Today's MRE is a brown bag throwback to 1993-1994. Date stamps indicate 1992 production. It is a Menu 8, The Ham slice in natural juice with escalloped potatoes. Found this one and a Menu 3 (Chicken Stew) at a, of all places, model railroad show. Paid $5 for both menus.
A. Accessory - Coffee: No issues with the Taster's Choice instant coffee. (Well, no issues beyond the fact that it is instant coffee
) Coffee and creamer still in powder form with no sign of mold or contamination. The instant mixed up as it if were made today. The CoffeeMate mixed in well, with no lumping or discoloration. Excepting the Tabasco sauce, all remaining of the contents were fine. B. Brownie - Think of a Little Debbie that was left alone in a food dehydrator for a week. Rather crunchy and satisfying in a strange way.
C. Cheese and Crackers. Cheese has turned to the brownish color and the taste was slightly off. Discarded the cheese and realized i wouldn't know a bad MRE cracker from a good one. (IS there a difference?)
D. Beverage Base - Basically instant Gatorade, no issues, discoloration or caking.
E. Cocoa Beverage Base - Generic Hot Chocolate, again no issues, discoloration or caking.
Entree and Side Dish
Heated both items in microwave oven.
F. The "Ham" Slice - Opened and drained the retort. Juices were clear with no sign of particles, mold, etc. No odor noticed. The inside of the retort showed some discoloration in spots. I think this may have been from the salt used in the curing process. First bite: Flavor was good, similar to SPAM (Which I actually like) with less salt taste Texture was what you would expect from particle meat.
G. Escalloped Potatoes - No obvious odors, the contents were all the same color. Not sure if this is intentional or not. The potato chunks have retained most of their texture. The sauce seemed rather bland with a metallic aftertaste. No real flavor beyond a hint of processed pasteurized cheese food product. Flavor was improved by a few drops of Tabasco sauce.
Overall, this was a pretty decent MRE considering product development when it was made and age.
