2006 Beef & Veg MRE

[rattattoo]

As I have mentioned several times previously, I tend to be an end-user for my MRE's. Generally, my own habit is to repack the meals to cut down on the bulk.

I had a beef and vegetable meal dated 2006 that I had repacked in this shorty thermos to carry in my car. [the printing on the package actually says, "Beef Roast with Vegetables"] I hate fast food joints, and because almost everything here in Western Maine is 35 miles or more, and an hour or more away, I always carry snack food and something I can heat and eat in my little SUV. As you can see in the photo, I added in a few store-bought items. For this one, it was just a few mini-chocolate bars and hard candies, along with a I Nestlé's brand Momento Mocha cappuchino mix.

The rest of the items should pretty much be what it coming the original meal bag.

After eight months on the floor boards behind the seat, subjected to freezing temperatures over winter and now to the heat of early summer, I figured it was probably time to change out one meal for another. And, rather than put this oldie-goldie back down cellar, I figured I would just heat it up and eat it.
All the packages appeared to be completely intact with no signs of leakage or fatigue, so I figured it was safe to take a chance. I eat, you see if I live.

Here is my DIY, Tyvek and mylar-foil heating pouch, together with the beef and veggie main in an FRH. Because I strip, and throw away most of the MRE packaging I wanted some type of insulated bag to help maximize the heat from the FRH. The first one I had made was using the actual heavy vinyl MRE meal pouch and bubble wrap, but this unit is only about a third of the weight of the original. [save those Tyvek mailing envelopes... You can do an awful lot of DIY stuff with them].

This FRH was dated 2006 just like the meal. Predictably, it failed to heat at all. Since with all my aging FRH's this is becoming a regular occurrence, I went for the fallback position. I tried simply boiling up some water and filling up the pouch, still inside my DIY heating pouch, to see if the bag could withstand nearly boiling temperatures. It did. After 10 minutes, I had an beef and vegetable dinner heated to the temperature that I would've expected from a fully-functioning FRH.

The 2006 "Beef Roast with Vegetables" simply squeezed out into a bowl, and untouched/unstirred.
It is pretty much the same as beef stew. It has reasonably sized pieces of meat, and cubes of potato, but the only identifiable vegetable was carrot. I was impressed with the "truth in packaging". The beef was the main ingredient, and was not outweighed by the fillers. It did not have a great deal of sauce even after it was stirred up, although it was perfectly moist.
And, as with almost every other MRE main meal that I've tried, it was BLAND!bland!bland!

Since this was home kitchen cooking, I added a little sour cream, some catchup and some Montréal steak spice. The result was quite decent. And I appear to still be alive the next day.
I have always found almost all of the US MRE beef dishes to be dependably good. I never regret taking one along on a trip. This one was no exception and I'll be interested to have a chance to compare it with the beef and vegetable meal that's currently available.
[... I do wish they would bring back the old beef and mushroom from the early 2000's]

Here's the bowl after being run through my Labrador9000 Pre-Wash Unit.
Since yesterday was the Fourth of July here in the United States, and I didn't want to fill up too much before going out to stuff my face at a picnic, I didn't actually bother with eating any of the rest of the items from the complete meal. They were the usual assortment of peanut butter, crackers, osmotic raisins and Kool-Aid/Gatorade. It did include one of the Pangea pumpkin pound cakes. [that will probably be meeting a bowl of French vanilla ice cream some night soon].
I have a few more of these 06, 07 and 08 meals that I need to eat my way through. I will try to do a review each time I break one out. Hope you enjoyed it.
Onward through the fog...

[Norton]

Great review, I am going camping tonight and have to pick my evening meal. You inspired me.
You know how to pack things down bro

I thought about making the mylar heater bag stove for hiking trips to cut down on weight.
But I still need a stove for coffee, I am still working on the packing list.
Maybe Mylar and G.I. canteen cup stove. ( Still thinking)
Tried a 1993 heater bag few nights ago and though it was no good. In about 20 minutes it was nice and warm. Stayed warm for about 20 minutes.

[rattattoo]

...for hiking trips to cut down on weight.
But I still need a stove for coffee, I am still working on the packing list.

Look into making a little "pop can" alcohol stove. They are the perfect thing for heating water.
Here's a link to four or five blog posts I've done on stoves over at "Moosenut Falls"
http://moosenutfalls.wordpress.com/tag/stoves/
There are couple [with links] related to alcohol stoves... Cheap, handy, efficient, and lightweight.

You also might want to check out the rest of the blog. A lot of it relates to my effort to cut down and optimize my gear to cut down on my pack loadout. I'm 64, and I can't tote stuff the way I used to.