4 Fingers of Death! - Review

[swathdiver]

Howdy folks!

A couple of weeks ago I broke out our camping/hurricane gear and set up the shelter half in the yard for the kids to play with. Seeing all the MREs around they just had to have them for dinner and after asking nicely they picked two and headed outside to our "camp site".

First up was a 2001 SOPACKO (#8) Chicken and Rice which was heartily enjoyed by all.

The other was a brown bag MRE. It was a #6 Frankfurters with no large six, making it a 1987 year at the latest. Some time in the last few years the rear of the pouch was punctured. Cadillac Products Inc. from Sterling Heights, MI 48077 was stamped on the pouch along with mentioning that Accessory Packet E was inside.

As most know there are no MRE Heaters in these old ones so I broke out my bag of spare heaters and all 4 of the 1991 vintage heaters failed to get hot. The 1996 heaters worked but took a while to warm up. The Frankfurters went into one and the Beans with Tomato Sauce into another while we explored the contents.

The first item to be opened was the crackers. They smelled slightly metallic and tasted awful, we spit them out! We chose not to open the Apple Jelly from Kern Foods as it felt very liquid inside.

The Frankfurters were in a green box which displayed the weight at 3.75oz on the left and opposite said Distributed By Green Giant Co, Le Sueur, MN 56058. Stamped above the name was 12 01*0**A. Inside was a green pouch with 12 01 0 A EST 2495 stamped on the outside.

The Beans With Tomato Sauce was in a green box which displayed the weight as 5oz. with Marnat Packaging Co, Bennettsville, SC 29512 right above it. Stamped below all of this were the numbers 0043 1. Inside was a green pouch stamped Beans With Tomato Sauce, a handwritten number 8 in permanent marker and 043 1B11 stamped below the name.

Inside Accessory Packet E was a silver foil covered disc of candy that said, Candy Chocolate Disk With Toffee Enriched, Sweet. It smelled minty to me but my wife said it was foul. I broke it into 4 pieces and a couple of us chomped down on them at the same time. 2 Chews in it started tasting like metal and we all spit it out without swallowing any. Yuck! The Cream Substitute was as hard as the Dehydrated Catsup. The Beechies Peppermint gum remained unopened and left inside the Accessory Packet with the other items.

The Cocoa Beverage Powder was not opened as we drank the grape drink from the newer MRE.

With the MRE Heaters nice and hot and 3 little mouths looking for more it was time to open the pouch which contained the 4 Fingers of Death! After 23 plus years they tasted just fine! That is to say, just as nasty the last time I had them in 1996! The kids didn’t mind them but you could see the let down. They were expecting Ball Park Franks or Nathan’s!

Finally we tore open the protective wrap around the white MRE spoon and opened up the Beans with Tomato Sauce. Not bad! Best part of the whole meal!

Best part of all, nobody got sick or had diarrhea!

[norge]

cool review

i think that old brown bag mre was a 1985 dated one,acording to the mre menu list
and those numbers you wrote that was stamped on the pouch box.

Cadillac Products was one of the first regular mre producers,so that also points for
a real early mre.
the beans are just lovly...

cheers from ken

[hannonmc]

Am I one of the few who actually enjoyed the 4 Fingers of Death meal?

[mtime7]

great review, I always hated that meal, and now I remember why..

[mreheater72]

Here is a "4 Fingers of Death"-MRE out of my collection, packed by CADILLAC PRODUCTS, I guess the Date of Pack is 1981 (printing with the small letters):



So long mreheater72

[PanzerDivision666]

I too, have this same MRE in my "Do not eat til Doomsday" box of treasured MRE components. I opened the outer bag to check the contents for spoilage, bulging, leakage, ect.
I love the Beans w/ Tomato Sauce, and it is a rare and awesome treat. I will not eat this one , nor the Turkey, Diced w/gravy. I'm going to obtain as many of the beans w tomato sauce as I can get, and hoard them.
Same thing with C ration B units with the candy discs, and the poundcakes.
I mis the nut cakes, too.

[swathdiver]

Wow, so it was 25 years old huh? LOL!

mreheater72: the printing on mine looks the same, just the placement a little different.

Thanks for the kind words fellas! My buddy still has a couple and he loves them! I'm a hoarder of the #8 Ham Slice, #12 Escalloped Potatoes with Ham and #9 Meatballs Beef and Rice with Tomato Sauce! The worst one was the #4 Omelet with Ham, yuck!

Among other oddities I also have a giant tin of Chocolate Pudding that I've been saving. Wonder how long that will last?

[norge]

PanzerDivision666 wrote:
i love the Beans w/ Tomato Sauce, and it is a rare and awesome treat. I will not eat this one , nor the Turkey, Diced w/gravy. I'm going to obtain as many of the beans w tomato sauce as I can get, and hoard them.


see this




ahhh beans.......farth

cheers ken

[Bypah]

ahhh beans.......farth

cheers ken

norge, that's why you need this.....

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[mreheater72]

norge, very nice BEANS collection ! I will "visit" my basement tomorrow looking for more variants, I guess I have some !

So long mreheater72