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The other night I finally cracked open my newest case of MREs (from 2004) and had the Chicken Tetrazini. Almost everything in there was fine except for the blackberry jam. It must have had a pinprick leak or something because the jam had started leaking out of the top. Here's a picture of it (click on it for a bigger version):



Normally, I would think this was just bad luck on my part, but I've heard a number of stories (especially from DirtyDave) about finding MREs with bad parts. I don't recall seeing many of these in all the various cases from 2000-2002 that I've had. How about the rest of you? Has QA just gone down the drain at the factories?

I usually rotate my MREs in and out of stock - so I try to eat the older ones first. In this case, I want to try the newer MREs so I jumped straight for the 2004s. I can only imagine what this jam would have looked like if I had let it sit for a year or two before opening it up.

That pasta with alfredo seems to be the biggest problem for me. The stuff always seems to taste too bad to consume. The mashed potatos are always horrible, too bad to consume and the few leaking bottles of Tabasco that I have encountered that you mentioned in another post Kman. Those have been the problems that I can recall at this time that I have had. I have not seen any leaking jam yet in any of my cases.

No leakage whatsoever for me.

But i got to complain about the Instant Coffee that comes with the Commercial MRE.

Its shite. Its only makes blackish water undrinkable to humans.

I think that instant coffee is the same whether it's in the commerical or military MRE. But that's MRE coffee for you - it might not be the best but it sure is better than just drinking hot water.

Personally, I've always hated that cheap tasters choice crap fake coffee. I would rather have the old type packs of GI instant coffee. Hell, they still make foil packs of creamer, non-dairy from Jianas bros. That T-C coffee crap gets old and goes bad, seems like. Gets all black and hard, from moisture or bad packaging I suspect.

You mean you like the older MCI coffee better? I tried that stuff once (from a 25 year old packet) and thought it was ok. Maybe I need to have a taste-off...MCI coffee vs. MRE coffee. I could take some pictures but it'd probably just look like one cup of coffee vs. another.

Exactly. 1980's and early '90's MRE's had the (What I call, the GI coffee packs). Tasters choice arn't that bad, if the coffee has'nt turned black and hard as a rock, like some I've seen. I've eaten a few GI packs of instant coffee, and downed it with a big swig of water.(Of course, that was when I really wanted some caffiene and ascorbic acid, and did'nt have the time and/or means to heat up a canteen cup).

DangerousDave wrote:Exactly. 1980's and early '90's MRE's had the (What I call, the GI coffee packs). Tasters choice arn't that bad, if the coffee has'nt turned black and hard as a rock, like some I've seen. I've eaten a few GI packs of instant coffee, and downed it with a big swig of water.(Of course, that was when I really wanted some caffiene and ascorbic acid, and did'nt have the time and/or means to heat up a canteen cup).

Yeah, I was going to jump in and say something yesterday. I've found that most folks that consume the coffee dont mix it up. They put it on thier tongue and let is disolve and then chase it with some water. Most guys think that gives them some caffiene but I'm not sure it works that well. Maybe I was too tired when I tried it.