Favorite and most hated MRE!

[ajb1978]

So I've only experienced US MRE's, not sure what the ones from other militaries are like.  My favorites are the beef stew, ravioli, and brisket.  If I only had those three to eat for the rest of my life, I would be okay with that!

On the other hand, the veggie omelet one from about 10 years ago (thankfully I think they got the hint and pulled it from production)....ugggh that thing looked like a sack of barf.  I would rather eat a steaming plate of starvation for dinner thank you very much.

Anyone else have any particular favorites?  Horror stories? 

[ThePancakeLady]

Really old one here... but I always liked the Ham & Chicken Loaf. 

Never liked the Chicken & Rice, too much cilantro or something. It always had an overwhelming spice flavor to it. The Spaghetti MRE's tasted okay, but cold... had the most disgusting texture, like coarse sand was mixed into the tomato sauce. Okay if heated though.

The square Oatmeal "Cookie" Compressed Bar Of Tooth Breakage... useful for using as a small sledge-hammer substitute. Not fit for human consumption. 

[ajb1978]

The oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies they use today are pretty tasty, although mislabeled. Instead of "cookie" they should just be honest and call it "bag of crumbs".

[StrayCat]

You should try french MRE ("RCIR"). We're not the "country of gastronomy" for nothing. 

[slvrsrfr]

any of the meats that are 'Chunked, and Formed', my favs....MY cracker jack prize was coffee and creamer.

[ajb1978]

On 7/12/2018 at 3:03 AM, StrayCat said:

You should try french MRE ("RCIR"). We're not the "country of gastronomy" for nothing. 

If the price is right, I'd eBay one of those and give it a shot!.  Any particular menu item you'd recommend?

On 7/24/2018 at 9:34 AM, slvrsrfr said:

any of the meats that are 'Chunked, and Formed', my favs....MY cracker jack prize was coffee and creamer.

I don't know, the "Chicken Chunks, White, Cooked" one had this whole "we give up" vibe to it.  Like, you get some chunks of plain chicken, a packet of buffalo sauce, some cheese spread, and some tortillas.  That....just...  It's like they went "Here, this is what we have.  You figure something out."  I like it when there's a logical sense to the components.  Like the jalapeno beef patty one, where the contents make it obvious you're intended to turn it into a makeshift cheeseburger.

[StrayCat]

5 minutes ago, ajb1978 said:

Any particular menu item you'd recommend?

Well, to be honest, any RCIR menu would be (IMO !) better than US MRE... [put a proud french flag here !]. Actually, I prefer "rougail saucisse" and "cassoulet supérieur", but menus change over time.

[deathbydanish]

Almost feel like I'm necroposting but the tortellini is something I could eat forever, I also like the chili. The pizza isn't too bad either, cooked of course being preferred. I've tried the little pocket sandwiches from the First Strike Ration, they're ok cold but I wouldn't want to keep eating them, or at least not cold all the time.

[codfish107]

I agree with your thoughts, though beef stew is one i have to heat up before eating. I personally like the maple sausage with maple pound cake and the southwest beef with black beans is also good. Peanut butter is superior to jalapeno cheese spread, fight me. The coffee drinks were something i would always try to trade for during basic training, since we weren't allowed to have the coffee at the chow hall. 

As junior enlisted being on meal card working nights, i would often get mres instead of box nasties since they are more fillings.

I have not had any foreign mres.

[deathbydanish]

I think I may have had the jalapeno cheese spread once, most of the time I do get peanut butter.

I'm curious if you've done this with the coffee, but I have read that soldiers in Iraq will mix Swiss Miss into their coffee to make "ghetto mocha" is that something you've done to improve the coffee?

[codfish107]

6 hours ago, deathbydanish said:

I'm curious if you've done this with the coffee, but I have read that soldiers in Iraq will mix Swiss Miss into their coffee to make "ghetto mocha" is that something you've done to improve the coffee?

Not with mre coffee no, i don't think i ever had those two things available at the same time.  I have mixed swiss miss into regular coffee though.