U.S. Military Meals Ready to Eat (12 Packs) - Flameless Heaters, Freeze Dried Meals w/Entree, Side Dishes, & More - MRE Packs for Emergency Survival, Hunting, & More - Inspection Date 2023 or Better

I've never had experience with MREs or military rations before and have always had an interest in trying them. Each pack was perfect and was a very fun experience. I actually fairly enjoyed the taste of most of the items except for the pizza. It tasted like cardboard, haha. Other than that, the food tasted fresh and had a fun experience making them like one would out in the field. I had such a good experience trying these that I'm ordering them again for a second time! 10/10!

It was way cheaper then all the other surplus stores selling the this thing so I thought it'll probably not be an actual unopened box of MREs but heck it was. I'll probably get some more soon. I like my snacks on my rucks.

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.

They are what they are. Portable meals ready to eat. I think the price is way overboard at roughly $12 a meal, but if you want portable and easy to use they work. Frankly, if I could get them I would probably eat the C-rats we had when I was in the Marine Corps, except for the Ham and Lima beans, they were F,,,,,, terrible..

The case I received was in pristine condition aside from a mild scuff mark that likely happened during shipment. My case was packed in May 2022 with an inspection date 2 months from now. The TTI is crisp and shows no sign of exposure to heat. I was pleased to receive case A, which contains the legendary chili mac. This was an absolute jackpot of a deal for a whole case of MREs. I honestly can hardly believe it.Usually, MREs you buy online are old with an inspection date fairly distant in the rear view mirror and for quite a bit of coin per individual meal. $7.50 per unit is insane even if they were old.I don't know whether I got lucky and they have old cases and newer ones, but if this is what you can expect when you purchase from them, I'd say just buy it. You won't regret it at all.

Will buy again.

Arrived fast, everything was intact. Ordered a second box already!

I've now gone through 3 boxes of these over the last year or so and can say that not once has the quality been poor in any item. A few times the sugar or salt has been messed up but it's always been "fresh" considering the manufacturing date. There are only a few of the 24 menus that I actively try to avoid, the rest are great! Ideally you would open them all and make your own MREs with all the pieces you like then repackage them and reseal, which isn't too hard. If you are a snob about food you will probably hate most items, save them for when you are really hungry. Camping. Working. Boating. Hiking. Etc etc. Or just keep some on hand in case of emergencies since they store for so long. Great on the go throw them in a backpack with some water battles and you're golden.One of the few things that does truly degrade is the FRH (Flameless Ration Heater), but a good way to refresh them is to throw some salt into the bag with the water. That will help activate the chemical reaction. But beware that this can create hotter steam than normal so handle with care after use. -- The salt should make heating one main in 10 minutes VERY hot. And you want them hot or else they can be pretty bad texture wise. If you put something else in there like the tortillas you might struggle a bit. -- But usually I will just boil them in water in the pouch for a more consistent heat.COMBINE THE CRACKERS WITH THE MAIN - Use some with the cheese / peanut butter / jelly but keep one cracker or tortilla for the main. Don't be afraid to add peanuts or other things to the main most things go great together. If you get applesauce ADD IT TO YOUR PB AND J. Helps with how dry the snack bread can be. Sometimes you get little hot sauce bottles. I usually save one to use in 3 different mains since you don't need much to feel the heat and they only come in a few of the menus.