Are they “if you’re hungry enough you’ll eat anything” or are any of them actually tasty? How would you compare them to unheated canned food or a microwaved frozen dinner in quality and taste?
The one I had tried are more like pocket meals. It comes in a heatable plastic wrap which contains pre-cooked food, and are actually quite tasty if you heat them up beforehand. To do so, you could either dip the packet into a mess tin holding boiling water, or just toss it on the bonnet of vehicle.,
My experience in the Canadian military: A fattier, more consistent Chunky soup. Most people disliked it when cold, I thought it was alright.
I would prefer it to many microwave frozen dinners. The only reason I don’t eat MREs regularly is because I haven’t found a cheap supply of them.
They are essentially canned food, except canned in thick bags instead of cans.
They’re actually quite tasty…until you realize that each one contains about ten bazillion calories, designed to support a muscular man for an entire day’s hard marching! 
(Oh, I see on Googling that they have 1200 calories now. I must have been eating older ones.)
One of my exes was ex-military, and quite fond of them. He’d buy them for home eatin’, and I tried several. IIRC, the beef stew was my favorite. The omelet ones, not so much. But again, that was the older ones, so I don’t know what they’re like today.
These days they come with water-activated heaters. I have some here in my desk.
I’ve been eating MRE’s here at work for lunch for the last month and half (about 1/3 of an MRE per day). They were from 2006, so I figured that it was finally time to get rid of them. None of them are truly bad, but some are better than others. Vegetarian “meat” patty? I’ll skip that one next time. And peanut butter M&M’s – do they even still make those?
You can buy them and test it out. Here’s a guy selling them individually, or you can buy by the case:
http://jpsurvivalstore.com/catalog/product_info.php?language=en¤cy=USD&products_id=419
Sampiro, I think you should try this. For Science!
Go to pretty much any supermarket and check out the Hormel Compleats - they’re pretty much the same as an MRE entree.
I loved them when I was a kid. Dad would bring them when we went camping, etc… or we would eat them when my brother and I were playing “fort”. My favorite was the chicklets. One time my older sister was having a party, so she set my brother and I up in my parents room to play an elaborate game of war, with MREs, and other fun stuff. At one point in the night a bunch of kids came over that my sister didn’t know. My brother went downstairs and told all the teenagers that the neighbors just called and said the MP’s were on their way. 
They scattered!
Haven’t had one in about 20 years though.
They aren’t bad at all. We have several cases sitting around as earthquake supplies, and when they get up to their rotation date they become camping food. I also have 5-6 stashed in a filing cabinet here at school. Some menus are better than others, of course. The BBQ Bocaburger is very good, but they’ve rotated that entree out of production. :mad:
Crowbar - It sounds like what you had was a First Strike™ ration.
What’s the shelf life on them if stored at room temperature (in the 70s F let’s say)?
As of 2010, between one (at 120 degrees) and 60 (at 50 degrees) months. 40 months at 70. Older ones were rated longer, but not the newer ones.
I get the impression that the main gripes with MREs is the monotony involved, and the infamous constipation (MRE = “meals refusing to exit”).
From what I’ve heard, if everyone only had MREs in the field when field kitchens were unavailable, then they wouldn’t be so bad, but when they get a bunch of the same MREs and have to live off them for an extended period, it gets pretty old fast.
…and then they get home, don’t eat them at all and get nostalgic for them.
Can’t say as I blame them. Once in a while I get an overwhelming hankerin’ for Spaghetti-Os with Meatballs. I probably wouldn’t like it if I ate it every day. 
Just out of curiosity, I bought one off eBay after Katrina. Can’t remember what kind of meal it was (beef stroganoff??), but it was… just edible, and I’m not a picky eater. Bleah!
[Crocodile Dundee]You can live on 'em, but they taste like shit.[/CD]
There’s a reason they add a little bottle of Tabasco to the accessory pouch.
When I worked in San Bernardino (NB: Hot) I’d put one on the dashboard of my car. At lunchtime the contents steamed when I opened the bag.
Honestly? I didn’t think they were any worse than a typical frozen Banquet dinner. I’m not military by any stretch, but I had someone offload a bunch of MREs on me when I was living abroad. They came with a little element that you just add water to (I assume it was just a simple metal oxidation-type reaction) and that would heat up your pouch to a reasonable temp. Food tasted like a typical, processed TV dinner. I did like the cute tiny bottle of Tabasco they came with.
No idea on their shelf life, but the ones I had were something on the order of 5 years or more old.
They have to be at least as good, or better, than the C-Rations they replaced. I made my peace with C-rats early on and always carried a little bag of dried herbs with me to help out. I would suspect that this would be advisable with MREs, as well.