1993 Omelet with Ham MRE Review

Reviews and taste-tests of any MREs from 1981-present
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SentientTootsieRoll
Posts: 463
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2016 2:26 pm
Location: US

1993 Omelet with Ham MRE Review

Post by SentientTootsieRoll » Sat Nov 14, 2020 2:42 pm

For breakfast this morning I grabbed this Omelet with Ham MRE produced in 1993 by So-Pak-Co. This is one that I have not tried before so I was pretty excited to try it out!

Here's what the front and back of the ration looked like.
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This was the inside of the ration prior to removing its contents.
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Here are all the components laid out on a tray. It includes omelet with ham, potatoes au gratin, oatmeal cookie bar, M&M's, apple jelly, tabasco sauce, crackers, cocoa beverage powder, lemonade diet soft drink mix, an accessory packet and a flameless ration heater.
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Here's a closeup of the omelet with ham and potatoes au gratin in their retort pouches. I didn't want to rely on the flameless ration heater so I put these in boiling water for about 10 minutes.
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This is what was included in the accessory packet.
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I'll take any opportunity I can to prepare an Army mocha, so that's exactly what I did.
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For those that are curious, here's what the back of the M&M packaging looked like.
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And last but certainly not least, here's the whole MRE prepared and hopefully ready to eat!
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Except, it wasn't. The omelet smelled like a mixture of expired peanuts and burned rubber. I took a small bite and it tasted exactly like that, except it left a sour numbness in my mouth, so I had to spit it out. For those that will insist that it was like that when it was new, I saw dark mold-like spots inside the retort pouch so it was definitely going make me sick if I ate the entire thing. The same applied to the potatoes au gratin. Time definitely didn't do them any justice. The potatoes au gratin also left a sour taste in my mouth and they smelled like long-expired cheese. You may also be able to see that they are almost dark brown, I don't think they are supposed to look like that.

The third elephant in the room is the M&M's. They actually still tasted good but I think heat or something got to them since they were powdered up. I added the apple jelly to the crackers and it tasted pretty rough but was still edible. It looks a lot like grape jelly, it's supposed to be a much lighter color than that. That's what ultimately lead me to believe that this MRE was stored in a hot environment for too long. The oatmeal cookie bar was pretty tasty. If you've had Datrex bars, it's almost like that but thicker and sweeter. Although it tastes vaguely like a dog treat I still enjoy them. The lemonade tasted just like any off-the-shelf powdered sugar free lemonade, it wasn't a bad way to quench the thirst. Lastly, the Army mocha was amazing, however I still prefer it with the coffee instant type I found in the MREs from the 1980s since it makes it taste sharper and fresher.

cavguy
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Re: 1993 Omelet with Ham MRE Review

Post by cavguy » Sat Nov 14, 2020 10:08 pm

This was actually one of my favorite meals back in the day, except the potatoes-all-rotten, lol (never liked those when when new). There was also a metal T-Ration that had the same omelet with ham menu, tasted just as good!

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Tedster
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Re: 1993 Omelet with Ham MRE Review

Post by Tedster » Sat Nov 14, 2020 10:56 pm

A lot of people did not care for that menu. It was not my first choice, that's for sure. I believe it was nicknamed "Vomelet - w/ Potatoes R Rotten" . I didn't mind it too much, because it was filling. Eggs stick to the gut and leave a feller feeling full for a while. And they were almost edible, particularly if one had the foresight to save up a Cheese Spread and mix that in. For some reason eggs are very difficult to preserve or prepare for long term storage, they don't dehydrate well at all, and freeze-dried aren't a whole lot better. I have to give NATICK a solid A- on this, just because. Eggs are good protein.

The combo knife sharpener & oatmeal cookie bar was one of my favorites, because it was filling. All I could ever think of when eating those was "Sure wish I had an ice cold tall glass of milk!".

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