Eating old MRE's/rations

[Jbsteven]

Let's talk about consuming older rations.

What would be the oldest ration you would consume?

At how old do you start worrying about the freshness?

I'd say I have a curiousity to consume some old stuff and I bet you guys do too.

[German_EPA]

What would be the oldest ration you would consume?

if:
- package is undamaged
- it looks good
- is not swollen
- doesnt stink
- or has any other signs of wasting
... i would give it a try. (if it tastes bad ---> trash!)

in the normal case i would say about 10 years back from now.

[Bypah]

Simple ask the Norseman......"Iron Stomach" norge.
He will tell you.....

[norge]

please post pictures of the things you plan to eat first!!
me and mreheater72 migth need them for collection

when eating old stuff,follow the list german_epa wrote.
cheese and realy fat food goes bad first and fruits,check for punctures
leaks and swollen pouches.
dry items rearly goes bad,the cocoa and soft drink mixes can be rock hard
and when it have its not good.moist have ruined them in most cases.

when it comes to how old rations i tryed....ohhh i did c rats from mid 1970s
and a bunch of mres from 1984 and up to date.
never gott sick,but be careful anyway

cheers ken

[housil]

At how old do you start worrying about the freshness?

The age isn´t the limit alone!

I had this 1990 German EPa entree last year in age of 19. The ration - not me!


Delicious and tasty.
I wouldn´t hesitate to eat a 20 years old German EPa entree (old, square shaped container only)

MREs as long as the TTI is still OK up to 10 years without any hesitation too. The "oldest" I had this year was a 2003, 7 years old by now.

As German_EPA said, note if they are "suspicious" (puffed up, stink etc.)
I had to dump this year 70 spoiled items out of 2003 EPa


Note the left, bulky container!


That´s how spoiled containers look from outside

[Jbsteven]

good stuff guys. I have some 1980's and 90's stuff I am going to try. I try and take pics before and or after.

I wouldn't try that German "thing" even if it was made yesterday.

[housil]

I wouldn't try that German "thing" even if it was made yesterday.

...

[Ruleryak]

I've eaten food items from as far back as the early 70s, but if I ever get my hands on a Civil War hard tack biscuit I'm going to eat it. Before I started collecting MREs and older civilian food I was only into the idea from the perspective of building the oldest meal I could. I acquired a still sealed Bottoms Up soda from 1933, a box of gelatin from the 20s and a few other old items. But then something changed in my mind and I decided these things were too awesome to simply consume and destroy so I began collecting instead. Now I've got tons of civilian food items like canned nuts, candies, sodas, beers, spices, boxed dry goods, etc going back to the turn of the century and my military ration collection covers every decade between now and the 40s. I have spare C ration items I keep eyeing up and I'm seriously considering eating an old pound cake or something. I have some of those really old air force tuna cans that from pictures I've seen have looked just fine inside so I'm considering eating one of those. Pretty sure it's 1959. The 80's MREs I've eaten (several) were good to go when heated up with a modern heater with the exception of the crackers. In any pre-89 MRE I've opened in the last 5 years or so the crackers taste and smell like bleach. It's neat if you get a pack of early 80's M&Ms, colors we haven't had in decades!

Never gotten sick from eating the older stuff as long as I follow the rules this thread has already so clearly outlined. Don't eat anything suspect - you don't want some weird old parasite or something.

[Cracker]

I wouldn't try that German "thing" even if it was made yesterday.

It's Erbseneintopf.. my favourite.
Trust me, try it.. and love it.
It's the best wintermeal you can get, especially when your balls tend to freeze off, there's nothing better to eat in the field.
I even exported the Dutch variant (snert / erwtensoep) to Romania.. they loved it.

The greenish is because of the peas.. it's a thick pea soup. But it doesn't taste like normal peas.