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So, took a stroll to the local Surplus store, and found yet another brown bag MRE.

I swear, this guy's gotta have a case of these somewhere.

Anyways, looking at the contents inside I found

Beef Stew TS 8oz

Pound Cake

Peanut Butter

Crackers

Bev Base w/ Sugar

Unknown flavor
Hot Sauce
Spoon
Acc Pkt A

FRH

So, since this is my third brown bag, thought its about time to try some of this stuff.
First up was the CRACKERS, PEANUT BUTTER, and LEMON POUND CAKE



Crackers: perfectly fine, tasted great.

Peanut Butter: AMAZINGINLY okay, tasted great spread on the crackers.

Lemon Pound Cake: when i first bit into it, it had a faint taste of lemon and tasted really good. Then, the aftertaste was a complete disaster, it felt like there was metal under my tounge Even after washing it down with Pepsi, the taste was so strong, I had to scrap it out of my mouth.

Could this be why? It was falling apart in the packing.

Then, a few days later I had the gut to try the BEVERAGE BASE, SUGAR.

Here it is, it looks a bit like uhm...
Turns out the flavor was Lemon Lime. I took a few sips, but something in my gut that I was going to get really sick drinking this, so it went down the drain.

Cheers.

the beverage base powder nearly newer goes bad,only if puncture holes in it
but than you will feel the powder is lumpy.
nothing in the powder should make it bad that will make you ill.

the pound cakes from this time can go bad because of the
fresh packs,the packs falls apart as you noticed
and the stuff inside react with the cake...

the crackers are always a winner,i have never found
one bad in al my time eating old style mres
and i have eaten a lot so far
same goes with the peanut spread,high oil content and sugar.
cant say the same with cheese spread

looking forward to see the beef stew test,makes my mouth watering

cheers norge

ElevatorFan73 wrote: Lemon Pound Cake: when i first bit into it, it had a faint taste of lemon and tasted really good. Then, the aftertaste was a complete disaster, it felt like there was metal under my tounge Even after washing it down with Pepsi, the taste was so strong, I had to scrap it out of my mouth.

Could this be why? It was falling apart in the packing.

Of course, it could. These packages contain iron. That iron has a very high affinity to oxygen. No oxygen - no spoil.

norge wrote:the beverage base powder nearly newer goes bad,only if puncture holes in it
but than you will feel the powder is lumpy.
nothing in the powder should make it bad that will make you ill.

the pound cakes from this time can go bad because of the
fresh packs,the packs falls apart as you noticed
and the stuff inside react with the cake...

the crackers are always a winner,i have never found
one bad in al my time eating old style mres
and i have eaten a lot so far
same goes with the peanut spread,high oil content and sugar.
cant say the same with cheese spread

looking forward to see the beef stew test,makes my mouth watering

cheers norge

Don't get your hopes up on the beef stew thing, i am trying to steer away from it.

Great pics ElevatorFan73! Sorry to hear about the lemon poundcake aftertaste, but I believe that norge is right about the reaction with the fresh pack. I was lucky with the MCI poundcake when we got it because for some reason it never got a funny taste, nor did the chocolate toffee disc. I do recall a funny taste with the spaghetti and some of the other MCIs that had sauces, but that was probably a reaction with the can. It is probably a good idea to steer clear of any fruit jelly or cheesespread pouches that you might get with MREs from the early 1990s however.

I think the stew might still be ok. Maybe...

I once had a 10 year old one, but never a 21 year old stew.

Impressive. I hope you are strong of stomach just in case. (or have TRIcare or something)

MREs are like wine. They get better with age right?... or at least the fruit cake does from old MCIs.

Menu_9_Stew wrote: I once had a 10 year old one, but never a 21 year old stew.

I´m currently eating 2003 MREs - 11 years old with no lost. Except the coffee is molded always.

But 21 years is a "challenge"