Today I'm continuing the "brown bag tour" through some of my older MREs. It's always a fun trip down memory lane to see these older rations again, and to see how they've held up to the test of time. Just to put the time in perspective, here are few of the things going on around the world the year this MRE was produced:
- Michael Dukakis was running for president against George H.W. Bush.
- A bomb destroyed a Pan-Am 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
- Ronald Reagan was the US president.
- A new drug called "crack" first appeared in the US.
- Numerous indictments are handed down in the Iran-Contra affair.
Ok, we've established that this thing is no spring chicken, let's get on the review.
This MRE is a 1988 DoP menu #7, beef stew. The outer package was fine with no apparent breaches in integrity.
- Unopened Menu 7
Upon opening it, the contents appeared just as they did when packed. I was quite happy to find that it contained a cherry nut cake. I miss those things!
- Contents
I headed up the kitchen to check out the contents and get them squared away on my 1951 military mess tray.
The crackers were crisp and tasted just like new. I'm still amazed at the luck I've had with the older crackers. I have yet to have any that had gone bad.
- Crackers
Next was the nut cake. It smelled perfectly fine, and just as I remembered. The big question was whether or not the nuts had gone rancid. I took a small bite, chewed a couple of times and let it sit on my tongue for a minute. The nuts were fine! This was great news, as I hadn't had a nut cake for years. It tasted great, and I ate the whole thing.
- Cherry Nut Cake
The cherry beverage powder appeared perfectly fine in the pouch, and dissolved easily in water. The taste was fine, though I was never a big fan of the cherry beverage powder. A little too much chemical taste for me. Still, it was perfectly consumable.
- Cherry Beverage Powder
The coffee appeared perfectly fine as well. I mixed it up and tried it, and found it to be just fine. Maybe the older ascorbic acid type holds up better than some of the later instant coffee types.
- Coffee Packet
- Coffee Prepared
The other accessory packet items had held up very well too. The moist towelette was still moist, and the Tabasco sauce was still liquid. It had the old Chiclet gum in the box, which went on the shelf.
I boiled the main entree for 10 min and plated it. It smelled just like it did when new, nothing "off" about it. Lots of good beef pieces. It tasted just fine as well.
- Meal Prepared
- Entree Close-Up
I made sure to knead the peanut butter a couple of minutes since it had been in the pouch for almost 28 years. It looked and smelled fine. It tasted perfectly fine as well!
- Peanut Butter
Amazingly, every single item in this MRE was consumable after almost 28 years!
