U.S. Military MRE 12-Pack, Flameless Heaters, Freeze Dried, 2023 Inspection

I am not a part of the military and I have no experience with "real" MREs whatsoever and I don't know how they supposed to be, so this review is my subjective experience and opinion after I used them. This is my first time buying them for the purpose of checking what they are, how they taste and how well they preserve with my own experience. This review is for those like me, who is looking for a good preserved food that you potentially can take camping. The box I received in December of 2023 was manufactured in 2019, which is quite long for me. Since this is supposed to be preserved food and by checking on how people ate more than 30 year old MREs, I decided to give it a try. After calling emergency services preemptively and writing my will after saying goodbye to my family, I had my first hash brown with lemon drink MRE. It's been a week since and I have eaten 5 more MREs and I am still alive and I also didn't have any toilet issues. So, my friends, this food is save 5 years after manufacturing date. Given that it was not stored in some really improper conditions, of course. The taste. I would say, it's not bad. It is kind of on a level of store-bought frozen food for the main. But I was really impressed how preserved food can be quite decent. In my opinion, though, the highlights are the extra snacks and drinks you get with the main. They are also pretty good and most of the time actually taste better than the main. The portion size of the main is overall pretty small. It reminds me of the airplane portion size and is about a third of what I would eat if I cook myself the same thing. However together with the snacks it will satiate you for a while and let you not feel the hunger. One annoying issue I have with these MREs is heating it up with FRH. I don't know if I got bad batch or something, but I can never heat it well, especially when the food is mostly solid, like tortellini or pizza. I had good success with beef ravioli which went to a "normal warm" meal temperature, but for others it seems to mostly heat the bag and not the food. I followed all instructions properly and made sure the pad is wet, positioned it the way I was supposed to and all that, but the most I usually get is the temperature just above room level after 15 minutes of heating. And don't get me wrong, most of the time the FRH itself is piping hot (although sometimes it's not, maybe it expired or something). Just the food isn't. I prefer warming it in a bowl of tap hot water, or just poring the main out of the bag into a bowl and heating it on fire. One of the FRHs was somewhat damaged and the powder inside spilled out. Others take a lot longer to get hot than expected. Overall I succeeded in heating 1 time out of 5 with it. I am not sure if it's supposed to be barely warm, but I kinda expected the food to be hot enough to have steam. Only got steam 1 time, though. Oh, also tried the gum. It's kinda meh, but interesting overall. Cinnamony. Didn't try other stuff like towels or coffee. Had all the cold drinks that come with it and the pudding - liked all of them. It's not something you want to eat every day, but it's quite nice for what it is. And one of the meals had missing "accessory pack" - towel and cold drink. I am not sure if it was supposed to be like that or not, but I know that other people got this meal with the raspberry drink.

The MREs were great! I hadn’t eaten one in nearly twenty years and decided to buy some to have my wife and son try them. Several of the items were unfamiliar due to the time lapse, but there were some old favorites, such as the jalapeño cheese spread. They were fresh, and I only had an issue with one FRH being punctured, which is fairly common. I lived on MREs for weeks at a time in Afghanistan, so it was like a trip down memory lane. The price per case is very hard to beat, and I will buy from this company again when I’m ready for more.

I’ve been purchasing survival food for over a decade, mostly for natural disasters and power outages. I eat the emergency food purchased and am astonished by all the reviews where people admit they have not——yet they rate the product. I opened and ate an MRE out of this case after it arrived, #7 I believe-Beef Strips in a Savory Tomato Sauce. The Mylar package is amazing and this food is likely to survive any emergency except a fire. Items inside are also packed well with nutrition info included. Beef strips were good-a modest but ample portion considering all the other items. Heater included, spoon, etc. A tasty cappuccino mix was a nice touch. Peanut butter and blackberry jam came with a piece of flatbread. The flatbread was soft and fresh. I ate all the food cold and out of the package to simulate a real emergency. The cappuccino mix was made with 6oz of hot water and was delicious. I am 6 ft 2in (225) and could survive on one of these per day if needed. Two per day would be plenty for anyone Also included are a wet nap, candy and gum, a dessert item- (pudding), and matches. This is far superior to other emergency food because: -variety -items individually packed (easily save items not used) -lots of protein for the price -heater if you prefer hot food and are lacking an energy source -better bang for the buck Many other marketed survival food is not worth your money b/c it’s overpriced carbs like rice and Mac and cheese. These items can be stored easy at a fraction of the price and they last a long time even without special packaging. Compared to an MRE with meat and all the other items, it’s not a close call. Other survival food scams customers with lots of “servings” but these servings are not individually packaged making them terrible in a true emergency situation. And you don’t need to pay a premium for Mac and cheese. Just buy some and store properly. I’m Buying more and I recommend this product and seller. Keep a couple in your vehicle too. These could save your life at most…or at a minimum, they can make a bad situation much more tolerable.

No issues with quality of the meals. Though, two of the flameless ration heaters were punctured and leaked when adding water.

Totally worth it! These last soo long! An you get a ton, all different flavors, each one has a whole meal, so 12 was a lot, cheaper then getting single!