MREInfo.com

Ever since I found out about the Japanese phenomenon called Miri Meshi (sometimes written Milimeshi), I've been dying to try one. I never would have guessed that I would get my hands on actual military JSDF rations before I was able to get a commercially produced off-the-shelf military style meal. In Japanese it's ミリメシ - shorthand for Military Food.

I've tried a few times, and hadn't had much luck because the shipper I use will not ship packages with flameless ration heaters in them. When they allowed this meal through, I assumed they had removed the heater, or that there was no heater to begin with, but I was wrong! It must have been overlooked, because the meal arrived with the heater and activator packets intact.
Packages Contents:

• Cooked Rice
• Beef Curry (listed on front label as Japanese Salisbury Steak)
• Miso Soup
• Flameless Heater Packet
• Heater Activator (Saltwater)
• Spoon
• Napkin

The packet with the red label is the flameless heater. Following the directions on the back of the pouch, I placed the heater inside at the bottom. I put the soup, rice, and curry into the bag and then poured in the water from the packet with the blue label. The instructions said to cook the contents for 30 minutes! 30! I double checked the translation to make sure - indeed it was half an hour. I zipped the top of the pouch shut, and it started up immediately. Within a few moments there was steam piping out of the two small vent holes at the top of the pouch. By the end of the half hour there was still a small amount of steam trickling out, and the heater had boiled away all of the liquid (90g)
For a two part meal, I was very happy with the way it turned out. I fluffed out the rice and poured the curry on top. It wasn't spicy (unfortunately!), but it was very rich and savory. The pieces of beef throughout the curry were bits of cooked steak, some with a small amount of fat still attached. I thought it was excellent although my cat wouldn't eat a small bit of meat - very unlike him. He did like the curry sauce though.
The miso soup was very interesting. I've had miso at quite a few restaurants over the years and I've never had it quite like this. There were a few orbs in the soup with a really unique texture. They were very soft and somewhat spongy on the outside, and they would burst when eaten. It wasn't tofu, so I'm not entirely sure what they were. There were also what seemed to be cooked mined onions in the broth. I'm glad I had a chance to try this meal - made by the Forica Foods Company of Japan - the Rescue Foods One Meal Package.

Thanks for info, awesome review. Are they made in menues or just this one meal?

Good review Ruleryak! So those are basically the Japanese equivalent of US civilian-made MRE's that are marketed for natural disasters, camping, etc? That's pretty cool, I've never seen one of those yet.

This was a very interesting review!

Ruleryak wrote:There were also what seemed to be cooked mined onions in the broth.

It is indicated to be a Japanese radish in the first picture.

The demand of the food for emergencies has been large in Japan since the big earthquake in 2011.
Also just now, Japan is hit by the big earthquake...

Great pics and review, thanks for sharing!

That looks pretty tasty, how was the nutrition? (i may have missed it in the pics sorry if i did)

Thanks very much asger, parafireboy, laughing_man, and NNF This really was a fun one to do.

Now for the nitty gritty details - we can all buy from Japanese Yahoo Auctions. I bought the ration from auctions.yahoo.co.jp using the service Buyee. They'll let you use a non-Japanese credit/debit card and address. You can purchase multiple auctions, and then have them combined into one package and shipped together to save money. What I learned though, is that this isn't worth it for cheap items. I bought 5 things for around 500-800 yen each (4.60 to 7.40 usd) and by the time I finished with fees, I was paying 17-20 usd to ship anything, and even when combining it didn't come down too much until you hit 5 or 6 items. Estimates on some more expensive items actually worked out much better. I would use it again for a super rare ration, and they do pop up on there every now and then.

That looks like a tasty evening meal. Did it contain a drink or any bread or cake?

Norton wrote:That looks like a tasty evening meal. Did it contain a drink or any bread or cake?

No, it only contained the Rice, Curry, and Miso. It looks to be the same brand as this review posted by Bobby yesterday. That version just has the rice and curry, no miso - so they're both fairly basic compared to a complete MRE. Incredibly tasty though