Sopakco is one of the three companies that produce MREs for the U.S. military. Their “Sure-Pak 12” product has been the longest-available civilian MRE on the market.

Click to buy MREInfo-approved Sure-Pak MREs >>

 

Contents

The Sure-Pak MREs contain many of the same components of the military MREs – the entrees, sides, crackers, and desserts are usually exactly the same (packaging and all) that you’ll find in a real MRE. However, the cheese spread, peanut butter, and accessory packet may be different (see pictures below). Probably the best thing about the Sure-Paks is that they still include the standard military spoon. See the spoons section on the Civilian MRE Comparison page for more information.

Heaters

Ever since 2005, Sopakco has been offering the option of buying Sure-Paks with or without heaters. And when they say “with heaters”, they really do mean the heaters are included in the meal bag. The heaters that are included are the same as the military Flameless Ration Heaters that are activated with plain water. The Sure-Paks with heaters cost about $9 more than without heaters.

New Box Design

Beginning in late 2009, Sopakco started using a new design for their outer cases:

Old Sure-Pak 12 Case	New Sure-Pak 12 Case

Menus

A case of Sure-Paks comes with 12 individual meals. There are usually six different menus in each case so you get two of each menu. The menus from Sopakco change often so you don’t have to worry about getting the same menus over and over. Even better, some online ordering sites (such as The Epicenter) let you pick exactly which menus you want – other companies just sell you a case and you get whichever menus show up.

Here’s a menu listing from a case of Sure-Paks that were packed in August, 2009:

MENU 1	Calories	MENU 2	Calories	MENU 3	Calories
Chicken Pesto Pasta Clam Chowder Crackers Grape Jelly Oatmeal Cookie Lemon-Lime Beverage Base Instant Coffee	420 150 180 70 280 130	Veggie Burger in BBQ Sauce Refried Beans Crackers Apple Jelly Raspberry White Chip Cookie Lemon-Lime Beverage Base Instant Coffee	260 180 180 70 250 130	Chicken w/Salsa Clam Chowder Crackers Grape Jelly Cookies wuth Pan Coated Chocolate Disks Lemon-Lime Beverage Base Instant Coffee	160 150 180 70 280 130
total:	1230	total:	1070	total:	970
MENU 4	Calories	MENU 5	Calories	MENU 6	Calories
Apple Maple Oatmeal Grape Jelly Crackers Apple Pieces in Spiced Sauce Raspberry White Chip Cookie Tropical Punch Beverage Base Instant Coffee	200 70 180 150 250 130	Chili and Macaroni Raspberry Applesauce Grape Jelly Crackers Oatmeal Cookie Tropical Punch Beverage Base Instant Coffee	240 110 70 180 280 130	Maple Sausage Hash Browns w/Bacon Grape Jelly Crackers Raspberry White Chip Cookie Tropical Punch Beverage Base Instant Coffee	240 220 70 180 250 130
total:	980	total:	1010	total:	1090
				Average Calories per MRE:	1,058
				Total Calories per Case:	12,700

Each case has an official menu sticker on the outside of the box that might look something like this:

Here are some other examples of menus from different cases. These were taken from The Epicenter‘s website:

CASE 1	CASE 2	CASE 3
Jambalaya with shrimp and ham Chili With Beans Spaghetti Cajun style rice/beans with beef sausage Chicken Strips in Salsa Cheese Omelet	Cheese Tortellini Pork Ribs Beef Ravioli Chili With Beans Spaghetti Cajun style rice/beans with beef sausage	Chicken Fajita Pork Ribs (boneless) Beef Enchilada (or might be Chicken Cavatelli) Chicken Strips in Salsa Beef in BBQ Sauce (Sloppy Joe) Vegetable Manicotti
CASE 4	CASE 5	CASE 6
Penne Pasta with Spicy Vegetable Sausage Beef Patty, grilled Chicken Cavatelli Chicken Strips in Salsa Beef in BBQ Sauce (Sloppy Joe) Cajun style rice / beans with beef sausage	Cajun style rice/beans with beef sausage Vegetable Manicotti (or Beef Ravioli) Beef Roast with Vegetable (Pot Roast) Chili with Beans Beef Enchilada Cheese Omelet	Cajun style rice/beans with beef sausage Vegetable Manicotti Beef Roast with Vegetable (Pot Roast) Chili with Beans Beef Enchilada (or Grilled Chicken Breast) Chicken Strips in Salsa
CASE 7
Chicken Fajita Beef Patty, grilled Chicken Cavatelli Chicken Strips in Salsa Beef in BBQ Sauce (Sloppy Joe) Cajun style rice/beans with beef sausage

Where To Buy

You can find a list of official Sure-Pak 12 distributors on Sopakco’s site here. While you can find Sopakco at Sopakco.com, the Sure-Pak 12 civilian MREs are handled on SurePak-12.com.

Of these distributors, the two companies who have been selling these MREs for the longest time are The Epicenter and Meyers Custom Supply and they both appear to the offer the best pricing and menu variety. Current web prices range from $65/case to $85/case so shop around to find the best price. Don’t forget to factor in shipping cost.

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Please see this page for information about the January, 2009 Sopakco Sure-Pak 12 RECALL.

Click here for the old version of the Sopakco Sure-Pak 12 and M-Packed 12 page.