Fun Facts About MRE's
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MREs are the main operational food ration for the United States Armed Forces. It originated from the c-rations and k-rations from World War II, and later developed into MCI (Meal, Combat, Individual) rations used in Korea and Vietnam. In 1980 the MRE was developed and is still the U.S. Army's primary ration.
Generally, a MRE contains the following items:
Entree - the main course, such as spaghetti or beef stew
Side dish - rice, corn, fruit, or mashed potatoes, etc.
Cracker or bread
Spread - peanut butter, jelly, or cheese spread
Dessert - cookies or pound cakes
Candy - M&Ms, Skittles, or Tootsie Rolls
Beverages - Gatorade-like mixes, cocoa, dairy shakes, coffee, tea
Hot sauce or seasoning - in some MREs
Flameless Ration Heater - to heat the entree
Accessories - spoon, matches, creamer, sugar, salt, chewing gum, toilet paper, etc.Each MRE provides an average of 1,250 calories (13 percent protein, 36 percent fat, and 51 percent carbohydrates) and one-third of the Military Recommended Daily Allowance of vitamins and minerals.
A MRE is truly a "Meal Ready to Eat", although it tastes much better when heated with the supplied ration heater and powdered drinks are mixed with water.
Or field vodka.
The meals are designed to be cooked and eaten anywhere, at any time. There is no need to find a table or a kitchen in which to set up.
A handy feature in a combat zone.
Examples of a typical MRE are:
Chili w/Beans
Mexican Style Corn
Crackers
Jam
Dairy shake
Candy
Red Pepper
Spoon
Flameless Heater
Hot Beverage BagVeggie Burger in BBQ Sauce
Dried Fruit
Chocolate Banana Muffin Top
Wheat Snack Bread
Gum
Hot Sauce
Spoon
Lemon Tea
Flameless Heater
Hot Beverage Bag
Chicken Fajita Tortilla
Chocolate Pudding
Baked Snack Cracker, cheese
Cheese Spread
Coffee, Irish Cream
Seasoning Blend
Spoon
Flameless Heater
Hot Beverage BagMREs must be capable of withstanding parachute drops from 1,250 feet, and non-parachute drops of 100 feet.
Er, 100 feet without a parachute??? Oh wait, that's without the soldier . . . right?
The packaging is required to maintain a minimum shelf life of three and a half years at 80 degrees F or nine months at 100 degrees F.
Which explains their awesome deliciousness which, once eaten, is never forgotten.
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I've read that the MREs are surprisingly palatable.
Never had one, though I've read that you can find them at surplus stores.
Tempting...
....SLAP.....
No, it's not.
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Interesting. I think that they are maybe like camping food?
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Various Opinions:
"The taste-good factor of MREs is inversely proportional to how hungry you are which itself is a function of how long you’ve been in the field."
"I’ve eaten more cold MRE’s than hot, by a factor of 3. The army has destroyed my sense of taste. It’s just fuel. (It also destroyed my love of architecture and landscape. It’s just terrain.)"
"One man’s crap is another man’s feast. We always run a ‘goodie box’. A collection of stuff that guys don’t want. After a day, I can live off the goodie box.
One of the bonding experiences is eating. Guys are always giving up their pudding for chocolate bars, or peaches for sliced apples (Who am I kidding? NOBODY gives up peaches.)""A MRE is freaking huge, and typically on missions you only get to use what you physically carry with you. When packing for your mission, you want to make sure all the items you need to bring with you will actually fit in your pack; you don't need your food taking up a lot of space.
"What you do is strip the MRE down and take out all the useless packaging, utensils and accesories including the chemical heater. You won't be using that heater on a mission, it produces visible steam and that is a big no-no if you don't want to be seen.
"Meals Ready to Eat are pretty sweet for missions because you can stick the small vacuum sealed baggies of food in mag pouches or pockets, rip the corner open and suck it down while you are on the move."
"Do soldiers eat MREs every day?
Oh god no! If it was only MREs we would all never take a shit again. MREs have a tendency to constipate the bowels like nothing else.""Some are better than others. The good ones are about equivalent to other types/brands of camping food. I intentionally planned some MRE meals for my family on a camping trip, nobody complained. They even had some nice features like a little candy and a tiny bottle of Tabasco sauce."
