hungry.

the jambalaya isn't too bad
i don't really care for the meat dishes

[Doctor Venmkan]

79. I've tried a couple of entrees....

Got some stuff from longlifefood.com for a little emergency prep. Yeah, dehydrated foods may have more going for them...but when the power goes out here so does the water (of course I always keep some water stored up too)!

Anyway, I've had Chicken Tetrazzini and Ham & Shrimp Jambalaya (...sp?). Both pretty darn good. In fact I went back to order more of the chicken, but they don't seem to be able to keep it in stock lately.

By the way....MRE's are great for emergency kits because of their long shelf life, but the majority of my "SHTF" food stash is just off-the-shelf items found at the grocery store. Canned soups, pastas, fruit, etc. Just generally have to rotate stuff out more often.

[onecent]

80. Both my kids (twins, boy and girl) were in Desert Storm. They

brought MRE's home for us to taste...

They liked certain things (loved certain things)..but for the most part...NOT...

I sent lots of care packages to them then...AND THE WAR WAS NOTHING then like it is now for this Middle East Crisis.

[lectrobyte]

82. Yes. I think it should be a requirement to eat one before talking with

a recruiter.

[Jed Dilligan]

84. I used to get C-rations when I was a kid

from a family friend--don't ask.

We loved the chiclets, used the TP while driving through Mexico, and only shuddered in horror at the "Spaghetti with Frankfurters." Made damn well sure I would never, ever join the military!

[tabasco]

88. When you're hungry they taste pretty damn good.

Especially the Spaghetti / Chocolate Nut Cake / Tootsie Roll package.

[slackmaster]

91. The Ribeye Steak isn't bad at all

But the omlette is.