EPA Review

mani · Post by **mani** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 8:48 pm

enchilada: When was the fruit rice produced? I haven't seen this one yet, because they took it out some years ago.

Enchilada · Post by **Enchilada** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 7:47 am

Hello mani.
The fruit rice was made in 1998 the same as all the items in my EPA.
Try the tofu thing its good.
Them fruit drinks arent bad either and their full of vits.
The fruit rice is a little like a sticky pudding with raisans and rum.

Post by **kman** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 8:36 am

Enchilada, I've been checking the DSCP site but they still haven't updated the menus to show the new ones. I do, however, have the "improvements" for 2007 which you can find here:

http://www.mreinfo.com/mre-improvements.html

mani · Post by **mani** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 9:33 am

I received my MREs today. Man, this box is hard to open.

I grabbed menu #17 out of the box...beef teriyaki with noodles. I'm eating it for dinner today, but I've got a question: Do you have to heat up the noodles or are they supposed to be eaten that hard and dry?

I already tasted some of the minor parts:
shortbread cookies: They smell a bit odd, but taste just like the ones from the grocery. Very good.

blueberry jam: A bit too sweet for my taste.
bread: There you have the difference between German and US food: US soldiers get wheat bread, German ones get Pumpernickel. The wheat bread tastes very strange and also has a strange cosistency. I prefer the German bread.

The grape beverage powder was fine, quite refreshing on this hot day. It actually tasted more like blueberry than grape juice. I'd prefer it over the German beverage powder.

Chewing gum is too sweet, but I think this is a standard US gum, isn't it?

The matches worked just fine. I was impressed by the moist towelette. It actually cleaned my hands after they got a bit ropy by the jam. The German "Erfrischungstücher", which are alcohol based, don't clean your hands at all.

Post by **kman** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 9:38 am

mani sent me some pictures from his EPA review and I've posted them all here:

http://www.mreinfo.com/germany-mani-epa.html

Post by **kman** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 9:45 am

Hey mani - glad to hear you got your MREs. Yes, those boxes are always fun to get open. I guess you don't want them to burst open when you're dropping them 100 feet from a helicopter.

As for those noodles in the beef teriyaki, are those the "chow mein noodles"? If so, you don't have to heat them - I usually just heat up the entree and then mix the noodles in - they soften up a little as they soak into the entree.

That Wheat Snack Bread takes some getting used to. I like it best with either peanut butter or the cheese spread. Either way, though, it's more of a big, soft, chemical-tasting cracker than it is any sort of "bread".

Richard w. · Post by **Richard w.** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 10:01 am

mani wrote:...bread: There you have the difference between German and US food: US soldiers get wheat bread, German ones get Pumpernickel. The wheat bread tastes very strange and also has a strange cosistency. I prefer the German bread.
...

I was in Germany with the U.S. Army, and I know that Germans eat "real" bread. I miss having a bakery (and a butcher's shop) on every block. Here in the U.S., most people think Wonder "Bread" is good.

That wheat stuff in the MRE's is my least favorite side item. The plain white crackers (like Saltines, only not as salty) are much preferable as a base for jam, cheese, or peanut butter, but every year they appear in fewer of the MRE menus.

Post by **kman** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 10:15 am

Richard w. wrote:Here in the U.S., most people think Wonder "Bread" is good.

Yes, Wonder Bread is good! But the "Wonder" part isn't because of the taste - it's because it's amazing how long you can keep a loaf of that bread in the fridge without it going bad!

Richard w. · Post by **Richard w.** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 10:41 am

I shouldn't be too hard on Wonder Bread. It is the key to the best Grilled Cheese sammiches.

But, wow, a big chunk of fresh crusty pumpernickle or rye bread with cheese or wurst and a cold bottle (or 10) of Tucher Weizen...

That's living!

mani · Post by **mani** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 10:21 pm

richard: Glad to hear you like the German food.

Where were you based at?

I ate the beef teriyaki today with the chow mein noodles. It was a great meal. This bamboo stuff was a bit strange since I have never eaten it before. The noodles were fine. I let them soak up the sauce, just as you proposed kman. Interestingly the beef didn't look like the one you had in your "One week of MRE". It was more like strings rather than chunks. It tasted great.

I also had a first with tabasco today. Not shure if I like it.