MREInfo.com

Greetings!

I'm new and ran across an "MRE" case oddity, to me, and hoped someone could help identify what it is, what it was intended for, any history, date of mfg, etc.

They appear to have been factory packaged by Right Away Foods specifically for Distribution by "Major Surplus and Survival" out of Gardena, CA.
Oddities:
-The box is short and rectangular, sealed and the only marking on it is "MRE 12 Full Meals"
-There are no other date markings of any kind that I can tell, with one exception. There is an expiration date on the First Aid brand antiseptic wipe of 02/95.
-All meal pouches are labelled "Menu No.3" "Beef Stew". However, there are taped on printed labels with menu names which appear to be accurate. Ie., The printed label said "Beef Ravioli", which is exactly what was inside the Menu No. 3 "beef stew" pouch.
-All pouches "appear" to have been factory sealed.
-Entree "Packed by Shelf Stable Foods Cincinnati, OH" and other components by "Right Away Foods McAllen, TX" I don't know if that's really an oddity, but interesting to me.

Included meals. 2 each:
-Beef Ravioli
-Pork Chop Entree
-Beef Steak
-Beef Franks Entree
-Chicken Stew
-Ham Slices
Beef Ravioli menu contents:
-Beef Ravioli in Meat Sauce 715OM211AV1
-Applesauce JRW111525
-Crackers 7195114
-Peanut Butter 6309113
-Oatmeal Cookie Bar. Front: 78501 3 Back: 5219

Accesories:
Loose in the pouch
-Tasters Choice Coffee

Contained in ziplock style plastic bag:
-IRIS brand creamer, sugar, salt, pepper
-DD Bean and Sons matchbook
-First aid aniseptic wipe
-Small white plastic spoon

The one meal pouch I opened doesn't appear to match up exactly with known menus. Almost like a "frankenstein" pouch with mixed components from different years(?) The main clue on package date being the wet wipe(?) Expiration of '95 might mean it was sealed in around the early 90's, but then again, it might have been near, or already, expired when it was included(?)

There are oatmeal cookie bars in there too that were very early years (late 80's(?)), but also Beef Ravioli, which as far as I know, didn't make an appearance until the mid to later 90's.

I'm lost. Any info you could direct me to or provide would be greatly appreciated.

Hah those are pretty cool looking huh! Did you try the one out you opened?
I have some early tan bag mre's (1995 I think) that have this similar mix of the tan colour crackers, dark colours of other things like the cookie bars etc and the green retorts. Judging by that mix of clear accessory packets etc I would guess that they are 94/95...not sure how long they feel wet naps usually last but like you say they might have been old when they were packed.
I'll see if I can find any pictures of the 95 I opened.

Old mre parts in fresh wrapping......

Beef Ravioli menu contents:
-Beef Ravioli in Meat Sauce 715OM211AV1--2007 or 2017
-Applesauce JRW111525-- 2001
-Crackers 7195114--2007
-Peanut Butter 6309113-- HDR ration part not shure how to read date on it
-Oatmeal Cookie Bar. Front: 78501 3 Back: 5219-- 1995

cheers ken

norge wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 12, 2022 11:06 am

Old mre parts in fresh wrapping......

Beef Ravioli menu contents:
-Beef Ravioli in Meat Sauce 715OM211AV1--2007 or 2017
-Applesauce JRW111525-- 2001
-Crackers 7195114--2007
-Peanut Butter 6309113-- HDR ration part not shure how to read date on it
-Oatmeal Cookie Bar. Front: 78501 3 Back: 5219-- 1995

cheers ken

Thanks for the great info!

The guy I got the case from said he's had them about 20years, but 2007 isn't too far off I guess. I'm still curious about the packaging for "Major Surplus and Survival" .

Would that have been a repackaging by the mfg for resale under that company or is it more likely that outfit repackaged them themselves just to pass off odd bits and such under the guise of an actual "MRE"?

Jim_M1988 wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 12, 2022 10:23 am

Hah those are pretty cool looking huh! Did you try the one out you opened?

Not yet. I wanted to find out more of the history before assessing the risk about where the heck they came from before doing any tasting.

Sounds like they might just be bits and pieces left over from actual MRE's of different eras repackaged as "factory MRE's".... and no idea how they might have been store in the interim. It seems a bit sketchy.

Yarome wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 12, 2022 1:10 pm

Jim_M1988 wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 12, 2022 10:23 am

Hah those are pretty cool looking huh! Did you try the one out you opened?

Not yet. I wanted to find out more of the history before assessing the risk about where the heck they came from before doing any tasting.

Sounds like they might just be bits and pieces left over from actual MRE's of different eras repackaged as "factory MRE's".... and no idea how they might have been store in the interim. It seems a bit sketchy.

I have a couple of civilian MRE style rations, in brown bags but more flimsy like the 1980s LRP that have all MRE components in them. Must have been a common way of putting together civilian versions in the 90s. The thing that throws me off with what Norge says is that cookie bar, which I thought were much older (but delicious!!!!) Than the 00's.

Jim_M1988 wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 12, 2022 1:25 pm

I have a couple of civilian MRE style rations, in brown bags but more flimsy like the 1980s LRP that have all MRE components in them. Must have been a common way of putting together civilian versions in the 90s. The thing that throws me off with what Norge says is that cookie bar, which I thought were much older (but delicious!!!!) Than the 00's.

Oatmeal bars... I thought they were too. More mid to late 80's and all but gone in the 90's. Glad I asked.

My original thought was foilks just throwing whatever they could find together and cash in on the Y2K scare. Packaging them up in the faux MRE pouches. It doesn't seem "likely" that the actual mfg's would use all #3 menu pouches, stuff them with whatever they could lay hands on and take the time to tape paper labels on the exteriors for legitimate sales of civilian MRE's, but then again... maybe that's exactly what they where doing to allow people to prepare for "the big scare" of the times(??)

Some components produced well past Y2K... I have my doubts now.

I figured someone around here might know the backstory on these.

[/quote]

Oatmeal bars... I thought they were too. More mid to late 80's and all but gone in the 90's. Glad I asked.

My original thought was foilks just throwing whatever they could find together and cash in on the Y2K scare. Packaging them up in the faux MRE pouches. It doesn't seem "likely" that the actual mfg's would use all #3 menu pouches, stuff them with whatever they could lay hands on and take the time to tape paper labels on the exteriors for legitimate sales of civilian MRE's, but then again... maybe that's exactly what they where doing to allow people to prepare for "the big scare" of the times(??)

Some components produced well past Y2K... I have my doubts now.

I figured someone around here might know the backstory on these.
[/quote]


Hah yeah, I'm not helping I'm just stiring the pot of confusion . I do like the 80s/90s era of MRE's though so always like to see the components. They're pretty cool but I'd love to know why. I was only last week listening to a podcast a out the y2k scare. I hardly paid it any attention at the time but I was only like 12!

Entirely possible this could be 1997 components etc, the tan packaging came in during 95/96? And beef ravioli was introduced in 1997 (hence the 7xyz). The HDR PB is definitely 1996 because they used the more vertical style in the 2000s

I remember these civilian MRE's from the late 90's, Major Surplus and Survival was a big player in those days. I used to see their ads in many magazines (Shotgun News, Soldier of Fortune). I actually recall buying either a case of these, or a few singles too, so likely that these would have been made circa 1997 (+ or - a few years). I really don't these are from the 2000's.

The ones I had did not have taped over menu names. I have no idea if these were packaged by Major Surplus and Survival though.