MREInfo.com

Well I went to dinner at my parents house tonite and I was curious to see if the case of Menu C MRE’s that my Dad bought from MREDepot had the same problems as mine. I opened up his menu # 7 Chicken with Salsa and what did I find?, his was missing 3 Items from the menu! Mine was only missing 2. This made me feel like I had been mislead and I felt cheated out of items. I felt really bad also because my Dad was going off of my recommendation and purchased these just on me saying that I THOUGHT they were good.

So when we got home after dinner I took the used MRE bag from the meal the previous night and checked to see if my Food Saver would reseal the package airtight. It did a great job of resealing it. Next I set off to see just what the other 11 meals were missing.( I still have only checked the menu #7 out of my Dad’s case but if he will let me I will check them all out like I did mine).

The results are as follows:

Menu 1
Chili w/Beans
Crackers
Strawberry Jam Sub. Apple Jelly
Baked Snack Crackers
Carmel Apple Ranger Bar
Cinnamon Scone Sub. Oatmeal Cookie
BBQ Sauce Missing
Raisins Missing
Candy III
Accessory Packet A
Spoon

Menu 2
Chicken Fajita
Wheat Snack Bread Sub. Crackers
Cheese Spread, Bacon
Nacho Cheese Pretzels
Fig Bars Missing
Oatmeal Cookies Sub. Shortbread Cookie
BBQ Sauce Missing
Beverage Base, Iced Tea Missing
Accessory Packet B Sub. Packet A
Spoon

Menu 3
Chicken w/Dumplings
Crackers
Apple Jelly
Cinnamon Scone Sub. Oatmeal Cookie
Baked Snack Crackers
Shortbread Cookies
Candy II
BBQ Sauce Missing
Accessory Packet A
Spoon



Menu 4
Cheese & Vegetable Omelet
Toaster Pastry Sub. Ranger Bar
Crackers
Peanut Butter
Cinnamon Scone Sub. Oatmeal Cookie
Raisins Missing
Beverage Base, Iced Tea Missing
Tabasco Bottle, Red
Accessory Packet C Sub. Packet A
Spoon

Menu 5
Meatloaf w/Gravy Sub. Penne Pasta w/Veg. Sausage
Cheese Spread, Bacon
Caramel Apple Bar
Chocolate Chip Cookies Sub. Shortbread Cookie
Fig Bars Missing
Candy IV
Nacho Cheese Pretzels
BBQ Sauce Missing
Raisins Missing
Accessory Packet B Packet Missing Tea, Gum and Toilet Paper
Spoon

Menu 6
Chicken w/ Noodles
Crackers
Peanut Butter
Cinnamon Scone Sub. Oatmeal Cookie
Baked Snack Crackers
Carmel Apple Ranger Bar
Candy III
Tabasco Bottle, Red
Beverage Base, Fruit Punch Sub. Lemon Lime
Accessory Packet A
Spoon

Menu 7
Chicken w/Salsa
Shortbread Cookies
Crackers
Cheese Spread, Bacon
Cinnamon Scone Missing
Oatmeal Cookies
Nacho Cheese Pretzels
Raisins Missing
Tabasco Bottle, Green
Accessory Packet B Sub. Packet A
Spoon



Menu 8
Beef Patty
Crackers
Apple Jelly
Chocolate Sports Bar Sub. Ranger Bar
BBQ Sauce Missing
Fig Bars Missing
Baked Snack Crackers
Beverage Base, Trop. Punch Sub. Lemon Lime
Raisins Missing
Accessory Packet B Sub. Packet A
Spoon

Menu 9
Beef Enchiladas
Crackers
Strawberry Jam
Cinnamon Scone Sub. Oatmeal Cookie
Baked Snack Crackers
Picante Sauce Missing
Carmel Apple Ranger Bar
Accessory Packet A
Spoon

Menu 10
Meatballs in Marinara
Crackers
Peanut Butter
Oatmeal Cookies
Cinnamon Scone Sub. Shortbread Cookie
Nacho Cheese Pretzels
Candy I Sub. Candy II
Tabasco Bottle, Red
Accessory Packet C Sub. Packet A
Spoon

Menu 11
Vegetable Manicotti Sub. Chili and Macaroni
Carmel Apple Ranger Bar Missing
Wheat Snack Bread Sub. Crackers
Peanut Butter
Baked Snack Crackers
Cinnamon Scone Sub. Oatmeal Cookie
Beverage Base, Fruit Punch Sub. Lemon Lime
Tabasco Bottle, Green
Raisins Missing
Accessory Packet B Sub. Packet A
Spoon





Menu 12
Cheese Tortellini Sub. Chicken Cavatelli
Oatmeal Cookies
Crackers
Strawberry Jam Missing
Nacho Cheese Pretzels
Cinnamon Scone Sub. Ranger Bar
Candy I Sub. Candy IV
Accessory Packet B Sub. Packet A
Spoon

Candy I: Peanut M&M’s
Candy II: Skittles
Candy III: Red Hots Sub. Hot Tamales Candy
Candy IV: Tootsie Rolls

Accessory Packets
A
Coffee
Sugar
Creamer
Salt
Chewing Gum
Matches
Toilet Tissue
Towelette

B
Lemon Tea
Salt
Chewing Gum
Matches
Toilet Tissue
Towelette

C
Apple Cider
Salt
Chewing Gum
Matches
Toilet Tissue
Towelette

As I stated before I don’t mind substitutions for items. But what bothers me is when they are listed as being in the Menu and then not included at all. If the menu changes then list it so people know what they are buying. And if it is missing or not available then replace it with something else.
I hope to do the same item check with my Fathers case of Menu C MRE’s as soon as I can.
I just feel that people should be informed about what they are buying, paying for, and receiving.
Sorry about the long post and the overall look it took me almost two hours to type this all in (since I can't type).

The cases my Father and I both received had: Date PKD/Lot 01/16/08 8016 INSP/test 01/2011 10:71.
Most of the dates on the individual items ranged from 06 254 to 08 121.

thanks for the post it will be interesting to hear if others are having the same problems with omitted items. sorry this happened to you.

I can understand about the substitutions...and maybe even the lack of BBQ Sauce because that's a small item. But for whole items to be missing like that isn't good. If I had to guess, I'd say these Menu C's were from a new production run from the factory and they either changed the menus on purpose or changed them as they ran out of parts.

Either way, I really would have expected MREDepot.com to at least spot check cases of MREs as they came in from the new production run to make sure they had the new menus right.

I'd definitely recommend calling MREDepot.com and asking to speak to someone about this. I've tried emailing the owner myself for the past few months but he hasn't been responding so I'm afraid I can't help you there.

But I probably should put a notice up on the Menu C page here on the website that the menus have potentially changed and might not reflect what I have listed.

Thanks for listing all your contents, wstrnsky!

Well I tried two emails and one to Mr. Scyros about the missing components in my case of Menu C MRE's from MREDepot.com. I sent them on Sunday night, today is Wednesday and still no word back. I just tried calling them with the number listed on their website and no one answered. I was sent to a voicemail box but it was full and had no space left to leave a message.

I counted the missing items up and I was missing 20 total items from my case, still unknown about my fathers case since I have not had time to research his yet.

So in conclusion it looks like MREDepot is unreachable with issues for the products that they sell.
I for one will not give them any further buisness nor will I recommend them to anyone else. I just hope my experience with them helps anyone make a better decision if they decide to do buisness with them in the future.

P.S. I will continue to try to contact them and post any resolution that comes from this issue.

wstrnsky wrote: (...)
I just hope my experience with them helps anyone make a better decision if...

Thx for sharing your experience (and "warnings" )

Hi All;

kman just sent me the link to this thread, as I wasn’t aware that we were having a problem with the Menu C’s.

wstrnsky; Please accept my sincere apologies for the deviation on the menu’s - I am actually extremely grateful for this information though, thank you! Since we started purchasing these under contract, I have neglected to spot check these after we tore them apart during the initial evaluation, so this is very helpful information. I take personal responsibility for that.

I suspect that the problem is largely due to lack of inventory in the MRE market in general and the extremely high demand from consumers and from the Government. We haven’t seen the kind of demand we have been seeing ever in our history - not during Y2K and not even in the months following Hurricane Katrina.

Although we are still managing to meet our same day shipping promise, I personally am falling (way) short on getting to all of the 2500 to 3000 e-mails a day that I receive - even working 14+ hour days. We’re probably only getting to 3 of 4% of our 1500 to 200 calls a day we receive as well. We can’t hire people and bring them up to speed fast enough.

We actually had a scheduled menu change for these lined up for mid-August, but due to dwindling MRE inventory because of the Hurricane Season (Gustav and Ike obviously hasn’t helped), it has been pushed back several times. Rest assured that when it does happen (we’re hoping to see it in the next 30 to 45 days), we will make sure that our website description is updated, as well as kman’s review page here.

I have actually been pretty excited about the new menus we have coming. We were able to include a lot of new items and came up with probably one of the most comprehensive variety that I personally have ever seen. Things like filled French toast entrée’s, side dishes in every meal (from mashed potatoes, hash browns with bacon and multiple wet pack fruits, to corn bread stuffing and Granola with Blueberries). But now I am a little concerned that they will deliver based on your findings on current menus.

I’m a little ticked at our manufacturer for not at least letting us know that there were a couple of menu changes as well as more than a few substitutions. I plan to take that up with them (gently) today. I say gently because I need to be careful that I keep the inventory pipe open. We used to get these by the rail car (approx. 2300 cases at a time on 48 pallets), and for a while there was a 53 foot container coming every 3 weeks or so. These last couple of months we have been getting only pallet sized deliveries once or twice a week as they struggle to keep up with demand (sometimes 7 or 8 pallets, sometimes only 1 or 2).

I don’t know if you have noticed problems in the civilian MRE market in general, but there is are widespread problems all around due to the unusually high demand;

-aPacks from Ameriqual are out of stock and have been for a couple of months. They are not even taking orders on their website; http://www.readymeal.com/ and they are not offering any predictions on when supplies will be available. They are selling consumer relief meals to the trade - but they contain things like canned Vienna sausages and plastic cups of fruit cocktail...

-Sure-Packs are also almost impossible to find right now. When you can find some, they are often missing many items and sometimes only contain 3 or 4 different entrée’s. We’ve even seen some containing commercial items with very short shelf lives instead of military items.

-MRE Stars are non existent. They are on their last legs - they owe every single one of their vendors money, as well as some of their customers (they took us down for $39K in prepaid inventory that they have been unable to deliver since May - I don’t think we will see a refund or any product unfortunately and are working on filing a suit before they declare bankruptcy). I have seen some product come out of there in the last 45 days, but they have been extremely poor quality (3 different entrée’s, all vegetarian with no meat, no side dishes in any of them and only 700 calories per meal)

Now, I don’t offer all of this info as an attempt to duck responsibility on the Menu C deviations, only as a guess at an explanation, as this is the first that I have heard of the problem. I do take full responsibility, as we should have been proactive and spot checked these periodically. You can bet I will do that from now on. In fact, we may pull them for a couple of months to see if we can wait out the supply issues in the industry - I’d rather lose the revenue than our reputation. We’ll have to think that through this week.

Meanwhile, we stand behind every product we sell unconditionally. wstrnsky, look for a PM from me in the next 10 minutes. And, if anyone else has some from the last 60 or 90 days that they would like to return for any reason, send me a PM and we’ll offer a full refund and even pay the shipping both ways.

Thanks!

-Steven
MREdepot

that was the post i was waiting for and expecting. mredepot has been really good on this site for making good on things. good job.

Thanks bishopmarine, I really appreciate that. Lord knows this isn’t the first time that we’ve had trouble with a product (BigMark can attest to that from 2002/2003-ish;-), and it probably won’t be the last time - but just know that we will always try to make it right the minute that I hear about it!

I can confirm the SurePak part of your post MREDepot, I made a post about it a few days ago.

viewtopic.php?t=2252

I picked the wrong time to start this sort of thing I guess. Either way I am impressed by your response. Next time I order a case of MREs I am ordering them from you.

PM replied to. Thank you for your response to this issue.
I have researched my fathers case as well and can send complete listing for his cases contents ( If needed) and a total list of both of our missing items and quantities. I see no reason in listing his contents as a resolution may be in the future.

I look forward to your future menu changes. The breakfast menu's and the addition of side dishes would be great for these MRE's.

I commend you for your efforts at customer service and satisfaction. As I know what it takes to do so working for one for the largest beer manufactures in the world.

An understanding customer, Wstrnsky