MRE Menus XXIV (2004)

[jfko6]

Since I have reason to use the menu pages I looked up the 2004 menu.

I think I found an omission.

In the legend are 1 star (*) and three stars (***)

The menu table it was noted has a two star (**) designation.

Since I have a 2004 Vegetarian menu No. 12 I have reason to believe
the legend is missing the two ** entry indicating that this meal
is "vegetarian."

2004 Menus
http://www.mreinfo.com/us/mre/menus-xiv-2004.html

Please advise.

[kman]

Are you saying you think the ** is the to indicate that it's a vegetarian meal? If so, I'm curious as to why the other three veggie meals (11, 13, 14) aren't marked the same way. Any idea?

[jfko6]

Are you saying you think the ** is the to indicate that it's a vegetarian meal? If so, I'm curious as to why the other three veggie meals (11, 13, 14) aren't marked the same way. Any idea?

Yes, that's what I deduced it means. Two (**) star meals -- vegetarian.

Otherwise, there is no indication which meals are vegetarian.
I'm not talking about guessing which meals are vegetarian. You should be able to use the chart for that information

This was a quick response w/o delving into the box of 2004 MRE's and running it through the table.

The reason I brought it up was on the assumption that you wrote the tables.

Otherwise, now I'm guessing you pulled it from NATICK.

-JFK

[kman]

Ok...so a few things here...

First, to answer your original question, I believe the ** means "**New MRE XXIV entree item." If you check the MRE Improvements list, you'll see that Veggie Burger was introduced in 2004.

As for where the menus come from, it's kind of a combination of my own formatting, Natick's old formatting, and Natick's new formatting. The 2004 menus were more or less a direct copy-and-paste from the HTML file on the DSCP web site in 2004. That's why I left the ** in there on the Veggie Burger menu. Maybe it was a DSCP/Natick oversight or maybe I just didn't copy-and-paste it, but the legend explaining the ** must have gotten left out for some reason. I checked a copy of the 2002 HTML file (can't find the 2004 version for some reason) and it definitely had "**New MRE XXII entree item." in the legend.

If you want to see the current "real" 2004 menu, check this out:

http://www.dscp.dla.mil/subs/support/qa ... /mre24.pdf

They've re-done all the old menus and put them into the new format you can see in the PDF above. Menus 11-14 have traditionally been the vegetarian menus and they're usually marked "Vegetarian" on the actual meal bags. But the menu listings weren't always marked that way. In the new format in the PDF above, they list the menu name and then "Vegetarian" or "Veg" after the entree. Strangely enough, they don't use either word after "Vegetable Manicotti", even thought it's also a vegetarian meal. Oh well...so much for rhyme or reason. :-)

[jfko6]

This might make a nice little "Addendum" to the 2004 menu page. Or, a link to the Addendum for each page missing the "**" designation.

Food for thought. I'll bet an MRE that they read your site with some kind of regularity.

It might be worth doing some further comparison checking between sites to fix and update the legend(s) or link the .pdf to the webpage for further accuracy.

If I remember from my memo writing days and processing large amounts of paperwork it would go like this: If your going to use i.e. (Natick I'm referring to here) a word and you use a word like "vegetarian" you need to use it throughout your document. You can't truncate the word somewhere else in your document and substitute the word "veg."

[bishopmarine]

wow.

[kman]

I do have my eye on the menu pages for updating. Along with the changes you suggested, I'm also looking to add pictures of the cases and MRE bags from each year. Not a whole ton of pictures - just a couple at the top of each page.

[jfko6]

As I was cruising the 2004 menu page I found a script error.

Menu 18
Cajun Rice, Beans & Sausage**
<;span STYLE="font-family: Arial">Chocolate Sports Bar
Cheese Spread
Crackers

Cheddar Cheese Pretzels
Beverage Base, Powdered
Hot Sauce
Accessory Packet, A
Spoon
Flameless Heater

For the layout of this menu page I like the use of the table/chart that comes with the accessory pouch A,B,C et cetera. This, I believe, should be a standard format.

Curious why on the chart they did not simply add a line for tabasco sauce. Red Pepper is there. More disenchanted logic. That would make the charting simpler.

Opened menu bag No. 9 and glanced at the accessory packet. I got an extra 4 gram packet for a total of 8 grams of sugar. The tabasco was in great shape in this one. A full bottle and what appears to be a good color. Um' have to do the Smell test. We should have a sniffer as an "emoticon."

Had to switch out of Google chrome to finish my message. Chrome is not ready as I could not type properly in it without text disappearing.

The menu page still needs work.

[kman]

Thanks for the heads-up on that 2004 menu page. Someone else emailed me about a typo on that page and when I fixed it, that formatting code must have gotten broken.

But it's all fixed now!