10 reasons not to eat MREs

Being a cook for 18 yrs in the Army I can tell you that the one MRE to stay away from is the Tuna Noodle Casserole. We sometimes opened at random different meals to make sure they were fit to eat. The Tuna package was bulging and before I could stop the specialist, He opened it and it blew up all over us. Not a smell you want to take home to the wife

MREs, and before that C Rations, were not designed to sustain troops indefinitely. While the services (I was in the USMC) treated packaged field rations as “food” the fact remains that they are for short term use in training or combat and that use of MREs is supposed to be broken up by use of prepared meals, although I can count on one hand the number of times that happened. The MRE is a high calorie, high fat, meal for purposes of providing energy NOT a balanced diet. MREs are biased towards carbohydrates. Strangely, they print “nutritional information” on them like items in the supermarket, as if anyone in the field cares about that. We always supplemented C rations (which at least had canned fruit) and later MREs with with other items to keep the digestive tract happy. Otherwise severe constipation was the result. Different people react to MREs in different ways; differences in gut bacteria and body chemistry, etc. The bottom line is nothing substitutes for fresh fruit and vegetables and your plan needs to include a source for these. You also need to try out whatever ration/food source you plan to depend on to ensure your system can tolerate it.

I spent 3 days backpacking in Joshua Tree with only MRE’s, and everything on your list is right on except I was sick and had the runs so bad, I had to go home early. The weight and the weight of extra water because the make your mouth dry and more thirsty. They were surprisingly good as far as taste/

As a soldier I lived on MREs several times in the last 25 years. Some tasted better than others, hot or cold. I agree they are heavy. Constipation is not a problem when you are exercising as much as a soldier. Water was never a problem. In desert storm we had 3-5 quart bottles per soldier per day. For the first 6-8 days I think they are great. We would open the bags and remove excess weight.

I agree with you. My BOB contains a large jar of peanut butter as a primary food source. It does weigh 2.5 lb, BUT it is over 5600 calories, contains fat, carbs, protien, and fiber, & enough salt to maintain electrolyte balance.. Requires neither heating or refrigeration, can eat on the run, Unbreakable plastic container fits nicely in a 32oz Nalgene bottle holder for easy access. Shelf life over a year, so easy to rotate. Also works well as bait for traps.
I also keep dehydrated soups/stews for those times when you have the luxury of building a fire and cooking a meal. And dehydrated apples which provide sugar for energy and soluble fiber (pectin). Also a good “eat-on-th-run” source of nutrition.
As you point out, MRE’s are OK to keep you alive and functioning if you are pinned down in a foxhole, but they are expensive, bulky, don’t taste good, and are something less than healthy. I can see where they make sense for the military which is tasked with providing nutrition to thousands of troops scattered over large geographic regions. And they are certainly better than having nothing to eat at all. But there are better alternatives for the kind of survival situations we are likely to face in the event of natural or man-made disasters. Just my opinion.

20 years in the Army with plenty of time in the field and at war. MRE’s are good when needed, but wouldn’t rely on them when I don’t have to. Brought my own spices to add.
They are better for active people not people sitting around. Then there are the ones that some don’t like, so they sit and don’t get eaten. Have also seen only a few things eaten out of them and the rest thrown away. Am prepared for a survival but am not using MRE’s.

I think you’re incorret. They were available to civilians long before Katrina. My husband served 23 years in the military. MRE’s are an excellent choice. Not as good as fresh, but can sustain a person for years. Some of them do taste good.

HAVING SPENT 12 YEARS IN THE INFANTRY IN THE 80′S & 90′S I HAVE CONSUMED QUITE A FEW MREs. BEING IN THE RAPID DEPLOYMENT FORCE FOR 4 OF THOSE YEARS, AND BEING IN THE FIELD FOR 200 DAYS PER YEAR AVERAGE. WE LIVED ON NOTHING BUT MREs FOR UP TO 45 DAYS AT A TIME. THE 1ST GENERATION WERE NOT
THAT GOOD TASTE WISE, BUT THEY HAVE IMPROVED. THEY ARE GOOD FOR WHAT THEY ARE INTENDED FOR. MOST OF THE TIME WE ATE THEM COLD. MANY TIMES AT NIGHT, IN PITCH BLACK CONDITIONS, YOU DID NOT KNOW WHAT YOU HAD OPENED UNTIL YOU WERE EATING IT. THIS LEAD TO MRE BEING CALLED “MYSTERIES” IN THE ARMY THEN. I AM LIVING PROOF THAT THEY WILL NOT KILL YOU. MANY TIMES WE ATE THESE ON THE MOVE. OPEN ONE POUCH AT A TIME, EAT IT, OPEN THE NEXT ITEM.
SINCE WHEN IS BEING IN THE MILITARY SUPPOSED TO BE A STAY AT CLUB MED?
YOU EAT TO SURVIVE AND CONTINUE THE MISSION. AUGMENT THE MRE WITH ADDED
SPICES, MINUTE RICE, RAMEN NOODLES, WHATEVER DOES NOT TAKE UP MUCH SPACE AND DOESN’T WEIGH A TON. LEARN TO LIVE IN NOTHING BUT A RUCKSACK FOR
TWO MONTHS AND YOU WILL FIGURE IT OUT.

I had two mres served by the Army National Guard in 2002. They were quick,got hot,and tasted fine. They were like any other canned food. I don’t know nutrition value but I was full and my energy level was good. i didn’t require any extra water. i don’tknow if prolong use would cause problems. They were diffently better than the c and k rations I had in the Navy.

Hi Frank,

I have been getting your emails and your onfo for sa few months now, and I have to say there are alot of good stuff, excellent!

MRE’s when you are hungry you will eat almost anything… I have had no problems with them and I like them…

frezedrid food requres whater that is potable and heat mre rip it open and eat
wen did you fall and what did you hit youre head on must have ben hard

My personal experience with MREs is limited. A number of years ago, I saw some entrees on the shelves of an overstock store where I shop. I picked up several of the varieties that sounded more appealing to bring on a camping trip. The bottom line is that they are not something I would choose to eat. I would much rather can and dry my own food, and stock up on grocery store items. However, when facing the real possibility of starvation, calories are what count, more than nutrition or taste, so yes, I would eat MREs. They may make you sick, but sick is better than dead.

When I was in the military we had started of with k-rats / c-rats. I was happy when we got the MRE. The first one’s weren’t that great. But the 2nd set were a lot better. There were other items in them to help improve the taste. Like tobasco, gum didn’t seam to stay freash to long. But their was TP in the bag also, some through it was napkins. But they are for emergencey use if you don’t have any thing else. And there is a heating device in the package to make it hot. You just have to remember, you still need water. So you make the choise of haveing it hot or outside temperture, what ever that could be.
I have some MRE’s I would keep in my vehicle’s. If I were ever to break down. Which has happen in the past. Its nice to have something to eat. Because, I am a diabetic and when suger level gets low. I need to eat asap.

I ordered some samples from a major vendor, but when they got here, there were so many chemicals in them that I set them aside and started to dehydrate my own and store it and buy the freeze dried single ingredient items instead. I have control over the produce, I use commercial grade vacuum sealers and O2 absorbers. It isn’t perfect, and isn’t as easy as writing a check, but it sure makes cooking all year easier when you get used to using the ingredients in your cooking.

I was in Iraq for two years from 2004 – 2006. I ate MRE’s along with everyone else. They were a novelty for about 5 minutes. Then, I would have preferred to have eaten tree bark if there were trees available.

On one R&R, I brought an MRE to my parents who survived the Great Depression and ate sawdust and lard. (Talk about wanting to jump off of a bridge!) Anyway, they thought the MRE tasted like shit. First thing out of their mouths was a comment about the saltiness. I think they would have preferred the sawdust.

JMJ

my understanding is survival packs advertised as 25 yr shelf life-

also some survival are orgaic

? ? ?

In Iraq I ate quite a few mre’s. From experience they can make you sick after eating them for extended periods when they are the only food source. In Iraq, it was preferred to eat local tribal food from trusted sources. Although you took your chances and it being frowned upon, it was a break from mre monotony.
It was never intended that MRE’s be eaten forever or for extended periods. Plus they will not last long in hot direct sun environments. They should be heated using the heating pouches/bags whenever possible. The heaters come shipped with the mre pouches in the shipping box. There is one heater for every mre pouch and you can order the heaters separately. To not use a heater pouch can cause stomach distress. Granted you need a small amount of water for the iron powder based heaters. And in a desert wartime environment water could be scarce.
They are packed with supplemental nutrients but I don’t think the added chemicals will last the 10/8/5 year suggested shelf life. The food and preservatives might but not the nutritional additives.

Just remember, before preparing an MRE, to look around to see if there is some real food instead. Other than that, they aren’t any worse tasting than the C rations that I ate in the 70′s, that had been packed in the 40′s. The C rations were canned, so they were heavy and bulky, and the manufacturers made their calorie targets by including plenty of fat, so you had to heat them for palatability. If you were a real man, you even ate the ham and lima beans meal when you got stuck with it.

However, the idea that MREs are bad for you is pretty silly if the alternative is serious hunger. If things are going bad, you probably don’t have to worry about a few months of lousy diet anyway. And you aren’t going to be eating it for the years that it would take to have a major detrimental effect on your health, but you darn sure have to worry about getting the calories you need to keep surviving.

MRE’s are fine. Why does your title suggest poisoning? Every
prepackaged item has a shelf life that consumers have to read
and be aware of. I think you are discrediting a great form of
needed food storage. When the famine comes from too much
regulation and lack of gas and funds to buy food; you may want
some MRE’s.

Follow the directions and they are not bad. I have a case of them as my last resort. Some are better than others. Don’t drink enough water and ANY food will give constipation, so I do not think it is fair to blame it on the food. MREs were never designed to be a backpacking food, so it is highly unfair to compare them and judge them against those foods. I have eaten them at many activities and have never had any complaints. As far as sodium and sulphates being unnatural, take a chemistry class: your lack of education is showing.

I have yet to purchase MRE’s but I did try them when my son, who had ordered some, brought them over for us both to try. They tasted OK, nothing outstanding but in an emergency, I believe they would do a satisfactory job.
The article summary above mentioned the sodium content and sodium/salt is what gives many foods flavor and at the same time it also acts as a preservative. Water is required anyway, just make sure you have WATER as your #1 item to stock or have available in any emergency and power outage. That’s a given…plain and simple.
I have decided to stock up on dehydrated packages of side dish and main dish items from the grocery store. I buy several dozen at $1. each when they go on sale. There is an ever increasing variety out there now and you can add your own…canned Tuna and Canned Chicken (6 packs at Sam’s) that make a nourishing meal when added to any of the rice or pasta items. I suggest that everyone try out recipes now to avoid any “surprises” in the taste department later on.
Check out all of the varieties of Canned Beans and canned fruit….and again, please avoid the sodium reduced varieties unless your doctor has ordered you to do so….your canned items will taste much better! I have always taken care of doing the food shopping for my family and it is always usually “in and out” in a hurry. I suggest that you take the whole family with you one day and make sure you go up and down ALL of the aisles. You will be amazed at the new items that are arriving. Be Prepared was and I think it is still the Girl Scout Motto. It has always been mine as well!

some i encountered in Saudi they were spoiled by the time they were issued-temp every day was 100+ probably shortened MRE life greatly.

When I served in the Army 1970 – 1972 we had K rations which I thought had good taste and did not constipate me. I have not tried the MRE’s but know they are over priced. It is simple to dehydrate your own home grown or store bought fresh food and them vacuum seal them for long shelf life and then you are also getting what you want to eat. Just remember to prepare all the food groups.

great to keep a couple in my truck for that desert trip when i didn’t bring a thing

In addition to being high in sodium, they contain “shelf life extenders” (AKA: preservatives) that are unhealthy. Many preservatives, even ones the FDA and USDA deem “harmless” and “natural” (for example: sodium phosphates) are not harmless or natural. Food additives can raise the overall sodium content of food and are carcinogenic.

Dear Frank,

YOU ARE RIGHT ON THE MONEY! Yes, I’ve eaten a ton of MRE’s, but as you say, they are not that taste. Some are okay, but most are nasty! I do pack a couple in my BOB when hunting, but only just in case I get stranded over night.

I much prefer “rolling my own” MRE’s of de-hy and freeze dried foods and discuss this in my book as well.

God Bless,
Orrin

MREs are at best borring. Unless you have a penchant for salt, starch, starch and more starch the variety leaves a lot to be desired. The quality of the ones that I have eaten, leads me to believe that I probably could do better dumpster diving behind the local greasy spoon. I was fortunate being in the navy, the chow was great and I didn’t have to worry about mres. Even though I was a member of the ships landing party and attached to the marine division aboard ship, we didn’t have mres. Lucky me…

A single MRE has enough calories for an entire day. They are not meant to be eaten in one meal. Also, they TELL you that you must drink plenty of water with the MREs. You carry the water separately in a canteen. The reason for the sodium is because they want you to drink and retain some water so you don’t become dehydrated. Follow the directions!!! Yes, some are better than others, but I never ate more than two or three parts of an MRE at a sitting, and drank plenty of water with it. I never had any problems with constipation. They were much easier to carry around than C-rations, and the BDU leg pocket was just the right size to tuck in an MRE.

Everything you say about MRE’s is true. However, if I am in a plane crash on a mountaintop in Peru, and it is a choice between MRE’s and going cannibal, I think the MRE’s are a good idea.

In fact, MRE once or twice a week might do no harm, as long as other food was available.

To try to survive on MRE’s only is a foolish idea.

MRE is a military acronym, applied to food that is cooked using a retort oven; it cooks in the container it was packed in.
One should be careful about the “new” military MRE’s…they MUST be stored at under 65 degrees; if not, then can in fact be rendered as semi-toxic, depending upon what it is. The problem we have now is that MOST of the “government surplus” stuff coming to market has been shipped over to some of the hottest climates in the world, and allowed to sit, uncovered and unprotected, on the tarmac in Iraq and Afghanistan. They become not palatable and unsuitable for eating quite rapidly, in that situation.

That said, I have never found the FRESH MRE’s to be objectionable, until I had some of the “Culturally correct” ones they made for the Saudi’s in Desert Dust I.

A VERY edible and quite tasty alternative to the Miltary versions are the Hormel and Dinty Moore microwaveable meals in the little white plastic tubs. They, too, are technically MRE’s since they are retort cooked. Hormel calls them “Compleats”. They are very good for bugout situations wherein one does not have the luxury of stopping and cooking for a meal or two; they can be warmed under a coat while hiking, or in a pot of hot water. These civilian units are not nearly so salt-laden. They have a decent medium shelf life, and are tasty enough that the kids eat them for lunches when too lazy to open a can.

MRE’s are not something I would ever, ever want to eat again. That’s one of the reasons I lost weight in the Army, they tasted horrible, and I had all the side effects you mentioned. I would much rather have dehydrated food.

So what is the best thing to bug out with thats light

I have the “joy” of eating them a few years back. I got a couple of them for a comping trip.
All I have to say is “brick butt” , not only are they heavy to pack but I will NEVER eat another MRE. After 2 meals I did not “evacuate” for 2 days. Tasted like some sort of over-salted greasy spoon hot lamp food at 7/11.
Dehydrated self prepped or Freeze dried for me.

I, for one, have never been in the service but have worked with the Boy Scouts for over 20 years and have eaten quite a few MRE’s in my day. I will admit, however, that some of them are nasty. I suppose that I have my favorites that I would eat a lot, ie: Chili Mac, Beef Stew, Spaghetti, Teriyaki Beef/Chicken, Pot Roast. There are some very good benefits to the military MRE’s. One is that you get a chemical heater in it. I’ve found that even the worst tasting entrees are “palatable” when heated. Then, when you’re done heating your meal (it takes about 15 – 20 mins.) you still have about an hour of warmth left in the heater to use as a Hand/Body warmer. Because the heater puts off hydrogen when activated with water (well, I won’t tell you what else it can be used for). When using the meals for hiking or survival packs I tend to open them up and remove the unwanted portions that make it heavy. A really good item in the packs is the coffee. I don’t drink the stuff so I keep it on hand for later barter. A lot of people like the small Tabasco bottle that comes with them. At about 2000 – 3000 calories per meal they are a great source of bulk. I’ve stocked them for use as a “stationary” meal to be used as a 1-per-person-per-day item, to be supplemented with other foods for the other meals of the day. Scenario: Let’s say that you have a “Bug-Out-Location” where you’re at and expecting others to arrive. You get word that some are a distance away and struggling (maybe they had to leave without all of their supplies). You can send out a “rescue” party with MRE’s to help rejuvenate them for the final leg of their trip. All in all I think that having some MRE’s in your supply is a good idea, if nothing else than to add some variation to your menu.

We have a few of them on hand in our house in town just to get to make it to our country place should the SHTF, they are not all that bad but I sure wouldn’t try to survive on them for any length of time. For true survival food we chose freeze dried and have found it to be quite good and alot cheaper than MREs.

When I was in the servise,I eat alot of tham. The only thing was good about is they cept me alive & most of all, was the cigarettes, that rearly was the only thing I liked. They were better then nothing. If it came down to it, today I would eat them. I would like to know what the 37 foods we can not live with out?

While I have never had the opportunity to eat a MRE, I am not surprised by the report, as government does poorly at most things,except weapons use.