1st MRE Review, 1991 Menu 2, Corned Beef Hash

[jep1024]

I found a case of 1991 MREs, Menus 1-12, in my dad's house and he let me have them. I decided to try the Corned Beef Hash, menu 2, first. Surprisingly, everything was still good except the Milk Caramels. They had a foul/chemical odor to them, and based on the ingredients, I thought they had a real milk base/ingredient that had gone bad over the last 25 years. I couldn't believe the Corned Beef Hash was still good. As I hoped, they must have been stored inside/climate controlled for all these years. The manufacture date on the main entree was the 134th day of 1991. The real reason I wanted to try this menu was Oatmeal Cookie bar, and it did not disappoint. However, my favorite item was the freeze dried fruit/Pears. Also, the hot cocoa was average, but I put the instant coffee, sugar and cream in and then it was magnificent. Even the lemon Lime Beverage Base Powder was still good and tasted just like powered Gatorade. All in all, I made a good choice. While the entree was still good, it wasn't something that I really enjoyed due to the flavor, which was a little salty and tasted a little like the bag. The Tabasco helped a bit.

I'm still learning this forum and have never posted pics and stuff before, so I will have to feel my way through this. BTW, the pics probably suck too.

[jep1024]

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[BTemple]

Yeah that does look pretty darn good for something 25 years old. Gotta love it when they hold together after that amount of time.

[SentientTootsieRoll]

The pics are great, and high res enough that you can read the contents on the packaging. It really annoys me when something super vintage is posted that has never been posted before, but the images are so compressed that you can't see the details.

I'm familiar with the sour taste of the caramels too. They smell good, and even taste good for a split second until the sour aftertaste rages in. In spite of this, I did recently go through a whole pack and didn't get sick. It just didn't taste very good.

Also, the crackers from these older MREs are amazing. They just have a stronger, fresher wheat taste to them. #MakeMRECrackersGreatAgain!

Anyway, nice review and nice find! I've had a few of these old Corn Beef Hash menus (years 1991-1995) over the past few months, and they've all fared well. Something about the beef menus, they always seem to last longer than the ones with chicken or chicken byproducts. And don't even bother with the ham ones. Leave those for posterity. Unless they were frozen, expect to taste the nastiest, metallic ham ever.

[elandil]

great review, great to see you didn't get hit with the coffee mold that tends to affect the Red Folgers bags of coffee. You lucked out.