The Future of MREs

jonerik writes: "MSNBC features this article today about scientists at Washington State University who are attempting to perfect a way to add two staples of American cuisine - eggs and macaroni & cheese - to the US military's MRE ration packs. The problem has been that MREs need to have a shelf life of three years. The scientists have focused on microwaving the rations during the packaging process instead of the traditional method of boiling the contents (which alters the smell and color of eggs and cheese and makes pasta soggy)."

The current menu

[spt]

MREs [dla.mil]

They look nice. I'll have a #3 please.

good for bears

[oyenstikker]

MRE's a great for camping in bear country. The bears are smart. They learn to knock down bear bags. They'll suck your maple syrup dry, eat your oreos, tear the tent apart, even break the latrine down if you try to put food in it. But they can't smell the MREs and don't touch them. Good thing too, we had a diabetic with us.

Re:Shelf Life

[sacherjj]

Bascially it is like this:
Temp - Shelf Life (months)
120 - 1
110 - 5
100 - 18
90 - 30
80 - 48
70 - 66
60 - 84
= 50 - 96

Canadian Rations (REM's/IMP's)

[SmileeTiger]

In canada we typically call them REM's (Ready to eat meals) or Individual Meal Packs (IMPs) however it is a similar idea.

The difference however, is that the Canadian ones taste GOOD. You usually get:
1. Your main meal. (things like mac and cheese, stew, salsbary steak, chicken, chili etc)
2. Tea.
3. Coffee
4. Hot Choclate
5. Choclate Bar
6. Some kinda fruit based destert
7. A little bread loaf
8. Peanut butter, jam, salt/pepper and sometimes spices
9. Some bonus items like instant mashed potatoes, instant dressing..

I remember really enjoying these things. I believe they had a shelf life of about 4-5 years.

*mmms just thinking about them*
Smilee

BTW. I think I enjoyed them more then the hot food we sometimes got shipped while were in the bush.

Re:Rock or something ....

[kikta]

Amen. Seriously, I usually just use my boot. You pop the clips on your LBV (load bearing vest) and lean back on the butt-pack, sort of like a field-expedient recliner, and lean the heater on you boot. It's in the box and if you can feel the heat, you have problems to begin with. Really, I rarely use the heater (too hungry), but most of my fellow Marines prefer hot meals. When I was stationed at Quantico, I had the chance to sample some of the new menus that MARCORSYSCOM (Marine Corps Systems Command - the people who decide what we're going to buy) had approved about a year ago, and even got my picture in the Marine Corps Times. I recommed everything except the Gumbo. It tasted like asshole du-jour.

Pound cake rules!!!

FYI

[antisocial77]

If you put an MRE heater in a snapple bottle full of water and screw the lid back on the snapple bottle will explode.

Re:The current menu

[Daniel Dvorkin]

Man, kids today are spoiled. :) When I was in the infantry (1987-89) there were like eight different "menus", and two of those were the beef and pork patties, which looked and tasted pretty much identical: like baked sand. We used to call them "Alpo crackers" for obvious reasons. I had lousy luck -- I remember one time, we were downrange for two weeks, and I think I got nothing but beef and pork patties for ten days or so. This probably explains why after a couple of years I crosstrained to be a medic.

Re:Rock or something ....

[Paul Komarek]

Do they still have those gelatin-covered hot-dog or sausage things? I'm not a real militar person, but I used to do search and rescue with Civil Air Patrol, in a rather army-and-survival centred squadron. I was warned never to eat those slimey hot-dog things, which made me want to try one so I could say "They're not that bad." However, once I actually saw them, I decided to take the advice I'd been given.

We used to make some sort of cookie-like think using the creamer, sugar, and a flame.

The other advice I received was to dring *plenty* of water when living off of MREs. That's one more piece of advice I learned to respect.

-Paul Komarek

Re:But what about hot dogs and apple pie?

[nathanm]

What next?
Peanut butter and jelly?

Actually, every MRE comes with these big crackers (kind of like hard tack) and something to spread on them. Either peanut butter, jelly, cheese spread, or my favorite: jalapeno cheese spread.

Re:Tell me about shelf life...

[Zenjive]

Commies ever dropped the Big One on NYC

Seriously, let's think about that for a sec...

We all pretty much know there would be widespread destruction, even if it were a relatively small bomb like Fat Man or Little Boy. But in light of the WTC tower collapse, imagine the entire area of NYC in the same ruins. If you were down in this bomb shelter and managed to survive both the explosion and the hundreds of buildings collapsing around you, would you even be able to get out.

And once you got out, think of all the debris, I mean an empty building being demolished on purpose is enough garbage, but then you'll have cars, buses, furniture, bodies, etc. Your average ICBM has a 5 - 6 megaton warhead, the two dropped over Japan were something like 50-60 kilotons, I expect even the the strongest building would be reduced to rubble.

The national guard would be completely helpless in any kind of rescue mission for survivors. And on top of all this, all you'd have to snack on would be some nasty crackers and sour candies! Of course, you could always resort to eating track rabbit like the homeless in the subways.

Re:I've had an MRE (and I'm not military)

[kraig]

Given the choice between starving and a mac and cheese IMP, I'd have to think about it for a while. My first thought on reading the original post was "I've had MRE-type mac and cheese - DON'T DO IT GUYS!". I never minded the chicken breast in gravy much, it was actually my favourite, although you need a lot of water.

Now I'm having flashbacks of sitting in a hole, eating chicken breast in gravy, pouring the little juice flavour packet into my mouth, and then washing it all down with gulps from my canteen.