Custom Civilian MREs

[wlewisiii]

Ok, just ran into a hella fun looking website.

WELCOME TO ALL MRE'S!
Home of the Z-Ration, Prospector MRE's , 24hr Z-Ration and Mother Lode!

A maker of civilian MRE's that looks like some of the best of that kind out there. Rather than kippers and pilot bread, having a couple of these tucked away in a closet for emergencies might not be a bad idea.

They have a Cheeseburger MRE for goodness' sake

Anyway, I just thought I'd mention it because it looks interesting, and I'll have to budget a couple in for January when I can afford a couple ($15 per isn't bad when you look at the price of surplus military ones).

Found out about them here:

 

[SaparotRob]

A bacon seems appropriate.

 

[Bucksnort101]

I'll stick to picking roadkill off the highways myself.

 

[Mugwump58]

I live in the UK and have not heard of an MRE, I hope I'm not being stupid, but what is an MRE ?

 

[wlewisiii]

"Meal, Ready to Eat" is the name of the current form of US Army individual rations. In theory you get 3 a day when on operations though in tanks in the 80's when they had first come out we got one and then a hot meal at some point in the day.

The modern ones are considerably improved and are popular surplus to have in your vehicle or home for emergencies.

 

[ThomasP]

The US MRE is ~equal to the UK ORP (Operational Ration Pack). The US uses a FRH (Flameless Ration Heater) while the UK issues Tommy Cookers (a pocket sized solid fuel stove using Hexamine for the fuel) for heating the rations. You can use the Tommy Cooker to heat water for tea - I do not know if the FRH would do this or not. NOTE I may be out of date on some of this info as I have not been around either type for close to 20 years.

 

[GrauGeist]

Well, all I know is that a PASGT helmet would suck for heating water over a fire...

 

[buffnut453]

"Meal, Ready to Eat" is the name of the current form of US Army individual rations. In theory you get 3 a day when on operations though in tanks in the 80's when they had first come out we got one and then a hot meal at some point in the day.

The modern ones are considerably improved and are popular surplus to have in your vehicle or home for emergencies.

Also known as "Meals Refused by Ethiopians" after thousands of them were dropped to the people of that nation in an attempt to battle drought-induced starvation in the 80s…but they were left uneaten. I suspect there's more myth than fact in the story…but the alternate moniker has stuck with me for years.

 

[wlewisiii]

Also known as "Meals Refused by Ethiopians" after thousands of them were dropped to the people of that nation in an attempt to battle drought-induced starvation in the 80s…but they were left uneaten. I suspect there's more myth than fact in the story…but the alternate moniker has stuck with me for years.

There was at least some truth, driven mainly by not understanding what the rations were. As a result, there are now specialized humanitarian rations:

The Humanitarian Daily Ration (HDR) is a self-contained Halal meal designed to be given to refugees and other displaced people. It is designed to feed a single person for a full day, and the menus were intended to be palatable to many religious and cultural tastes around the globe. To meet this goal, no animal products or by-products, no alcohol or alcohol-based products, and minimal dairy products are used in their production. It is otherwise created and packaged much like MREs; feedback from the Afghanistan campaign led to the interior packing being reinforced to withstand being air-dropped, as the packets sometimes ruptured on impact. The outer bag is tinted a high-visibility red or yellow and has an American flag and a picture of a person eating out of the bag with a spoon. There are usually instructions printed on it in English and one or more local languages as well.

From wiki on MREs.

 

[buffnut453]

There was at least some truth, driven mainly by not understanding what the rations were. As a result, there are now specialized humanitarian rations:

Yeah...I suspect there was also a degree of "reporting from the journalist's hotel room" at play. When we were flying humanitarian relief ops into Somalia, it was the rural areas that were hurting. Mogadishu, itself, was not struggling for food.

It's entirely possible that some of the genesis of the "Meals Refused by Ethiopians" moniker came from reporting at transit points along the distribution flow, where food may have been more plentiful, rather than at the point of most extreme need.