Hello roastbeeffan,RoastBeastFan wrote:....
I'm not in a combat zone, so two MREs a day would be fine. That's 730 a year, or 29,200 for 40 years. I'm 39, and I like to think I'm not quite at the halfway point yet. For another couple months anyway.
29,200 MREs is 2,433 cases. If I could get them for $60 each, for $146,000 I'd be in food for the rest of my life. Maybe less if I can get a bulk discount. 40 years of food and never wash dishes again! This is starting to look pretty good. Though I admit it's not gonna be so hot when I reach 77 and have to eat cheese vegetable omelettes for the rest of my life.
....
nice calculating you did, but the picture is a bit "worse".
living on 2 MRE's a day for a year equals 730 MRE's per year. That would be 61 cases. Assuming that you purchase them for 60.00 USD a case, you need to incorporate the inflation (say 4 percent annual) into the equation. Since the next years the case will be somewhat more expensive. (what you buy for a buck today, that same item will cost you more the next year since your money has become less valueable - inflation)
Assuming that you purchase the cases once every year. This to prevent your fresh mre's from deteriorating.
doing a little math. after 40 years of purchasing and eating MRE's you have spent 347,793.39 USD
on that (future value). Todays value of all the money you spent on MRE's is 72,41.55 USD. 
You'd better start putting your money in a really good investment
regards, Nawt.