RFI: Who do we like for MRE's these days?

[wvincent]

Getting ready for me and my crew's to work in some pretty remote locations. We won't be getting back to the Lodging until late, after all the local eateries have closed.

I need to sock away some food in our transport's so we can at least eat at a normal time. Breakfast at the lodging or on the road, MRE in the late afternoon, or if we get stranded out, we can keep eating them as needed.

I know there are better options, but this is really what MRE's were designed for. There are not a lot of choices for picking up food enroute, and then there is the whole spoilage risks with perishables.

Not so worried about price, just want some good one's that haven't been sitting in the bottom of some troops duffle bag for the last 10 years.

[Yung]

I forgot whether it was in in Kuwait or Iraq, but one of the waiting areas in the DAACG had as many Heater Meals as we wanted to help ourselves to. They were actually pretty tasty compared to the military MRE menu during the time when the vegetable omelet was the only breakfast option.

https://heatermeals.com/the-facts/

https://heatermeals.com/shop/category/heatermeals-2/

[wvincent]

^^^^ Tandoori chicken with rice? That actually sounds pretty damn good. Might have to give these a shot.

[Hambo]

I forgot whether it was in in Kuwait or Iraq, but one of the waiting areas in the DAACG had as many Heater Meals as we wanted to help ourselves to. They were actually pretty tasty compared to the military MRE menu

That's not much of an endorsement. I hate those motherfuckers. The closest I'll go to MREs or Heater Meals is freeze dried, such as Mountain House.

[McD]

Mountain House is what I would choose.

[RJ]

No experience with MREs as a serviceman, obviously, but have eaten them once or twice for Hurricane food.

I have used Mountain House products with the Scouts as an Adult Leader (now retired) and they were uniformly excellent. This was a few years ago but I would certainly check them out first.

[WobblyPossum]

If you bring some way to heat water, then I recommend Mountain House. The meals I’ve tried taste a lot better than MREs. If you won’t have a way to heat water, then MREs or Heater Meals will work but most of them don’t taste very good.

[LtDave]

A good source for MRE's and Mountain House is TheEpicenter.com

[TGS]

Definitely go with Mountain House freeze dried food if you'll have the time/space and water to prepare the food.

MREs if you don't have the time/space (eating on the road) or your water allocation is limited what people are drinking during the day. Make sure you're looking at the contents and caloric amount...not all MREs are spec'd the same, very few are spec'd similar to the DOD contract MREs which are 1200 calories. Some commercial will be as low as 600, with many at 800.

Keep in mind that Mountain House is the king of freeze dried food. Lots of competitors use "textured vegetable protein" instead of real meat, and unlike most Mountainhouse also cooks the entrees as a meal before freeze-drying it, so it tends to taste better than the competitors who (in addition to using TVP) will cook the ingredients separately, freeze dry it, then throw it in the bag.

[wvincent]

TGS, are the "real" MRE's, production overuns, or the special "Contractor Excess" even still available? With the GWOT winding down, it seems the real stuff, in unopened pallets and cases is kind of scarce? About 10 or so years ago we got issued some Contractor overuns, they were pretty good, with menu items I had never seen in MRE's before.

I would love to do Mountain House, but time and space constraints ain't gonna let that happen. I'm just trying to make sure my guys don't have to worry about eating at the end of the day. Nothing worse than rolling back to town at the end of a long day and you get to choose between the hotel vending machine or the dregs left over in the warming rack at the local stop and rob. That shit is plain sketchy. " Hmmm, I wonder what the hell this was when they put it in the warmer 10 hours ago? It doesn't even look like food anymore". And I tell my guys not to leave unsealed food in their rooms, cause you know, people and shit.

I'm just going to order a case of MRE's and a case of heater meals, and we can do a tasting on a Friday after close of business.

[Blades]

I'm an Air Force veteran so we usually had good food at the chow hall. When I was in Saudi after the attack on the Khobar Towers we moved to a tent city in the desert. The food at the chow hall was gross the first few months, I suppose it was okay for Army/Marine's but it sucked for my delicate Air Force taste buds. We all voluntarily ate MRE's until they forced us to stop and eat the slop at the chow hall. There are some good MRE's out there but nasty ones too.

[iveschris]

Good point on first page of discourse: test 'em out. Make a night of it, throw in some beer and have a taste off. Then make a reserve buy. Biggest complication with Mountain House (who used to make mil' LRRP meals) is having to heat water to add too rehydrate. No big deal in many places (hotel microwave, hot pot, etc) but this provision will need to be made.

[BehindBlueI's]

TGS
I would love to do Mountain House, but time and space constraints ain't gonna let that happen.

Mountain House has a line that is low packaging, maybe the "pro" meals? Dunno, but they take up less room than an MRE and generate less trash (if that's a concern).

I'm honestly not that familiar with the competition out there right now but have actually enjoyed the MH meals I've eaten backpacking, as has my son.

[TGS]

TGS, are the "real" MRE's, production overuns, or the special "Contractor Excess" even still available? With the GWOT winding down, it seems the real stuff, in unopened pallets and cases is kind of scarce? About 10 or so years ago we got issued some Contractor overuns, they were pretty good, with menu items I had never seen in MRE's before.

Yeah, that's how I understand it. At times some of these MRE websites are pretty empty on stock, because even the commercially marketed products are spotty production runs.

The MREs you get on the commercial market (even if not DOD production overrun) are usually made by the .mil vendors, but what's inside can vary greatly if it's not made for the DOD contract.

LtDave mentioned TheEpiCenter, and I've ordered from there before without problems. If you check out their page for full meal cases (https://theepicenter.com/mre-meals-ready-to-eat/mre-full-meal-cases.html), it looks like they have some fairly new DOD contract production overrun, which ensures you get the heater and a full accessory pack (hot sauce, spoon, wet naps, shit paper) which is of obvious value if your guys are away from utensils, amenities and whatnot. Note that you can also get vegetarian cases (if needed), but that the commercial market (non-DOD contract) vegetarian cases don't come with the side dish and thus lose a few hundred calories. Whether that's important or not is up to you to decide.

I would definitely get the ones with the heaters. MREs are noticeably better when heated.

As for how good they are, at my current job about half of us are former military. I've only ever heard military guys complain about MREs, likely because troops just like to bitch for no other reason than bitching, regardless of the truth. It's literally just canned food, except the can is a flexible retort pouch instead of a rigid can. All the non-military people were actually surprised that they weren't as bad as all the vets made them out to be. Another part of that being menu selection; most of the menus these days are better than years past....process of elimination, all that.

I've never had to live on Heater Meals. I just know that's what CBP feeds detainees. I don't think they come with everything you need to sustain yourself, though, so if you buy those you might have to buy your guys paper towls, utensils, etc as well, which is just sort of a PITA......especially when something needed gets left behind at the job site or whatever, whereas with a sealed DOD-spec'd MRE pouch you will have everything you need short of fresh underwear.

ETA: I'm the guy at work that keeps Bridgeford beef taco "MRE sandwiches" in his go bag and gets made fun of for it, and when we get stuck in the vehicle in a secure area and unable to get food I end up feeding everyone who doesn't have shelf-stable food and is bitching about how hungry they are.

[Yung]

Mind you, current production MREs, which were being issued during my second deployment, were revamped quite a bit, including on breakfast options. The menu additions were things like biscuits, sausage, brisket?, and unlabeled Mountain House blueberry granola with milk powder. They were much better than the previous generation I mentioned earlier and a little more interesting than Heater Meals, but I think the design for Heater Meals leaves less potential for tired and surly personnel to ratfuck the boxes and just eat whatever entree they grab first.

From the perspective of having eaten at the end of a long workday, I'd suggest adding a couple things that require less preparation if you can, like those Smuckers Uncrustables, Gatorade/Ensure/etc nutrition shakes, and Clif bars.

[BehindBlueI's]

Mind you, current production MREs, which were being issued during my second deployment, were revamped quite a bit, including on breakfast options. The menu additions were things like biscuits, sausage, brisket?, and unlabeled Mountain House blueberry granola with milk powder. They were much better than the previous generation I mentioned earlier and a little more interesting than Heater Meals, but I think the design for Heater Meals leaves less potential for tired and surly personnel to ratfuck the boxes and just eat whatever entree they grab first.

From the perspective of having eaten at the end of a long workday, I'd suggest adding a couple things that require less preparation if you can, like those Smuckers Uncrustables, Gatorade/Ensure/etc nutrition shakes, and Clif bars.

MREs improved significantly when I was in. The old dark brown wrapper ones gave way to the light tan wrapper ones. Better taste, more options, etc. I haven't had an MRE for 15-ish years so I would hazard they've likely improved again.

[TGS]

By the way, wvincent, it's great that you're trying to look out for your guys. Most employers would just take the, "Sounds like a 'you' problem" route.

One of my best friends just quit the border patrol after 11 years. I asked him about the heater meals, figuring CBP fed them with heater meals when agents go to their FOBs (he used to staff Papago Farms FOB, for our BPAs on the forum).

Nope. They were told to fend for themselves, a day's worth drive from civilization. Since there wasn't enough fridge space, he just brought some cottage cheese for his allotted fridge space and a shit ton of tuna cans.

Dude has literally been living on cottage cheese and tuna for a week at a time, many times a year, for the last 11 years. Here's the real kicker: regardless of being "deployed" away from home/civilization, they didn't get per diem. No idea how the fuck CBP gets away with that shenanigan, it's fairly straight forward in federal regulations that people being required to stay away from home are to be paid per diem.

No wonder people quit that agency in droves.

So, good on you.

[wvincent]

TGS Good point on the complete meal kit.
".....especially when something needed gets left behind at the job site or whatever," yeah, sounds like you've met my guys :rolleyes:
You know, for as many times as my guys have seen me use CRKT eatin tool when no other utensils were available, you know how many have gone out and bought one? That's right, nada, not a one.
So, watching my guys eat spaggetti with their dirty hands because they "misplaced" aka fuckin lost their utensils isn't something I want to endure.
So, yep, complete kit it is!
Those MRE Taco sandwiches look pretty good, some of those are going in my road bag, for 'just in case".

ETA: Just saw your post, the first question they asked was "is this coming out of our per diem?"
Nope. Believe me, that was the first question the office floated when I told them about my plan. Just NO.

[TGS]

TGS Good point on the complete meal kit.
".....especially when something needed gets left behind at the job site or whatever," yeah, sounds like you've met my guys :rolleyes:

Nah, I'm one of them. :p been there, done that. In the end you can squeeze the food out of the MRE pouch, but it gets annoying.


Those MRE Taco sandwiches look pretty good, some of those are going in my road bag, for 'just in case".

The beef taco is much better than the pork BBQ taco, FWIW.

[sandy11B3V5W]

Chili with beans FTW (as long as its got the trans fat free brownie or the corn bread) I am a connoisseur of MREs. I like the Southwest/Mexican themed ones the best. Mexican chicken stew, southwest beef and beans, beef taco and the new chicken burrito bowl are all solid as well.

Some folks are more concerned about what the side dishes are, but those tend to rotate and change on a somewhat regular basis. Usually the vegetarian ones have peanut butter and the others have cheese, but not always. The holy grail of sides is most definitely the chocolate covered Ranger Bar, but I haven't seen one of those in a while.

Other solid choices are the beef stew(a classic), chili and macaroni, bbq shredded beef, and the hash brown one. The pizza MREs are out, but I haven't had one and from what I've heard they're not good. Some main meals taste better with the cheese heated up and mixed in. Also consider mixing the non dairy creamer in to the main meal to thicken it up.

If you're wanting some serious calories, some main meals mixed together are good as well. A good example would be the cheese tortellini and the meatballs with marinara. Neither are that great on their own, but mixed together, they're excellent. Chili with additional meat from the beef taco is a solid choice as well.

I don't really know much about the commercial type MREs, but I'm sure they're way better. Mountain house is always mentioned as being good. The best foreign MREs I've tried are the Swedish ones. They've got breakfast, lunch and dinner and all manner snacks in between.

[iveschris]

MREs come with lots of other useful stuff from toilet paper to a spoon/spork, some condiments, and a "balance" of edibles (fruit, a carb', dessert). Arctic rations come this way as well. Such ancillaries can start to make a difference after a couple of such meals

Just a thought

[revchuck38]

Do they still come with cocoa beverage powder? During an...um...extended visit to lovely Tikrit in mid-'03 I became addicted to tactical frappuccino. Take a half-liter bottle of water, drink a couple of ounces out of it, and add the cocoa beverage powder, coffee, sugar, and non-dairy creamer packets to it and shake well. It was awesome, and there were always discarded packets of cocoa beverage powder in the "extras" box. My preferred Sunday dinner was meatloaf and mashed potatoes, each heated with its own heater packet, and the gravy from the meatloaf dumped into the mashed potatoes. Ah, memories...

[Sal Picante]

Just a note... This stuff: Fantastic. (if you like Korean food)

https://www.amazon.com/Meals-Bibimbap-Korean-Bowl100g-3-53oz/dp/B00VS366ZQ

42205

[SD]

FWIW; Mountain House is available in #10 size cans, may work good for group size meals.

[NEPAKevin]

Speaking of foreign MREs:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfOTmfwRTFs

[CMG]

Do they still come with cocoa beverage powder? During an...um...extended visit to lovely Tikrit in mid-'03 I became addicted to tactical frappuccino. Take a half-liter bottle of water, drink a couple of ounces out of it, and add the cocoa beverage powder, coffee, sugar, and non-dairy creamer packets to it and shake well. It was awesome, and there were always discarded packets of cocoa beverage powder in the "extras" box. My preferred Sunday dinner was meatloaf and mashed potatoes, each heated with its own heater packet, and the gravy from the meatloaf dumped into the mashed potatoes. Ah, memories...The other variation of this is called Ranger Pudding. Cut off an edge of the cocoa powder and dump in the coffee, sugar, and creamer. Add just enough water to get a batter like consistency. Optionally add in peanut butter.

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[Cookie Monster]

Wildland Firefighters get issued and/or use quite a number of MRE’s. I’ve spiked out a few times and those are always rough for me and I well just hard to eat.

The hand crew I work with recently went to keeping JetBoil stoves and Mountain House meals in the trucks instead of MRE’s. They are significantly happier and more productive when spiking out now.

Depending on how you want to set it up. I don’t see a dry bag with 10 to 20 Mountain House meals and 2 JetBoil Stoves being any bigger then a case of MRE’s. It would lack the snacks and forks and drink mixes.

[Moshjath]

Been active from ‘06 to the present in the Army. MRE’s have evolved quite a bit, the current line isn’t bad at all. The brand new ones like the Pizza meal I haven’t had a chance to try, because you’d better believe that Joe rat-f**ks the box any time they are open and will grab up the best ones themselves. Gone are the days of veggie omelettes, nowadays you have quite a few good options. I just wish they still included little Tabasco bottles. I will say though, Ranger School was the only time that I have truly craved the chance to eat an MRE.

The new (well, probably five or more years old now) First Strike Rations are meant to be an on the go 24 hour bag of a lot of the side items meant for things like a JFE, packing in about 2900 calories. I had the brand new MORE (modular operational ration enhancement) for the first time this summer at JRTC, it’s the same concept as a first strike but a lot smaller and in either a hot weather or cold weather version.