US MRE Menu #20 - Hash Brown Potato

[Joseph W]

Today we'll be looking at Menu #20, a breakfast menu with a main of Hash Brown Potato(es?).

Photo Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/J65xy

This is the first "breakfast" MRE that I've ever had, so I'm a bit excited. The main was shredded potatoes with little bits of bacon in it. Tasted quite lovely. Even though it smelled strongly of pork, the bacon flavor was kind of dull. I had to really get a big chunk of bacon in my mouth to taste it. Overall it was very nice.

The blueberry cereal was pretty good as well, although I think I added too much water. It said "2-4 ounces" and I added about 4 ounces. Stirred it up and let it sit, then stirred it up some more, but it remained very watery. Still tasted fine. I've never had blueberry granola cereal before, so I'm not sure exactly how good/bad this stuff is in comparison to non-MRE stuff. The orange juice was quite strong, compared to most drink mixes. It had a very tangy flavor, whereas most of the drink mixes tend to be kind of watered-down-tasting. Though that might be because it said to put it in 20 ounces of water, and I only used about 12 ounces. Good stuff.

The crackers and nut mix were the usual stuff. I love the cheese that comes with the crackers. Tastes exactly like those "cheese and crackers with the little red spreading stick" snacks I used to have as a kid.

Overall a lovely breakfast. Between the cereal and the main, you have both a "cold" and "hot" part of the meal, plus some good snacks with the nuts and crackers.

[WorkmanMRE]

Nice review! The hashbrowns looked better than I expected. Over all it looks like a really nice meal!

[Conrad]

I've eaten this version and it's pretty good by mre standards

[Tedster]

The MRE issue blueberry Granola cereal is good stuff. Not enough of it, but that's not news. As a general rule anything that purports to contain milk or substitute for milk (like the Blueberry Granola) is greatly improved by using fresh whole milk instead of water. The Vanilla pudding is excellent when made with milk.

[limp_noodle]

I love the granola. I've had it a handful of times.

It's manufactured by Oregon Foods Company and they own mountain House. So if you guys want to buy some without having to buy a whole MRE you can easily do it.

https://www.mountainhouse.com/M/product ... iant_id=80

[NateP]

I just ordered one of these as part of a hospital go bag and for my wife I when our daughter is born.

How were the potatoes? Fairly mushy I assume?

[Tedster]

Tried this one yesterday. It's a nice thought, but it wasn't a hash brown potato. More like a potato stew or soup, with pork. I guess it was supposed to be bacon. It's not bad, but it's definitely not anything at all like the name suggests.

[rattattoo]

I've had this pak before and you definitely want to go light on the water quantity in the granola [even the MH commercial pouch].
I've had good luck adding a couple of the tiny-cup,"shelf stable" creamers like you get with a go-coffee at the 7-11. Use less water, let it soak and then toss in two tinies before you break out the spoon.
Oh, and I like to brown the hashbrown patty in a little frypan over my alcohol stove to give it a kick up in taste. Works really well if you can pair it in the pan with the breakfast maple pork patty from one of the older #17 breakfasts... just save the maple "juice" to pour over them both to eat.

[NateP]

I had this meal on a hike the other day and it's great! I really wish there were more breakfast menus.

I added the cheese spread to the hash browns to give it another dimension of flavor. Too bad they didn't include Tobacco :/

Great review and pics, though. Looking forward to more!