MRE's

[Idaho Jarhead]

I figured a bunch of survivalists would be able to help me out as much as anyone, so here goes:

How long will an MRE, fully sealed, last? Is there a date stamp on them somewhere? Do you have to store these things in ideal conditions, ie cool, dry place? What if they are exposed to extreme temperatures over the course of a couple of years, say up to 100 F and down to -20 or so.

Reason I ask is that I have a case of them that I threw in my storage shed and forgot about. Anyone who has bought these knows how much a case of them is worth, so I don't want to throw them out for no reason. But then again, I don't want to eat rancid food either. MRE's are bad enough when they are good. I lived soley on them during the first Gulf War. :barf:

 

[Jason B.]

I think their still serving the left overs from WWII.

http://www.longlifefood.com/mre.html

 

[ghostguy6]

IM not sure about MRE's but the Canadian IMP's have a service life of 5 years and a shelf life of 10 years from the date of manufacture. If they are still sealed then you should be ok. If they were in a shed I would carefully inspect the boxes for signs of mouse and bug damage.

 

[Chris Pierce]

How long were they left in the shed?
20 years is probably too long, but 2 or 3 is probably okay.

 

[Idaho Jarhead]

How long were they left in the shed?
20 years is probably too long, but 2 or 3 is probably okay.

Probably about 2 or 3. A couple of years ago a bunch of the Veterans I worked with put together a big display to honor Pearl Harbor Day. We got a bunch of MRE's from the National Guard and gave one to everyone in the office as a little souvenier. I got to keep the leftovers.

 

[Echo4v]

Seriously, those things never go bad. When I was on active duty (98-03) we were eating M.R.E.s from the vietnam era. You can tell if they are really old by the color of the package. Dark brown ones are 70's-80's era lighter brown ones are 90's or newer. I have one left from a box at home (it's dark brown) and I have eaten one or two from the box ( gave the rest away) they are still good. In short, as long as the packaging is in tact the food is edible.

BTW: the reason I know how old our M.R.E.s were is because I worked in the logistics shop so I got to load them on the 5-tons and I saw the supply paperwork.

Trust me your box is definately ebayable.

David

 

[cssims]

Here's everything you need to know:

http://www.mreinfo.com/us/mre/mres.html

 

[SDS]

I have seen MRE's go bad. Sometimes the bag will swell up and you can tell that way. Other times you can tell as soon as you open the pkg. just by the smell. I wouldn't think you'd have an excessive amount of heat up in AK but that is probably what kills the MRE's the fastest. Under the right conditions they can last a long long time though.

When did the military start using MRE's and stop using C-rat's? Just curious.

SDS

 

[alco141]

my understanding of this is that the temperature that you store these is the major factor as to life expectancy as well as no temp fluctuations, constant temp storage is important, they do not really go bad but they may lose nutritional value if they are stored for longer than 10 years. 60 degrees will give you 10 years of storage. found this on the net somewhere. in a cool basement, with more or less a constant temp would be best.

 

[BlackHills]

According to the site cssims posted the storage time depends on the temp, varying between 1 month@120deg and 130 months@60deg.

When I was on active duty (98-03) we were eating M.R.E.s from the vietnam era. You can tell if they are really old by the color of the package. Dark brown ones are 70's-80's era lighter brown ones are 90's or newer.

Uh....MREs weren't around during Vietnam. They started testing them in 1978 and they were first issued in 1981. You're right about the older ones having dark brown packaging, 1996 is when the tan color was first used.

 

[citizensoldierNY]

Menu items are a good hint as to age also , if your not in the know( read National Guard aviation here, we tend to get real food). There are plenty of sites that list the menus. I used to know the meal numbers by heart and what each one had for snacks. Can't say I miss the necessity of knowing things like that.