In those days they used genuine stew meat, real beef. It was considered the best MRE by most of the troopies. Now they use floor sweepings and "meat glue" to hold it together, which is pretty damn sad if ya ask me.

I remember that meal, it had a tenacious thick tomato sauce that seemed to stain both the spoon and the inner mylar pouch. It was tasty AF, and filling. Naturally they stopped making it.

Even prior to the portion reduction I noticed a decline in the product. "Fresh" is not a word generally used along with MRE but if you've eaten rations that were just issued into the system, they had been held since manufacture under carefully prescribed storage conditions. MRE cheese couldn't be co...

I've noticed that A LOT, early 80s MREs hold up so well compared to other MREs. I always wonder what the true story is on that one haha ;) You aren't the first to notice this, that's for sure. I believe it has to do with the quality or shelf stability of some of the ingredients used, particularly s...

I agree. I think Natick should be enjoined from deleting any items* from the menus. Assuming they can find a supplier, at least. The combination knife sharpener/oatmeal bar was a culinary masterpiece , guaranteed to cause an intense craving for at least a quart of milk! I miss the caffeinated mints,...

Honestly? I suspect cost. Freeze-drying is an inherently expensive process. I'm not sure what the actual unit gubbmint cost is for a case of MREs but it is somewhere around $120 or so. They have to keep all of the items in a menu around for at least a little while, they have to pencil every single i...

I tried that bread shelf stable in the brown package in the 90's and thought it tasted like (damp) cardboard.... That seems more like a description of the "Wheat Snack Bread", the shelf stable bread wouldn't win any awards, but it wasn't particlarly bad as I recall. It is certainly identifiable as ...

Yes!! Those are them. Thanks for confirming I wasn't dreaming. I sure wish they would have included those instead of the snack "bread".

Are they discontinued? Still in production?

That Spiced Apple Cider is good stuff. Naturally, they stopped making it. The M&M are hit and miss. Watch for mold on the peanut style. Another discontinued item, in contravention of all good order and discipline - chocolate covered coffee beans - also suffer from this if they are really old. They w...

Anybody remember that? This would have been about 1998 or 1999 for those in the military. Now to be clear I'm not referring to the execrable barely edible "Wheat Snack Bread". In fact, when "Wheat Snack Bread" appeared in lieu of saltines, that's what I thought it was. Boy, was I in for a rude surpr...