Talk:Meal, Ready-to-Eat/Archive 1

MRE's & eBay
I'm a military member and I've sold MRE's on eBay. NOW, in my current unit we have to buy our own MRE's on training deployments. Who is to say I can't resell what I bought? Another unit I was in did not require us to purchase MRE's, and they where issued. But of course, when they don't issue them to you it should be legal to sell. Not to mention I've seen them on sale at Big Lots type stores in New England... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.1.145.37 (talk) 22:32, 3 May 2008 (UTC)


 * When my uncle was in the NG, he would bring my brother and me each a box of C-rats when he returned from manuveurs. The rations were issued to him and counted as part of his pay, becoming his to do with as he pleased. I am sure that if he had taken C-rats out of NG storage and gave them away it would have been totally different. It is my understanding that an individual's rations become his property, the U.S. property stamping on the bag notwithstanding. (Oh, the companies that make the military issue rations also make commercial MREs for the hunting/fishing and GI Joe Army/Navy surplus stores as well.) Naaman Brown (talk) 18:17, 28 August 2009 (UTC)


 * Each branch does ots pay/rations slightly differently, not to mention that it's all changed several times in the last few decades. A few years ago, as an unmarried Marine, I didn't rate a food allowance, so I was issued the MRE instead of a meal at the chow hall whenever we were in the field. Now that I'm married and drawing BAS, I'm not supposed to be issued an MRE without either surrendering the allowance or paying per meal. However, this is rarely the case, it takes a particularly stingy CO to enforce that. However, I'd guess that since the Guard hurts for money so much more, they'd be more interested in not "wasting" rations like that.
 * But in any case, you are paying for them in some manner, but the military still won't allow you to sell them any more than you could sell your uniforms, weapons, or equipment.  bahamut0013  words deeds 18:19, 30 August 2009 (UTC)


 * Personal use, but no commercial selling, sounds like typical military policy. I suspect most of the MREs on the gun show circuit marked "U.S. Government Property / Commercial Resale Is Unlawful" are commercial contract overrun that were never govt. property in the first place so the marking is irrelevant. There are MRE type meals that are commercial product for the hunting and camping market w/o govt markings. And what was acceptable/unacceptable in the 1950s may be different today. The rules are more strictly enforced in areas around military bases; Army BDUs are common work clothes around my area, but at Fayetteville NC near Ft. Bragg it is best not to wear any item of military uniform as a civilian. Naaman Brown (talk) 15:40, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

addition request
Someone should add a new section/page on the reduced-calorie humanitarian MRE's used in Iraq & Afgahnistan, among other places. These were/are yellow & blue in packaging, and the menus are tailored to specific regions (vegetarian for certain cultures, for example).

I do not think that outright wrong and highly misleading units of measure would belong in an encyclopedia. The "calorie" is a 1/1000 of a kcal and it really does not help that some "lay men" might use it. -- Egil 07:04 Apr 1, 2003 (UTC)


 * Your change looks good to me; I just didn't want the context to be lost (nutrition as opposed to physics). Hephaestos 18:18 Apr 1, 2003 (UTC)

Under the criticism section, the entire first paragraph goes on about how delicious MRE's are and while they used to be bad, now they're wonderful. As one who has frequently eaten MRE's, this is most certainly not NPOV and reads like it was written by a Pentagon PR man.

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.146.173.34 (talk) 10:15, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Would like more information on non-entree items, such as distribution among menus, nutritional information, alternate uses, etc. For example, a table with:

70 grams sodium?

Boy, this food kills your soldiers. -- Toytoy 20:47, Sep 26, 2004 (UTC)

That was only an example for a table, not the actual contents.

The chocolate dairy shake is noted for its Severe laxative properties and loathsome flavor. 24.60.175.167 (talk) 20:49, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

they used to be bad, now they're wonderful any comment on MREs will be heavily seasoned with humor. Naaman Brown (talk) 15:43, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

Better, better & better

 * In 1983, a field evaluation was conducted with the 25th Infantry Division for 34 days. They ate nothing but MREs three times a day. Although troops rated the ration as acceptable, consumption was low - only about 60% of the calories provided were consumed.


 * Another test in 1986 with the same division resulted in increased consumption and acceptance.

My theory: The knew if they reject the MRE, they'll be forced to eat the new formula next year. So they learned to eat the MREs. Poor soldiers. -- Toytoy 15:05, Jun 15, 2005 (UTC)

What is an Entree?
As a speaker of recieved English I was wondering what part of the meal the Entree is supposed to be?

--Sf 11:53, 7 September 2005 (UTC)

See the articles on entree and main course. It's the "important" part of the meal.--Westendgirl 02:30, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

There are two broken links at the end of the first paragraph for the First Strike Ration (FSR) and the Unitized Group Ration-Express (UGR-E) Tommy Blueseed 14:43, 11 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Those pages haven't been started yet...so the links are there so the pages will be linked as soon as they are created. I encourage you to create pages for the FSR and UGR-E, since I don't know much about them.  =)    Jumping cheese   Cont @ct 22:10, 11 February 2007 (UTC)


 * At Pangborn 2003, Natick labs was giving away glossy flyers on the FSR. I have a copy at work. When I find time I'll try to find it and add info as needed.Jeh25 16:59, 12 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanxs. =)    Jumping cheese   Cont @ct 21:15, 12 February 2007 (UTC)


 * I added the an entry for the FSR. It could certainly use more work, but it's a start.Jeh25 00:42, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

Freeze dried entrees?

 * http://theepicenter.com/mre_military_meal_ready_to_eat.html


 * Made by the same people who make the famous Mountain House brand of freeze dried food, and these are over-runs from last years military production. Their shelf life is 5 years.


 * These are just the Entree from the ultra rare, Long Range Patrol (LRP) rations. ...


 * The Beef stew is packed in white packages to help conceal in snow pack situations. The Chicken is in brown packaging (not shown, and in very limited supply).

So they have freeze-dried MREs (chicken & rice, beefstew)? -- Toytoy 15:12, Jun 15, 2005 (UTC)
 * From what I gather, there are special MREs for cold climate use. They contain more food, but most of it is freeze-dried; just add water (i.e. melted snow.) The outer packs are the same design as the traditional MRE, but white. Paul-b4 12:21, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

You're supposed to add boiling water to them. No one likes those. In addition to freeze dried entres we have 'heater meals'. They have a can of fruit juice, a snack, and a hamburger helper type entry in a TV dinner container. You add a small packet of salt water to another packet to make heat and place the entre on that. Again, less liked. Tylek 05:09, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Just thought I'd mention: In basic training at Ft. Knox (2001), we would kill each other for the vegitarian MRE's, simply because they would let you eat the candy to keep your calorie count up.

PS: They ARE NOT freeze-dried, but just packaged and preserved to withstand some six-billion rads of gamma radiation or so. The MRE XX Series is quite good, actually, with even the Bean Burrito passing as both somewhat edible and able to stop small-caliber rounds. On the upside, with all of the preservatives, I don't think they will have to enbalm me when I die...

Foreign MREs
The failure to properly dispose of 330,000 MREs from Britain should be incorporated here. freestylefrappe 21:53, 17 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Updated broken URL. That may be newsworthy, but it may not have a lot of permanence. Eptin 06:02, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

Maker
Who makes MRE's for the US Army?

Supercool Dude 22:04, 8 November 2005 (UTC)


 * Im not sure if it changes with the entry, but i know for sure (im eating on at the time that im reading this) that Menu No. 18 (Turkey Breast W/ Gravy and Potatoes) are packaged by SOPAKCO Packaging; Mullins, SC 29574-1047. Also, many of the things included in MRE's that are commercial products like Kool Aide, Gaterade (both are in powdered form), M&Ms, Ritz Bitz, etc. are sold to the Army and they specially package them.  Though they arent labeled as Kool Aide (on it it says Beverage Based Powder-Cherry Flavor) the taste is identical.  So the Army doesnt make the MRE's, they package them for deployment.  And btw, they are quite good.Xlegiofalco 20:37, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

http://www.mreinfo.com/mres.html
large portion of text found on this page was directly taken from above link. Positive it violates some copyright...
 * Today I don't see any text from that page, and a large portion on the text on THAT page was taken directly from US military documents, which are not copyrightable. 76.202.58.168 21:46, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

Photos of contents
I've changed the image of the contents to Image:MRE contents.jpg, since Image:Contents of MRE.jpg had some weird licensing issues. Of course, as I was uploading it I found Image:MRE No. 23.jpg on commons. Oh well. I think mine looks better. ;-> Should we also include Image:MREGal.jpg? --Christopherlin 09:09, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

I can also get an image of the orange-colored humanitarian daily ration. --Christopherlin 09:09, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

MRE humor/satire
How about this one: Image:MREGal.jpg? Found it on commons. --Christopherlin 04:17, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

Menus
The menus section seems far too long and inappropriate for an encyclopedia article. We should probably shorten it to just one year, as an example. —Keenan Pepper 06:53, 26 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Seems such a shame to eliminate all that compiled knowledge. Unless it is easily accessible on a website.  Then we could just link to it.  Otherwise, if no such lists are around the Internet, maybe we should consider making an article "List of MRE menus by year" or somesuch. --Crisu 05:19, 27 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Here you go: --Gadget850 ( Ed) 17:07, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

no mention of the retort pouch
there is no mention of the retort pouch that is used to store the main part of the meal, its an intresting part and theres not even a wiki entre for it? http://science.howstuffworks.com/mre4.htm (info link) 86.142.12.150 13:51, 28 June 2006 (UTC)
 * YOu can mention the retort pouch in this MRE article, if you want. :-) --Deathphoenix ʕ 14:51, 28 June 2006 (UTC)
 * The FRH doesn't actually store the meal, its just a little bag that you put your entree in with a little water, and it heats it up. Kind of interesting, but nothing really special.

Quality vs. palatability
There is a misleading sentence in the article, to wit: "Early MREs were notoriously poor in quality..." I was in the Army when the first version of MREs were fielded in the early 1980s. The 'quality' of MREs was never poor. They were certainly edible and were properly packaged for field use. However, some of the early entree items were not very palatable, which I think is what the writer is trying to convey. Dehydrated items were among the least successful and were soon deleted from MREs. The two that I still have vivid memories of over 20 years later are the dehydrated pork pattie and the dehydrated beef pattie, both of which were complete failures. But to say that the 'quality' was poor strikes me as incorrect. By the way: even the earliest MREs were a big improvement over C Rations, which were abysmal. Frankwomble 15:25, 31 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the feedback, I tweaked the "Criticisms" section to address your concerns. --Deathphoenix ʕ 13:33, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

I had an MRE last night for a snack. My wife got it from her boss, who got it from someone else, etc. The entree was not bad at all. A little Tabasco gave it more flavor. If the one I had is any indication, MREs have come a long way since their beginnings.Jlujan69 21:07, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

Requirements/contents
Is the main course/entree always a starch, as stated currently? And regarding beverages, the MRE contains one or more powdered beverages, correct? Silarius 19:34, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

Yes, an MRE contains a powdered fruit drink (basically Kool-Aid), a coffee packet and if you're lucky some powdered iced tea. I can't really recall if the iced tea replaced the fruit drink or not, however.

Also, I just edited the page to add a section on 'MRE bombs'. Although I was hesitant to give instructions, since anywhere you go where there's an MRE someone will eventually start screwing around with these. They're not bad until someone decides to be cute and fill it with urine or gravel... User:Wild_T

Alternate Uses Clean-up
Until reading this article, I was unaware you could make an IEB(Impovised Exploding Bottle) out of the heating element. Maybe this should be removed so that no civilians injure themselves? Ball of pain 18:55, 4 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Wikipedia is not censored...but at the same time, WP:BEANS also applies. Pages like Dry ice bomb, Chlorine bomb, and Amish bomb (which got deleted, maybe for the reason you stated?) are also in danger if safety is an issue. However, I guess the choice is up to you to edit down the section to not explicitly state how to build a IEB. =D    Jumping cheese   Cont @ct 06:36, 5 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Well, I know that this has given some of my friends ideas. We recently had some MRE's and my friends decided to do this, of course we did it safely, but others might not. My sugestion would be to scale it down so it explains what happens, but not how to do it (IE. they would put the Heater into the bottle and then let the bottle explode). Probally won't help that much but it might.--70.156.148.94 00:27, 8 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Ok...I'll cut it down. =)   Jumping cheese   Cont @ct 00:56, 10 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Or how about a Risk disclaimer? Anyways, I think cutting it down to a vaguer version won't hurt anyone...especially since instruction on contructing a IEB isn't exactly encyclopedic.  Jumping cheese   Cont @ct 01:00, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Mrebag.jpg
Image:Mrebag.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

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BetacommandBot (talk) 17:11, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

Re: Paragraph 1
What does this mean, exactly?

"They are intended to be eaten for a maximum of twenty-one days..."

After this, the article mentions shelf-life as a separate topic.

I assume that it doesn't mean that you can spend up to a maximum of twenty-one days eating a single MRE -- perhaps as a survival tactic?-- before it explodes, or does you serious injury.

Or does it mean that a human should only ingest MREs for 21 day stretches before they become physiologically detrimental?

If so, what's that all about?? Saltpeter overdose? Adverse steroid side-effects?

Seems like a topic bellowing for clarification. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.57.248.236 (talk) 22:28, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

A history of military rations states that the quartermaster corps has traditionally received complaints when field rations were used for extended periods of time, whether MREs today or the C or K rations in WWII. Field rations are meant to be temporary substitutes for proper meals prepared in a mess hall. Subsisting on any field ration, including MREs, for over 21 days is simply monotonous and boring. Naaman Brown (talk) 00:34, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

"combat feeding demonstration"
"....duck and cover, here come the BEANS!!!" Hilarious. Is that actually in the source? Ingolfson (talk) 12:33, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

Balance criticism
Does anyone have any references that might provide some positive feedback on MREs? I'd like to add some sort of balance to the criticisms section. I've been eating these things for 5 years and I think that most of them are OK if not good, but I can't provide origional research. ''' bahamut0013 ♠  ♣  00:26, 20 July 2008 (UTC)

 Chicken Fajita meal ... in particular, was singled out for disdain, rating an average score of 1.3 By that system, the original ham omlette entree would deserve -3 on a scale of 1 to 10. Naaman Brown (talk) 00:19, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

Chronology of historic rations predating MRE's
The second secton of the article headed 'History' states that during the civil war the U.S. army preferred canned goods. It also states that during the first world war the US preferred to issue salted and dried foods.I believe these two wars have been inverted in the context of this article.

It is common and well documented knowledge that salted beef and pork were frequently issued to US and CS troops during the civil war. It is also well known that canned corned beef, "bully beef", was issued by the US and commonwealth forces during world war one. It is probable that both types of food were issued during both wars. My readings (Arms and Equipment of the Civil War ISBN-10: 0486433951 and Hardtack and Coffee ISBN-10: 080326111X indicate that salted meat was the preferred and most common ration of the American civil war. The film "Gallipoli" (1981) also depicts "bully beef" as being a very common ration of Australian and New Zeland forces during World War One. Gallipoli

I feel that the statements of the second section of this entry should be edited to show that canned goods became more common during the first world war, and that salted meat was far more common during the American civil war. If the citation "[1]" provided in the secondparagraph supports the claims originally made, I feel that the credibility of the sources sould be verified and the sources I have mentioned in this posting also consulted.

I personally believe that canned goods became more common during the first world war, and they were more of a novelty during the American civil war. I also feel that salted meats fell out of favor in the US military during the first world war, and that canned goods became far more common than salted meat in the trenches of World War One. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.61.149.16 (talk) 03:58, 4 September 2008 (UTC)


 * Great catch. Why don't you be bold and fix it?  bahamut0013 ♠  ♣   11:37, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

MRE's aren't just American.
Why does this article go into extensive and loving detail about American MRE rations and ignores everyone else's, UK MREs in particular? At least a mention of the fact that other nations have them would be nice. Dev920, who misses Jeffpw. 07:00, 16 February 2009 (UTC)
 * As far as I understood, no other nations refer to thier rations as "Meal, Ready to Eat", nor eat this exact type of ration (unless provided by the US for a joint mission or something like that). I also cannot find any UK rations in Category:military food. Feel free to write an article or two if you like. FYI, Rationing in the United Kingdom seems unrelated to military food, but if you do create any articles, linking there might be a good idea.  bahamut0013  words deeds   09:40, 16 February 2009 (UTC)
 * According to this ref, the British Operational Ration Pack isn't very similar to the MRE. Describing it in this article seems like a bad idea, better to either create Military food of the United Kingdom or Operational Ration Pack beyond the redirect it currently is.  bahamut0013  words deeds   16:08, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

MRE's are produced by?
What company produces, packages, and sells MRE's to the military? I think that would be a very helpful little tidbit of informatoin to have on this page. Kenji 03 (talk) 10:45, 20 July 2009 (UTC)
 * The government contracts out to different companies. For example, I can recall most of the baked items (such as pound cakes) with the name Sopakco on the packaging, but then some items say Wornick. Looking at a few images from commons, I also see AmeriQual, Sterling Foods, Janas Brothers, and others, not to mention the name brand items like Tootsie Rolls and Slim Jims; and those are all from the last few years, who knows what companies were making components in 1985? They are constantly changing from one year to the next, and as far as I know, there is no main contractor who ties it all in together (despite what they might like you to think), so we could make a list. Would such a list be encyclopedic? I doubt we would realistically make it complete, as it would get quite lengthy (many many changes in almost 30 years of production).  bahamut0013  words deeds   12:08, 20 July 2009 (UTC)
 * http://www.sopakco.com/ "currently the largest supplier of MRE's to the military" not the only supplier apparently. So-Pak-Co (Southern Packaging Company) has warehouses locally (distribution only). The main office lists every thing from military MRE, to HDR Humanitarian Daily Rations, to emergency rations for lifeboats. Currently So-Pak-Co offers a civilian emergency "hurricane" ration 12 MREs to the box very much like the military MRE but with more colorful packaging. Obviously a lot of what is packaged is subcontracted from various makers, and a single MRE may contain components from different makers. I suspect the list of component makers is very large and and may even change within a given contract. Naaman Brown (talk) 16:10, 22 September 2009 (UTC)
 * You should see United States military ration to see some of the other meals similar to the MRE but not listed on this particular article.  bahamut0013  words deeds 16:27, 22 September 2009 (UTC)