I have a couple of questions, but here is the background. I have a lot of freeze-dried and otherwise stored food with a life of 18-30 years. I have a couple of cases of stored MRS's from 05 and 06. They were stored in 60-70 degree temps with no swings out of the light, so should be almost ideally preserved. What is the best thing to do with these as (as far as I know) they are reaching the end of their serviceable life. Basically I don't want to have to use them only to find they have gone bad, and find that out only when it counts most. Some of them I had broken down to put in a go bag, but since switch those out for some MH freeze-dried pouches because of weight. I want to know the most prudent and least wasteful course of action. I believe most of my choices are listed below.
1) Keep them stored for all time, just in case, but just buy more.
2) Eat them and get more - hoping they are still safe as is.
3) Trash them, because they might not be safe for much longer and get new.
What do you guys think?
What to do with old MRE's?
Re: What to do with old MRE's?
Welcome to the group, My opinion is if you keep them in the non broken down MREs in the freezer you could get ten more years
The FD stuff If it is not milk based would keep it.
We have found the powdered cream or milk goes bad first
We have lots of post about eating old MREs and you can see what components go bad and what components keep.
I have eaten meat based MRE main courses from early 1980's and some were still edible.
Candy, coffee, creamer and chocolate were bad
FD fruit from early 1980's nearly always still good
Check out steve1989's vids he has tested items from way back, some items will surprise you
The FD stuff If it is not milk based would keep it.
We have found the powdered cream or milk goes bad first
We have lots of post about eating old MREs and you can see what components go bad and what components keep.
I have eaten meat based MRE main courses from early 1980's and some were still edible.
Candy, coffee, creamer and chocolate were bad
FD fruit from early 1980's nearly always still good
Check out steve1989's vids he has tested items from way back, some items will surprise you
Re: What to do with old MRE's?
If you are keeping them as emergency food, I'd absolutely rotate your stock. That means buying newer stuff to replace the older on a regular basis.
You can eat the older stuff, sell it on the bay, or just toss it. If you decide to sell it, you'd recoup some or all the cost - and it would be ethical as long as you are honest about the production dates.
You can eat the older stuff, sell it on the bay, or just toss it. If you decide to sell it, you'd recoup some or all the cost - and it would be ethical as long as you are honest about the production dates.
Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult.
Re: What to do with old MRE's?
RockyRaab, thats how I do it.
Re: What to do with old MRE's?
I will try to sell them. I have seen some of Steve1989s vids, so I know that my MREs should still be edible. But I don't know about being able to rely on them in an emergency at this point.
Thanks for the recommendations.
Thanks for the recommendations.
Re: What to do with old MRE's?
Speaking of "rotating", today I had to rotated 18 cases + 3 UGR H+S from my outside storage to my home basement...
I have to store them in my cooler basement, these are 2007.
Re: What to do with old MRE's?
My goodness! That is a lot of cases! For how many months is that stack of cases suppose to last you?housil wrote:Speaking of "rotating", today I had to rotated 18 cases + 3 UGR H+S from my outside storage to my home basement... I have to store them in my cooler basement, these are 2007.
Good luck and may your rations stay unspoiled!
Re: What to do with old MRE's?
With all my rations I can live 2 years - 3 meals a day...FREMONT wrote: My goodness! That is a lot of cases! For how many months is that stack of cases suppose to last you?
Re: What to do with old MRE's?
That's a serious SHTF stack you got there, Housilhousil wrote:Speaking of "rotating", today I had to rotated 18 cases + 3 UGR H+S from my outside storage to my home basement... I have to store them in my cooler basement, these are 2007.
I was tempted to buy a few UGRs since they are very cheap (10-15€ for a 25-man ration).
Have you ever used one?
How long do they last once opened?
Re: What to do with old MRE's?
To have is better than to need...MRENovice wrote:
That's a serious SHTF stack you got there, Housil
I whole UGR for just €10-15. Or "just" a single tray?MRENovice wrote: I was tempted to buy a few UGRs since they are very cheap (10-15€ for a 25-man ration).
Have you ever used one?
How long do they last once opened?
You can get a whole UGR over here from ebay from €90-115:
http://www.ebay.de/itm/UGR-EXPRESS-TM-U ... SwKfVXFKT8
An opened tray will spoil as any regular food within "days".
I have trays stored (+100) for + 10 years by now