1999 Mil Spec MREs - what to do...

[nechronius]

Long story short (but still rather long) I discovered a case of the civilian Mil-Spec brand MREs in my sister's garage a few days ago. Given how long ago these things ended production and the fact that these things had been stored in her garage, I figured I'd take one to test it out.
All 12 were there, six different meals twice. I went ahead and took a Beef Stew with me for giggles and tried it out. As expected the crackers were stale but edible. The strawberry jam was a brown oxidized color but also somewhat edible. The beef stew was... Well sadly I didn't take pictures when I originally tried it out and I have no intention of eating it again. I initially thought it was ok, the smell was not off, the retort pouch looked to be in good condition, but, yea, towards the end I realized that there was an off metallic taste which I would have detected sooner had I not doused the meal in hot sauce. Ouch.

I did not get sick from the meal, but my stomach was a bit unhappy with me for a few hours. Just a bit of discomfort is all (aka "I'm getting too old for this s**t"). I will say though, the chocolate covered oatmeal cookie was in excellent condition.

Earlier tonight, after letting my sister know, I took the other 11 meals from her garage with the promise of actually replacing them with something edible and fit for consumption by her family (bro in law and two nephews).

So I tore everything down into components, but now I am in a bit of a dilemma. I'm pretty sure the entrees and sides are not worth eating, if that one beef stew was any indication (uuughhh...). The crackers and jam are edible I suppose, but I'm not that desperate. The only thing from that Beef Stew ration that didn't seem affected at all was the oatmeal cookie. So now I have a stack of those. 10, actually, because I did go ahead and eat a second one, just to make sure it was good.
For now the cookies are in my chocolate fridge, as the pictures above were at ambient temp of 85F or so. It's another long story, but yes I have a refrigerator dedicated to fine chocolates, which means temps are controlled to between 60-65 degrees. Truthfully while the two cookies I ate were fine, they're not really my thing (i.e. that "chocolate snob" thing) but I hate the idea of wasting them, as it seems like they might be a thing among MRE aficionados.

So what do I do with this stuff? Surely the entrees and sides should be thrown out. The crackers and jam probably also tossed. Should I just eat the cookies myself over Time or would it be better served to get them into the hands of someone who would appreciate them more than me? Or how about these little Tabasco bottles, the sauce may be almost brown, but looks like they're still liquid and quite frankly kind of cute.

So what should I do? I'm not above the idea of just mailing these things out to people who want to give them a taste if that's really a thing, assuming they cover shipping. But I don't know how common or rare they are or if that's even something worth doing (What's the point if they're a dime a dozen). Feedback appreciated.

[Eistee]

Those oatmeal cookies chocolate covered are quite a treat, its not so common to find them without them turned rancic, so i think that you will be able to get rid of them quite fast.

[Jared_St]

Long story short (but still rather long) I discovered a case of the civilian Mil-Spec brand MREs in my sister's garage a few days ago. Given how long ago these things ended production and the fact that these things had been stored in her garage, I figured I'd take one to test it out.
All 12 were there, six different meals twice. I went ahead and took a Beef Stew with me for giggles and tried it out. As expected the crackers were stale but edible. The strawberry jam was a brown oxidized color but also somewhat edible. The beef stew was... Well sadly I didn't take pictures when I originally tried it out and I have no intention of eating it again. I initially thought it was ok, the smell was not off, the retort pouch looked to be in good condition, but, yea, towards the end I realized that there was an off metallic taste which I would have detected sooner had I not doused the meal in hot sauce. Ouch.

I did not get sick from the meal, but my stomach was a bit unhappy with me for a few hours. Just a bit of discomfort is all (aka "I'm getting too old for this s**t"). I will say though, the chocolate covered oatmeal cookie was in excellent condition.

Earlier tonight, after letting my sister know, I took the other 11 meals from her garage with the promise of actually replacing them with something edible and fit for consumption by her family (bro in law and two nephews).

So I tore everything down into components, but now I am in a bit of a dilemma. I'm pretty sure the entrees and sides are not worth eating, if that one beef stew was any indication (uuughhh...). The crackers and jam are edible I suppose, but I'm not that desperate. The only thing from that Beef Stew ration that didn't seem affected at all was the oatmeal cookie. So now I have a stack of those. 10, actually, because I did go ahead and eat a second one, just to make sure it was good.
For now the cookies are in my chocolate fridge, as the pictures above were at ambient temp of 85F or so. It's another long story, but yes I have a refrigerator dedicated to fine chocolates, which means temps are controlled to between 60-65 degrees. Truthfully while the two cookies I ate were fine, they're not really my thing (i.e. that "chocolate snob" thing) but I hate the idea of wasting them, as it seems like they might be a thing among MRE aficionados.

So what do I do with this stuff? Surely the entrees and sides should be thrown out. The crackers and jam probably also tossed. Should I just eat the cookies myself over Time or would it be better served to get them into the hands of someone who would appreciate them more than me? Or how about these little Tabasco bottles, the sauce may be almost brown, but looks like they're still liquid and quite frankly kind of cute.

So what should I do? I'm not above the idea of just mailing these things out to people who want to give them a taste if that's really a thing, assuming they cover shipping. But I don't know how common or rare they are or if that's even something worth doing (What's the point if they're a dime a dozen). Feedback appreciated.

Darn that the mains are probably all bad, I miss the late 90's mre stuff I would devour them when I was a kid

[wats6831]

Long story short (but still rather long) I discovered a case of the civilian Mil-Spec brand MREs in my sister's garage a few days ago. Given how long ago these things ended production and the fact that these things had been stored in her garage, I figured I'd take one to test it out.
All 12 were there, six different meals twice. I went ahead and took a Beef Stew with me for giggles and tried it out. As expected the crackers were stale but edible. The strawberry jam was a brown oxidized color but also somewhat edible. The beef stew was... Well sadly I didn't take pictures when I originally tried it out and I have no intention of eating it again. I initially thought it was ok, the smell was not off, the retort pouch looked to be in good condition, but, yea, towards the end I realized that there was an off metallic taste which I would have detected sooner had I not doused the meal in hot sauce. Ouch.

I did not get sick from the meal, but my stomach was a bit unhappy with me for a few hours. Just a bit of discomfort is all (aka "I'm getting too old for this s**t"). I will say though, the chocolate covered oatmeal cookie was in excellent condition.

Earlier tonight, after letting my sister know, I took the other 11 meals from her garage with the promise of actually replacing them with something edible and fit for consumption by her family (bro in law and two nephews).

So I tore everything down into components, but now I am in a bit of a dilemma. I'm pretty sure the entrees and sides are not worth eating, if that one beef stew was any indication (uuughhh...). The crackers and jam are edible I suppose, but I'm not that desperate. The only thing from that Beef Stew ration that didn't seem affected at all was the oatmeal cookie. So now I have a stack of those. 10, actually, because I did go ahead and eat a second one, just to make sure it was good.
For now the cookies are in my chocolate fridge, as the pictures above were at ambient temp of 85F or so. It's another long story, but yes I have a refrigerator dedicated to fine chocolates, which means temps are controlled to between 60-65 degrees. Truthfully while the two cookies I ate were fine, they're not really my thing (i.e. that "chocolate snob" thing) but I hate the idea of wasting them, as it seems like they might be a thing among MRE aficionados.

So what do I do with this stuff? Surely the entrees and sides should be thrown out. The crackers and jam probably also tossed. Should I just eat the cookies myself over Time or would it be better served to get them into the hands of someone who would appreciate them more than me? Or how about these little Tabasco bottles, the sauce may be almost brown, but looks like they're still liquid and quite frankly kind of cute.

So what should I do? I'm not above the idea of just mailing these things out to people who want to give them a taste if that's really a thing, assuming they cover shipping. But I don't know how common or rare they are or if that's even something worth doing (What's the point if they're a dime a dozen). Feedback appreciated.

I will take them. Just send me a PM.