MREs: What are they like, and where can I get them?

Factual Questions
1

A little bit of backgound here: I am an 18-year old just finishing up my senior year of high school. My intention is to go into the army, and work in journalism. This is something that I have always wanted to do.

The only thing standing in the way of my enlistment is the fact that I am overwieght. Specifically, I am 6’0, 340lbs, and have always been a little of the fat side.

I have been triyng to get in shape, and I work out nearly every day for at least an hour and a half each time. I have been trying to diet, but I find myself lacking the discipline to follow any rules I set for myself. I am never particular about the specific foods I eat, or whether they are warm or cold. But I don’t eat junk food, and I don’t eat foods that are markedly unhealthy. It is only the amount of food the I consume that concerns me.

So I decided to follow a new approach, and use MREs(Meals Ready to Eat) to accomplish my goal of getting my eating habits under control. They are nutritious, they have set amounts, and I’ll know how much I’m consuming. And the fact that they are packaged would inhibit me from having muliple ones at a time, because I will force myself to only have one at every meal.

But my question is this; how do I get them?

I have found a few sites that sell MREs, but I am not sure whether I am getting good offers, or whether I can trust that I am getting quality product, and not spoiled surplus.

If anyone has any advice for me one how to aquire MREs, or any other info about them, I would be very appreciative.

2

According to Wikipedia, MREs have a shelf life of 3.5 years and can withstand a parachute drop, so there should be no problem there.

However, it also says they’re only meant to be eaten for 21 days at a time. I don’t know if this is because they don’t supply some essential trace nutrients or just because they don’t taste very good.

3

Gah, missed edit window.

Anyway, a military kid in my class brought one of these to school for lunch once, and the matches it contained caused a minor kerfuffle. So you might want to check on that, if you plan to eat these at school.

4

Active duty Air Force here–

You do not want to start a diet on MREs. Yes, they’re pre-portioned, yes they’re prepackaged, but one meal is damn near 1,800 calories–two or three of these are well above and beyond what the average person needs in one day.

That being said, they’re not that bad. Granted, I’ve never had to subsist on them for longer than a week at most (and even that was supplemented by a hot meal from a field kitchen for dinner) but they’re generally okay. IMHO, people don’t like them because of the percieved repetition of eating the same damn thing every day. It was the same thing whenever I deployed. Always eating cafeteria food got boring after awhile. MREs are no different. You tend to feel like you’re eating cardboard after awhile. Thank Og they come with a little bottle of hot sauce . . .

Normally, there’s the main entree, plus a side dish–applesauce or diced fruit stands out in my mind. Then there’s a dessert (peanuts or pretzels or such). Invariably, there’s a starchy thing: the ubiquitous pair of 9" square crackers with either tubed peanut butter/jelly/cheese spread. A little accessory packet comes with some TP, two pieces of gum, hot cocoa mix, some sort of Kool-aid mix, salt, pepper, instant coffee, maybe some creamer and sugar for the coffee, and the aforementioned book of matches. Then there’s the spoon. That magical, wonderful brown or OD spoon. Aaaaah, the memories.

But, you can always find them on Brigade Quartermasters or Ranger Joes or such. A good ballpark price is about $60.00 per case. On average, they’re about $5.00 or so individually. I’ve got one or two around the house in case Armageddon hits, and one or two in my truck should I break down in BFE.

Anyway, if you want more info, post 'em. I’ll answer what I can.

Tripler
I wouldn’t recommend them for good diet food. They’re made for fighting diets.

5

I have eaten quite a few MREs (military-issue only), and have three or four cases on hand. They’re surprisingly good. Though as stated by Tripler, they’re quite filling, and they tend to stop you up. Which is why some people refer to them as Meals Refusing to Exit.

6

Military MREs, apart from being in a fancy plastic package are no different from those canned meals you can find in your local supermarket.

In the Greek army we were issued exactly with that: standard cans you could also find on the market. We also had paraffin sticks and matches instead of the flameless heaters issued by the US army.

7

I’ve heard people say they cannot stand MREs. I like them. But then, I’ve never had to like them. I think they taste like any number of things that come out of a can (think chicken a la king or such) or non-dehydrated camping foods or TV dinners. They’re generally pretty bland, but many of them come with a single serving of Tabasco in a cute little bottle. The only thing I don’t like is the crackers. Even the ‘vegetable’ ones taste like nothing. Dry nothing. But if you get a can of chicken a la king or some Stouffer’s SOS they make a good thing to pour stuff over. My ex-fiancée, who was a helicopter pilot with the 101st during the first Gulf War said she liked to crush the crackers in a canteen cup, and then make a mixture of the dehydrated strawberries (when they still had dehydrated fruits), coffee creamer, and a little water to make a sort of strawberry shortcake.

I think Tripler is a little low on his price estimate. For case of the full military rations I see prices of around $75, and individual meals at a surplus store seem to go for $7 or $8.

I used to have a couple of cases for ‘earthquake food’. But they were eaten and never replaced. When I worked out in San Bernardino I’d put a meal on my dashboard when I got to the facility, and when I opened it at lunchtime it would be steaming. Convenient, fairly tasty, and you can make two meals out of one pack (main course for one meal and the rest for another – plus the crackers, which get thrown into a box and forgotten). But definitely not for dieting unless a single pack is all you eat in one day.

8

Thanks for the quick responses!

I concede that if MREs are ~1800 calories, then they are certainly not diet food unless only one is consumed in a day. So if that is the only kind of MRE-like food available, then I suppose I’d have to find an alternate solution.

But I have seen some sites that offer three separate 400-calorie meals in one package. Those could work out.

9

You might want to consult a doctor or dietician before starting any weight-loss program.

MREs are designed for people who are doing heavy physical work every day. As others have said, they’re loaded with calories. They are NOT diet food.

Having said that…I used to buy them when my husband was in the Air Force, and the commissary would carry them occasionally. They were handy to have around, kept well, and tasted all right. Nowadays, it’s illegal to sell MREs to the public, so companies will put out MRE equivalents. I haven’t tasted any of that kind.

If you want to lose weight, you might try prepackaged food or food plans. Wal-Mart’s version of Slimfast helps me consume a reasonable amount of calories for a meal.

10

Now, I’m a Fat Boring Old Fart™. But with portion control and only a couple of miles of walking a day I can lose weight. I’d suggest high-bulk, low-Calorie (or is that kilo-calorie?) foods. For example, steel-cut oats (McCann’s Irish Oatmeal) have 100 Calories per serve. A spoonful of jam has 50 Calories. That’s enough to hold me 'til lunch. I like to cook it in a slow-cooker overnight with dried cranberries in it. (Obviously, no jam in that case.) Have some one morning, and reheat the leftover the next and the next and the next. A foot-long Subway veggie sub with all of the veggies comes in around 500 Calories or so. (Hint: Add the jalapeños. They add a very nice flavour, and may entice you to drink more water.) A foot-long sandwich should be enough for anyone in one sitting, and it’s easy to only eat half and save the other half for the long drive home. It can be difficult cutting portions if you’re used to big ones; but after a few days it gets easier.

My downfall is rice. Man, I love rice! Plain white rice with nothing on it. But if I eat it, I’m bound to be heavier the next day. If you find that a particular food does that to you, it’s best to find something else.

I don’t think it’s useful to find prepackaged meals that you eat every day. For one thing, the low-Calorie ones aren’t filling IMO. For another, it’s too easy to get something similar at a restaurant – with different Calorie contents and larger portions. Unless you want to eat a veggie sub every day, look at different foods and learn how to cook them. I like to cook. (No, I really like to cook!) So I can decide how many Calories I put in my meals. Today I made seared ahi. What’s that? 250? 300 Calories? A little more for some soy sauce and wasabi paste. Still not too bad, and it filled me up. (Oh, it would have been so good to have rice with it!) High in protein, low in fat.

So be aware of what you’re eating. Eat less of it. Learn to cook foods you like that are low in Calories. Long-cooking foods (like the Irish Oatmeal) you can make extra of and eat over several meals. Just don’t eat it all in one go. Avoid prepackaged foods.

11

This is also true of Lean Cuisine, Weight Watchers, and Healthy Choice frozen food. But it’s also true of just about every type of packaged food, frozen or not. So if you want to go that way, simply read the package.

12

Having been on an operation y’all may have heard of in 1991, we had occasion to subsist on MRE’s well beyond the recommended duration, and my CO was given reason to recall a dog he had as a child, who used to love to eat the overripe peaches that fell from their peach tree in the idyllic back yard. Days after eating a few juicy one, he would howl with pain as he tried to pass the peach pit, taking a long time to accomplish this task, with a lot of pain.

At 6’0", 340#, you’ve got to shed 150 lbs to be at max wt for 17-20 year olds. That’s a lot of diet and exercise, but if/when you get there, that will be one hell of an accomplishment.

13

A Surplus store near where I worked (not military surplus, but general store-type stuff) had several different packaged meals that they said were MREs. They certainly looked the part, being packaged in the mylar packaging that resists breaking, but can be easily ripped open at the indent. But there were none of the other things I’ve been told Real MREs contain (like the hot sauce bottle). Nevertheless, they looked like at least a pretty good approximation of real MREs – you could get Spaghetti, or Beef Stew, or some other choices.

They weren’t awful eating, and reminded me of food you get for camping. I could easily see eating them with no or little prep. But diet food they weren’t.
I haven’t seen them since. The were pretty cheap, and I’d have stocked them for camping fare.

14

Not to discourage the OP, but at 6’0" and 340, he’s got a long way to go to make weight for the Army. Here’s a chart:

http://www.usarec.army.mil/hq/apa/rc/weight.htm

15

A lot of what’s in an MRE is very similar to processed food you can find in the grocery store, the spaghetti is pretty much chef boyardi and the stew is just like Dinty Moore. They come with a little bottle of tabasco, a heating element and some crackers and peanut butter, some taster’s choice coffee and a powdered drink mix. IIRC they have a lot of calories per meal. They are intended to be eaten in the field by people doing physical work.

16

Dude, you got the right idea there, and you’re not the first person to think of it. It’s the whole principle behind Lean Cousine, etc. Also SlimFast is similar but is like “nutrients without calories.” Of course, I’m a bit suspicious of how much good nutrition you can get from them (since nutrients decay with time and processing), but surely frozen is better than “shelf-life of 3.5 years.”

17

I still think that Lean Cuisine and other diet meals are too small to satisfy someone who is used to eating a lot. High-bulk, low-cal is good.

18

If you want to lose weight, you need to count those calories. As has been said in th thread, MREs are designed for people doing a decent amount of physical labor every day - probably not great for a civilian trying to lose weight.

If you’re 18, 6’, 340 lbs - a decent weight loss rate might be to aim for 2000 calories / day. This would be fairly gentle and slow.

Eating an 1800 calorie MRE would mean this would be pretty much your only food for the day. Sure, you could do it. But it might get tedious.

19

Probably best to take it gradually and reduce intake over a period of several months. Remember the stomach shrinks (and the mind’s preconception of a portion adjusts) and eventually you become fine with it, which is the whole point.

But yeah… you could also just eat salads and paper, without tackling the core problem.

20

MREs are not just high calorie, they are very high in carbs. They are designed for people who are doing physical labor or in extreme climate conditions or both. They are also designed so that you could live off one a day for a period of time.

For those of you who may be a bit out of date on MREs, they have vastly improved since I ate my first one 20 years ago. I actually don’t mind them now. They each come with a heater pouch for the entree. There are various ethnic and vegatarian meals. One thing they have never been able to do is breakfast. The omlet is still the nastiest thing I’ve ever had. After a week in the field there are a bunch of boxes with just the omlet MRE left.