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Hi! This is a 1996 Chicken w/ Rice MRE. I can't really describe this as a review, but rather an overview. You'll see why shortly. I obtained these by making what I've heard called a "smarty pants eBay bid" for the lowest price and I unexpectedly won this. I figured this is a mystery, all I know is that this is from 1996-2007 but it had to earlier since it was packaged by Right Away Foods.
As soon as I opened the packaging, I noticed brown dust all over the place! My first guess is that it was cocoa powder that had been compromised. I dug everything out and it turned out to be the M&Ms. Not only did it create a huge mess, but I was really hoping to store it in my collection to go with the rest of the 90s era M&Ms I have. Let's list off what we have:
Chicken and Rice MRE
M&M's Plain
MRE Spoon
Accessory Packet A
"Nutrition: A Force Multiplier" Paper
Jalapeno Cheese Spread
Fudge Brownie
FRH
Grape Flavored Beverage Powder
Crackers

Accessory packet A containing:
Taster's Choice Coffee
Creamer
Domino Sugar
Toilet Paper
Matches
Tabasco Sauce
Gum
National Napkin Moist Towelette
The first attempt to heat the entree up by way of the supplied ration heater did not work. I added the salt packet to it and the specifed amount of water and it sizzled on for about 10 minutes, but was lukewarm at best. I decided to form a plan B: heating up some water and letting the retort pouch sit in that for a few minutes. Success! To be continued...

And now, the conclusion. The cheese spread looked okay. It even smelled ok, although I did not notice any Jalapeno smell. I thought to myself "There's no way this is going to be good! I've had cheese spread from this time period and have yet to find one that held up!". I tried a small piece of it and a bitter feeling ran across my tongue instantly. That was a loss. Now time to try the chicken and rice. It smelled good and looked good. Notice a pattern yet? I took a small bite just to be safe and this time a bitter taste ran across my tongue. I'm not having one iota of luck tonight! The M&M's as you can see, powdered up. I tried some of it, it tasted like eating dust to put it quite literal. There was little chocolate flavor left. I wonder if they would've held up if the packaging hadn't been compromised. The crackers tasted okay, as usual. The brownie also held up. And much to my surprise, the grape drink powder wasn't solidified so I could actually make it into a drink and that tasted fine.

I decided to pass on the coffee because they say drinking coffee near bedtime is a bad idea. That sounds like crazy talk to me but I won't claim to know more than a scientist.

So, this one didn't hold up very well. I guess that's to be expected considering it's old enough to buy me a drink or in my case, old enough to have graduated high school with me. Overall, this was still fun to explore!

And should you think I'm crazy, this was not my plan for dinner tonight. I had a British ORP waiting by my side as a backup in the likely event this wouldn't turn out too well.

"So, this one didn't hold up very well. I guess that's to be expected considering it's old enough to buy me a drink or in my case, old enough to have graduated high school with me."

I love the verbiage! Overall, great review, thanks for sharing!

SentientTootsieRoll - Thanks for the share and great pics... the chicken and rice looked delicious.

mahalo

freedash22 wrote:I love the verbiage! Overall, great review, thanks for sharing!

You're welcome, glad you enjoyed it.

alohakid wrote:SentientTootsieRoll - Thanks for the share and great pics... the chicken and rice looked delicious.

I agree! Likewise with the smell. I know it's a cliche, but I'll say it anyway: looks can be deceiving.

Great review, thanks for sharing! It's a bummer this one didn't fare too well, but I guess it is over 20 years old now. I graduated HS in 1996, so rations from this year always have special meaning (like reminding me I'm getting old and stale too, haha). Thanks for sharing!