Long story short, everything except the Taster's Choice coffee was edible. The coffee succumbed to dry mold as seems to be the norm.
Photos on imgur: Crackers: good, better than the modern ones and seemed perfectly fresh.
Cheese spread with jalapeños: color was a little off and the smell was pungent but not really off-putting. Tasted fine.
Chicken and rice: everything about it was fine. Not a bad meal. I enjoyed it, especially with the tobasco added.
Fudge brownie: not bad, texture is a little dry but I wouldn't be surprised if it was like that in 1996.
m&ms: intact and edible but seem to have acquired the taste of the package they are in which is unfortunate. Won't be finishing those ☹
Grape beverage base: flavor has an odd tinge but still good.
Gum: perfectly fine
Tobasco: perfectly fine
Didn't try out the FRH, maybe next time. I was really hungry tonight and didn't want to fiddle around with it. Used the hotlogic mini (seen in one of gundog's videos) to heat the main which worked perfectly.
Finished all the food, still working on the brownie as I write this.
Thanks to Steve1989's awesome videos for inspiring me to get into this hobby. I'll try to post reviews as I go through my other 1996 MREs if you guys are interested in seeing that.
Hope you guys enjoyed seeing/reading about this menu as much as I did eating it.
It's such an odd yet cool experience to eat food only 5 years younger than me. Frank
