New MRE bag designs

[kman]

MREs on the other hand are Government property and technically are never supposed to be sold as new, used or surplus to the public. They could have a strong case in eBay’s mind if they choose to go this route...

All good points...but what you said above is where it gets sticky when you throw in words like "technically" and "supposed". :-)

MREs might have all started their lives as government property, but once the govt. gives them to a non-military individuals (for relief aid) or surpluses them like the ones that Oddball has, then it's hard to keep up the "all MREs are govt. property" argument.

You know, they could put this whole argument to rest if they'd just allow Sopakco/Ameriqual/Wornick to produce extra military MREs and sell them to civilians as-is. It's not like the current civilian MREs are so drastically different that they're missing some super-secret military ingredient. I say sell the military MREs to the public for "cost", which they claim is around $82 per case, and be done with it.

[C-rats]

Does the phrase "If it ain't broke, DON'T fix it" ring in anybody else's ears? WTF is up with this??

Like Steve says, that whole "Warfighter Approved" baloney sounds not only like a sales pitch, but it's as if someone is trying to subtly say to the troops...... Eat it and shut up; You guys "approved it".......

And Good God, why the DoD emblem for Christ's sake? Although except for that, the whole package graphics seems waaaaaaaaay to "fake" now.
(what ever happened to that great acronym that I actually learned from the Army? "KISS" --- Keep It Simple, Stupid).

I just don't get this at all.....

[MREdepot]

I agree wholeheatedly on selling military MREs to the public. I can’t for the life of me figure out why they don’t. I’ve heard a number of different reasons over the years, from security of the food source going to the troops (i.e. so the troops don’t mistakenly eat a cinade-laced MRE that looks the same but was provided by the enemy) and quality control (nothing worse than our troops mired down in the latreen from food poisoning because a less than legit manufacturer cit some corners on packaging) to terrorism concerns recently (who would stop a truck carrying what looked like pallets of MREs into a relief zone or government facility).

In fact, for a while there, about 7 or 8 years ago we were hearing that they were going to be making them available to the public, but then all talk of that was ceased with no reason given.

But on the point of eBay sales, I agree with the logic, but eBay can be strange about certain things. We all know how the system can work with MREs, but if you were eBay and DoD came to you telling you to shut all sales down, what would you do?

[kman]

Man, do I feel lame...I don't know how I missed this before but almost *one year ago*, on February 8, 2007, there was a Government/Industry conference and the first item on the agenda on the MRE bag redesign.

I found the presos over at militaryfood.org. Check them out:

http://www.militaryfood.org/07GI_Presentations.htm

The first one is "Redesign of MRE's": http://www.militaryfood.org/powerpoint/ ... Darsch.ppt

If anyone doesn't have PowerPoint, you can download a free viewer for Windows here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta ... 4784AF71A4

[MREdepot]

WOW - Great find kman, thanks!

Nice info on the design and selection process of the new bags, but did you see some of the new menu’s they are playing around with?

- Bratwurst w/yellow mustard sauce,
- Swedish meatballs w/mashed potatoes
- Peppercorn steak patty w/potato cheddar soup
- Pork chop with w/chipotle, pocco sauce & cornbread

Just to name a few...

And did you see some of the sides/snacks they are considering?

- Home style biscuits,
- Chocolate chip/blueberry biscotti,
- French toast cookie

Also, looks like the new UGR’s will soon be replacing the tray packs (if they haven’t already.

And the best news is that the Veggie omelet was yanked, as well as the clam chowder. Bummer though that the dropped the meatloaf and chicken w/salsa...

[BigMark]

Can you imagine getting a biscotti as your dessert and having to eat it without coffee? You could probably get used to it once you ground your teeth down a little. Sounds good if implemented correctly though.

I've had the IMP meatballs, they were pretty good so we should be able to do them better.

So they're taking out the meatloaf and putting it back in with peppercorns is what I'm getting by -meatloaf +peppercorn steak patty. Thank god they're finally going to start putting soup back in that's not clam chowder, I just wish they'd go back to bullion cubes/sachets.

[jfko6]

These new designs will undoubtedly curtail aggregate selling in the open market.

[kman]

jfko6 - "aggregate selling"? What do you mean?

BigMark - I wouldn't worry about them producing a biscotti like the kind you might find in coffeehouses. Have you tried the "Cinnamon Scone"? I like it - had one last night, in fact - but it's really like any scone I've had before. It's more like a cinnamon-flavored wheat snack bread with a little extra sugar thrown in. Very tasty - but not too scone-like.

[DIRTYDAVE]

Interesting...

[Treesuit]

I agree with Kman on that cinnamon scone, it's okay but more like the WSB with sugar filling in it. Okay with coffee in the morning but they need to figure out something else.
Say like biscusts and gravy with the bacon and hasbrown pouch thrown in.