19 year old MREs

Otherwise known as "butt plug".

 

I remember back in the early 90s, a guy I knew who had been at Ft. Hood, gave me some that were packaged from Vietnam. Chicken Ala King, however you spell it, was very good. Never had a case of bad gut after eating the stuff. Some of the MREs now are okay, though you can see the soy in a lot of it. Stay away from the omelet. Even with Tabasco and cheese it tastes like hot garbage. Saw a Beef Stroganoff one the other day. Seems like they are coming up with new menu items. Though I am a bit crazy and can eat them like they are going out of style. I do like that they are lighter and can be broken down for easy carry.

 

There were also "LRRP rations" which were dehydrated food; chicken and rice, spaghetti with meat sauce were two. When I was there, LRRPs had them and line infantry had cans.

 

I had military rations only twice inmy life, til I began buying MREs inthe 90's from surplus stores.
In the early 70's in the Civil Air Patrol, we had a SAR training trip down to the Naples. Florida area. We cadets were in GI puptents on the grounds of a resort, while the officers 'roughed' it in the AC and TV equipped rooms. We ate surplus C-rats, they ate in the dining room.

Later in the early 80's in the USN, we did 'refresher training' down in sunny Gitmo - long before any ragheads were imprisoned there. All we had to worry about were the Girines......
After the 'gas chamber', we too were allowed to chow down on some more old C-rats. I don't know if the Marines were just getting rid of them, or using us as guineapigs to test the old stock..... None of us got sick.

As to real MRE's, the only ones I really don't like is the "Beef in Jamaica Sauce" - nasty!! I kinda liked the pork patteis -made a fair snack sandwich. I only buy the entrees, so have never had to deal with the 'John Wayne Bars'.....

 

ahahhahah!! you just made my day. That was funny!

 

Have one staring at me right now. Hate the new meals do not have them. I remember having the boxes of C's turned upside down as we filed by. It was like Forest Gump's box of chocolates--never knew what we would be getting--lol.

 

just don't get the ham and lima beans.... worst C's possible.....

 

They were the primary reason when you were second group into a hot mess there was not a single bottle of Tabasco left anywhere. The little rats bottles just didn't go very far.

 

I LRRP'd for just under 6 months of my time there and can testify that the L-rats were OK if you had access to hot water, but cold water (even with the "under your arm" cooking method) left them pretty much like slightly crunchy watery soup. But they were still better than "Ham & MoFos (lima beans) " C-rats.

The rest of my time there was mostly as a gunner on C-models and we got 2 hot meals just about every day...with choice C-rats for a third meal if we wanted it.

 

The sun worked.

The problem with long-rats was coming up with the 1.5 pints of water per meal. We mixed them with C-Rats.

 

LOL, i just ate an MRE style meal from Star foods out of Texas. Star been out of business fpor I dunno, so these are ancient, too. The sweet oatmeal bar wrapper was a little greasy, but other than that it was like they were new. WTF qualify's that thing they call bread last so long? It's similar to a space shuttle tile and doesn'ty really taste or even resemble bread. I like them hot sauce little bottles for oilers for my guns. Also use one when I black powder shoot a dab or two of ammonia or bore scrubber swabbed down the pipe makes life a lot easier come real cleaning.

Man I sure hated that soy dehydrated stuff. Frickin bean paste noodle things with varied Ramen powders. Yuck. I can hunt and fish better than that. If comes to having to eat that, the end is near!!! Had me a 5 gallojn bucket chock full of MRE heaters that are the same vintage and they still wqrk, too. Had some of them sterno packs of jell goo, napalm type crap. They are great for starting fires, them and some flint and you can start fire anywhere.... LOL. Can you prepare too much? I bet I paid good money for these MRE's and they ain't doin nuthin but getting old. Makes a great case and point for rotating the stock!! Also what will last and what won't. Glad ammo lasts a lifetime if properly stored.

OK, rambling, sorry

 

I liked the ham slice too. The pork patty was nasty & way to salty and never rehydrated well for me. I don't think I ever finished one

 

I opened an early 2000s MRE with clam chowder this week. Ate some of the sides, but could not bring myself to putting that stank smelling chowder in my mouth. I'm into survival, not suicide missions!

 

Just had one (ham slice) last week--sure hate to hear they no longer are packed. Like you said--great stuff. My son hit the clam chowder and loved it.

 

Had the 'cheese tortellini in tomato sauce' not too long ago and it was decent. I'd like to try the 'beef ravioli in meat sauce' also. Might just start buying specific MRE entrees to ensure I get the ones I like. Skip the mystery shuffle.

Byte

 

Yep, all that paper and heavy plastic weight adds up. Plus having to pack it out.

 

This is good information to know, as I was wondering what the shelf life was for the MRE's I purchased about 8 yrs. ago.