New case, old MREs

[psyrex]

Hey all,

I've eaten and handled MREs before, but it's been on an individual MRE basis and never as a case. I just received today a new case I bought from a SoPakCo distributor. I wanted something I can store away for a while, so I bought a case from a pallet they recently received. The case is date coded 5290, which is pretty cool. However, the individual MREs are a mixed bag:

- Two of them have the entree box date coded 4002, but the actual bag itself has a 5290 imprint.
- Two of them have the entree box date coded 5028, but the actual bag itself has a 5290 imprint. One of these boxes was slightly squished inside of the intact bag.
- The remaining eight MREs do not have the cardboard entree boxes, but instead sleeves, and I can't see the entree dates without opening the bag (which I'm loathe to do).

The case itself looked fully intact and I do not suspect tampering. My questions is: do you guys know if this is normal? To have such a mixed case of entrees with boxes and sleeves? To have old entrees (2 years old!)?

My storage area is nominally 60 degrees, so I'm sure I can have it store well for me, but do I need to take into account that 2 of my entrees are already 2 years old? I had hoped to buy more cases as I go, to build up a rolling stock, but should I expect old MREs in other boxes as well?



Sorry for the rambling post; I'm just a little taken aback after opening my first case of MREs.

Best regards,
psyrex

[Ruleryak]

Welcome to the forums psyrex! So your case and bags are all coded the 290th day of 2015, but items inside from as early as the 2nd day of 2014? For one, you probably have some of the newest MREs in civilian hands, so congrats on that You may be the first of us to try some of those newer meals.

I've definitely heard of year to year rollover of stock, but I can't say that I've ever seen date codes that far apart on the bag and the entree. A couple months at most, but nearly two years? They must have really overproduced some of their entrees - that'd be my best guess.

[parafireboy]

Welcome to forums! Hmmmm, like Ruleryak said, it's not unusual for a producer to have stock on-hand that varies in DoP, but in my limited experience it has usually just been 6 months to a year. I've never seen components vary in the 2-year range. I'm certainly no expert though. Maybe someone else will have some ideas of how common this is.

It's pretty neat that you got some newer MREs though, I hope you share some of your findings on here.

[elandil]

Welcome to the forums.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say since you could see the internals, that it was probably the Sopacko Civillian Meals. If that was the case, then yes it's possible that some of the entrees/components may have been made up of older stock. They don't have the same Quality controls on the Civvie side they do on the Military side. They should still be fine, and if you got them for a good price, I wouldn't worry much about it.

Just out of curoisity, did the sticker on the side say which Menu Run it was? Sopacko likes to letter their runs, so you could have Run D, or Run H? Is there anything like that?

[Ruleryak]

I didn't even think of that. Yeah, if the outer bag is clear then it is not a military MRE and won't follow the same standards. I've never bought a full case C before though so I don't have experience with their date ranges

[psyrex]

Thank you for the welcomes, all!

Yep, these were civilian meals. And while I understand there would be older stock, I didn't quite imagine a pair of 2-year-old entrees in a brand new case. Shell-shocked, as it were. I know it was newly packaged as I can see some of the dates on the side components have recent dates (such as 5274 on a cracker), so I have no fear that they would be fine.

Unfortunately, I do not see any letters for Menu Runs. The sticker on the side of the case lists the entrees (Meatballs, Spaghetti, Chili Macaroni, Jalapeno Beef Patty, Pot Roast, Chicken Feta), and a note that each meal kit contains main entree, side dish, dessert item, etc. The Time-Temp Indicator looks absolutely new.

I suppose my overarching question really is, how big of a variance in dates can I reasonably expect? Did I just get unlucky with an old production overrun this time, but my next case may not have anything older than a year? Or, on the flip side, did I instead get really lucky, and other civilian cases may have far more of the MREs be several years old when finally packed?

Thanks for your time,
psyrex

[elandil]

to me, thats very unusual, and I would actually drop Sopacko a note about it. Like Pyro said before, I'd expect anything within about 6 months, but 2 years is kinda off. Especially since that's Menu M run, the newest one they are listing.

Shoot them an Email, see what they say. Couldn't hurt.

[psyrex]

Color me surprised, happy, and just tickled pink.

So I contacted the distributor, who must've forward it to SoPakCo, but I never heard anything back. I kind of wrote it off, too, since I knew civilian MREs would have a range of dates in the case and maybe this is just par for the course. I was very respectful, making no demands or accusations, only asking if I should expect such a wide range of dates and asking where I should set my expectation for date range. I didn't hear anything back... until today. Out of the blue I received a box from SoPakCo with 4 MREs, packing dates from 6005 to 6035. That's 8 days ago!!

Okay, so they didn't respond to my reaching out to them, but heck if I care now, haha. I'm a happy customer and I'll tell everybody about it.

[parafireboy]

I didn't hear anything back... until today. Out of the blue I received a box from SoPakCo with 4 MREs, packing dates from 6005 to 6035. That's 8 days ago!!

Wow, that's great! I'm glad they cared enough about customer satisfaction to reach out to you with that offering, that's good customer service. I'm glad it worked out well for you!

[elandil]

Cool.