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2014 Menu 19 Jalapeno Pepper Jack Beef Patty

Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2015 8:20 pm
by Failsafe77
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Well to start with nothing was missing, so were off to a good start!

A few notes: Drink for this one was the sugar free lemonade (its in the accessory pack) its the tube type that's easy to pour into a bottled water. Its fine, has that fake sugar, Crystal Light type taste. Also this meal came with Ketchup and Mustard. These were larger packets (than the fast food type) and considered part of the meal, they are packaged in the MRE and not in the accessory pack. Kudos to the military for using Heinz and not some generic brand (im a ketchup lover!)
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The wheat snack bread (twin pack) I believe the idea here is they give you two pieces in the event that you want to make a sandwich out of your beef patty. I put the cheese spread on one, and left the other plain to eat along side the beef.
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The cookie was chocolate chunk. It was great! Semi-soft, very crumbly. It took me a while to place the taste and then my wife took a bite and nailed it when she said "tastes like Chips Ahoy!"
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Cocoa beverage powder was good also, tastes just like chocolate milk, the only problem is, as others have noted it makes very little. About 5-6 oz strong and 7-8 weak.
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Now for me the side dish in this MRE was the star of the show. The cherry blueberry cobbler was really amazing to me. It had whole (but smashed) cherries in a sweet blueberry puree and lumps of pie dough thrown in. It was sweet and lumpy, it tasted good and not generic at ALL! Now some of you might be wondering, as I was, why is this a side and not a dessert? Read on to the main entrée and ill tell you my opinion on it.
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The main dish was the Jalapeno pepper jack beef patty. Just so you know im not a fan of spicy food. The patty itself was dense and compact, it had the consistency of day old meatloaf. If you were going to make a sandwich out of this patty, you'd be all set. The meat is perfect consistency for it. As for the heat factor? Its up there! Granted my tolerance for spicy foods is low, but this thing did pack some heat. The meat itself was fine, tasted like a hamburger or meatloaf. The problem was it was masked by an overwhelming heat so I really couldn't enjoy it. So back to why they chose a cobbler as the side dish. My guess is the sweetness of the cobbler was just perfect to offset the heat and spice of the patty. I ate them side by side and it was delicious! I know it sounds odd eating cobbler with meat, but trust me on this one.
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It was also way better with ketchup! (my wife preffered it with mustard....yuck!)
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All in all, id say this was a fair MRE, not my favorite by any means but I did love the cobbler. Next time ill use more ketchup and maybe make a sandwich out of it. In hindsight the bland starchy wheat snack bread would help balance out the heat of the patty.

Re: 2014 Menu 19 Jalapeno Pepper Jack Beef Patty

Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2015 6:10 am
by housil
I really like that ketchup/mustard combo :D
As you may have noticed, your camera has focused at "something behind" so the close ups got "blurred". Does your camera has that "macro" function?

Re: 2014 Menu 19 Jalapeno Pepper Jack Beef Patty

Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2015 10:41 am
by Norton
That was a great review and I enjoyed it

Think that meal works as a nighttime dinner better than most U.S MREs.
Good information on the Cobbler I did not eat my desert, but I will take it next time and have it with coffee.
I agree on the Heinz condiments, the ketchup best you can get in USA and Yellow mustard is what most of us put on our hamburgers.
But I have reservations on the long term life of both. Will they begin to leak and ruin the rest of the meal?

I thought the meat had a Banquet U.S. Salisbury steak TV dinner texture myself. In the US we have several grades of frozen TV dinners. Thought it was similar to the best of our frozen dinners The bread does work with the meat
I scraped off the Jalapeno sauce, dried it and made a sort of in Field Hamburger.
Agreed the cookie was made in USA Chips Ahoy

Re: 2014 Menu 19 Jalapeno Pepper Jack Beef Patty

Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2015 9:50 pm
by Failsafe77
housil wrote:I really like that ketchup/mustard combo :D
As you may have noticed, your camera has focused at "something behind" so the close ups got "blurred". Does your camera has that "macro" function?
Yeah the issue is with the camera itself. I'm getting my other one dusted off to replace it. I use this one because its quick and handy but its got no manual focus and doesn't seem to want to focus on anything up close.

Re: 2014 Menu 19 Jalapeno Pepper Jack Beef Patty

Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2015 9:52 pm
by Failsafe77
I thought the meat had a Banquet U.S. Salisbury steak TV dinner texture myself. In the US we have several grades of frozen TV dinners. Thought it was similar to the best of our frozen dinners

Agreed. It reminded me texture and flavor wise of a Swanson frozen dinner. Maybe the salsbury steak or meatloaf kind.

Re: 2014 Menu 19 Jalapeno Pepper Jack Beef Patty

Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2015 10:51 pm
by rattattoo
Norton wrote:
I agree on the Heinz condiments, [...]
But I have reservations on the long term life of both. Will they begin to leak and ruin the rest of the meal?
I have always kept lots of the fast food restaurant packs of all kinds of condiments. I don't think I ever remember the packaging failing. Worst case scenario is that the flavor goes "off"... Especially on the ketchup... It turns dark and tastes metallic.
Of course, I can't speak for packages that are stored in an MRE pouch for years on end.
I'm an "eater", not a real collector, so it doesn't make a great deal of difference to me. I always carry along things to add flavor to my camping meals, MRE or not.
I used to just leave the condiment paks down cellar with the rest of my gear, but a year or so ago I started putting the new ones I pick up in a plastic snap-top tub in the fridge. This seems a good solution, as every one that I have taken out so far has been perfectly fresh.
[HINTz: you can even get sauerkraut packs at the food court in the Sam's Club, and and the Salsa Verde at KFC/Taco Bell is great]

I actually have been meaning to get together a post over on my https://moosenutfalls.wordpress.com/ blog about all the things I've found to add flavor to my outdoor meals without adding much weight do your pack load. I'll try to toss a link on here when I put that together.

Re: 2014 Menu 19 Jalapeno Pepper Jack Beef Patty

Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 9:23 pm
by dirtbag
The cherry Cobbler is even better hot!
Either pop it in the FRH, or on the dashboard on a warm day.
YUM!

Re: 2014 Menu 19 Jalapeno Pepper Jack Beef Patty

Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2015 6:39 pm
by PanzerDivision666
I was really stoked to get my hands on this menu at first, I can safely say now that when I see this one in my case, it will be field stripped and I will dispose of the entree altogether. I know it wasnt spoiled, but this meal made me so sick I could barely crawl into the bathroom. I was completely debilitated with pain, nausea, and also, the heat it has made eating it an endurance contest. Worst fucking experince I have EVER had with an MRE.

Re: 2014 Menu 19 Jalapeno Pepper Jack Beef Patty

Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 7:23 pm
by Apocalypse
Challenge accepted. Now to find one...