Ameriqual

[Wolfsbane]

I went hiking around Granite Mountain near Prescott Arizona yesterday, the APack I had was "Vegetable Stew with Beef" - all the components were packed around mid-2011, so it's four and half years old and this MRE has been traveling in my vehicle for over two years AND then it went five miles in the thigh-pocket of my pants. No leakage. Besides the entree the Components were their FRH with salt water packet, osmotic raisons, plain MRE crackers, peanut butter, cinnamon & brown-sugar "pop tart", chocolate chip cookie, lemon drink powder, white spoon and wet nap. The FRH worked great, no problems with age, enough energy to also warm the pop tart after the the stew got hot. Entree tasted good - several 1 cm sized cubes of beef, identifiable whole peas, diced carrot and celery, tiny potato dices, sauce was just the right consistency and the portion was excellent - I would have liked some salt and pepper but that's not included. The lemon drink was good, tangy. The raisons (they're only semi-sweet) were still separate and very moist , from the glycerin I suppose, they do smell "funny" compared to normal fresh boxed or bagged raisons but they work to get you iron ! The well intact plain crackers were no thrill to me but after a good kneading the peanut butter was excellent, and I had thought to bring some extra Saltines so with that my interest in salt was met. I actually skipped the pop tart as I don't enjoy that flavor but I expect my wife may get to it soon, or next month - it is an MRE toaster pastry after all. The cookie was big and fat, and good. Overall very satisfying, and nearly five years old, kudos to Ameriqual !

[rattattoo]

Nicely done review, man.
I have not personally had any of the Ameriqual paks, but it sounds like they are up to par.
It would be interesting to see somebody take identical mains from all three "top" vendors [inc. SoPaCo and Wornick] and see just how they compare.

[Ruleryak]

Sounds like a challenge! Ameriqual is definitely my least favorite of the big three - with Wornick on top. The A-Pack civilian meals lack variety, the exact same desert and snack are included in every single meal so it gets a little old. The same entire MRE as produced by each of the three from the same year would be really interesting to compare indeed.

[Woodland]

Sounds like a challenge! Ameriqual is definitely my least favorite of the big three - with Wornick on top. The A-Pack civilian meals lack variety, the exact same desert and snack are included in every single meal so it gets a little old. The same entire MRE as produced by each of the three from the same year would be really interesting to compare indeed.

Same here. Wornick is Nr. 1, second is Sopakco and Ameriqual is third.Unfortunatelly Wornick is hard to find,I wish I had a fresh case B of military MRE from Wornick...
I like to compare the same menus from different manufacturers.For example I've noticed that Chicken Pesto from Sopakco tastes better than the Ameriqual version although it's subjective...Wornick tends to have less calories in some entrees.
I made a thread about this earlier.viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5539
Another "problem" with Ameriqual is the way they do the packaging.They make very tight,compressed packs so much so that I even found a crushed maple syrup in a Maple Sausage MRE that made everything sticky in the bag.The items (Dairyshake,Cappuccino,cheese and peanut butter etc.) in the Ameriqual MRE bag look like as they were stomped or crushed...
I also noticed that while Ameriqual made Pork Ribs and Maple Sausages weigh 91grams (I think that they used to be 107grams many years ago) Sopakco made patties weigh only 74 grams.
Ameriqual is the largest provider of MREs but I remember reading somewhere that "your equipment is provided by the company that offers the lowest bid" or something like that...