[ARCHIVED THREAD] - MREs (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 5/27/2005 9:53:33 AM EDT
|
I had my first MRE in 15 years today. It was a quick and easy lunch before running off to work and it was soooooo good. I had cheese tortellini and it came with peanut butter and crackers, spiced apples, apple cider, pumpkin pound cake and iced tea. I haven't tried the spiced apples yet...gonna eat them when I get home...and the pound cake was alright. How many of yall like MREs? |
| I'm sure...When I was little and my dad was in the Army, sad to say but the only time I was happy he was coming home was because he was bringing me MREs from the field. He would only be home for a few days at a time so that was something I had to look forward to before he went back out. |
+1. Eat them for 2 or 3 meals a day for a month at a time and let us know how they are. Anyone remember these greats? Pork Patty Chicken Ala King Tuna Casserole Beef Stew Beef Patty Anyone remember some more of the great Entree's? My memory is failing my today. ETA: Ham Slice |
The Spiced Ground Beef or whatever was good...Chicken ala king was king! Best thing for weekend FTX's was the peanut butter or cheese...eat a package Friday morning, bind ya up good all weekend! No taking a dump in the field! |
BAH!! Calrories! Just kidding. I know it was. But I needed something quick. We got the MREs so we can put a BOB together for our car incase we end up getting stuck somewhere. I think I had more carbs than calories in the meal though. 
|
The Marines get the same as the Army and Navy etc. Todays MRE's have good stuff in them. Not true of the older mre's. We used to pay big $$ for the MRE's with Cocoa Powder in them. Almost all came with a little Chicklets pack (2 pieces), salt, pepper, spoon, toilet paper, instant coffee and a creamer packet. The cakes were real bad...imagine 4 or 5 year old holiday Fruitcake. You know the kind that nobody ever eats and tries to pass off to guests or regifts. Yeah...like that only worse. Todays MRE's are a gourmet feast. |
The ones we had today came with the chicklets, salt, pepper, spoon and napkin. Some of them came with coffee. Afplayboy's came with the chocolate dairyshake. It tasted like we were drinking brownie mix. Lol. |
They were designed for that very reason. Providing 2500 to 3000 calories per meal and bind you up for a while. I know of a few people who after spending a month in the field had to have bowel disempactment surgery. Not good. 
|
Ham slice and the potatos au rotten 
|
Never eaten one of those...but DAYUM!! That does look like a lot of food |
Yep those suck too. K rats (never had, before my day). T-Rats were fairly good though. Enough food to feed 15-20 hungry men. |
I ate a heck of a lot of that generation of MRE in Hungary and Bosnia. I always liked the scalloped potatoes and ham, nobody else seemed to though.  There was also the spaghetti, which was decent, the ham slice was good if you got some shelf stable bread and made a sammich. The key for me was always preparation, I could make any of them edible except the omelet with ham. That one made me want to  There was the beef sticks one, that was nasty (but came with shoestring potatoes), the pork chow mien with the good chow mien noodles, we had some veggie cheese tortellini ones that were ok too. I always liked that compacted energy brick, that thing with a canteen full of water made itself into a meal. All the poundcake was kick ass too.
|
Corned Beef Hash (Corned Beef Trash) Omlet with Ham Beef Franks (Four Fingers of Death) Chicken Stew (Chicken Spew) Tuna With Noodles Meatballs in Tomato Sauce Spagetti in Meat Sauce I actually didnt mind most of them - actually liked some of them. The Potatos Au Rotten were one of my favorites as long as they were hot and not spoiled. |
Yup...12 total. That makes a whole box of MRE's. I think everyone that had to eat them for any length of time became a master MRE gourmet. I could whip up a mocha frosting for the dried out cake thingy. Instant ketchup powder and water did wonders for the pork patty. Beef Franks...well, nothing helped those go down...not even the 2lbs of gross gel slime the packed them in. What was that shit, Cosmoline? |
+1 How about eating them in the cold rain while range walking on a 20 mile hike? MMMM, nothing like a cold heavy brick in your gut to keep you moving. 
|
March or die, you hogs! 
|
My boyfriend had the Chicken Tetrazinni today. It was pretty good. It came with a spice packet that made it taste much better with it mixed in. His MRE came with a kremesicle cookie. That wasn't good at all. I'm sorry but a kremesicle and cookie don't mix well together. |
|
MRE's? Yeah, they're good. Great camping/survival/SHTF/I'm bored, these are cool! food. Now, when I was a yout, I remember my daddy bringing home little cardbord boxes with green cans and a little P-38 in them! mmm... pears in heavy syrup  ETA: Actually, now that I think of it, didn't the can opener come only one or two per case of 12 meals?
|
|
I talked to a friend's dad about C-rations, he said that the C-rat peanut butter could bind up a goose. They discovered that the C-rat grape juice would make you shit your brains out, so between the peanut butter and the grape juice, they stayed regular. MRE spaghetti in meat sauce kicks ass. |
it changes a lot...this is the current menu, i believe. but remember these are good for years so there are others out there in the supply line! 01 - Beef Steak w/ Mushroom Gravy (yummy!) 02 - Pork Rib (HORRIBLE!!!) 03 - Beef Ravioli (way too much pasta) 04 - Country Captain Chicken 05 - Grilled Chicken Breast (good stuff, even with the road kill stripes!) 06 - Chicken/ Thai Sauce (way too sweet) 07 - Chicken w/ Salsa (bland salsa) 08 - Beef Patty 09 - Beef Stew (mmm, mmm good but the sob's removed the jalapeno cheese!!!) 10 - Chili w/ Macaroni 11 - Pasta w/Vegetables (bland) 12 - Veggie Burger w/BBQ sauce 13 - Cheese Tortellini (even blander) 14 - Manicotti w/Vegetables 15 - Beef Enchiladas (awful) 16 - Chicken w/ Noodles (ok) 17 - Beef Teriyaki 18 - Cajun Rice, Beans & Sausage (ehhh, the rice is too hard and the sausage kinda has a sawdust texture) 19 - Roast Beef 20 - Spaghetti w/Meat Sauce (not bad) 21 - Chicken Tetrazzini 22 - Jambalaya 23 - Chicken w/Cavetelli 24 - Meatloaf w/ Gravy (awful. the mashed potatoes are a mortal sin...) |
I think only the beef patty was in the original line up. Those don't sound that bad actually. The original lineup didn't come with heaters either.  <-------The face you make trying to "go" after eating MRE's for a week or so.
|
I have all of those....and a few others.. |
Let's see... the first batch that was issued.. Ham & Chicken Loaf (not bad as long as you were hungry & didn't think too much abt it) Turkey, Diced with Gravy (decent heated, cold looked like poultry parts that somebody spooged on )Dehyrdated Pork or Beef Patty - not too bad if you had time to rehydrate them. Dry - you'd better be drinking a lot of water.... Beef Franks w/ Beans - (aka Beans & Baby-dicks)Glorified Vienna sausages in a packet of slime, beans - a lump of tomato-type sauce in semi-hard beans Ground Beef in Spiced Sauce - crumble up the cracker packet, mix it in, it tasted like chili Maple Butt Loaf - Orange Butt Loaf - edible if you didn't mind chewing orange rinds Cherry or Chocolate Nut Loaf - edible Brownie, Chocolate w/ nuts(?) - edible if hungry Cookie, Chocolate covered - yes, if cold. If warm, all of the chocolate peeled off, sticking to the wrapper Newer Tuna & Noodle Casserole - not bad. Better if warmed, but still edible cold. Came w/ M&Ms, which was a plus Chicken Ala King - only if warm. My gunner had one explode when he knifed the bag - I guess it leaked sometime during it's shelftime. Foulest thing I've ever smelled. Worse than the vomit that followed. Ham Slice - made a good sammich, okay if not also. Omlet w/ Ham - Only if I were starving to death Meatballs in Tomato Sauce - iffy Spaghetti in Meat Sauce - mix in the cheese packet, the hot sauce, and it tasted like lasagna Corned Beef - great if warm, a giant greasy hideous lump if not |
I just remembered one more from that era, the bbq pork and rice one, that had an odd taste... I always had the tuna noodle one with tabasco and crackers crumbled up in it, that was ok. Sounds like the preparation tips are pretty universal. I was collecting the little tabascos on one deployment, I think I had a couple hundred before I left...
|
I strongly dislike tabasco sauce. We opened one of the packs that had that in it and I felt like this: those are all gonna be thrown away i'm sure. |
|
Whine Whine Wine, sheeeeesh! MREs are the stuff, man. The Army in Europe gave my Scout Troop in Wiesbaden some K's and C's. The ONLY good things in those were the chiclets and the cigarettes. You stood a better chance of not barfin' if you ate the cigarettes, rather than the Rats. Ham and lima beens, the notorious " ham and muther ^%*kers", would make a pig yack. My buddies Great Dane refused to eat the beef and potato patty ration. Swatted the bowl and walked away. That crap was GROSS!! As others have stated, the peanut butter would bind up a goose, man, uggggg. And it was so old, you could pour the seperated peanut oil off and use it as firestarter. The rations troops now are probably better food than we got in the chow halls back in the late 70's I kid you not! DaddyDett |
|
About the only complaint I've got on MRE's is that they tend to be bland. That said I can eat just about any of them. MRE's rock when you need a quick, no fuss meal. What you guys need to do is pick up some CWR's or MCW's. These are MRE's without any water in them. Basically CWR's and MCW's are current LRRP rations meant for cold weather operations. They have about double the caloric content and lots of drinks to keep you hydrated. The ration size for a CWR is actually TWO MRE sized bags! As far as the taste goes, the main entrees are freeze dried and made by Mountain House/Oregon Freeze Dry. They are some Seriously good shit-as good as anything you get from the supermarket in a can. MCW's are lighter than MRE's (no water) if you plan on putting them in a BOB. This means they are better in heat extremes and don't freeeze solid in the winter. Dave |
I'll mention that to Afplayboy and see what he says about it. Where can we get MCWs? |
Mostly trial and error. Buy a case of em and hit the woods for a few weeks. By the end of the week, you will be a 5 star chef. Either that or hook up with a grunt (infantry leg). They can rattle off a few recipes in a New York minute. |
Never would have thought of that.
We have the vegetable manicotti....it doesn't even sound good
|