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Yesterday we had a couple of guys over for dinner. For dessert I decided to pimp the apfelstrudel with vanilla ice cream AND a T-18 apple dessert:



This is the tray where the dessert came from


2005 (Edit:1995!!)


Well, I´m sorry to say, but...

...it was worse than the picture seem´s
They had a dark brown color as you can see at the first picture, not this bright from the flash lighted picture, some "white crumbs" inside and the taste was "poor", but not spoiled nor metallic. So I sprinkled some cinnmaon on them to make a "spiced apples" like taste but after I tried them, I pleased my guest not to eat them and apologized

I don´t know how they should look/taste when they are "new", but I´ll never buy them again. I had the T-18 bluberry and cherry(?) dessert before - they were great!!

I have tried 2 in plastic trays...

they are awful


Animals didnt even eat when i chucked it out for them

I know that the DSCP lists the shelf life for UGRs as 18 months, and I think it was the same for the metal tray T-18 predecessors. I'm not 100% certain, but I think that's what the 18 in T-18 stood for. So those apples were quite a bit beyond that date. I have about 40 UGRs, most from 2011 and some from 10, 09 and 08 and I'd assume most if not all are still good since I store them at roughly 55F, but I still do the ol' sniff and tiny taste test before cooking them up for folks.

The 18 is for 18 servings per tray.

The one of the two i had was "fresh",just is not a good taste at all

nothing like apples or what you would imagine

NNF is right, the T-18 is for "tray, 18 servings".
I have almost 100 T-18 with all different kinds and give them a try from time to time. Mostly cakes.The cakes NEVER spoil due to their lot´s of sugar.
But you are right, the newer T-18 have a shorter shelf like these.

but I still do the ol' sniff and tiny taste test before cooking them up for folks.

I eat mine and I´m still fine but didn´t dare to serve them to my dinner guest´s

That is very sad !

housil wrote: 2005

Olli, I´m quite sure: 1995 not 2005 , 18 years for a "Apple Dessert" is a very long time!

As I know the last metal trays were packed 2003!

Wet fruits are a problem, they were also the items of MCIs that always get spoiled first.

mreheater72 wrote: Olli, I´m quite sure: 1995 not 2005 , 18 years for a "Apple Dessert" is a very long time!

WOW 18 years...
You are right, for 18 years it was still "OK".

18 yrs is more likely indeed since it's the metal canister/tray.
The 'newer'ones are the plastic tray's.

But 18 yrs is impressive! chrs, Nawt.

Nawt wrote: The 'newer'ones are the plastic tray's.

Ja I know, I have plenty of both.

I'm so sorry to see all the problems you're having with the T-Rat desserts housil! It seems like the U.S. DOD got what they thought was a good system but the stuff did not store as well as they thought. Very happy to hear that neither you nor your guests were sickened by the bad dessert. I recall eating T-Rats in the 1990s during part of my service time and we never had issues with them, mostly because back then they were pretty new and the stuff we got was carefully stored in underground bunkers at Fort Devens and other places with strict regulations. Unless you know for sure under what conditions the T-Rats have been stored, it can be a gamble. After 18 years, who knows what conditions such as temperature changes could have affected yours.