MRE review article in The Salt Lake Tribune

[kman]

Check out this MRE review article that was just published in the Salt Lake Tribune:

Word of mouth on Ready-to-Eat
http://www.sltrib.com/food/ci_8534039

There's also an accompanying video which I'll link up below.

Overall, I was a little worried this would be another "Bring in chefs to review MREs and listen to them trash the MREs". But surprisingly, they actually reviewed 17 out of the 24 MREs and the reviews were more well-balanced than I've ever seen. Their complaints about the Cheese & Veggie Omelet are right on the money "I'm curious how this could be described as an omelet". And the Chicken Fajita comment, "this one is ridiculous - the texture of the chicken in the sauce was worse than it was by itself" had me nodding my head in agreement. But they also had good reviews of Beef Enchilads, Penne Pasta, Veggie Burger, etc.

Check it out. Here's an excerpt...just click on the link for the whole thing:

Word of mouth on Ready-to-Eat (with video)
Utah chefs dig in to see if MREs deserve their unsavory reputation

By Matthew D. LaPlante
The Salt Lake Tribune
03/11/2008

Let's be perfectly fair: A military Meal, Ready-to-Eat has to be able to withstand an airdrop from thousands of feet, last in storage at temperatures of 100 degrees for six months, and sate the ravenous hunger of - and provide a full day's worth of calories for - a U.S. Marine, for example, after a hard day at war.

Given those parameters, the MREs provided by the U.S. military to its combat troops - some of whom prefer the names "Meal, Rarely Edible" and "Meal, Rejected by the Enemy," among other, less printable designations - might simply be the best the Pentagon can do.

After all, you go to war with the grub you've got, right?

[...]

Cheese & Vegetable Omelet
Average rating: 2.3
Kreisel was dumbfounded. "I'm curious how this could be described as an omelet," he wondered. "It doesn't really taste like eggs or vegetables or cheese. There's very much a refried bean-like taste and texture." "It looks terrible!" Montecot added. "Visually not appealing," Gassman concluded.

[...]

Chicken with Noodles
Average rating: 5.7
After more than a dozen entrees, Gassman seemed relieved to find one that was passingly edible. "This is the best so far," she said. "It tastes, looks and feels like chicken with noodles!" Kreisel agreed: "It's sort of like Campbell's," he said. "Definitely solid as a meal."

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

You can watch the video on the article site above or here via YouTube:

[German_EPA]

thats a pretty cool video

look at the faces while tasting

[BigMark]

My only objection is they should have scaled it. If the BEST one they tasted was a 5, they should have made that the 10 and rated everything accordingly. They didn't have the chilimac, that's the problem. Plus the one guy who thought all the tomato sauce tasted like medicine which is BS IME. Still fun to read what other people think about them. I always tell my friends to think of them as TV dinners you can eat 10 years from now, not as gourmet food. Pairing them with wine is funny, but it goes to show the kind of people who were doing the tasting. I would also have liked to see them review the meal as a whole. Sure maybe the veggie burger is just okay, but that scone is the bomb. It should be taken into account, but I guess you can just buy entrees.

Kman needs to arrange the MREinfo get together, we can all gather somewhere cool, like Texas , bust out a few cases, have everyone try everything and rate it, and write our own 35 meal report.

[Big Galloot]

They didn't seem to like the chicken dishes. I'm thinking of sending them on of my Country Captains.

[MCIera]

Wouldn't it be a big surprise if they decided that it was the epitome of retort fusion cooking and gave it a high rating?

They didn't seem to like the chicken dishes. I'm thinking of sending them on of my Country Captains.