Best MRE Meals For Emergency

If you have not seen or heard of MRE (Meal Ready to Eat), I have to wonder where you come from. MREs are boxes containing ready-to-eat foods for the military. You can visit Alpha Survivalist for more information about MRE.

However, in recent years, the market has changed considerably and with expanding areas such as Survivalism or Prepping, MREs are now available to the general public and are highly valued because of their long shelf life and their simplicity.

For the uninitiated, MRE is what our soldiers eat when they are far from the base, on the ground. MREs come from a long history of military food options that are intended to fill the bellies and provide energy in a maltreatment-proof package (thrown, dropped to the ground etc and can be stored at the bottom of a shed for 5 years without worrying about whether it will still be good or not. Taste and consistency are usually the victims in this type of scenario.

MREs are utilities and I have already said, if you expect to eat a gourmet meal with high expectations, you are not in the right place. Other bloggers have complained that the meals are unhealthy and that the taste leaves something to be desired.

While this may be true in a sense, again, it's products are not designed to win gourmet contests; Their only mission is to keep you alive. These are not fresh ingredients that you have grown in your garden or bought at the local market, they are rations of survival.

When I was in the army, they were usually distributed as a meal. The hot breakfast and dinner were usually offered every time we were out of the office, so we ate more MRE than we needed and were able to catalog our favorite MREs.

I had tried them all and some were better than others. I had my fair share of MRE in various places all over the world. Did they taste better than anything else, no, but they fulfilled their roles.

MRE meal

Meal Supply Kit (Meals, Ready to Eat) sent me this month a big package full of MRE meals. Inside, 12 MRE different and ready to be tested. Like all MREs, the idea that makes these meals so good for the military makes them worthy of interest for the preparers, so I'm happy to do this test for you.

I opened the box and saw many new menu choices that I had never tried before. Meal Kit Supply offers you:
One main course: Variety of beef, chicken or vegetarian dishes.

Cracker/Bread: Regular or vegetable crackers, snack bread or flour tortillas.

Snacks: a mix of raisins, mixed nuts, corn chips or others.

Spreads/Sauce: peanut butter, cheese spreads, fruit jellies, fruit jams or others.

Dessert: puddings, pound cakes, wet packaged fruit, dessert biscuits, milkshakes or another portion-controlled packaging.

Fruit flavored beverage: blends of simple or assorted fruit flavored beverages or other products available.

Instant coffee: An instant coffee to serve.

Spoon: One instant coffee.

Towel: 11 ¾ x 12 ¾ brown paper towel.

Drink bag: hot drink bag included in each meal.

Condiment Kit: Includes salt and pepper, non-dairy creamer and sugar.

Wet wipe: With a soapy disinfectant solution. Which is handy if you are like me and get food on your fingers.

Optional Flameless Heater: A MRE-type Flameless Meal

Food/Ration Warmer: for each complete MRE meal package.

I decided to try an MRE for lunch by having a short hike before. I cook meatballs in marinara sauce, black beans in sauce, vanilla pudding, MRE crackers, peanut butter, lemon-lime electrolyte, coffee.

Nutritional values ​​are printed on the back of each bag. As an outdoor lover, I always like to leave with an MRE in my bag and being a loyal Amazon customer, that's where I get my bearings.

After my hike back, I thought it would be nice to have lunch. I poured the contents of the MRE into the bag to heat my meal sum mentioned. We did not have heaters when I was in the army, by a small flammable pellet that smelled of fish when you lit it.

The current heating system of the MRE is certainly very efficient. He started to warm up almost immediately and was doing a really good job. My meal was good and hot in no time. If you think of this way of eating for an evacuation scenario, this option could be an advantage. No fire would mean that you could escape detection more easily.

I tried the cracker on which I spread the peanut butter. All that made me thirsty and I could enjoy my orangeade!

After finishing the cracker, I was ready for the meatballs. When I opened the bag, I saw exactly what I expected to see. Again, it does not have a 5-star meal presentation but it was very good.

The last thing I tried was vanilla pudding. Again, something I never had in the old ones. We had things like fruit bread, which was not so bad, but this pudding, a real treat. Maybe I was more hungry than I thought or my standards were low.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by my MRE meal. The food was very good for an MRE. Even the wet towel that I had to use to wipe my face and hands was nice. When I finished, I threw all my trash into the plastic bag and I finally had a full stomach!
What is an MRE for?

To return to my previous remarks on the MRE. This is not the product I will choose to feed my children every day if I had other options. These meals are made to stay fresh and stable for years, so you need to understand that there are chemicals here.

It's meals though are very helpful for our preparation and I choose them for what I believe to be their strengths. Exceptionally long shelf life - usually around 5 years under good conditions. They do not require cooking. They come with all the utensils you need to eat, wash your hands and face and have a cup of coffee afterward.

I have some boxes of MRE in my house because they increase my food supply. Although they do not form the majority of my food, I think they have their place. If a disaster occurs and I want to eat a quick meal without cooking anything, I have the MRE. If I need to get out of the house for a day or two, MRE. If I want to give charity to someone, MRE.

Are MREs a good choice for you? Only you can answer this question, but I am satisfied with the quality of MRE and I would recommend them to everyone.