MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat)

[janswizard]

My mother has 4 left over Meals Ready to Eat which were given to her by a neighbor during the cleanup of Hurricane Frances. Since she just got her power back yesterday, she doesn't have any use for them.

Does anyone know if there is any kind of expiration date on MRE's? The packaging doesn't indicate any "use by" date. If I can't find anyone to donate them to in my area, I was thinking of adding them to my hurricane preparation supplies.

[FireForEffect]

See here for MRE shelf life:
http://www.longlifefood.com/mre.html#Shelflife

They last a LONG time but not forever. What flavor you get? Chicken squish is my fav, I think its officially called Chicken Patty or something.

[pojo]

I know plenty about these things! I spent weeks eating them during Basic training....

MRE's last an extremely LONG time.... If people are hungry and with out power, MRE's will hold them over for one meal... there is a lot of vacuum sealed food in those.

[David]

Yeah.. MRE's are cool... and last a long time.

[azskyman]

Pojo....I will never forget the MRE's at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri in the summer of 1969. As I remember, they were dated from World War II.

Nothing quite like Lima beans and ham some 25 years later!

But the chocolate bars were still a treat.

These days, I read the freshness dates on most things I buy...

Maybe the MRE's should be marked, "Better if used before September 2029!

[azsnowman]

Pojo....I will never forget the MRE's at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri in the summer of 1969. As I remember, they were dated from World War II.

Nothing quite like Lima beans and ham some 25 years later!

But the chocolate bars were still a treat.

These days, I read the freshness dates on most things I buy...

Maybe the MRE's should be marked, "Better if used before September 2029!

LOL Steve, there's ANOTHER word for the "Ham and LIMA beans"......BUT, with this being a family site YUP........they do, like the Energizer Bunny, "Keep going and going and going"

Dennis

[pojo]

Dennis and poppysky... does S-O-S come to mind? ($%*t on a shingle)?

[senorpepr]

Dennis and poppysky... does S-O-S come to mind? ($%*t on a shingle)?

Haha... I remember those and MREs quite well.

Gotta love the chocolate in those MREs. They were a nice break in basic training.

[streetsoldier]

One can get VERY good MREs commercially, with a bigger meal and wider selections per entree....PM me for addresses as to suppliers.

BTW, just before I moved down to MO from ND to marry (1986-7), I was almost starving...a friend worked at a surplus store, and supplemented my sparse fare with MREs. Thank God for them...they keep well, are a source of necessary sustenance, and depending on the entree can be VERY good food.

[Pebbles]

I would think they are not only excellent in a hurricane kit but to take when you go camping!

[pojo]

Dennis and poppysky... does S-O-S come to mind? ($%*t on a shingle)?

Haha... I remember those and MREs quite well.

Gotta love the chocolate in those MREs. They were a nice break in basic training.

Most of the time, if my entree didn't look edible, the graham crackers and snacks were my meal for the time being. I preferred the Vegetarian meals... those were actually better than the meat ones. We only ate MRE's during Warrior Week (Air Force)

[azskyman]

My favorite was ham and eggs...can you believe that? We used to swap for the good stuff.

Ham and eggs...25 years old! And we would fight over who would get it!

[senorpepr]

Most of the time, if my entree didn't look edible, the graham crackers and snacks were my meal for the time being. I preferred the Vegetarian meals... those were actually better than the meat ones. We only ate MRE's during Warrior Week (Air Force)

Aww... I was so hungry in basin training, I really didn't care what it was, but I will say the vegetarian meals were pretty good. People would trade those up in a heart beat. Yay -- more for me!

Yeah, we only ate them during Warrior Week as well. Nothing like sitting in the sand on a nice 100°F summer days chowing down on some MREs.

[pojo]

We had to do FTX and CATM just after a thunderstorm rolled through the area. I was on tent guard when the storm rolled in! (yay for me... (thunderstorm...not for tent guard!) We were the only group to crawl on that course in WATER! Nothing like cold, muddy water to crawl through hell's half-mile.

The MRE's were actually nice to warm us up (hope to God that we didn't contract pneumonia.)

[senorpepr]

We had to do FTX and CATM just after a thunderstorm rolled through the area. I was on tent guard when the storm rolled in! (yay for me... (thunderstorm...not for tent guard!) We were the only group to crawl on that course in WATER! Nothing like cold, muddy water to crawl through hell's half-mile.

The MRE's were actually nice to warm us up (hope to God that we didn't contract pneumonia.)

Wow... I often wondered what it would have been like to do basic training during another time of the year. Summer really isn't the best time -- oh well. The low crawl was jagged rocks and dust/sand everywhere. By the time we got done, we all were cut up with a face full of dirt.

Actually, come to think of it, it only rained once during basic training -- for 2 or 3 minutes. It was so dry, we actually had a fire outside of our dorm because somebody driving by tossed a cigarette out the window.

[Skywatch_NC]

Pojo....I will never forget the MRE's at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri in the summer of 1969. As I remember, they were dated from World War II.

Nothing quite like Lima beans and ham some 25 years later!

But the chocolate bars were still a treat.

These days, I read the freshness dates on most things I buy...

Maybe the MRE's should be marked, "Better if used before September 2029!

LOL Steve, there's ANOTHER word for the "Ham and LIMA beans"......BUT, with this being a family site YUP........they do, like the Energizer Bunny, "Keep going and going and going"

Dennis

And don't forget about that meatloaf, Bro!

Eric

[pojo]

If you remember, I went to Basic this year (Jan 20 to 1st weekend in March) Tech school was March 8th-Apr 23 also at Lackland.

When my parents came down for the retreat... we had a tornado warning for San Antonio... they had a 'nice' experience of being rushed from a car to the classrooms under the dorm rooms. We went from cold wx extremes (where we did PC in our field jackets) to thunderstorms to tornado... and then during tech school, we prayed for rain cloud during PC... but, that unfortunately didnt' happen.