Meal Kit Supply Canada Civilian MREs

Meal Kit Supply Canada is a Canadian company that imports Sopakco's civilian MREs from the United States and packages them in their own unique Canadian format. Technically called "Meal Kits" instead of MREs, these are CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) inspected and approved for distribution in Canada, which makes them the only civilian MREs that can be easily bought and sold in Canada without the buyer have to worry about shipping their US-purchased MREs through Canadian Customs and having to potentially pay import duties or even have the case of MREs seized.

The MRE menus are custom designed by Meal Kit Supply to only include the most popular entrees and sides (see Contents section below). Flameless Ration Heaters (FRHs) are optional and they sell cases either with or without FRHs included in each MRE meal bag. Each meal averages at least 950 calories.

The convenience of having locally-available civilian MREs does come at a price. In this case, that price is $129 CDN per case plus sales tax and shipping. Considering the hassle of trying to import US civilian MREs into Canada (and paying for that shipping), this isn't such a bad price.

For ordering information, please see their ordering page: http://www.mealkitsupply.com/catalog/.

One unique selling point of Meal Kit Supply MREs is their selection of breakfast items. In their standard "Supercase", four out of the twelve menus are breakfast oriented and offer a nice selection of entrees and sides. They also offer a Breakfat-only case that contains three different breakfast menus (4 of each menu per case). See the Breakfast Review section below for more information.

Contents

Each MKS "Supercase" case contains 12 MREs that contain a variety of at least 10 different meals and a number of different sides and desserts:

Here's a link to a PDF file with a complete listing of the 2009 Supercase menu items and nutritional information:

And here's a link to the 2008 Supercase menus and nutritional information.

Meal Kit Supply Case

Here's a closer look at a Meal Kit Supply case. Notice how the text of the case is in both English and French. Also notice how the ingredients for each entree, side, dessert, jam, etc. are also listed on the side of case in both English and French. The listing of ingredients is a unique and especially nice touch!

Front and back of case

Sides of case

Bottom of case - notice the date code (7334) and the great explanation of how to read it (3rd picture)

MRE Review

Here's a quick look at the contents of a Meal Kit Supply MRE:

MRE bag - looks exactly like a Sopakco Sure-Pak 12 MRE

Contents and accessory pack of the Penne Pasta MRE

I guess they don't make wet naps with the Canadian flag on them

Penne Pasta with Vegetable Sausage Crumbles in Spicy Tomato Sauce

Wheat Snack Bread and Grape Jelly

Caramel Apple Ranger Bar

Pears

Meal Kit Supply Breakfast MREs

One of the things that makes Meal Kit Supply MREs unique is the number of "Breakfast MREs" included in each case. In their most recent (February 2009) case configuration, 4 out of the 12 MREs are oriented towards breakfast - 2 MREs contain the Cheese Omelet with Vegetables entree and 2 contain the Apple Maple Rolled Oats (Oatmeal) entree. They also offer a "Breakfast-only" case that contains the following menus:

Breakfast Review

Here's a picture of a complete Apple Maple Oatmeal meal:

This is a pretty good offering for an MRE breakfast - you get the oatmeal, mixed fruit, a pop-tart, and a wheat snack bread that you can cover with strawberry jam. It's also drink-heavy with instant coffee, hot chocolate, and sugar-free orange drink (not shown).

The Apple Maple Oatmeal is mostly apple-flavored oatmeal. You might think it would be instant oatmeal, but it's not - it's fully constituted and comes in an MRE pouch like every other entree: