Cool review, Elevatorfan73!
Those nut-cakes are oddly indestructible! Now, I've had a couple rancid ones - but I also live in Florida where the heat temps run up to 100 degrees sometimes in the year and those bad ones I'd gotten were all bought locally (in this terrible fluctuating heat).
As for the ones I've gotten in the mail from northern climates, I've found them to always still be 'fresh'!
I'd saved my last 10 of them or so and sent to mreheater72 (still waiting for that packaged to be found.. USPS is a nightmare!

) but I still have a chocolate nut-cake from 1991 and a fruit-cake from 86' (If I remember correctly).
Such an incredible snack. It, and the chocolate covered cookie are some of the most Godly of old-school MRE desserts!
I have maybe 8 or 9 oatmeal cookie, chocolate covered left - scored big on some odd mid-90's civilian MRE's at a show called Webster here in FL. I'll have to round them all up and see if I can send off a couple as "novelty gifts" lol.. just send me PM fellas I'll send em' along with this darn package that keeps accumulating in size by adding new things to Rulerak - hehe once he gets this thing he'll feel it was worth the wait. (good lord almost a whole year.. gee I'm terrible).