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No pics, because I had this meal while in my kayak, and there's really no room for such shenanigans.

TOTMs aren't dated, but the entree was stamped 3209, making it very recent. Besides the entree, it contained pretzels, patriotic sugar cookies, mocha cappuchino powder, raspberry applesauce and a bag of M&Ms.

Chicken with Egg Noodles and Vegetables in Sauce is - there's no better descriptive - as good or better than what Mom made. Amazingly good. I tasted no "MRE flavor" of preservatives, the noodles had texture, there were lots of big chicken chunks of both white and dark meat, the sauce was broth-like, and the veggies added to the flavor. I could have eaten five or six of these. It was that good.

The rest of the TOTM unfortunately was mostly sugary items. They all taste fine, but that much sugar is just not good for you. Five sugar/carb bombs and one small entree as a "balanced" meal? It's a shortcoming of all MRE menus, IMHO.

They all taste fine, but that much sugar is just not good for you. Five sugar/carb bombs and one small entree as a "balanced" meal? It's a shortcoming of all MRE menus, IMHO.

I agree. I counted the sugar content in the Menu 4 Maple Sausage MRE. 90 grams in total!!! Even if you are very active this is way too much and this is just one MRE (even if the one with the highest sugar content).
I have several thousand military photos about the US Army,Marines,National Guard and soldiers of today have clearly become bigger compared to the 70s or 80s era soldiers.Especially women. Some are muscular but mostly they are just fat...

During my time on a Patrol Gunboat (71-74), we hauled around hundreds of "Special Ops" types, from the basic Marine Recons and UDT's, up to what I consider the ultimate, Navy Seals.

Then, they were mainly smallish, wiry, sometimes scrawny.
NONE of them were like the monsters you see nowadays...
I would guess steroids are a major part of the diet for them!

How times have changed...

MREs aren't really a primary food, at least not for long durations... However, there really seems to be a "bulk up" culture lately. Lots of people spending hours at the gym to build muscle with no particular goals in mind other than to "look bigger". Also a ton of protein powder, supplements and other crap. I'm sure all of it will come to haunt them later in life, when their bones and joints are totally worn out and have terrible heart problems from the nasty chemicals & supplements they ingest.

Just a followup and repeat review. I liked the first one so much I bought another of this exact meal and had it (while fishing, as usual) a few days ago. Once again, I was immensely impressed by the huge chunks of chicken and the tasty sauce. I added a packet of hot sauce this time, and the extra zest made the entree even more delicious.

This one's a real winner.