Announcement

Collapse

Survival Warehouse

Please check out our Sponsor Survival Warehouse!

They are dedicated and devoted to providing the best Survival & Preparedness Gear available. They have been around for decades and really excel in the Long Term Food Storage Category.

Survival Warehouse - Offering the best deals and hard to find Survival Kits, Survival Gear, MRES, MRE Meals, Freeze Dried Camping Food, Bug out bags, Survival Gear, Gas masks and more. Be Prepared and ready for any emergency or disaster
See more
See less

10-year-old MRE taste test

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • 10-year-old MRE taste test

    While cleaning this weekend I found an MRE that was inside of an old buttpack I had, along with a bunch of other neat stuff, and I was going to set aside the MRE with my others when I found a set of orders in there, from November, 1999! I figured the MRE is probably 1998-99 vintage, so I sat down and did a taste test/examination of the contents.

    Now...this is only a taste test and visual inspection. The food itself could very well be fine, but the nutrients in it could break down and not be as beneficial over the years. I do not have the ability to test that.

    This is a good "real world" test of MRE taste and condition because I never knew the meal was in there, so it has been subject to all kinds of temperatures and humidity levels.

    The menu item was tuna with noodles, the side dish white rice. I broke the seal on the tan outer pouch and pulled out the contents. No packaging appeared damage, and no foil packs were bulging (bulging packaging is the easiest to detect sign of a spoiled MRE). So far so good.

    I kneaded the meal and side dish to stir up the contents (as is good practice with any MRE), then opened them and got ready to enjoy. I found that both were "clumpier" than a fresh MRE would be; that is, the food stuck together and I had to work at it with the spoon more than normal. The tuna with noodles had an off-odor, not really smelling like I would expect it to, yet not a spoiled/rotten odor. I double-checked the foil pouch visually, then filled it with water, to check for holes to make sure I wasn't eating something spoiled. It checked out fine, so I kept eating. It tasted a little bland, but not bad. The rice was clumpy but tasted like rice should taste.

    Crackers and peanut butter were next. The crackers seemed a slight bit stale, but less stale than even "one month past expiration" grocery store crackers, in other words quite fresh for a 10-year-old pack of crackers. The peanut butter had separated into oil and peanut paste more than I had expected, so more kneading was required, but in the end produced something that resembled peanut butter. It tasted a bit stale as well, and a little less peanutty than expected, but not too bad. I again tested the foil pouch (as I did with the tuna) to make sure I wasn't eating something potentially spoiled, and it checked out fine. 10-year-old MRE peanut butter and crackers, while being somewhat stale, would be a fine treat indeed.

    Finally there was a dessert brownie, the vacuum-sealed "brownie, chocolate covered," which I never really liked. These things are always hard and chalky, even when fresh, so I could not judge much. But despite the very obvious perfect vacuum seal, it tasted much more stale than anything else in this MRE. Ugh! No mold or unusual coloring or anything though.

    The MRE test was done twelve hours ago. Since then I have had no stomach issues, strange aches and pains, diarrhea, or anything else I would attribute to the MREs.

    EDIT TO ADD: Somewhere I still have a couple dark brown-bag MREs, one is from Gulf War I, and one is from the mid 90s. I would be really interested in getting a real lab test done on those, as far as nutrient goes, if anyone has the abilities to arrange it.

  • #2
    Wow, man, that's awesome. You really took one for the team.

    Threw yourself on a "gut grenade", and yet you didn't explode.:eek:

    I nominate you for the xcolony "Iron Gut" award.
    If it looks ignernt, but it works, then it ain't ignernt.

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by Vicious Ignernt View Post
      Wow, man, that's awesome. You really took one for the team.

      Threw yourself on a "gut grenade", and yet you didn't explode.:eek:

      I nominate you for the xcolony "Iron Gut" award.
      LMFAO.... I agree....you're f*cking crazy, Meth......is there no Arby's close to you?

      I'd have at least paid some punk kid to do it instead....LMFAO!!!!
      "I Have Sworn Upon the Altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." -Thomas Jefferson

      "When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves, in the course of time, a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it." -Frederic Bastiat

      Comment


      • #4
        Haha, agreed. Theres plenty of punk kids around here that would make great lab rats lol.
        Sometimes I wonder if I could live my entire life being the neutral, all observant being. The gray man. We’ll see.

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by Vicious Ignernt View Post
          Wow, man, that's awesome. You really took one for the team.

          Threw yourself on a "gut grenade", and yet you didn't explode.:eek:

          I nominate you for the xcolony "Iron Gut" award.
          great test, thanks for the feedback, next time take pics!
          WHAT IF THE AMERICA YOU KNEW, WAS ABOUT TO CHANGE?

          The best thing you can do to support the site is pass it on to your friends and fav sites like other forums, facebook, twitter etc. Let people know about us! :)

          Comment


          • #6
            When people are really starving, nobody is going to be throwing away food because of an expiration date.
            They (we) will open it, examine it using the senses God gave us and if
            it passes the initial look, smell and taste test, we "will" be eating it.

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by Diesel View Post
              great test, thanks for the feedback, next time take pics!
              ...and urine samples.....
              "I Have Sworn Upon the Altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." -Thomas Jefferson

              "When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves, in the course of time, a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it." -Frederic Bastiat

              Comment


              • #8
                Yes I survived this one, absolutely no noticeable bad effects.

                I do have those two older MREs I would offer to someone free of charge if we could be guaranteed that they would be used for lab assay/testing purposes and not just added to your stash.

                My brother is a physician at a huge hospital; does anyone know if they would have the ability to do that kind of test? I don't want to ask unless it's likely, he think I am crazy enough as it is!!

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by methusaleh View Post
                  My brother is a physician at a huge hospital; does anyone know if they would have the ability to do that kind of test? I don't want to ask unless it's likely, he think I am crazy enough as it is!!
                  I doubt it. Lab tests for protein, carbs, fats, vitamins and other stuff probably would not be done at the hospital. That would have to go to a lab set up for those types of tests. That would be what's called a "send out". The samples would be sent out by courier to another lab. Lots more expense if this is done. Most hospital labs do the basic stuff in house and "send out" the least common and more exotic tests. A hospital is not going to routinely run nutritional assays of food products. A hospital is set up to run tests on blood, serum, urine, feces, etc. The micro dept. will test for parasites, molds, yeasts, staph, strep, etc. A food/nutrition assay/analysis would require a completely different equipment set up and will have to go to a lab that specializes in those testes.

                  But, then again, I'm ignernt.
                  If it looks ignernt, but it works, then it ain't ignernt.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    After more than 15 years since my first MRE, I was able to get my hands on a military MRE (sent to me by a friend in the army). Chicken in Salsa with Mexican rice...it was better than most food I've eaten recently. Filling, too. I've since been looking for MRE's as not only a backstock of food, but also for daily life. I usually don't have time to cook anything but a digorno pizza, and spend over $20 per day on food.

                    Best deal I could find, from a reputable company (yes that matters) is a case of 12 military menu MRE's for about $95. http://www.campingsurvival.com/
                    "Reject the basic assumptions of civilization, especially the importance of material possessions." "The things you own end up owning you"-Tyler Durden

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Visinedrops View Post
                      After more than 15 years since my first MRE, I was able to get my hands on a military MRE (sent to me by a friend in the army). Chicken in Salsa with Mexican rice...it was better than most food I've eaten recently. Filling, too. I've since been looking for MRE's as not only a backstock of food, but also for daily life. I usually don't have time to cook anything but a digorno pizza, and spend over $20 per day on food.

                      Best deal I could find, from a reputable company (yes that matters) is a case of 12 military menu MRE's for about $95. http://www.campingsurvival.com/
                      Two things, it is nice to know that these things are safe to eat and serve their intended purposes for long term storage.

                      $95 for 12 meals is a lot of money, in my opinion. I think I'd rather stock up and rotate, which i do. I do however have 10 or so cans of Mountain House freeze dried food stored for longer term with shelf stable vitamins.

                      I've been thinking of losing the 30 pounds I gained last year, but now i am thinking i didn't gain wieght, just added to my survival stores. Thats my story and i'm sticking to it.
                      My weapon can kill, it isn't limited to mere assault

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        www.buy-mres.com 2 cases for 99.00 found on the backwoodsman website.......

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          there a bit pricey.but if they last 10years .well worth the money i say!:D

                          Comment

                          Working...
                          X
                          😀
                          🥰
                          🤢
                          😎
                          😡
                          👍
                          👎