Just ate my first MRE...

ZENGHOST

ZENGHOST

Joined
Jan 21, 2002
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Title pretty much says it all. I had opened one that my dad had brought home when I was a kid (some twenty years ago) and it looked like dog food so I didn't eat it. Recently I'd been thinking about stocking up on some MRE's for emergency situations but wasn't sure if I could stomach it or not so my friend (forumite stw) sent me a "chicken and rice" MRE. I must say, it was a lot better than expected. It had the chicken and rice, some bread and peanut butter, and a fudge brownie. I didn't try the cherry flavored powder juice thing. It also had a single pack of Taster's Choice coffee, complete with cream substitute and sugar. There was also a tiny bottle of tobasco that I put to use, a salt packet, a plastic spoon and a heater to round out the pack. I didn't use the heater since not all of them come with it and I wanted to see if I could stomach it without the heat (plus I was too lazy to read the instructions on the heater). All in all, I'd have to say it didn't look too good but it tasted fine. Although it occurred to me while eating it that I had no idea when the expiration date for it is so I'll have to wait and see if I make it through the night all right...:rolleyes: (anyone know how to check the exp. date?). Now I just have to find a good place to stock up on them. Anyone know of a place with good prices that allows you to pick out which ones you want? I don't eat red meat or pork so I don't want to buy any of the beef ones--I know it won't matter in an emergency, but I figure as long as I have a choice I'm going to try and get the ones that I will eat.

Just thought I'd share my new experience (that's probably old news to everyone else)...:rolleyes:
 
Originally posted by ZENGHOST
(that's probably old news to everyone else)...:rolleyes:
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No, I was Air Force. We always ate real food. Never tasted packaged rations of any kind (pre-MRE, besides).
 
Buy some dehydrated food from someplace like AlpineAire. There is another place I have purchased from as well but, forget their name at the moment. You need a little warm water but, how hard is it to boil a pint of water anyway?

You can buy bulk food from the grocery store as well for "hard times". Dry goods packed in an air tight container stored out of the heat will last a long time. Heat and bugs are the enemy here. A 20pound sack of Rice and a 20 pound sack of pinto bean will last you a long time. Throw a little of both in the pot and you have a reasonably balanced meal, better if you add a little meat but acceptable by itself in hard times. You can always spice them up with almost anything from onions to peppers too. Overall pretty flexible and darn cheap at about ~$10 last time I bought them at Sam's club.

Granted, MRE's are in a different class but, I also want something to balance those out. If I were a soldier in the field, MRE's are more practical but, in a post-tornado emergency or similar "hard time" situation, I want something a little more flexible and palatable. A little diversity goes a long way ;)
 
Just remember; there is a reason Soldiers and Marines call them, "Meals Refusing to Exit". Have a tendency to, umm, block you up a bit. :D
 
Originally posted by Danbo
Just remember; there is a reason Soldiers and Marines call them, "Meals Refusing to Exit". Have a tendency to, umm, block you up a bit. :D
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Yup, they come out the same way they go in....in a little brown plastic bag!! :D We always called them Meals Rejected by Ethiopians (no offense to any Ethiopians on here)

Fade
 
Originally posted by Danbo
Just remember; there is a reason Soldiers and Marines call them, "Meals Refusing to Exit". Have a tendency to, umm, block you up a bit. :D
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Greaaaaat...
twak.gif
 
I started eating combat rations when you could still get cigarettes in the condiments. Everybody said they would stop you up. Then MREs came out - dehy pork fritters and all - and everbody said they would stop you up.
I was on a liquid diet in the hospital two weeks ago after a tree limb fell on me - and that stopped me up.
If you change your diet from high carb to protein, work 17 hours a day, get 5 hours sleep, and burn every calorie you ingest( a typical first week in the field for a reservist ) you will get stopped up.
I think physical stress has something to do with it.
MRE's are now marked govt property and are not generally available to the public - but the mfr's do put out copycats in the mil surplus market.
I seen fights over Pork chow mein. Never happened with ham and lima beans. Hmmmmm.
 
lu2236 has the truth of it
whenever i went into the field for training, i always got 'stopped up'
it's not just the food, imo
 
hahaha....I just got out of basic/AIT...we had MRE's all the time - I loved 'em except I never got 'full' off of one....and we had to eat ours cold! No heat packets were allowed (who knows why) :D

I actually had eaten them before that because I liked them so much:p...expensive though at about $6-7 each. Get a case if you want a ton.

Tips:
- The peanut butter is world class
- Love the pound cake
- Wheat bread...put peanut butter on that - yum
- Chili Mac is good stuff
- avoid the 'bean torpedo', aka enchildas (or equiv. mexican name...whatever they are called)
- Commercial goodies you'll find are Skittles, M&Ms, Starburst, pretzels, Combos.

MRE's are now marked govt property and are not generally available to the public - but the mfr's do put out copycats in the mil surplus market.
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What? You can buy them online all over the place, AFAIK....or at the surplus stores like you said.

Granted, buying bags of stuff is by far cheaper, it doesn't have that "any situation" dependability that MRE's would have...try eating that stuff w/o water;) or for a week or month at a time. A heater in an MRE requires no water and none of the meals do either, unlike backpacker freeze dried stuff. Another plus is each meal is in a convenient package so if you only needed food for a few days for whatever reason, it's easy to do.

Warthog
 
Originally posted by Warthog
Tips:
- The peanut butter is world class
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I was pleasantly surprised with how good the PB tasted.

What? You can buy them online all over the place, AFAIK....or at the surplus stores like you said.
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Supposedly they are not allowed to be sold commercially, but I'm not surprised that they are readily available.

A heater in an MRE requires no water
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Actually, the instructions on my MRE heater required a tiny bit of water to be added to it (if I read them correctly, that is).

-Z
 
The current MRE heater are an exothermic reaction triggered by water. Watch any of the IRAQ footage of the embedded reporters and you'll see a soldier dumping a cup of water in a bag and then put his mean in it. Isn't chemistry wonderful? :)
 
Originally posted by Sid Post
The current MRE heater are an exothermic reaction triggered by water. Watch any of the IRAQ footage of the embedded reporters and you'll see a soldier dumping a cup of water in a bag and then put his mean in it. Isn't chemistry wonderful? :)
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I didn't use mine, so will it be a problem to dispose of? Sorry if this is a stupid question. I figure if it can be heated within the cardboard container it shouldn't be a problem to throw away, but I'd rather not have a heater in my trash can.
 
MRE's tend to block you up a bit due to two things (well, I can only think of two).

Firstly, there is absolutely no fiber in any of the meals. You have meats and starches, sugars and sodium.

Secondly, the sodium dehydrates you and dehydrated people tend not to crap.

As for the heaters, they're non-toxic and although I would not want to eat one, I would not have a problem throwing them away. If they get wet in the garbage, the chemical reaction is not hot enough so that they would start a fire. If you're still reluctant, wet them and wait for the chemical reaction to finish before throwing them out.
 
About the heater packets...

We used to eat MRE's all the time in JROTC and when its done heating up we would just throw the still steaming heating pack in the trash can along with the paper and other stuff, and never had any problems with fire or anything.

Also, you can take out the little heating pack thingy, put it in a 2 liter pepsi bottle and add water and cap it really tight, and it will blow up. Always good for a laugh, loudness is about like a 12 gauge depending on the bottle and how much water you add. The only trouble is you never know when its going to go off. You can also do dry ice and water for a faster reaction and put teflon tape around the bottle threads to ensure that no gas leaks out. Have fun :D


About the stopping you up part...

Maybe thats why you only get like 3 sheets of toilet paper?
 
Originally posted by clipiteer
About the heater packets...

We used to eat MRE's all the time in JROTC and when its done heating up we would just throw the still steaming heating pack in the trash can along with the paper and other stuff, and never had any problems with fire or anything.

Also, you can take out the little heating pack thingy, put it in a 2 liter pepsi bottle and add water and cap it really tight, and it will blow up. Always good for a laugh, loudness is about like a 12 gauge depending on the bottle and how much water you add. The only trouble is you never know when its going to go off. You can also do dry ice and water for a faster reaction and put teflon tape around the bottle threads to ensure that no gas leaks out. Have fun :D


About the stopping you up part...

Maybe thats why you only get like 3 sheets of toilet paper?
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The MRE heaters produce hydrogen gass as a biproduct. I always wanted to stuff a 5 gal jerry can with them and add a bit of water, seal it and then put a candle or someother flame on it.


Paul

Paul
 
*smacks self*
Duh:p. I knew they used water (oops)...BUT it only takes about 1/4 cup;)

Warthog
 
MREs:

From one who just got back from a long FTX, having eaten more MREs lately than I want to for a LONG time, here's some advice.

1) A single MRE has about 100% of the USRDA of fat, not nearly that much protein, and about 150% of the USRDA of sodium! (about 3000 mg). Figure in 3 per day and no wonder my fingers and feet started getting very swollen very quickly.

2) The flavors, even though there's about 28 different ones, get old quickly as well. I agree that the burrito, is nasty, but the chili mac, beef stew, chicken with noodles, spaghetti, and a few others are alright.

4) The heater. This does produce hydrogen gas, thus is a bit flammable, and the -unused- heater packs aren't supposed to be thrown away in regular garbage, because of the fire hazard. In used heaters, the chemical reaction is all used up, and it's safe to dispose of them normally.

Good luck,
Cedric
 
ZENGHOST,

Dump some water in, wait for the reaction to end, then throw it away. I wouldn't put an unused MRE heater in my trash. Stuff like that causes house fires. A dead MRE heater however, is no threat that I am aware of.
 
i remember reading something about the contents of the heater
i forget what it was, except for something about magnesium and iron
anyone know exactly what's inside?
 
Originally posted by DEA
i remember reading something about the contents of the heater
i forget what it was, except for something about magnesium and iron
anyone know exactly what's inside?
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MRE Heater


Paul
 
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