Speaking of reviews...

Reviews and taste-tests of any MREs from 1981-present
rationtin440
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Re: Speaking of reviews...

Post by rationtin440 » Mon Feb 03, 2014 7:37 pm

There's another reviewer on youtube but I'm not sure if he is a member of MREInfo.com forums or not, and anyone who knows me in the forums should not be surprised that my terrible memory may be causing me to repeat this, but does anyone here know of flankertanker? He does reviews of Polish, Spanish, Bundeswehr, French, and British rations.

cmbtmdc
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Re: Speaking of reviews...

Post by cmbtmdc » Sat Feb 08, 2014 4:13 pm

Hi Gschultz. My girlfriend thinks I am nuts because I love MRE's. I just received brand new cases that have yet to be released from a Marine friend. When i have time, which is rare, I watch your videos. I have the same story you do, I am ex-Army and MRE's always intrigued me. We are strange people. I have a pretty massive collection which eventually needs their own room. They are my pride and joy. I am sure you can relate. So again, dude keep posting. ---Cmbtmdc, Chicago :D

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gschultz9
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Re: Speaking of reviews...

Post by gschultz9 » Mon Feb 10, 2014 11:44 pm

RockyRaab wrote:As the thread-starter, may I add my sense of pleasure at learning you are also a poster here? And also add my encouragement that you continue making your most useful videos? (I'm enough of a troglodyte that I have no idea how to make/edit videos; I'm impressed by just that, not to mention the topics.)
Rocky, I did want to say thank you to you for starting the thread in the first place. Even though I've been a member of the board for a couple years and check it out with some frequency, I don't do a lot of posting and felt a bit uncomfortable about trying to introduce myself as a "qualified" reviewer (or whatever). This thread showed me that there were at least a few people here (i.e. knowledgeable people) who seem to appreciate my videos. That was great to see. I also wanted to thank you for your comments and encouragement on my videos. I like your idea of making videos with tips and tricks for MREs and recipes to mix things up a bit, but I'm not really well versed in those areas as much as one would think I'd be. We'll see if that becomes a topic in the future...

I myself am pretty much a troglodyte when it comes to technology myself. If you check out my first couple of MRE videos, they're basically just video clips strung together using the YouTube "Editor". The good thing about making these videos is that I've slowly learned at least some aspects of editing videos on a computer (something I never thought I'd be able to so--or need to do). The worst part of the videos is that I'm NOT a professional at filming, editing OR starring in videos. Most of the videos end up being pretty choppy as I edit out as much dead space and mistakes as possible to make them as "short" and concise as possible. They're still rather long, but a LOT shorter than the raw footage. Wow, that was a pretty long answer to a question that nobody asked. Sorry.

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gschultz9
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Re: Speaking of reviews...

Post by gschultz9 » Tue Feb 11, 2014 12:08 am

rationtin440 wrote:Actually 1-Each, I do recall Charlie's Surplus (Charlie Epstein) near the Worcester Center Galleria (always bought my Iron Maiden stuff at Spencer Gifts in the Galleria) and also The Fair on Rt. 20 in Worcester started selling surplus and even some MCI stuff back in the early-mid 1980s. What I'd love to see more of in reviews is a Cuban Army ration review, a North Korean ration review and a Chinese PLA ration review, I cannot seem to find them anywhere, although I can imagine that they'd be pretty hard to aquire for fairly obvious reasons! Also it's a pretty safe assumption that these rations don't come with a survey for their soldiers to fill out to let them know what to improve on or change in the menu.
Wow, lots of memories there! I do remember Charlie's too. Unfortunately I never was able to get there more than a few times, but always wanted to. The Galleria was THE place back in the late 70s/early 80s! I still like Spencer Gifts, but it was REALLY cool back then. I also remember leaving the mall to visit Strawberries on Front Street to get music (on cassette of course). Have you seen that the empty Galleria (last known as the Worcester Common Fashion Outlets) has been partially demolished and Front Street now runs right through what was once one of the entrances to the mall? Front Street now runs directly from downtown to Union Station! The Galleria was great in its time, but it really did a lot of damage to the city by cutting the downtown area off from that area. I didn't get to The Fair in Worcester too often, but that was just because I lived in Uxbridge as a kid and there was a slightly smaller Fair in Whitinsville--which was much closer. I always loved that place and remember when they started carrying a little surplus in a small section of the store. That was great! I don't recall and MCI stuff at that location, but I remember they had a lot of web gear, first aid kits, pouches and some civvie versions of military stuff (camping equipment, mess kits, flashlights, compasses...). It was pretty cool stuff for a kid who liked to play Army but didn't live close to any Army/Navy stores.

I'd LOVE to do more international ration videos, but, like you mentioned, they're not exactly cheap to come by. I was lucky enough to have a viewer send me the RCIR I reviewed. Periodically others offer to send me stuff, but it generally doesn't end up happening (maybe they realize just how expensive it's going to be to ship it to the U.S. and change their minds).

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gschultz9
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Re: Speaking of reviews...

Post by gschultz9 » Tue Feb 11, 2014 12:14 am

cmbtmdc wrote:Hi Gschultz. My girlfriend thinks I am nuts because I love MRE's. I just received brand new cases that have yet to be released from a Marine friend. When i have time, which is rare, I watch your videos. I have the same story you do, I am ex-Army and MRE's always intrigued me. We are strange people. I have a pretty massive collection which eventually needs their own room. They are my pride and joy. I am sure you can relate. So again, dude keep posting. ---Cmbtmdc, Chicago :D
Thanks Cmbtmdc. Yes, I can definitely relate. I'll bet a good number of the people on this forum are in the same boat. Most people seem to revile MREs (including many soldiers), but there's that small segment that appreciates what combat rations are designed to be (a way to get nutrients and energy to soldiers in situations where it's not possible to give them a traditional mess hall-type hot meal). I could easily be in the same situation as you with your collection, but "luckily" enough I'm currently living in a small apartment with my wife and kids, so there's no room for me to have an extensive ration collection. It also makes it easier for me to make videos about them rather than keeping them in storage or a long-term collection.

rationtin440
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Re: Speaking of reviews...

Post by rationtin440 » Tue Feb 11, 2014 12:05 pm

Wow, 1-Each, your recollections really take me back! I recall getting all of my Iron Maiden stuff at Strawberry's and Spencer Gifts, but the Fair in Worcester on Rt. 20 had to be THE place for decent priced army-navy stuff. It was kinda like if Spag's on Rt. 9 in Shrewsbury suddenly started selling surplus, that would have been some serious competition. I know what you mean about rations from some of our less friendly neighbors around the world. Not only pricey in the $$$ sense, but I don't imagine that places like North Korea and Cuba go out of their way to make sure that any rations of theirs will find their way onto ebay or amazon.com, just like they probably don't put survey sheets in the rations to ask their troops what they'd like to see in future rations.

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gschultz9
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Re: Speaking of reviews...

Post by gschultz9 » Tue Feb 11, 2014 10:31 pm

You know, now you got me wishing I was able to get up to the Worcester Fair to check out the surplus selection they had. I loved going to the Whitinsville one, but there was only a small surplus area there. I also recall many years later (in the late 90s or so) Ocean State Job Lot started selling MRE entrees and sides for a while. That was the first time I'd had any MREs since I got out of the service in 1989. I "forced" my wife (girlfriend at the time) to try one out. Not her cup of tea, but it was fun for me to try a few out (especially since most of it was mostly newer stuff that they didn't have when I was in). Unfortunately they didn't carry them for very long.

Solaaris
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Re: Speaking of reviews...

Post by Solaaris » Fri Feb 21, 2014 7:49 pm

Hi 1-Each

I'm KainTLA on Youtube wo comments pretty much on all your vids! I love watching your reviews, and its actually gotten me into buying anf trying both english and american MRES. So thanks for all the work you put into your reviews!

Cheers

Kain

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