Well, as my wife said, the difference between civilian MREs in pouches vs. bowls, is that (at least for her) "the spouses don't like pouches." She likes MREs but thinks, that unlike us guys, women prefer eating food out of bowls, which is why Wornicks Eversafe might be the ticket for family emergency kits.
When I lived out west I stocked our earthquake kit with civilian MREs, either surplus, or mail order. Now in the midwest I am stocking our tornado kit (and sometimes lunch kit) with both MRE parts (Trail Mix, Crackers, Cheese & Peanut Butter spreads, water pouches, hooah bars, caffeine gum), and civilian MRES.
I plan to add both the Ameriqual produced aPacks (readymeal.com) in pouches, as well as Wornicks Eversafe Complete Meal kit in bowls (geteversafe.com).
While the aPack has more items, the Eversafe entree is 10.5 ounces, vs. 8 ounces, and has snacks, and water boxes included. So, by including different types of civilian MREs, everyone is happy!
Bob
P.S. theepicenter.com site is selling some First Strike Ration parts: Zapplesauce and ERGO drink mixes. The Zapplesauce comes in a pouch you can drink/pour out of, and contains enchanced applesauce. (I think it tastes kinda weird, but the package is cool.) The ERGO drink mix also has a pouch you can drink from, with a ziplock top. It has glucose. Haven't tried it yet.