Mountain House MCW entrees only 3yrs???

Discussions about US MREs and other US rations
TerraParzel
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Mountain House MCW entrees only 3yrs???

Post by TerraParzel » Sun Sep 08, 2019 6:16 pm

Does any know why mountain house only give a 3 year shelf life on the current MCW meals..... all the other MH products get a 30 year shelf life and the MCW bag seems better made and more protective them the normal pouch. Is it just the oxygen absorber that makes the difference? If it is then this doesn't make sense either as the pack is vacuum sealed.

TerraParzel
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Re: Mountain House MCW entrees only 3yrs???

Post by TerraParzel » Thu Sep 12, 2019 3:47 pm

Anyone got an idea?

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mikeoverhere
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Re: Mountain House MCW entrees only 3yrs???

Post by mikeoverhere » Thu Sep 12, 2019 7:50 pm

Have you tried contacting Mountain House and asking directly?
Socrate's last words: "I drank what?"

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blue87fj60
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Re: Mountain House MCW entrees only 3yrs???

Post by blue87fj60 » Fri Sep 13, 2019 6:12 am

There is/was an explanation on that but it is escaping me.
Something with required packaging maybe??? I forget exactly.

cavguy
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Re: Mountain House MCW entrees only 3yrs???

Post by cavguy » Fri Sep 13, 2019 4:49 pm

According to the Epicenter:

https://theepicenter.com/food-storage/m ... -spec.html
Mountain House LRP Long Range Patrol Rations (also known as MCW Meals, or Meal Cold Weather Rations) and Dehydrated MRE Military Pouches have a stated 3-year shelf life, but shelf life can be extended to 10+ years when stored in cool, dry conditions (above freezing).
That said, In my opinion, the 3 year age is probably some sort of minimum specification to fulfill a USG contract... In actuality, self life if probably closer very similar to, if not the same as the regular commercial pouches (30 years).

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Re: Mountain House MCW entrees only 3yrs???

Post by SentientTootsieRoll » Fri Sep 13, 2019 5:02 pm

FWIW, in 2017 I purchased two cases of 2004 date of production MCWs and all the mains (manufactured by Mountain House aka Oregon Freeze Dry) were still good and tasted as such. Around that same time, I purchased a few 1989 RCWs (the precursor to the MCWs) and those were also perfectly edible. I'd hazard a guess that the 3 year shelf life is just a baseline for most if not all US military rations and even they will accept that the rations will last longer than that, provided they are stored well.

TerraParzel
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Re: Mountain House MCW entrees only 3yrs???

Post by TerraParzel » Fri Sep 13, 2019 6:03 pm

mikeoverhere wrote:
Thu Sep 12, 2019 7:50 pm
Have you tried contacting Mountain House and asking directly?
[Yeah, Left a question in the FAQ section but got no reply]

TerraParzel
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Re: Mountain House MCW entrees only 3yrs???

Post by TerraParzel » Fri Sep 13, 2019 6:06 pm

Thanks for the replys people. - I'm a big fan of the oriental spicy chicken and rice, Thinking of stocking up in case they totally stop production, They only make it for MCW's at the moment

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blue87fj60
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Re: Mountain House MCW entrees only 3yrs???

Post by blue87fj60 » Sat Sep 14, 2019 6:48 am

I saw on Epicenter sight that they were selling overstock cases of individual menu mains. Like a case of 20.

[url]https://theepicenter.com/long-range-pat ... -case.html[\url]

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MrFahrenheit
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Re: Mountain House MCW entrees only 3yrs???

Post by MrFahrenheit » Mon Jun 21, 2021 5:15 pm

Sorry to ressurect an old thread....


I've also been looking at the stated shelf life of these freezedried meals,

Again according to epicenter, the propak meals 'military spec' have a 30 year shelf life but some have a 5 year printed date which was because the OFD required them to have a date.

AFAIK the propak meals are as near to the MCW versions as you can get, they are vacuumed sealed and don't have an oxygen absorber in the pack.

Mountain House give a 30 year shelf life to those pouch meals so I don't know why the MCW ones wouldn't be the same.
I came, I saw, I ate some rations then fell asleep amongst the clover.

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