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For lunch today, it was either stop a fast food place on the way home or dig into one of the 2003 MREs (that's year 2003, not quantity 2003 )MREs I had in the car. The MREs won.

The date packed on this MRE was 3150 (May 2003) and I have to say - it held up pretty well. I'm pretty sure this particular case of MREs was part of the Katrina relief in Louisiana and after it was picked up there, it spent the next few years in an unheated/un-air conditioned shed in North Carolina before it would up in my hands.

Here's what was in it:

Bean & Rice Burrito
Crackers
Peanut Butter
Peaches
Fudge Brownie

The actual entree took *forever* to heat up with the enclosed FRH. I filled it up with water, sloshed it around the FRH real good, and then put it back in the entree box and propped it up against "a rock or something". I heard some hissing as it started heating but after ten minutes, it was hardly warm at all. So I opened the FRH back up, put a little more water in, and sealed it back up and waited. *Finally* after another 10 minutes, the FRH was pretty hot. It could have used another 10 minutes in the heater but the crackers and peanut butter were long gone (tasty, fresh as the date they were packed) so I took the entree out of the heater.

The actual Bean and Rice Burrito wasn't too bad but it *really* needed to be hotter. MRE rice just isn't that great cold...or even warm. But with the added packet of Picante Sauce, the burritos weren't bad.

I skipped the peaches for now (wasn't that hungry) and ate the brownie later in the afternoon for a snack. The Fudge Brownie wasn't the freshest I've ever seen - this one was a little dry and tasted like compressed MRE Cocoa Beverage Powder. But it was still good...even if it was a little dry. But the cool thing about dry MRE fudge brownies is that you can see the sugar crystals condensing on the outside of the brownie and they add a bit of extra "crunch" when you bite into it.

So all told, five year MREs stored in less-than-ideal conditions are still very tasty and haven't let me down yet.

Sorry...no pics...this was a pic-free lunch.

Sounds good Kman!

I had a 2004 wheat snack bread with cheese spread yesterday. The WSB was great, but the cheese spread tasted a bit 'off', i ate it anyway. After that i had a Molasses Cookie, now i don't know how these are supposed to taste but i don't like them at all Are Molasses Cookies supposed to be that tough/hard?

Unfortunately, yes. I think those cookies are supposed to be hard. At least, the last two I ate were.

Mmmmmmm, MRE Burrito.

Enough said!

You made the right choice, I'd have an MRE over fast food anyday .

I've yet to try the fudge brownies. I always imagined them tasting like the brownies you get in hungry man dinners...

Yeah, not quite as good but close enough. If you warmed it up it'd probably be a little better though.

kman wrote: The date packed on this MRE was 3150 (May 2003) .....
Here's what was in it:

Bean & Rice Burrito
Crackers
Peanut Butter
Peaches
Fudge Brownie

Hi Kman,

sounds like an ok lunch. I took a look at my .xls (I try to keep track of all rations I eat, note what;s in them and how I valued them for taste. It's also easier to detect oddities).

I had one earlier this month (d.o.p. 3095) and have to say that it was indeed ok. The burito didn't heat up that well as it should have (warmed it up for +/- 15 min), but was ok. With the picante sauce it was nice.

Here's what was in the MRE:

Bean & rice burito
picante sauce
crackers
fruitbar: apple cinnamon (Daddy Ray's: Nutra fruit [never had that one before])
pound cake (lemon)
pineaple
peanut butter
ass.pack C.

Regards Nawt.

Nawt wrote: sounds like an ok lunch. I took a look at my .xls (I try to keep track of all rations I eat, note what;s in them and how I valued them for taste. It's also easier to detect oddities).

That actually is a *very* good idea, i'm gonna start doing that from now on also.

First entree will be:

Molasses Cookie - Dont eat.