MRE

MRE: Meal, Ready-to-Eat

Wikipedia explains, “the Meal, Ready-to-Eat – commonly known as the MRE – is a self-contained, individual field ration in lightweight packaging bought by the United States military for its service members for use in combat or other field conditions where organized food facilities are not available.” More history and info is available by clicking here. (It’s a very interesting read!)

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As I have never opened up one of my MREs, that sit in our 72-Hour Kit, I thought I’d give it a whirl and see what they looked like and smelled like.

Here are a few photos from the grand opening of a choice few MREs.

Beef Ravioli in Meat Sauce.

Looked and smelled like a can of beef ravioli.

Egg Omelet with Vegetables and Cheese

The first picture was taken right out of the package.

The second picture was after I mixed it up a bit.

Although I was most scared about the smell of these eggs before I opened the package, I was pleasantly surprised by the smell. This was probably the most favorable smell out of all the meals I opened.

Potato Cheddar Soup and Wheat Snack Bread

Soup: This soup, right out of the package, was thick. It also had many chunks of potato throughout. There was not a strong aroma to this soup.

Bread: The bread was like a very dense, soft cracker. It smelled wheat-ish – not sure how to describe the smell. I think if I added peanut butter and jam to it, I could get it down without too much trouble. Smile.

Lemon Poppyseed Cake

I also opened a lemon poppyseed cake but I didn’t get a picture of it. It looked and smelled like a yummy lemon poppyseed cake. I’m glad I have that in my 72-hour kit.

The grand family photo:

I’m scared of the unknown sometimes, including MREs, but this was a good learning experience. Hope I helped relieve any MRE anxiety you may have had too. I think if I have to eat it, I will be grateful that I have these Meals, Ready to Eat and they will be delicious! 😀

-Susan