Is the XMRE Pizza and Bridgford Pizza the same?

[RockyRaab]

Are you old enough to remember the ads on the back cover of comic books that showed a realistic toy submarine you could play in, but if you bought one, it was only a cardboard box with rivets painted on it?

That's MRE pizza.

[ViperGTS]

I liked it better cold vs hot (bridgford version) a pack of cheese spread on top made a big difference though.

[Smitty]

Are you old enough to remember the ads on the back cover of comic books that showed a realistic toy submarine you could play in, but if you bought one, it was only a cardboard box with rivets painted on it?

That's MRE pizza.

Now I want a cardboard submarine...

[SentientTootsieRoll]

Maybe my fascination with science and technology is causing me to be biased here, but I think it was pretty good. I haven't had the actual MRE yet, but I did purchase some packs of the pizza from a nearby sporting goods store. I tried it cold and tried it heated up. Aside from it being a bit dry when heated up, I thought it was pretty good. When you consider that it's shelf stable food, designed to be stored in room temperature (or much warmer) for 3+ years, did you really expect it to taste like pizza from an Italian restaurant or like a pizza from Dominos? I'd hope not. I think you'd have to be a silly person to have expectations like that.

I've seen a lot of people complaining about the MRE pizza, but I'm just happy the scientists at Natick put so much time, patience, research and development into it and frankly, it irks me to see so many whining about it. Again, what were you expectations? That said, hopefully they will improve it further and in 30 years, we can look back and remember how bad the shelf stable pizza used to be in comparison.

[mikeoverhere]

Exactly. I took it for what it was, a slice of room temperature school lunch pizza made a year ago and sealed in a bag . I’ve eaten worse MRE entrees.

I have low expectations for almost all US MRE components. But I wish the pizza were more like what I got in school - greasy (tasty), and with more moisture/sauce. That's why I think the pizza would be much better if the MRE came with a pack of pizza sauce to add. I would like to have tried the first version of the pizza that got put out. Only problem with it was it turned brown in 2-3 years though IIRC the taste was unaffected.

[BTemple]

Exactly. I took it for what it was, a slice of room temperature school lunch pizza made a year ago and sealed in a bag . I’ve eaten worse MRE entrees.

I have low expectations for almost all US MRE components. But I wish the pizza were more like what I got in school - greasy (tasty), and with more moisture/sauce. That's why I think the pizza would be much better if the MRE came with a pack of pizza sauce to add. I would like to have tried the first version of the pizza that got put out. Only problem with it was it turned brown in 2-3 years though IIRC the taste was unaffected.

Extra moisture would exponentially increase the risk of mold growth, and no soldier is going to want to open up their MRE and find inedible components due to mold.

[mikeoverhere]

Extra moisture would exponentially increase the risk of mold growth, and no soldier is going to want to open up their MRE and find inedible components due to mold.

Which is why keep it dry, but throw in a Pizza Sauce sachet in the MRE. Boom!

[mikeoverhere]

I've been had. I got the Sterling Pizza in. It looks exactly like the Bridgford except the cheese seemed a deeper reddish orange vs the more white(ish) cheese on the Bridgford. Same separate cheese shreds. The picture that XMRE shows, which I posted above, looks NOTHING like the real thing nor will it ever.

Both brands tasted the same. Both were heated first, in a microwave.



Forgive the missing chunks of cheese/pepperoni, I pulled some off to taste them separately.

[ViperGTS]

Looks identical to the bridgfords i've had, for sure. Thanks for the experiment though.

[mikeoverhere]

I should have sent them to GShultz9 to review them on YouTube, sparing me from having to sample them myself. Sigh...

I'm hoping for future improvement. Perhaps a dang PIZZA SAUCE PACKET! Maybe make it a little sweeter instead of bitter? I know I've seen 5 varieties of spice packets to enhance it's flavor, but they were dry.

In the end, I gave a half dozen of these things to a friend with kids that will eat anything on a camping trip. Ironically, he works at a Papa Murphy's.