2012 Halal meal

[Biobrew]

I acquired a 2012 Halal meal and opened it up last week. Nearly all the ingredients had "turned' or were less than fresh, despite being "only" 5 years old. I think that this was due to the nature of Halal meals themselves and how they are packaged. Any expert input from you folks is appreciated.

There were a bunch of sides - cranberry trial mix, mixed nut crunch, party mix - and I tried those first. They were all packaged in foil packages, not the heavy plastic vacuum sealed packages you usually see in an MRE. I assume that this is why all were stale and had a vaguely rancid taste.

[Biobrew]

I tried the cinnamon sugar cookies next. These were very good, not stale at all, and no off tastes.

The vanilla pudding was - strange. It was thick enough to be more like icing than pudding, and it had big chunks of crystallized sugar or pudding that crunched as I ate it.

The beef stew didn't look appealing but it tasted ok. Actually it seemed to have more of a pork taste than a beef taste, which is bizarre given it was Halal.

As a final thought, the orange beverage base was ok. From this limited data set, I think the Halal meals have a shorter shelf life overall than the other US rations. I'l have to try a few more of varying ages to find out.

[cavguy]

You are absolutely correct that the Halal meals do indeed have a shorter shelf life (1yr insp/test date). Your experience has echoed mine with these Halal rations also!

[parafireboy]

I've had the same experience, especially with the side items in them that tend to non-trilaminate. I've never seen a Halal pudding look quite like that though, even at five years. Heat stressed?

[Biobrew]

I've had the same experience, especially with the side items in them that tend to non-trilaminate. I've never seen a Halal pudding look quite like that though, even at five years. Heat stressed?

I guess that is the likely explanation. I only owned it for a couple of months and kept it in the cellar, so I don't know for sure if it was exposed to high heat.