What year is this from?

[SwissW]

Hi everyone,

I have this brown bag Corn Beef Hash MRE.
I'm trying to figure out what year this is roughly from.
As you can see by the pictures, there isn't a whole lot of text printed on the bag. Is this common? It seems like most brown bag MREs have more print on them.
Any information is much appreciated.

Cheers,

Nick

[shawker71]

1988-1994

[SwissW]

Thanks for the quick reply!
Any info on the minimalistic print?
Which company used to package this way?

[DangerousDave]

Most likely, it's a 'transitional' LRP ration pack, from early 1980's, when MRE's were being phased in. Never seen any like it.

[cavguy]

I have never seen a old school MRE with a partial label like yours! It actually looks like a regular old school MRE, are you sure that someone maybe just didn't remove the writing somehow? I was thinking alcohol initially, but I think that a solvent would discolor the bag...

[SwissW]

You know that might be it. I think alcohol wouldn't discolor the bag. The question is why would someone do that?
It's not like someone tried to sell it to me as a rare/special item. In fact, I got it for a really good deal.

So I did a bit of digging and found this post right here: viewtopic.php?t=1930
Detective mode engaged....

This is a very similar looking MRE, right?
But if you look closely, the texts don't match.
At first I thought that it almost looks like the "A" (or whatever letter may have been on there) was also removed from my MRE and therefore the text on my MRE isn't centred anymore.
However, compared to the reviewed MRE, the other words on mine are in a different position altogether.
The text on my MRE appears to be "flush right" whereas all other similar MREs I can find on google are centred.

So, maybe no alcohol after all? Maybe DangerousDave is right.

I'm considering opening it up for a review. That would solve the mystery.
Not sure.

[housil]

Most likely, it's a 'transitional' LRP ration pack, from early 1980's, when MRE's were being phased in. Never seen any like it.

I also doubt that was a "regular" issued brown bag MRE as back in late 80s we also got these MREs to eat and I counld´t remember they were this "plain" but had no idea what it could be.

Check out these:
viewtopic.php?t=3722#p27239
Do the front two ones look similar?

[cavguy]

Or, if you can use your hand to tell if the ration meal is freeze dried (like a solid lightweight block of something) vs. packed in a retort pouch (liquid'y...) maybe that could give us a clue. Personally, I still think it's just a regular old school MRE! Otherwise, I think you are going to have to open this one to solve the mystery!

[SwissW]

Doesn't feel freeze dried.
I too think it's just standard MRE. Might still review it.

[Treesuit]

Here is my educated guess. It looks like a transitional item. If it were a standard early MRE and the lettering had rubbed off (i.e. being in somebody's cargo pocket) there would have been residual lettering left behind indicating manufacturer, accessory packet, etc. Also I don't see a Julian date stamped anywhere on the front or top.

Sometimes, depending which manufacturer made the meal, there was a embossed date code on the meal somewhere. Perhaps on the top or bottom next to where the seal is. A Julian date can tell you which year it came from.