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I don't think this has ever been asked before, but has anyone gotten an MRE cracker to actually break on the perforations that are baked into the cracker? This of course assumes that the cracker is more or less intact when you get it.

I personally never have despite trying numerous times, it makes me wonder why they even bother including the perforations.

Hah, nope, not on the modern ones. They always appear to be complete and then fall apart once you've loaded them with PB & J.
The older ones that included hydrogenated fat are a different matter. Those hold together much better, don't collapse on you when you eat them and they break on the lines...or wherever you're expecting them to break! The cracker lines and style are historical and since the ingredients have changed over the years they just fall apart.

Never

Definitely just decorative or for display purposes only. As a dedicated Saltine enthusiast, I always liked the earliest versions based on the C-Rat style. A bit better color and flavor. Later iterations, they aren't much different than cardboard. I thought those orange Cheese-It style crackers were the best thing.

Tedster wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 28, 2022 12:10 am

Definitely just decorative or for display purposes only. As a dedicated Saltine enthusiast, I always liked the earliest versions based on the C-Rat style. A bit better color and flavor. Later iterations, they aren't much different than cardboard.

100% agree

As we used to say in Vietnam, "You get shot at every day and you're worried about what something in your food might do to you in 20 years?"

I think the Army loses sight of the big picture sometimes. They take trans fats out of crackers to "protect" soldiers who would eat nothing but pepperoni pizza and Red Bull when not on patrol.

Tedster wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 28, 2022 12:10 am

Definitely just decorative or for display purposes only. As a dedicated Saltine enthusiast, I always liked the earliest versions based on the C-Rat style. A bit better color and flavor. Later iterations, they aren't much different than cardboard. I thought those orange Cheese-It style crackers were the best thing.

I prefer the old MCI crackers as well and the old salted crackers from earlier MREs but yeah the MRE crackers that they have now are terrible as everyone agrees on.

There is a school of thought that says emergency or "survival food" should be edible, but just barely. The idea being that if something tastes good it will get eaten, but it won't be there in an emergency. I think there is some truth to that. I've a stockpile of "Wheat Snack Bread", which I dislike and I was not happy that they swapped these out with the saltines in a great many menus. But I know I wouldn't have a stockpile of the saltines right now.

Tedster wrote: ↑

Wed May 04, 2022 7:04 pm

There is a school of thought that says emergency or "survival food" should be edible, but just barely. The idea being that if something tastes good it will get eaten, but it won't be there in an emergency. I think there is some truth to that. I've a stockpile of "Wheat Snack Bread", which I dislike and I was not happy that they swapped these out with the saltines in a great many menus. But I know I wouldn't have a stockpile of the saltines right now.

I have a stockpile of crackers from MREs, granted they don't taste good but I occasionally get one out and add it to my entree but on the wheat snack bread side of things, I don't stockpile that because when I do get one in my MREs I usaully eat that by putting some jam or jelly and my biggest problem with the new style ones (the ones that aren't cut in half) is that they soak the moisture from my mouth and leave my mouth dry.

I definitely prefer the "vegetable" ones, remind me of Wheatsworth crackers.

Regarding the perforations, I'd have success in snapping them on the edge of something like you would after scoring drywall. They might even share some ingredients.