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I love the dehydrated fruit squares. Usually they are in perfect shape - as long as there aren't any pinholes, they are normally 100% the same as originally packaged.

First off, I never rehydrate them - biting into some dehydrated pears, for instance.. hmmm!

Here are 4 varieties that I will be presenting.

Sadly, 3 out of 4 here were no good!

Still felt they were worth showing - these fruits don't always hold up!

I always loved and enjoyed the dehydrated stuff.

Couple of years ago I bought some brown bags MRE's of the 80's in ebay and one of the things I enjoyed was the dried fruits.
I think I made a post about it with out pics.

Steve, also awesome review !

steve1989 wrote:...Sadly, 3 out of 4 here were no good!...

I´m surprised, all four closed pouches look good, it seems that vacuum was existent. Also the opened "Peaches" and "Strawberries" look ok, why were they not good?

The "Strawberries" were my favorite in past times, I do not understand why they abolished that freeze dried fruits in all kind of rations .

mreheater72

Awesome review and pics steve! When we first got the MREs (brown pouch, yes I'm old ) we were fascinated and amused by the pouches of styrofoam that kinda looked like and definately tasted kinda somewhat like fruit. Of course a few of the guys in my unit did not understand the relationship between freeze-dried fruit and drinking enough water in the field, so they drank soda pop or caffeinated coffee and gee what do you suppose happened after they ate 2-3 pouches of fruit-flavored styrofoam and did not drink enough water? Anyway, I liked the FD stuff but the MCI canned fruit was better. Another thing to remember: I was a medic in an infantry battalion and our recon scout section were the crazy ones who, among other things, would have a contest to see if they could eat enough of the FD fruit to make them not have to go while in the field----after a couple of them wound up in the hospital, it was not so much fun anymore.

mreheater72 wrote:Steve, also awesome review !

steve1989 wrote:...Sadly, 3 out of 4 here were no good!...

I´m surprised, all four closed pouches look good, it seems that vacuum was existent. Also the opened "Peaches" and "Strawberries" look ok, why were they not good?

The "Strawberries" were my favorite in past times, I do not understand why they abolished that freeze dried fruits in all kind of rations .

mreheater72

Hey mreheater!

I am sad to tell you the strawberries had a pinhole, the square was moist, flexible, and certainly not appetizing looking - not normal for an FD-Fruit!

The Peaches were also moist and really kinda grotesque! Also, not edible.
I feel that my pictures on these FD-Fruits did not quite achieve the actual in-person experience that I like to give.


Still, it can show that these things don't quite last forever under certain circumstances.

rationtin440 wrote:Awesome review and pics steve! When we first got the MREs (brown pouch, yes I'm old ) we were fascinated and amused by the pouches of styrofoam that kinda looked like and definately tasted kinda somewhat like fruit. Of course a few of the guys in my unit did not understand the relationship between freeze-dried fruit and drinking enough water in the field, so they drank soda pop or caffeinated coffee and gee what do you suppose happened after they ate 2-3 pouches of fruit-flavored styrofoam and did not drink enough water? Anyway, I liked the FD stuff but the MCI canned fruit was better. Another thing to remember: I was a medic in an infantry battalion and our recon scout section were the crazy ones who, among other things, would have a contest to see if they could eat enough of the FD fruit to make them not have to go while in the field----after a couple of them wound up in the hospital, it was not so much fun anymore.

Hey Rationtin! Thanks for the feedback!

I would have loved to seen some goofy folks getting sick off FD-Fruits! I would have been one of the ones eating the most!

So MCI Canned Fruit was better? I wish I could try one but I know there is a good chance there isn't even one left that is safe to eat!

Thankyou for your service, by the way! I'll bet you have all sorts of cool stories and I feel honored you sharing some of that with me here - makes it all worth posting reviews of rations to be appreciated!

With that being said, long live the MRE Freeze Dried Fruit Squares!

Thank you for the kind compliments Steve! I started out as an M-113 ambulance track crewman (driver) with the 110th Armor and then that unit was disbanding so I wound up as a medic with the 181st Infantry MAARNG. The main issue with the FD fruit squares was not the squares themselves but that we medics constantly had to tell alleged adults (our fellow soldiers/any MOS except 91A) to stop bringing soda pop to the field if they were going to have these ridiculous contests with the MRE parts that you had to drink ALOT of water to digest properly. They would do other I.Q.-questioning stuff like putting beverage base powder in their canteens, mix the water, drink it, and then forget to clean and dis-infect them before the next drill weekend. But the silliest thing by far was the "how many FD fruit blocks can I eat without drinking water so I don't have to dig a cat-hole this weekend" contest. The MCI canned fruit was better tasting, but unfortunately every can I've ever seen since about 1994 was either bulging or leaking. Another big advantage of MREs over MCIs of course was the pouch which avoided one having to find places to stick the cans, although as I was assigned to a vehicle, my two crew-mates and I had plenty of space to store stuff.

steve1989 wrote: So MCI Canned Fruit was better? I wish I could try one but I know there is a good chance there isn't even one left that is safe to eat!

I also had eaten both. The canned MCI fruits were like these grocery "fruit cocktails" and I relay liked them - no as much as "Spaghetti w/ meat balls", but they were "OK".
When we got the first brown MREs in 1986/87, we were more "impressed" and curious about these fancy dehydrated items like beef patty or these fruits. But against all odd´s, they tasted great, like "fruits" and I also really liked them.

One of my favorite desserts back when we still had the MCIs was to take the poundcake and a can of fruit and have them together,or the chocolate toffee disc broken into pieces with the canned fruit was good also.