What About Tose MREs?
In my book, Cooking Aboard a Small Boat (available from SCA), I devote one sparse paragraph to MREs (Meal, Ready to Eat). “No discussion of unrefrigerated food
would be complete without mentioning MREs. Complete, nutritious—yes. Ex- citing—no. If you feel there is a chance you may get stranded on a desert island like the Tom Hanks character, throw a couple in the lazarette or the bilge, it won’t hurt them. Besides, you can always use them to chock the trailer wheels.” That paragraph sounded like I had
some personal experience with MREs —I hadn’t. My experience with military rations dates back to little green cans (C-Rations) and a P38 (no, not the WWII P-38 fighter plane, the P38 can opener carried on your dog tag chain).
Te Basics Development of the military MRE began in 1975 and the first production units were delivered in 1981. Tere are currently 24 different varieties of MREs available. Tey come packed 12 to a case and there are two cases, A and B. Case A has menu 1 through 12 and case B has menu 13 through 24. Menu selections change from time
to time with less-favorite options being dropped for other selections. Te menus that have been around the longest are spaghetti with meat sauce and beef stew. The shortest-lived menu was the dreaded vegetable and cheese omelet, known as the “vomlet.” Calorie content averages around 1,250 per pouch. Tree MREs a day would be around 3,750 calories, well above the usual 2000 (women) or 2500 (men) daily recom- mendation. So, for most people, one or two a day would be fine, three would be overkill. (As a side note, troops in the field have their own nickname for MREs: Meal Refusing to Exit.) Each MRE is packaged in a sturdy
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ABOVE TOP— The military MRE. This one was the ever popular spaghetti with sauce and meat. ABOVE BOTTOM— The contents of my DIY MRE. With the exception of the entrée and Flameless Ration Heater, everything came from grocery store shelves.
plastic pouch. Although the pouch clearly states “U. S. GOVERNMENT PROPERTY. RESALE UNLAWFUL”, they are widely available, both individ- ual pouches and cases. When ordering online, be sure to factor in shipping costs. Some vendors charge less for the MRE but sock it to you on shipping.
Each MRE contains some variety of the following:
Entree: the main course, such as Spa- ghetti or Beef Stew
Side dish: rice, corn, fruit, or mashed potatoes, etc.
Cracker or bread spread: peanut butter, jelly, or cheese spread
Dessert: cookies or pound cakes Candy: M&Ms, Skittles, or Tootsie
SMALL CRAFT ADVISOR
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