A new-to-me YouTube channel. Steve1989 MRE Info.
When I was living on my boat, and more to the point, sailing it around, I got to keeping a small supply of MREs on hand. I could get stuck at the helm if the weather turned bad, but I learned the hard way that you really needed a hot meal once in a while, especially in bad weather. Even in good weather, sitting at the helm of my boat, you could occasionally get a bucket of water in the face. That was not bad on an 85 degree afternoon, but if it turned cold and gray you could get very cold, very fast.
The only thing required to heat an MRE is water. You have plenty of that on a boat, especially if it is raining. They were not great, but they weren't this bad. Of course I would never have purchased Creamy Spinach Fettuccine in an MRE. (Beef stew. Turkey and stuffing. Stuff like that.)
No longer being in a position where I can't cook a meal, I no longer keep a supply of Meals Ready to Eat on hand. Though I could be convinced, I am probably more likely to go in for the hikers' freeze dried meals and a small backpacking stove that burns twigs. (There are several.)
In the meantime, you can see what they are torturing our service members with...
This is the Steve1989 video for 2019 US MRE Creamy Spinach Fettuccine Another One of the Worst Meal Ready to Eat Tasting Test.
The most recent entry from Steve1989 is about a Ukrainian 24 hour ration pack based on Pork Tushonka & Kasha, whatever they are.
I did learn a couple of things about MREs.
I stopped buying the full meals, and only bought the entrees. (They are, or were, available that way.) I would then buy my own energy bars, drinks, crackers, whatever. That was a more economical way to acquire that stuff, and still have a hot entree.
The full meals that I did buy, all had tiny bottles of Tabasco sauce. Hot sauce can cover up a lot of ills. It won't make an MRE taste good. It will make an MRE edible. I always had hot sauce on hand, but lately I have 8 or 10 varieties. (Here's a small selection of what I dug out of one cupboard a while back.)
Hunt yourself up a vegan sandwich or omelette MRE. You'd murder for Spinach Fettuccine. Trust me.
ReplyDeleteI'll take your word for it.
DeleteI don't much like stocking MRE's since they aren't safe to eat as "only food" more than 21 days or so. You can risk a month no serious issues but they aren't healthy even with vitamin supplementation.
ReplyDeleteFreeze Dried food is better for that purpose and Mormon Staples better still.
I only used MREs for "emergency" situations, as I described above. Today I have none. I do have some of the Mormon dehydrated stores. I probably should have more. And maybe some of the more travel-friendly backpacker meals.
DeleteGreat post, as always. After years of heavy salt use, I stopped adding salt to everything and found the food was bland, so I started using McIlheney's Tabasco. It helped, but it was a gateway drug to hotter sauces. My then-GF(now wife) and I experimented with varrious sauces with funny names and higher Scoville ratings until we settled on Texas Pete hot sauce. Low sodium, zero HFCS (corn syrup in hot sauce, go figure) and tasty without being painful. Even better, Chick-Fil-A offers it in individual packets. Win-win.
ReplyDeleteJust my $.02
Stay safe