2013 MRE Trans Fat Free Brownie (And 1995 & 2004 DoP's)

[steve1989]

Hey guys, I'm over at Disney's Magic Kingdom, and I'm eating a trans fat free brownie from a 2013 dop mre I believe it was menu 2 Chicken Fajita that this dessert was part of.

It's more moist than old school mre brownies. Same flavor, different consistancy. The texture is moist, spongy, and the flavor is up to par on my standards, but Carol says it's not "fudgy" enough. So my thoughts for Sterling Foods? Add more cocoa!

The little chocolate "flavor drops"(how i can describe the appearence) in it added most the flavor.

As you can see, I'm still thrilled I finally got a chance to try it!

MRE desserts are still my favorite desserts around and this is no exception.


Still, nothing beats (not even close) the legendary Chocolate Covered Cookie!

More reviews to come. This was just an afterthought - hope the pics aren't too awful.
Thanks for looking!

-Steve

[steve1989]

These Fudge Brownies have been around for a little while now - let's look at a 2004 DoP and then go old-school with a 1995 DoP brownie and see how they held up in 2015.


A thought, since there is significantly less (Possibly none at all) hydrogenated oil in the Trans-Fat Free Brownie, is the shelf life reduced? I am curious of how they will hold up by say, the year 2025.




MCW Fudge Brownie was slightly dry but still tasty - actually I almost like this one more than the current Brownie - maybe it's nostalgia but maybe the old school trans-fat filled ones taste a little better, but I will say it seemed drier but also slightly more chocolatey and satisfying.




The pictured (on following post) 1995 DoP Fudge Brownie didn't taste or smell good. Started to go "Fruity" rancid and also smelled metallic. I don't know if many mid-90's Fudge Brownies are floating around anymore, but I can almost guarantee most intact specimens are no longer edible.

[rationtin440]

It never fails----every time the folks in Natick try to make MREs more "healthy" for our troops, what usually happens is either sugar free drink mixes that give some troops scratchy throats and headaches, or dessert cakes and brownies that leave an after taste in the mouth. I was lucky to get out of the military before the "healthy improvements" started coming. Ah the MCIs we had at first (sigh); all we had to deal with were the occasional rancid nuts from the dessert cakes, the occasional rock hard instant coffee packets, and of course the green paint flakes that managed to find their way into the food no matter how carefully you opened the can. I don't recall ever seeing any effort made to make the MCIs more "healthy."

[steve1989]

1995 DoP Fudge Brownie, Shelf Stable.

[steve1989]

It never fails----every time the folks in Natick try to make MREs more "healthy" for our troops, what usually happens is either sugar free drink mixes that give some troops scratchy throats and headaches, or dessert cakes and brownies that leave an after taste in the mouth. I was lucky to get out of the military before the "healthy improvements" started coming. Ah the MCIs we had at first (sigh); all we had to deal with were the occasional rancid nuts from the dessert cakes, the occasional rock hard instant coffee packets, and of course the green paint flakes that managed to find their way into the food no matter how carefully you opened the can. I don't recall ever seeing any effort made to make the MCIs more "healthy."

I completely agree with you, rationtin, and I must add, those sugar free drink mixes are god awful and do not provide any advantages to field performance.
And personally, I love the MRE Pound Cakes and most of the Sterling/Pangea snacks, but there are still those times where something does not hold up well or what have you. For instance, I just had some HDR Shortbread from 2003 and it was better than the Shortbread from a HDR with a 2010 DoP. I think because the 2003 one had more shortening, it was more dense, and was vacuum sealed. The 2010 one was more of an airy cookie (less dense) and it was not vacuum sealed. Will provide photos as soon as I get my phone's last 3-400 pics uploaded from the Summer.

It's funny, after your comment, I decided to open up 3 "B" - Units. B-1A, B-2, and B-3A all with a 68' DoP.. and of course take thorough pics. I hope I don't get sick from opening the b2 because the cheese I opened up inside of it was so sickly rancid and moldy (got good pics will provide asap) it stunk up my kitchen and I hope mold spores or some crap doesn't infest my lungs. I am serious I had to take it out to the trash can by the street it's the worst thing I ever smelled.

Back to the point, I wanted to get some pictures of the MCI desserts so you had some nice photos to reminisce. But maybe the 68's were a tad before your time. Your MCI's were post 71's most likely right? Or did the MCI's you ate in the Service contain cigs?

I wish I coulda eaten the chocolate fudge bar - but as always, those fudge bars have sorbitol and egg alubmen which goes bad over time. All cans hissed - I think the B-1's crackers were still edible, but I was so sick from the bad air.

Worst Ration thing I've ever smelled.


Ok, all this talk I am uploading the B-unit photos tonight if I can stay awake.

[rationtin440]

Yes indeed steve1989, those MCIs want everyone to know when they start to rot! We had MCIs from 1980, the last year they were manufactured, so we did not get cigs, also no sandwich cookies no ham and lima beans but as I said it never failed that the nut cakes always had rancid nuts, I guess 6-7 years was stretching the freshness on some of the items. As for your concerns, I'd say as long as you neither ingested the contents nor somehow managed to inhale any minute quantities of the B-2 unit, you should be fine (you did wash your hands after getting rid of the cans, yes?). I do miss the chocolate toffee discs and vanilla fudge discs from the MCIs but the MREs of the 1990s had much better stuff in them.

[steve1989]

I wish i could have tried edible MCI's. Heheh, so they had some spoiled stuff even back then, huh? I always love when you share your experiences and your take on the Rations we talk about.
Hoping I did not inhale anything, but after a few days now I will tell you this, my lymph glands in my neck are swollen and I feel like I'm fighting off a cold. Hopefully that has more to do with my girlfriend was sick early this past week and I caught that and nothing to do with putrid cheese mold hahah. I'm sure I am fine.

I also did not try any of it - don't think anyone could have even paid me to try that cheese. Yes sir, washed my hands about 3 times with Dawn soap. But also washed out the B-2 unit can and scrubbed, and then soaked it. I saved it because first off, I feel badly throwing out old Ration stuff, and secondly it was an extremely cool experience and I always want to remember it.

I think the best desserts are from early MRE's. Nut cakes, chocolate covered cookie, chocolate brownie, and the cool dark packaging. I will always have fond memories of having fresh dark-pouch MRE's!

[rationtin440]

I do enjoy posting my MCI memories here, although I will say that I wish we had the MREs all along in my first days of service because about the only things I remember from the MCIs that were really good were the beans w/meatballs in tomato sauce, the toffee discs, and the vanilla fudge discs. The accessory packet coffee and creamer always seemed rock hard but we never got sick from it----as for your symptoms steve, I'd say it is either a cold or allergies because if you somehow got sick from the MCIs, you'd have probably dropped 10 pounds in 3 days and if it was botulism you'd be in no condition to post about it on here whether you survived or not. As for the original MRE desserts, the nut cakes were just as bad (to me) as the MCI ones even without rancid nuts, but my favorites were the choc. covered cookies and the guerilla cookies. I noticed the canned accessories in your photo steve, I'm assuming that was before the transition from c-rats to MCIs because when we had the MCIs and when my cousin had them in Vietnam, the accessories came in the packet.

[steve1989]

I do enjoy posting my MCI memories here, although I will say that I wish we had the MREs all along in my first days of service because about the only things I remember from the MCIs that were really good were the beans w/meatballs in tomato sauce, the toffee discs, and the vanilla fudge discs. The accessory packet coffee and creamer always seemed rock hard but we never got sick from it----as for your symptoms steve, I'd say it is either a cold or allergies because if you somehow got sick from the MCIs, you'd have probably dropped 10 pounds in 3 days and if it was botulism you'd be in no condition to post about it on here whether you survived or not. As for the original MRE desserts, the nut cakes were just as bad (to me) as the MCI ones even without rancid nuts, but my favorites were the choc. covered cookies and the guerilla cookies. I noticed the canned accessories in your photo steve, I'm assuming that was before the transition from c-rats to MCIs because when we had the MCIs and when my cousin had them in Vietnam, the accessories came in the packet.

Yes sir, I enjoy your MCI memory sharings - always a fun learning experience for anyone reading! Boy, I am becoming more and more glad they don't make MCI's still from what I hear! Most the fellas mention the Beans W/ Meatballs being the best. I have had some hard creamers in MRE's - and they just don't mix well. Won't hurt ya, but not pleasant either!

A little over a week later and I am alive and well after the canned cheese incident. Hheheh! Thankyou for your reassuring words on the matter, none the less!


Well, rationtin440, all those MRE Nutcakes you didn't eat, I'm sure mreheater72 will take em' off your hands! heheheh just kidding. Although, I know he loves his nut cakes!

I will keep my eyes out for those Chocolate Covered Cookies and Gorilla Cookies as always not only for myself, but for the fellas on here because it seems like they are quite the commodity!

Yep, those Accessory Packet cans are from I believe C-3 Ration, Combat, Individual. The original U.S. 24 Hr Ration! I need to go to one of my sources soon on the info on those old RCI's but I am pretty sure I even have a unit count on how many were produced. Will keep you posted and I think I can maybe get some pics too.

[rationtin440]

Actually steve, considering that my memory is not as good as it was once (I enlisted during the cold war), I'm not sure exactly which MREs had the guerilla cookies, as they were unofficially called. They were basically a round version of the cookie bar, choc. covered, and they were really good although you could hurt your teeth if you tried taking a big bite from one. Also in the old brown pouch MREs I recall an accessory packet which had a small candy bar, but again I don't recall which MREs had it or what the accessory packet was (I think they were originally labeled A thru D). About the only truly horrid brown pouch MRE (to me) was the dehydrated pork patty. Glad to hear you did not get sick from the cheese, I was very lucky because I never got sick from the canned cheese either, considering we were eating it like 7-8 years after it was manufactured.