MRE's. Yes or NO?

[Amigi'sLastStand]

Wanted to start a thread about MRE's. Seems like their mentioned in a lot for food threads, so let's put our opinions here.

My opinion:

Whole MREs are way too heavy and to expensive. I've seen them for $5 to 10$ per. Forget that.
What I have done is to buy just the main course part in bulk via ebay. I usually end up get 12 mains for $12. I pack six with me as a change up between endless days of Lipton and cheese spread and oatmeal, etc. I put six in my mail drops each couple of weeks. I will eat the main course, say chicken pasta, using the MRE heater and jetboil some litpon veg soup with crackers and a cup of fruit. Mmmm. Filling and good for ya!
Great break in the monotony of my trail eating habits.

Info on MREs: http://www.safetycentral.com/mrfahishliin.html
Quick points from me:
MREs are a full balanced meal meant for soldiers in combat burning 6000 cal/day. Each part of an MRE fulfills a different part of the balanced meal.
The main course part usually has the carb and protein with some vitamin requirements. If you know nutrition, easy to figure out what the main course contains and what you will need to supplement.

Please post your opinions or experiences for other.
Thanks,
Amigi'sLastStand

[Bob Baker]

I think theyre a little overpriced and way too heavy. Havent thought about going with just the main course, but it sounds good. I like the lipton noodles and comparable stuff along with some tuna for their nutritional value, price, and weight.

[Buckles]

Wanted to start a thread about MRE's. Seems like their mentioned in a lot for food threads, so let's put our opinions here.

My opinion:

Whole MREs are way too heavy and to expensive. I've seen them for $5 to 10$ per. Forget that.
What I have done is to buy just the main course part in bulk via ebay. I usually end up get 12 mains for $12. I pack six with me as a change up between endless days of Lipton and cheese spread and oatmeal, etc. I put six in my mail drops each couple of weeks. I will eat the main course, say chicken pasta, using the MRE heater and jetboil some litpon veg soup with crackers and a cup of fruit. Mmmm. Filling and good for ya!
Great break in the monotony of my trail eating habits.

Info on MREs: http://www.safetycentral.com/mrfahishliin.html
Quick points from me:
MREs are a full balanced meal meant for soldiers in combat burning 6000 cal/day. Each part of an MRE fulfills a different part of the balanced meal.
The main course part usually has the carb and protein with some vitamin requirements. If you know nutrition, easy to figure out what the main course contains and what you will need to supplement.

Please post your opinions or experiences for other.
Thanks,
Amigi'sLastStand

There are many variations of MRE's on eBay. Can you post a link to the specific ones you're buying?

[Just Jeff]

The new ones are pretty good, but usually only about 1200-1500 calories each. At 3 full MREs, that's still about 3800 calories per day. The main course has lots of vitamins, but many of the calories are in the fruit (usually in heavy syrup) and the pudding/drink mix/dessert.

I take MREs now and then to mix it up, and I really like using the heater to have a hot lunch w/o getting out the whole kitchen bag. Sure there are lighter foods out there, but food is the one place where I don't like to worry so much about cutting weight. I'll sacrifice a bit of weight for convenience and variety...fresh oranges, for example.

[Seeker]

MREs were designed to sustain troops at a bare minimum of nutrition for 30 days in combat, before more 'normal' rations caught up with them. there have been improvements in taste, nutrition, and menus over the years. as mentioned, each course fills a different nutritional niche, and the main courses are heavy on carbs and protein. that said, there were times when i've lost some pretty significant weight (15-20 lbs, after starting out at 140 lbs or so) eating 4 MREs a day in just a couple weeks. but they're better than nothing. keep in mind as you read this that i may be slightly biased against them by forced exposure, more than twice...

they are not designed to be lightweight. there are designed and packaged to be dropped by parachute (tied down to a pallet), tossed out of the backs of trucks and helicopters, and carried around by infantrymen in their rucksacks, next to things like ammo, explosives, old socks, gun oil, and other stinky and/or sharp items. i forget the bursting strength of the packaging, but it's been calculated and works. the spoon is bombproof, and one of the coolest items in the package.

i don't use them mostly because they're heavy, even if you just take the 'main' course out of all that packaging. they have a lot of 'trash' too, if you don't 'strip' them. finally, i'm not all that keen on the taste. the older ones were ok, when the menu choices were pretty solidly meat, potatos, and things i normally ate. the newer ones include too much spicey/mexican/fast food stuff that i won't eat in normal circumstances, and certainly won't eat while camping. no offense to anyone, but tomatos and i don't get along (pizza, mexican, italian, etc.)

price is a factor as well, and when you weigh it, literally, against the freeze dried stuff made by companies like Mountain House, the freeze dried stuff comes out ahead in my book. i'd rather pay a tad more and have it be lighter. better still, i dry my own meats and veggies.

taste-wise, both have a little 'packaged taste' overall. some of it's good, some of it's bad, most of it's in-between, with both MREs and freeze dried. but like i said above, i don't like most of the MRE menu choices. there are far more (in my book) 'normal' dinners in the freeze dried arena, so if i'm going to pay a lot for a dinner, i'll stick with freeze dried things that i can and will actually eat.

overall, i use ramen/lipton noodles as a base for just about everything i eat for dinner while camping. my meat choices are limited to foil-pouch chicken and homemade jerky (venison or beef). a little powdered milk, maybe a handful of home-dried veggies, and i'm golden. and it's a whole lot cheaper.

i might not turn down an offer of a good MRE after a couple weeks of lipton, but i don't think, overall, they're worth the cost/weight/limited (to my taste) menu, and don't factor them into my planning.

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

After 23 years in the military - much of it in 'geographical separated units', the male dinosaur would probably have me for lunch if I tried to feed him an MRE.

[Just Jeff]

Hehe - I met some thrus at a VA shelter who had absolutely no problem accepting the MREs I humped in for them...

[fiddlehead]

They have their place.
I use them for a meal when whitewater kayaking. You don't have to worry about getting them wet, and they float. You can heat them up fairly easy if you have the time but you can also eat them uncooked.
I can't imagine carrying them for hikiing though. I care about weight too much when it's on my back.

[The Solemates]

and to expensive. I've seen them for $5 to 10$ per. Forget that.
What I have done is to buy just the main course part in bulk via ebay. I usually end up get 12 mains for $12. I pack six with me as a change up between endless days of Lipton and cheese spread and oatmeal, etc. I put six in my mail drops each couple of weeks. I will eat the main course, say chicken pasta, using the MRE heater and jetboil some litpon veg soup with crackers and a cup of fruit. Mmmm. Filling and good for ya!
Great break in the monotony of my trail eating habits.

this is exactly what we did as well, just to add a little variety. bought about 30 or so maion courses off eBay and had one about once a week or so on the trail.

[sparky2000]

Pulled up K rats on ebay. Those meals were (by my old opinion) good but heavier then MRE. Spam with potatoesare still the best.

[SGT Rock]

MREs suck. They taste bad, they weigh a lot, and they cost too much. You can get tuna and chicken in foil packs at stores these days as well as summer sausages and even foil pack ground beef (not that good, but still better than MREs). With Liptons noodles and other great stuff like Zataran's Red Beans and Rice or Jumbilya mix you can have great tasting meals that are easy to get along the trail and easy to fix. Given all that I wouldn't go out of my way to get an MRE and I wouldn't accept one on the trail unless I was starving and there was nothing else.

[cannonball]

MRES? Sheesh, just load up on mountain west dinners they are lighter, cheaper, easier to pack, and far more tasty. AQlso easier to prepare.

[Footslogger]

Given all that I wouldn't go out of my way to get an MRE and I wouldn't accept one on the trail unless I was starving and there was nothing else.

==========================================
Roger That !! Now THERE's a true veterans read on the whole MRE thang. Gotta walk a few miles in the moccasins to understand.

'Slogger

[SGT Rock]

==========================================
Roger That !! Now THERE's a true veterans read on the whole MRE thang. Gotta walk a few miles in the moccasins to understand.

'Slogger

Don't you know it. We use them now for interrogation purposes.

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

I haven't tasted the newer models, but the older MRE's were truly awful. I can believe detainees would talk rather than be forced to eat them.

[Footslogger]

Don't you know it. We use them now for interrogation purposes.

================================
Now that is what I call borderline "Cruel and Inhumane" treatment of prisoners.

'Slogger

[fredmugs]

Concur with Sgt Rock. When the Marine Corps first switched over to MREs I got food poisoning and at one point they were going to helo-vac me out of the field. I wish they would have after the ride I had in the duece and a half truck. Prisoners? Yes. Starving hikers? No.

[Just Jeff]

I'd agree on the old style. The new ones aren't so bad, though. IMO, anyway.

[MOWGLI]

I might carry an MRE in my pack at gunpoint, but I'd have to think about it.

Willingly? You'd sooner see me carrying a piano out on the trail.

[Skyline]

Too heavy. Too expensive. Too nasty.