Canadian military, so ours are IMPs. I don’t like them, but I recently had to switch to the vegetarian ones since the regular ones trigger migraines (a LOT of MSG).
If you have a burning need to try one, I could probably send you one. Their tastiness varies on which one you get. Ham omlette, universally hated, was discontinued years ago.
One guy I know, spent months on deployment on them, he said you know it sucks when you ask them not to heat it up, just for a change of pace. So booooring.
IMO the various options range from edible to pretty damn good. I think its more a function of what foods you like or don’t rather than are MREs any good? in general. IMO on average they are pretty impressive for what they are. The squeeze cheeze, particularly the jalapeno one, I really like. We inherited a few cases awhile back. I dug through every one of them to eat all that cheeze 
Flavored with saltpeter. Kiss your sex drive goodbye. 
So where can someone get a big batch of these things for cheap? ($9/meal is not cheap.) My college roommate had a bunch, and we actually enjoyed them. (Our dining hall was actually really good, too.)
LOL! I think that’s one that I complained about above as being the very worst! 
I’ve had my share of them, and the only one I actually enjoyed was the Thai curry.
As others have said, they’re heavy on the sodium and calories. Not unwelcome if you’re working all day in hot weather.
To paraphase Al Franken, they don’t have an exit strategy.
Nah. The worst one was the frankfurters. I don’t know what animal they made those things out of, but it was surely very low on the evolutionary scale. I’m guessing “lizard.”
The Chicken and Salsa one was pretty good, as is the Maple Sausage one(#4) and the vegetarian Penne entree(#14). They get a lot of feedback on these things, and are constantly trying out new meals and new components. The 2010 and 2011 menus are a vast improvement over even 5 years ago, not to mention 15.
I buy a case or two every year on eBay. Very convenient for times when I just plain don’t feel like cooking or when the power is out during a snowstorm, etc. I also bought a couple cases once when it was my turn to provide food for a friends & family back yard get-together; more expensive than hot dogs and burgers, but everybody got a kick of it.
I like them, but I think the real military type are quite a bit better than the commercial ones. I’d say mostly they are a step up from canned food.
It’s been a while since I’ve eaten any. The Air Force commissary used to sell the ones that were getting close to expiring at a good price, so I’d buy a case now and then. The unsweet foods were generally pretty salty, as everyone says. However, most of the food was actually all right, better than most canned foods. They were useful to keep around for the times when I didn’t feel like cooking.
I have a buddy in the military who keeps them around the house for when the pantry gets a little bare. I asked about them, and he gave me one to take home and try out.
I barely kept the first bite down, and failed miserably on the second.
That rumor has been around since K-Rations in WWII and probably before that. Can you offer a cite for the claim?
From Wiki:
Snopes says it’s a load of BS.
Here in Virginia, an MRE is more expensive than a combo meal at a fast food joint.
MREs are complete meals. Combo meals at fast food joints aren’t complete meals, although they might have as many calories as an MRE does. Potatoes are a starch, not a vegetable.
Um, potatoes certainly are vegetables, by every definition of the word that I’m aware of. They happen to be starchy vegetables, so nutritionally, they are often treated as starches, not vegetables.
A slight hijack: Just wondering, is it a military offence in the US and other countries to have MRE? I that recall it is in mine. Just checking if I mis-remember.
Yes, I was speaking nutritionally. As in “complete meal”. While potatoes have vitamins and minerals in them, if one gets a fast food meal, what one gets is usually some meat in a bun and French fries…which isn’t what I’d call a complete meal. It’s two starches and a protein. With the MREs I used to get, there would usually be some variation in the side dishes, it wasn’t all potatoes.
Now, I like potatoes. And I usually serve them about four times a week, but I don’t usually fry them. My objection to fast food meals is the sameness of them.
I have always wondered this too, so I just ordered up some and I’ll let you know how it turns out.
In general, no. Military surplus stores are everywhere.
There are obvious restrictions on some gear(full-auto weapons, state-of -the-art night vision, military grade GPS, etc) but ammo is not restricted by caliber or armed forces use.
9mm, .45ACP and 5.56mm are among the most popular calibers for civilians and are all used by the US military.
Past generation night vision devices are sold in sporting goods stores.
Not in the US. They are marked “Government Property,” but there has never been any prosecution over selling them on eBay. That I know of, at least.
Most of the ones people buy are civilian versions put out by Sopakco, Warnick and MREStar. These are generally lacking in variety of menu and calories. Warnick seems to come the closest.