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 around 1,300 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 breakfast-oriented entrees and sides.

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.

2010 Supercase Menus

Here's a link to a PDF file with a complete listing of the 2010 Supercase menu items and nutritional information:

Previous menus:

2009 Supercase Menus and Nutritional Information (PDF)

2008 Supercase menus and nutritional information (PDF)

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 Flameless Ration Heater

One of the things that makes Meal Kit Supply MREs unique is their flameless ration heater. This FRH is specially produced for MKS by the same makers of the US MRE FRH. As you can see in the picture on the right, the MKS FRH is much bigger than the standard FRH. Not only is it bigger than the standard FRH, it also operates differently.

Unique FRH Operation

Instead of opening the top of the FRH and putting the entree inside to be heated, you're supposed to wrap the FRH around the entree. This actually works a lot better for heating because as you can see in the picture below of an entree wrapped up in the FRH, both sides get heated at once as opposed to a standard FRH where just the bottom side of the entree pouch is heated. This FRH-wrapping feature also gives you room to be creative - you could place a second entree or side dish on top of the first, wrap them both together, and heat two entrees at once. Or you could even place a side item on top of the whole wrapped bundle and take advantage of some of the heat coming off the top of the FRH.