X-MREs: Extreme Meals Ready to Eat

[gschultz9]

I hope someone hasn't already posted about this, but has anyone around heard of X-MRE? It appears to be a new manufacturer (or maybe a re-brand of an old company already in existence?) of civilian MREs. I stumbled on the website last night and couldn't seem to find any mention of it here or online (other than seeing them for sale on eBay and Amazon. These "Extreme MREs" look pretty interesting. The regular (or "standard") ones appear pretty much the same as most civilian MREs, but they also have interesting variants. First is the "MRE Express Meal Kits", which are literally just an MRE entree, a FRH and a spoon (even less than the Meal Kit Supply "Two-Course" meals) in a plastic bag that looks (to me at least) like one of those plastic mailing envelopes like you get from Amazon. The other variant is pretty interesting. It's the "MRE 24 Hour Ration" ,and appears to be X-MRE's version of a First Strike Ration. The standard MREs come 12 to a case (or 6 in a "Standard 6 Pack), and the 24 hour rations contain 6 per case. Those are the main similarities and differences I have seen so far with these meals. The other difference they are claiming is that these things are supposed to have a longer shelf life than regular MREs. They say that the retort pouches have an extra layer of nylon. This is what makes them "eXtreme" I guess. But I have to say that the entrees they show in the photos look exactly like entrees in all the genuine and civilian MREs I've seen. It's hard to believe that this company is having the government contractors add an extra layer to retort pouches specifically designed just for them. Here's how they explain it:

"What has made MREs so popular for food storage is the bag it is packed in, called the “retort pouch”. Original MRE pouches had three layers, but the new pouches have a fourth layer made of nylon that adds durability without increasing the weight of the package substantially. These multiple layers allow for the uncooked food to be sealed in the pouch, then cooked and sterilized in the pouch from an outside heat source, and thereby blocked from future contamination. The result is great and extenteded shelf life and food which retains its natural moisture and liquid."

Has anyone here had a chance to check these things out for themselves? I sent them a message letting them know that I'd be happy to review their products on my YouTube channel. Something tells me I'm not going to hear back from them. Here's the website if anyone wants to check it out.

http://www.xmremeals.com/

[housil]

Wow, pretty pricey...

[ElevatorFan73]

25 dollars for a single MRE?! Yeah, I'd rather stay with my official Government MRE's.

[gschultz9]

The price is definitely something I noticed too. Not to be defending the high prices, but I will say that the $25.99 price for a single MRE is actually for the "24 Hour" one--which does have quite a bit more than the standard one. An individual standard X-MRE is "only" $11.99. That's still quite steep, but at least not twenty-six buckaroos! Not sure about shipping costs either. While Meal Kit Supply MREs are expensive, at least they do offer free shipping--which offsets some of that price in my opinion. Actually, I just took another look, and it looks like these guys do the free shipping thing too.

[Ruleryak]

They appear to be sourcing bulk components and just packaging them in house. They aren't adding anything novel to the meals, and are charging far too much. Who knows how mixed up dates will be in each pack when you go this route - you might get an entree packed in 2010 with a cracker from 2013 and jam from 2012, who knows? I definitely wouldn't buy anything from these folks personally. No reason to spend more on exactly the same goods you can get elsewhere.

[gschultz9]

That sounds like a good assessment. The components in the photos certainly look like standard MRE entrees and items. Does anyone have any opinion on the claim that these meals have special retort pouches that have an "extra layer" to make them last even longer than regular MREs? Considering the fact that (as mentioned above) the components appear to be standard MRE ones I can't see how this could be. If they're paying the manufacturers to create a brand new and improved retort pouch you'd think that would be VERY expensive to do (and you'd think that the government would want to use them in genuine MREs too). I'm not sure what to think of that. I did end up hearing beck from someone from the company, and it looks like they might be interested in having their products reviewed. Sounds like the company is brand new and they're just now rolling out the website and everything. We'll see what happens...

[SierraTangoDelta]

Got a link to that 24HR Ration? Me interested-ey!

[Ruleryak]

Here's all the 24HR options: source - singles of regular and vegetarian, and 6 pack cases (not 9 like FSRs - keep that in mind).

[Ruleryak]

Does anyone have any opinion on the claim that these meals have special retort pouches that have an "extra layer" to make them last even longer than regular MREs?

The claim (seen here on their site) doesn't seem to imply that they invented the tech or are using it exclusively and from what I can tell all retort pouches used by military contractors are now the 4 layer style that includes nylon. I think they just draw attention to it as a selling point while other folks don't. I found this PDF from (guessing based on citation dates) 2005 talking about, among other things, integrating nylon and reducing foil in the packaging for MREs.

Almost forgot to mention, what's even weirder is that they claim the shelf life as substantially lower than MREs. While an MRE will keep (officially) for 120 months at 60 F, XMRE lists that at 60 F their units are good for 84 months (30% less exactly)

[gschultz9]

Thanks for the clarification on the retort pouch claim Ruleryak. That makes a lot of sense--and makes me feel a little better about the company and its claims. I did think it was odd that they state that their MREs last longer than other ones, and then give a relatively short estimate.