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)."

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

[asdfasdfasdfasdf]

Our company works with the military quite a bit, and I've had an occasion to try an MRE. They're actually kind of cool. They come with their own (chemical) heat source and re-heat the foods pretty rapidly-- It uses technology similiar to those little handwarmers I use to have when I was a paperboy. As I recall, you'd boil em to "reset" em.. (I think the MRE heatsources are one-use)

In any case-- it's okay-- better than freeze dried anything-- but I still wouldn't like one of them falling on my head from the skies above-- it's not *that* delicious.

Re:Yummy!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, the Chili Macaroni went great with the Jalapeno cheese, except that they were in two different MRE's, so you either had to trade your poundcake for the cheese or steal another MRE.

I became an artist for putting together the perfect MRE. Some things trade for higher value, and eventually I would end up with something completely different than what I first grabbed, or with twice as much. It's like currency, only you that you can not only trade it and trade it again, you can also eat it.

As far as the freezedried items, the freezedried peaches are supposed to go with water, but they taste better crispy. They literally melt in you mouth!

MRE's are great in the field, because, unlike the hot food served in the field, you can eat them without having to imagine and pretend you are eating food at every chew. The only thing is that a regular diet of MRE's will leave you a little, well, plugged.

Re:But what about hot dogs and apple pie?

[Xzzy]

As a person who's actually eaten these MRE's, in varying conditions (ie, voluntarily and involuntarily), I have to take exception to your statements. :p Now granted MRE's aren't a steak dinner at an expensive restaurant somewhere, but the food isn't anything worse than the junk we stuff our faces with daily at places like mcdonalds or taco bell.

Hard work generally makes food taste better too. I used mine, mostly, when hiking around with a frame pack where I grew up. At the end of the day, that stuff tastes DAMN good.. it's several times easier on the stomach than dehydrated food, and usually offers a lot more variety.

Considering the requirements of being an MRE.. most notably the 3 year shelf life, it's amazing how good the stuff really is. Only downside compared to more orthodox trail food is there's more garbage to carry back with you, and MRE's are a bit heavier because the food is fully hydrated.

ughhh... not everyone eats meat

[DeMorganLaw]

Not everyone eats meat, and not everyone eats every kind of meat. The MREs that were being dropped to Afghans were vegetarian MREs. There are also vegetarian soldiers in the US Army, and Muslim/Jews who cannot eat Pork and Hindus who cannot eat Beef.

C-Rations

[Detritus]

Does anybody else remember C-Rations? They were the predecessor of MREs. They came in a cardboard box, full of little OD green cans. You haven't lived until you have eaten Ham and Eggs, cold, out of a can. See Army Chow and Other War Atrocities [jophan.org] by David Thayer, for a look at Army chow in the pre-MRE era.

Re:But what about hot dogs and apple pie?

[loraksus]

fyi, the canadian form - imp has a package with macaroni and cheese - arguably the most popular.

Strange the Canadian Army had both those meals

[los furtive]

The breakfast versions of the Canadian Forces IMP (Individual Meal Pack) has contained Macaroni and cheese since at least the 1980s, and although it is no longer available now they also served a mean "ham & egg omlette". For anyone who has seen this notorious "omlette" it was like a compressed rubber sponge in a foil packet with ham floating at the bottom. Some people despised it, I thought it was rather good. I also know that the shelf life of these meals was 3 years. Maybe the cold up here helps them keep longer.

If you want to get a good idea of what the Canadian meals are like, check out the bottom of this page [shauny.org]. MREs and the number each soldier gets a day vary greatly from country to country. No shitting but the French get pate de fois gras and a little wine in their rations, although they only get one box of rations for the whole day.

Canucks get 3 packs a day, each worth between 2500 and 3000 calories (soldiering takes a lot of energy), similar to the Americans they are rather formulaic in there content but much more substantial: the first foil pouch contains a main course (chili con carne, chicken breast, even cabbage rolls to please the Albertans), the dessert pouch (sliced peaches, pinapple spears, or the nasty cherry cake) follows, but the best part shall always remain the "goodie pack". Not only will it include the strangest brick of bread you've ever seen, it is also guaranteed to contain various condiments, juice crystals, soup, coffee, tea sugar and whitener, lifesavers (oh the irony), an after dinner mint (yes, really), a toothpick and either a candy bar or cookies. You can also expect to find matches, an industrial strength napkin, a long neck spoon (so your fingers don't get dirty) and best of all, a moist towlet (field shower is the other term that comes to mind). Much more substantial than the Americans but still lacking both the infamous bottle of tobasco sauce and the self heating pouch.

IMPs also include a survey as to how you liked your meal, a great bit of fun to fill out when your bored in the field. I can proudly say that because of my input they added mini-Ritz crackers and mini-Oreo cookies to the array of snacks that come with any ration pack. Whenever a Canadian soldier stuck in the mud or snow of the ubiquitous "field" looks into his/her ration pack and smiles to see they got mini-ritz cheese sandwiches rather than the instant (and useless) chocolate pudding that I helped contribute to that smile.

Tell me about shelf life...

[TheOnlyCoolTim]

Several years back, my school decided to get rid of this Civil Defense Postapocalyptic Nuclear Shelter/Hospital that they had in the basement.

Apparently, if the Commies ever dropped the Big One on NYC, the survivors were supposed to live on water, crackers, and hard candies. The water was all gone by the time we went in there, along with the Geiger Counters (which I really wanted - apparently at some point some public agency came and took them back), but there were still maybe an 8' high 6' wide 18' long stack of all these boxes of candy and crackers, packed with various dates around 1963. There were big cardboard boxes with a Civil Defense logo on the side, the words SURVIVAL CRACKERS or CARBOHYDRATE SUPPLEMENT on the side, and inside were either 6 tins of crackers (~40 pounds total) or 2 45 pound tins of red and yellow hard candies.

Both were still good in '99 when we cut open the tins and tried. Crackers tasted pretty nasty and dry, but the candy was delicious. I still have stored in an airtight container some candy that was dated October 1963, I'm waiting for October next year so I can eat 40 year old sour balls.

Tim

Re:ughhh... not everyone eats meat

[prismatic]

well that, and the veggie mre's tend to be pretty dang good, imho. even though i'm not a veggie, i'll often trade a non-veggie one for a veggie one if the other guy doesn't want it.

Re:Reason?

[Fat Casper]

One problem- MREs have between 1200 and 1600 calories per, and that's if you eat every last item, down to the non-dairy creamer.

There are two major problems with this story. "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)." What?!?! As one who has suffered through "Omlette With Ham" too many times, I can assure you that eggs have been on the menu. Even today there's "Buttered Noodles" and "Pasta With Alfredo Sauce." A quick check of the menu linked to shows even more pasta dishes. What it doesn't show is "Pork Chow Mein." What am I going to eat when my unit runs out of those? I still miss the "Spicy Meatballs And Rice In Tomato Sauce." Now that was a meal.

Re:Rock or something ....

[UnifiedTechs]

Pound cake rules!!!

I was in the Marines during the last update of the MRE, Yes the Pound Cake is good....

But if anyone remembers Nut Cakes they will tell you it was ten times better then Pound Cake you get now. The Cherry Nut Cake reached a huge zen like status and used to be featured in MC Times cartoons. (I remember one of the old gunny handing out nut cakes to Marines in a fox hole, the caption was "Here's your Marine Corps Birthday cherry nut cake") Mention the nut cakes to someone who has been in over ten years and watch a smile cross thier face.

Re:Rock or something ....

[nathanm]

I remember the various nut cakes, but the new chocolate covered oatmeal cookie more than makes up for them. Some people don't like them, so I could usually find someone to trade with.

Vegan meals in a bag

[Animats]

The "Humanitarian Daily Ration" [dla.mil] is vegan. "The components are designed to provide a full day's sustenance to a moderately malnourished individual. In order to provide the widest possible acceptance from the variety of potential consumers with diverse religious and dietary restrictions from around the world, the HDR contains no animal products or animal by-products, except that minimal amounts of dairy products are permitted."