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Food and Provisioning
for
Small Sailboats
for
Small Sailboats
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Test Report: MREs
Name of Tester: Tom Faller
Home:
Name of Tester: Tom Faller
Home:
Evaluation and Taste Test of MREs
Meals. Ready to Eat
(From the misc.survival newsgroup)
(NOTE: This article is somewhat dated and may not reflect the taste of currently available Army/Commerical
MRE's)
As promised, I've written up some of my evaluations of MRE entrees and accessories. These are very subjective -
I'm sure Julia
Child would have just starved, but in general, I don't think you'd do too badly using MREs for emergency food
backup. Several
manuals I've seen suggest that children and the elderly will stop eating if they are required to survive off of
unfamiliar food, so
these are a possible alternative to straight wheat, salt sugar, powdered milk in nitrogen-packed #10 cans.. ;-)
MREs: To Feed or Not to Feed?
A prime concern of anyone fending for himself is a steady supply of nutritious food. Although the body can go
without food far
longer than it can without air or water, lack of food can cause weakness, confusion and fainting. At the very least,
the noise of
an empty belly will be distracting and may scare off game.
Preserving food for carry has a long and dismal history. The desire for fresh-tasting food can at times be
overwhelming, as
shown by the examples of the Donner party and occasional stranded rugby teams. Given the choice of carrying
around heavy
canned food or taking a mortgage out to buy freeze-dried, the typical camper chose to subsist on Triscuits and
M&Ms, and tuck
an extra ten dollars in his boot for a stop at McDonalds on the way home.
The genius of the military provides another alternative: the Meal, Ready to Eat, or MRE. (Just another example of
the military's
insatiable appetite for TLA's, or Three-Letter Acronyms). The MRE is a full meal, already cooked, that just wants
warming up. It
is packaged in airtight foil and plastic bags, which are lighter than cans and only twice as bulky as bricks.
The full MRE is a package about a foot long, six inches wide and two inches thick. Wrapped in brown plastic and
sealed at the
ends, it looks like a giant candy bar. Inside the initial bag are several flat cardboard packages containing more
brown pouches
and, well, more brown pouches. Sorting this out is usually easy, in broad daylight, in good lighting. Each brown
package has
black lettering on it somewhere, indicating the contents. This is to keep you from boiling the package of crackers
or opening the
stew in your lap.
The cardboard packages have the contents printed on the outside, and these are usually the main courses, so it is
wise to set
them aside. Each MRE has a meat pouch, or a meat and starch pouch, kind of like a stew, or casserole, or
leftovers. There is a
side dish, like more starch or fruit, a bread and spread, a dessert, and a separate package with accessories. A
spoon or fork is
packed in the main pouch. Each meal includes a pouch with powdered beverage, like fruit drink or cocoa.
The accessory pouch contents are pretty standard, even across meal types. Packages of salt, pepper, sugar,
instant coffee,
creamer, and a moistened washing towel accompany toilet tissue, chewing gum, special matches, and sometimes
candy or
other accessories.
MREs are made by contractors, following government specs, so contents can vary slightly, but quality has to stay
high. You
may see variations in origin and recipes, but the meals will be familiar from menu to menu.
I bought a range of MREs for taste testing from three different sources: a survivalist outlet, an army surplus store,
and at a gun
show. In each case, the range of menus offered was different, and the packaging varied. Most of the time, you will
see MREs
offered only as complete packages, either singly or as cases of 12 or 30 meals. Outlets can supply the individual
components,
offering the opportunity to buy the components you need and not get stuck with leftovers. Some outlets offer
discounts on
"emergency packs", made mostly of main courses and entrees. This is a good way to get the main meal
components for packing
along on day trips or to stock for emergencies.
In evaluating the MREs, I kept things simple. I heated the main pouches in hot water, to test how well the bag's
seal leaked, and
to see if heating imparted a chemical or plastic taste to the food. In all cases, the pouches did not leak, nor did they
add a taste
to the food. I varied the meals, at times just using one package, at times using several, or even mixing them
together. For tasting
purposes, I'll report each one separately. The military, endlessly inventive, and with 19-year-old stomachs, mix
together the
damnedest combinations of packages in order to force some variety into their diet. I kept this to a minimum.
A couple of points to go into before I start. I was surprised; the food was generally palatable and fresh-tasting. In
some cases, it
was good, and I could look forward to some of these meals. In other cases, it was at least better than some
hospital food I've
had, although not quite up to airline food. Tabasco sauce is fiendishly included in some of the meals, in a cute little
small bottle.
There is just enough for flavor, and not enough to hurt yourself with. Living just on the edge of Cajun country, I
know that
overdosing on pepper sauce can be fun, but you pay for it later. In several cases, even without the sauce, the
meals caused
indigestion (which I rarely get these days otherwise), but nothing serious, and I did not get any evidence of
unhealthy food - it
was probably due to the levels of dextrose and salt in some of the meals.
This is not health food. It will keep you alive, and keep you going under heavy exertion. A full day's ration should
give you 4000
calories, well over the diet of most adults not running around in a battle zone. There's a lot of salt and fat in some
meals - again,
not a problem if you're active, but if you're using these as rations, look for supplements and go easy on the
spreads and
desserts. I've listed some of the nutritional information below.
The meals include almost no vegetables. There are tomato sauces, and some small pieces of veggies, but you
won't find
broccoli or a salad. Fruits are also at a minimum. Most calories are from protein, starches and fats, generally in
that order.
Sauces may have extra dextrose for flavor as well as for energy. This makes them very useful for survival use, as
a compact
source of energy, but you will have to supplement your diet over the long run.
There are tables published which give most of the nutritive values of each meal, broken out by package. Some
outlet's catalogs
will have tables. Generally, they only cover the meals that supplier can get, so I've listed some of the details in a
table below,
but some columns are blank where no info was available.
Entrees:
Escalloped Potatoes and Ham-- Ham and potato cubes, about 1/4" across in a creamy sauce. The picture looked
like hash,
but it's more like a well-stocked soup. The ham is the same quality as all the ham used in these meals - good and
lean, not
Spam-like, not chewy, but with a ham texture. I didn't find any gristle. The potatoes are soft, but not overcooked.
The broth is
like potato soup, a little salty, but good. It could use a little pepper. There's enough gravy to serve as a basis for
stew.
Cooked Ham Slice (smoke favoring added) - This was a solid block of shaped (not chopped) ham, about the size
of a tin of
sardines. It is packed in water-based juice, but not sloppy. It has a good, slightly smoky flavor and good texture,
like a
slow-baked smoked ham. I found no big pockets or veins of fat or gristle. This isn't Spam, it's a shaped ham steak.
Tuna Noodle Casserole - Tuna with flat noodles, green peas, small amounts of mushroom and celery. As with
some of the
other casserole meals, the first two ingredients are the main constituents and the rest just add a little color or
flavor. The tuna
taste was good, and the noodles and sauce were filling. A lesser onion taste was present. Other ingredients (listed
on box) kind
of vanished into the sauce.
Pork with Rice in BBQ Sauce - Mostly pork and thick, sweet tomato paste with rice. The pork is in small chunks (it
isn't the
ham), and has good taste and texture. The sauce is close to the texture of sauce in canned spaghetti, but it has
some barbecue
flavor. The overall taste is meaty. After the initial tasting, I added a can of pineapple rings to mine - a great lunch!
Omelet With Ham - this is the infamous dish that gave MREs a bad name in the Gulf War. As I heard the story
later, though,
the problem was that we were feeding our Arab allies the same MREs as our troops. Oops - they won't eat the
ham dishes. So
one bunch of brave soldiers sorted out all their beef and chicken entrees and got a monotonous diet in return, with
the Omelet
being served several times a day. The Omelet is actually pretty good, although blander than the rest. The package
includes
Tabasco sauce, which helps it greatly. The color is pale yellow/orange, and the texture is like pressed scrambled
eggs, (which
is what it mostly is, natch..). Lots of small chunks of ham are sprinkled evenly throughout, and although it wouldn't
make the
grade at IHOP, it has a meaty taste, and the ham is the same good quality as in the other dishes.
Corned Beef Hash - Ground corned beef with small potato chunks in broth, accompanied by small flecks of green
pepper,
onion, and other veggies. Taste and texture were kind of bland. Pepper helped, but this isn't one of the more
exciting meals.
Beef Frankfurters - Four all-beef franks, each about three inches long. They're real hot dogs, boiled in the bag. Up
country,
you'd have to forego both charcoal and a bun, but they taste just fine, just like the ones in the grocery store. These
would be
good for campfires.
Side Dishes:
Applesauce - Thick and fine grained, with an average apple taste. Not oversweetened or citrus enhanced, but it
could use
some cinnamon.
Potatoes Au Gratin - Quarter inch cubes of potato in a bland cheddar cheese sauce. The sauce was more yellow
than cheesy
- like most commercial cheese sauces and soups. This was greatly improved with pepper or pepper sauce. It
seems kind of light
as a side dish, though.
Corn Chowder - Looked more like bean casserole. Small, dark peas/beans with some corn and tomato in a sweet,
slightly
smoky sauce. The peas were firm, but not crunchy. The sauce was sticky, and had a slightly peppery taste. Note:
this may not
be a regular MRE. The cardboard package had a US flag emblem and HDR printed in block letters. A title
explained:
Humanitarian Daily Ration - A Gift from the People of the United States of America., along with a graphic of
someone eating the
contents of the pouch with a spoon. Our tax dollars at work, presumably.
Bread and Spreads:
Crackers - also known as "biscuits" abroad, these are two flat crackers, about 4" square. They are dimpled, but
they don't
easily break into smaller sections. They're flat-tasting, with just a hint of chemical taste that's probably from the
freshness
extender. Still, they've got a good "wheat" background taste. They're stiff, rather than crisp, which helps them hold
up to
spreading better. They aren't very salty, which accounts for the slightly flat taste. I've crammed these in a bike bag
and found
them mostly intact hours later.
Peanut Butter - Typical smooth peanut butter. A little dry, meaning it isn't over oily, and the oils didn't separate out.
Goes well
on crackers, or you could try Thai cooking with it...
Jelly-Grape - What more needs to be said?
Chease Spread - Pale yellow, it's more like Cheeze Wiz than cheddar, but think of it as cooking ingredient rather
than an hors
d'ourve spread.
Desserts:
Chocolate Granola Bar - Like a chocolate-covered brownie, with rich chocolate taste. Very sweet, small nut pieces.
Much like
the commercial breakfast bars.
Cherry Nut Cake - Orange-tan flat "glob" of cherry and nut-flavored pastry. It's kind of dense, like a squashed cake
or a
brownie. The taste is like a cherry Danish. Sweet and fruity tasting, there are lots of nut pieces. It isn't spongy or
crumbly, but
pieces break off easily.
Maple Nut Cake - Strong maple aroma (no, there aren't bits of maple wood included). Plenty of various nut pieces.
Texture and
consistency similar to cherry nut cake.
Fruit Bar - Freeze-dried fruit cocktail bar that's dry and crunchy like styrofoam, and leaves a sticky edge to your
mouth. It's like
other freeze-dried foods like the "astronaut ice cream" from a couple of years back. It's light orange-pink in color
with dried fruit
suspended in a sugary matrix. Tastes good, but you have to wash it down with some water, it's so sweet.
Oatmeal Cookie - A tan, 2 1/2"x1"x1/2" brick, dry but easily chewed. It's sweet, but not as chewy as an oatmeal
cookie. The
texture is very fine grained.
There are plenty of desserts and a couple of entrees I haven't tried yet. I'll try to add more reviews as I get to
things, but these
are made as production runs, so suppliers can run out of certain meals. I haven't tried any of the chicken or beef
entrees yet,
but I've got more here to work through and I've seen more around.
Basic Nutrition per US Army Labs**
Entree Calories Protein gm. Fat gm. Sodium mg.
Beef Stew 267 30 10 1040
Corned Beef Hash 330 30 13 870
Meatballs & Rice 376 33 15 1400
Spaghetti & Meat 241 23 7 1100
Tuna & Noodles 255 26 9 600
Omelet & Ham 221 23 13 940
Escalloped Potatoes 234 24 8 1200
Ham Slice 153 26 5 1360
BBQ Pork & Rice 443 32 25 830
Chicken a la King 281 30 14 970
Chicken & Rice 290 31 11 1040
Chicken Stew 250 19 10 635
**This is not a vendor's guarantee.
NOTES:
Desserts varied widely in calorie content and fat content. Use desserts as energy food. An average person,
planning MREs to
get him through a house-bound emergency, should watch fat and salt intake, and supplement MREs with canned
or dried
vegetables and fruits.
Well, I hope this saves someone a lot of effort and taste-testing, and maybe will get somebody else, who bought
MREs as a
"good idea" but has never had the guts to try one to break down and use them. I can re-post this privately on
request, and
would appreciate comments and advice.
The cheese and peanut butter used to be better than store bought. MREs taste much better hot. The fruit-nut cake
goes well
with water added to the dried fruit. Many of the entrees are also improved by adding hot water.
The stews and similar entrees have *very* thick "gravy", and when hot water is added (tear off at the top notch,
open, and add
water to fill) they make a very tasty soup -- not watered down at all, and more tasty and filling.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last edited: November 15, 1996
Tom Faller
..
Meals. Ready to Eat
(From the misc.survival newsgroup)
(NOTE: This article is somewhat dated and may not reflect the taste of currently available Army/Commerical
MRE's)
As promised, I've written up some of my evaluations of MRE entrees and accessories. These are very subjective -
I'm sure Julia
Child would have just starved, but in general, I don't think you'd do too badly using MREs for emergency food
backup. Several
manuals I've seen suggest that children and the elderly will stop eating if they are required to survive off of
unfamiliar food, so
these are a possible alternative to straight wheat, salt sugar, powdered milk in nitrogen-packed #10 cans.. ;-)
MREs: To Feed or Not to Feed?
A prime concern of anyone fending for himself is a steady supply of nutritious food. Although the body can go
without food far
longer than it can without air or water, lack of food can cause weakness, confusion and fainting. At the very least,
the noise of
an empty belly will be distracting and may scare off game.
Preserving food for carry has a long and dismal history. The desire for fresh-tasting food can at times be
overwhelming, as
shown by the examples of the Donner party and occasional stranded rugby teams. Given the choice of carrying
around heavy
canned food or taking a mortgage out to buy freeze-dried, the typical camper chose to subsist on Triscuits and
M&Ms, and tuck
an extra ten dollars in his boot for a stop at McDonalds on the way home.
The genius of the military provides another alternative: the Meal, Ready to Eat, or MRE. (Just another example of
the military's
insatiable appetite for TLA's, or Three-Letter Acronyms). The MRE is a full meal, already cooked, that just wants
warming up. It
is packaged in airtight foil and plastic bags, which are lighter than cans and only twice as bulky as bricks.
The full MRE is a package about a foot long, six inches wide and two inches thick. Wrapped in brown plastic and
sealed at the
ends, it looks like a giant candy bar. Inside the initial bag are several flat cardboard packages containing more
brown pouches
and, well, more brown pouches. Sorting this out is usually easy, in broad daylight, in good lighting. Each brown
package has
black lettering on it somewhere, indicating the contents. This is to keep you from boiling the package of crackers
or opening the
stew in your lap.
The cardboard packages have the contents printed on the outside, and these are usually the main courses, so it is
wise to set
them aside. Each MRE has a meat pouch, or a meat and starch pouch, kind of like a stew, or casserole, or
leftovers. There is a
side dish, like more starch or fruit, a bread and spread, a dessert, and a separate package with accessories. A
spoon or fork is
packed in the main pouch. Each meal includes a pouch with powdered beverage, like fruit drink or cocoa.
The accessory pouch contents are pretty standard, even across meal types. Packages of salt, pepper, sugar,
instant coffee,
creamer, and a moistened washing towel accompany toilet tissue, chewing gum, special matches, and sometimes
candy or
other accessories.
MREs are made by contractors, following government specs, so contents can vary slightly, but quality has to stay
high. You
may see variations in origin and recipes, but the meals will be familiar from menu to menu.
I bought a range of MREs for taste testing from three different sources: a survivalist outlet, an army surplus store,
and at a gun
show. In each case, the range of menus offered was different, and the packaging varied. Most of the time, you will
see MREs
offered only as complete packages, either singly or as cases of 12 or 30 meals. Outlets can supply the individual
components,
offering the opportunity to buy the components you need and not get stuck with leftovers. Some outlets offer
discounts on
"emergency packs", made mostly of main courses and entrees. This is a good way to get the main meal
components for packing
along on day trips or to stock for emergencies.
In evaluating the MREs, I kept things simple. I heated the main pouches in hot water, to test how well the bag's
seal leaked, and
to see if heating imparted a chemical or plastic taste to the food. In all cases, the pouches did not leak, nor did they
add a taste
to the food. I varied the meals, at times just using one package, at times using several, or even mixing them
together. For tasting
purposes, I'll report each one separately. The military, endlessly inventive, and with 19-year-old stomachs, mix
together the
damnedest combinations of packages in order to force some variety into their diet. I kept this to a minimum.
A couple of points to go into before I start. I was surprised; the food was generally palatable and fresh-tasting. In
some cases, it
was good, and I could look forward to some of these meals. In other cases, it was at least better than some
hospital food I've
had, although not quite up to airline food. Tabasco sauce is fiendishly included in some of the meals, in a cute little
small bottle.
There is just enough for flavor, and not enough to hurt yourself with. Living just on the edge of Cajun country, I
know that
overdosing on pepper sauce can be fun, but you pay for it later. In several cases, even without the sauce, the
meals caused
indigestion (which I rarely get these days otherwise), but nothing serious, and I did not get any evidence of
unhealthy food - it
was probably due to the levels of dextrose and salt in some of the meals.
This is not health food. It will keep you alive, and keep you going under heavy exertion. A full day's ration should
give you 4000
calories, well over the diet of most adults not running around in a battle zone. There's a lot of salt and fat in some
meals - again,
not a problem if you're active, but if you're using these as rations, look for supplements and go easy on the
spreads and
desserts. I've listed some of the nutritional information below.
The meals include almost no vegetables. There are tomato sauces, and some small pieces of veggies, but you
won't find
broccoli or a salad. Fruits are also at a minimum. Most calories are from protein, starches and fats, generally in
that order.
Sauces may have extra dextrose for flavor as well as for energy. This makes them very useful for survival use, as
a compact
source of energy, but you will have to supplement your diet over the long run.
There are tables published which give most of the nutritive values of each meal, broken out by package. Some
outlet's catalogs
will have tables. Generally, they only cover the meals that supplier can get, so I've listed some of the details in a
table below,
but some columns are blank where no info was available.
Entrees:
Escalloped Potatoes and Ham-- Ham and potato cubes, about 1/4" across in a creamy sauce. The picture looked
like hash,
but it's more like a well-stocked soup. The ham is the same quality as all the ham used in these meals - good and
lean, not
Spam-like, not chewy, but with a ham texture. I didn't find any gristle. The potatoes are soft, but not overcooked.
The broth is
like potato soup, a little salty, but good. It could use a little pepper. There's enough gravy to serve as a basis for
stew.
Cooked Ham Slice (smoke favoring added) - This was a solid block of shaped (not chopped) ham, about the size
of a tin of
sardines. It is packed in water-based juice, but not sloppy. It has a good, slightly smoky flavor and good texture,
like a
slow-baked smoked ham. I found no big pockets or veins of fat or gristle. This isn't Spam, it's a shaped ham steak.
Tuna Noodle Casserole - Tuna with flat noodles, green peas, small amounts of mushroom and celery. As with
some of the
other casserole meals, the first two ingredients are the main constituents and the rest just add a little color or
flavor. The tuna
taste was good, and the noodles and sauce were filling. A lesser onion taste was present. Other ingredients (listed
on box) kind
of vanished into the sauce.
Pork with Rice in BBQ Sauce - Mostly pork and thick, sweet tomato paste with rice. The pork is in small chunks (it
isn't the
ham), and has good taste and texture. The sauce is close to the texture of sauce in canned spaghetti, but it has
some barbecue
flavor. The overall taste is meaty. After the initial tasting, I added a can of pineapple rings to mine - a great lunch!
Omelet With Ham - this is the infamous dish that gave MREs a bad name in the Gulf War. As I heard the story
later, though,
the problem was that we were feeding our Arab allies the same MREs as our troops. Oops - they won't eat the
ham dishes. So
one bunch of brave soldiers sorted out all their beef and chicken entrees and got a monotonous diet in return, with
the Omelet
being served several times a day. The Omelet is actually pretty good, although blander than the rest. The package
includes
Tabasco sauce, which helps it greatly. The color is pale yellow/orange, and the texture is like pressed scrambled
eggs, (which
is what it mostly is, natch..). Lots of small chunks of ham are sprinkled evenly throughout, and although it wouldn't
make the
grade at IHOP, it has a meaty taste, and the ham is the same good quality as in the other dishes.
Corned Beef Hash - Ground corned beef with small potato chunks in broth, accompanied by small flecks of green
pepper,
onion, and other veggies. Taste and texture were kind of bland. Pepper helped, but this isn't one of the more
exciting meals.
Beef Frankfurters - Four all-beef franks, each about three inches long. They're real hot dogs, boiled in the bag. Up
country,
you'd have to forego both charcoal and a bun, but they taste just fine, just like the ones in the grocery store. These
would be
good for campfires.
Side Dishes:
Applesauce - Thick and fine grained, with an average apple taste. Not oversweetened or citrus enhanced, but it
could use
some cinnamon.
Potatoes Au Gratin - Quarter inch cubes of potato in a bland cheddar cheese sauce. The sauce was more yellow
than cheesy
- like most commercial cheese sauces and soups. This was greatly improved with pepper or pepper sauce. It
seems kind of light
as a side dish, though.
Corn Chowder - Looked more like bean casserole. Small, dark peas/beans with some corn and tomato in a sweet,
slightly
smoky sauce. The peas were firm, but not crunchy. The sauce was sticky, and had a slightly peppery taste. Note:
this may not
be a regular MRE. The cardboard package had a US flag emblem and HDR printed in block letters. A title
explained:
Humanitarian Daily Ration - A Gift from the People of the United States of America., along with a graphic of
someone eating the
contents of the pouch with a spoon. Our tax dollars at work, presumably.
Bread and Spreads:
Crackers - also known as "biscuits" abroad, these are two flat crackers, about 4" square. They are dimpled, but
they don't
easily break into smaller sections. They're flat-tasting, with just a hint of chemical taste that's probably from the
freshness
extender. Still, they've got a good "wheat" background taste. They're stiff, rather than crisp, which helps them hold
up to
spreading better. They aren't very salty, which accounts for the slightly flat taste. I've crammed these in a bike bag
and found
them mostly intact hours later.
Peanut Butter - Typical smooth peanut butter. A little dry, meaning it isn't over oily, and the oils didn't separate out.
Goes well
on crackers, or you could try Thai cooking with it...
Jelly-Grape - What more needs to be said?
Chease Spread - Pale yellow, it's more like Cheeze Wiz than cheddar, but think of it as cooking ingredient rather
than an hors
d'ourve spread.
Desserts:
Chocolate Granola Bar - Like a chocolate-covered brownie, with rich chocolate taste. Very sweet, small nut pieces.
Much like
the commercial breakfast bars.
Cherry Nut Cake - Orange-tan flat "glob" of cherry and nut-flavored pastry. It's kind of dense, like a squashed cake
or a
brownie. The taste is like a cherry Danish. Sweet and fruity tasting, there are lots of nut pieces. It isn't spongy or
crumbly, but
pieces break off easily.
Maple Nut Cake - Strong maple aroma (no, there aren't bits of maple wood included). Plenty of various nut pieces.
Texture and
consistency similar to cherry nut cake.
Fruit Bar - Freeze-dried fruit cocktail bar that's dry and crunchy like styrofoam, and leaves a sticky edge to your
mouth. It's like
other freeze-dried foods like the "astronaut ice cream" from a couple of years back. It's light orange-pink in color
with dried fruit
suspended in a sugary matrix. Tastes good, but you have to wash it down with some water, it's so sweet.
Oatmeal Cookie - A tan, 2 1/2"x1"x1/2" brick, dry but easily chewed. It's sweet, but not as chewy as an oatmeal
cookie. The
texture is very fine grained.
There are plenty of desserts and a couple of entrees I haven't tried yet. I'll try to add more reviews as I get to
things, but these
are made as production runs, so suppliers can run out of certain meals. I haven't tried any of the chicken or beef
entrees yet,
but I've got more here to work through and I've seen more around.
Basic Nutrition per US Army Labs**
Entree Calories Protein gm. Fat gm. Sodium mg.
Beef Stew 267 30 10 1040
Corned Beef Hash 330 30 13 870
Meatballs & Rice 376 33 15 1400
Spaghetti & Meat 241 23 7 1100
Tuna & Noodles 255 26 9 600
Omelet & Ham 221 23 13 940
Escalloped Potatoes 234 24 8 1200
Ham Slice 153 26 5 1360
BBQ Pork & Rice 443 32 25 830
Chicken a la King 281 30 14 970
Chicken & Rice 290 31 11 1040
Chicken Stew 250 19 10 635
**This is not a vendor's guarantee.
NOTES:
Desserts varied widely in calorie content and fat content. Use desserts as energy food. An average person,
planning MREs to
get him through a house-bound emergency, should watch fat and salt intake, and supplement MREs with canned
or dried
vegetables and fruits.
Well, I hope this saves someone a lot of effort and taste-testing, and maybe will get somebody else, who bought
MREs as a
"good idea" but has never had the guts to try one to break down and use them. I can re-post this privately on
request, and
would appreciate comments and advice.
The cheese and peanut butter used to be better than store bought. MREs taste much better hot. The fruit-nut cake
goes well
with water added to the dried fruit. Many of the entrees are also improved by adding hot water.
The stews and similar entrees have *very* thick "gravy", and when hot water is added (tear off at the top notch,
open, and add
water to fill) they make a very tasty soup -- not watered down at all, and more tasty and filling.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last edited: November 15, 1996
Tom Faller
..