Ready to eat? Depends on the Marine you ask

[thedrifter]

Veterans who remember the canned C-rations of earlier wars may not believe it. But the U.S. military has finally come up with standard- issue field rations that actually taste pretty good - assuming you don't mind eating your meals out of brown plastic bags. "MREs? They're OK, I guess," says Lance Cpl. Charlie Valle, 19, with the 1st Marine Division at Camp Matilda. "But you get tired of them pretty fast."
MRE is short for "Meals Ready-to-Eat," and most of the Camp Pendleton Marines in the Kuwaiti desert eat them at least once a day while they're in base camp. If and when war comes, and the combat Marines start to move, MREs will be their breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The meals come in 24 different varieties, ranging from "Thai Chicken" to "Meatloaf With Gravy" to "Vegetarian Bean & Rice Burrito" to "Beefsteak, Grilled, Chunked and Formed." The menu slowly changes over time, with some of the less popular items being phased out. For example, the ham and egg omelette entree, known to Marines as "Dead Man in a Bag" because of an unpleasant aroma and greenish hue to the eggs, is no more. The so-called "Four Fingers of Death" - four hotdogs in a bag with beans - is also on its way out.

Each entree comes with a side dish - rice pilaf, potato sticks, Mexican rice, etc. Snacks such as M&Ms, and cheese or peanut butter that can be spread on a vegetable cracker for fiber are also included. Lack of fiber apparently was a problem with earlier versions of MREs, earning them the nickname "Meals Refusing to Exit." (Poor quality in the earlier versions of MREs also resulted in them being dubbed "Meals Refused by Ethiopians" and other, even less tasteful names.)

Each MRE also comes with an accessory packet: plastic spoon, moist towelette, packets of salt, sugar, cocoa or Tasters Choice instant coffee, powdered creamer, a small packet of toilet paper, Chicklets gum and matches. Unlike in the old days, the new health-conscious military no longer includes mini-packs of cigarettes with field rations.

Heating the MRE entrees and side dishes is simple, since each MRE comes with a disposable "Flameless Ration Heater." Put the entrŽe bag in the heater bag, add a little water and a chemical reaction produces heat to warm the food. Virtually every Marine agrees that without heating, the MREs are awful - and even when heated, the popularity of any given MRE varies from Marine to Marine.

"I like the chicken and salsa," says Lance Cpl. Nena Shaw, 22, with the 1st Marine Division at Camp Matilda. "It's the one that tastes most like real food."

"A lot of people like the beef patty," says Lance Cpl. Ben Wilder, 23, of Murietta, with the 1st Battalion of the 5th Marine Regiment at Camp Grizzly. "The least preferred is the pork chow mein. I got that three days in a row once."

"Yeah," agrees Cpl. John McFarling, 29, also with the 1/5 Marines. "If you get the pork chow mein, you're getting screwed. The grilled chicken is pretty good - but they all get old eventually."

To break the monotony, sometimes the Marines improvise. For example, Sgt. David Crockett of San Diego, with the 1st Marine Division, offers this recipe for MRE Chocolate Cafe Pudding:

Ingredients 1 package MRE Cocoa Beverage Powder (Type 1 Fortified) 1 packet MRE Taster's Choice instant coffee 1 packet MRE Cream Substitute, Dry, Non-Dairy 1 canteen water

Directions
Combine ingredients into cocoa beverage bag. Add small amount of water. Mix thoroughly. Serves one.

Sempers,

Roger

[Osotogary]

I know of a few captions but I'll leave it up to the experts.

[USMC0311]

Originally posted by Osotogary
I know of a few captions but I'll leave it up to the experts.

This is the best $hit I ever ate

[richgitz]

Originally posted by Osotogary
I know of a few captions but I'll leave it up to the experts.

" If it's good enough for the fly it's good enough for me"

[Devildogg4ever]

Look! Look! There's that strange Marine!

[mrbsox]

On a recent trip to Virginia, I got to talking with a Vetran Marine in one of my classes, and he gave me a MRE after I told him I never had one. We talked about C's, hot sauce, etc.

Critique:

Meal #22; Jambalia

While lighter to carry, I think the MRE pouch is slightly larger than a box of C's. By the time you clean out the unwanted's, carrying a couple of meals in your cammy pockets would be a definant advantage.
Score 1 for the MRE.

Opening the (semi)easy open package, I was awarded with a bag of Skittles, accessory pak (T.P., gum, matches, salt, sugar, instant coffee, hot sauce, matches), Entree package, snack bread, bag of cheese spread, oatmeal cookie with chocolate like coating, 'cherry' beverage mix, spoon (extra long), and a chemical meal heater. The heater was pretty neat. Add a (very)SMALL amount of water, slide the entree down into the pak, fold the top, and wait. Got pretty d@mn hot too. No fumes, no open flame, but I think it got too hot to carry in a pocket while moving. Heating time was probably equal to a heat tab, but has to be disposed of properly, and COULD get to be a hassle keeping up with the trash.
MRE and C's break even here.

Tear open the top of the meal pouch after heating, and this is where the LONG spoon comes in. It would have been just as easy to cut the corner off the pouch, and 'toothpaste' it to eat (like in the movies). Added some of the cheese, a little salt, and endured. The snack bread was semi-soft, and pretty good, but then I like bread. The cookie bar was decent.

But, how was it....... drum roll please....

I'd rather eat COLD 'beef and rocks'. The texture was comparable to Alpo.... mush. The cheese was the best part, and made the entree better (like C's).

Too much trash left over, but the meal pouch makes a good trash bag. Could be used as a water pouch or barf bag, after eating. Maybe I need more of the variety before making a qualified judgement, but weight and all..... I'd rather have C's.

Terry

[Sgt Sostand]

C rats is better than MREs i know that much i have had them both

[CPL-Mac]

I had a girl coming over for dinner after finals and I totally forgot. I got a call saying she would be running a little late and thats when it dawns on me that I was woefully unprepared.

So I grabbed 2 "pork & Rice with BBQ sauce" out of the old sea bag. Tossed them in a pan, made some rice, a salad and some bread and was good to go!

Turned out pretty good and she never had a clue she was eating MRE's.

Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome!

[GunsUp]

"Three Lies In One"

I remember when there were only 12 different meals as they were still pretty new (well, as new as they got in '89). Variety was definitely not on the program as it is today. Also at that time, there wasn't the chem heaters included in the package as they are today. Typical military packing, if you need something to complete a project, it's probably shipped separately and there's never any to be found when you need it.
Chicken Ala King and Spaghetti were favs for "entrees" as well as chocolate nut cake and the chocolate covered cookie bar. I hated the orange drink mix (tasted weak but then again, took the nasty flavor of the water purification tabs away). Hated the freeze dried fruit and hamburger patty. Then you can't forget that like most field Marines, you can get really creative in food prep. Cheesecake, puddings, cookies... As to the "four fingers of death"... Ya gotta question something that says on the package "Do Not Eat Before Flight". The nice things though were the addition of the Tabasco sauce (still too small but better than nothing).
Speaking of Tabasco sauce, you can really tell when your hunting or camping buddy has been in the military (especially in tactical units) when it's chow time and they pull out their own bottle of Tabasco sauce.

I remember the Cs from growing up (Dad was in the Army), and had plenty of opportunity to sample all the varieties that were available. I liked the pound cake, the canned fruit, and the John Wayne bars (Call me crazy).

Anyway, that's my take... I'm sure there's all sorts of recipes and favs out there, so let's hear'em.