Who else would like to see MREs on meh?
11I was in a local store that I would probably describe as a variety store (fishing, camping, cooking, canning, tools, guns, gardening, plants clothing, etc.) and they had a couple of pallets up front of cases of surplus MREs. That’s meal ready-to-eat. They are freeze dried meals that the military uses. Each meal is about 1200 calories. Each case of 12 meals was $42. These were packed in December 2025. I’m not sure what the shelf life is. From the box it sounds like it’s temperature dependent but I think it’s well over 10 years.
I’d like to see meh sell stuff like this now and then. Anybody else?
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I doubt that they’d be significantly worse than the “Rule Breaker Cookies”. Might even be decent. (No personal experience, though.)
Honestly 12 for $42 isn’t terrible from a math perspective. A dear friend of mine and I seriously discussed starting a small operation here. It spawned from when we used to go camping back in the day when I was still in kitchens. I would make things like asparagus and morel risotto or carnitas tacos with elote. They would poke fun at me until they broke out the bland MREs. We always joked that we should make a small batch “gourmet” MRE company.
She had a space that was perfect for renovating as a commercial kitchen space. She was researching freeze dryers and building codes when she found out her husband had accepted a job in Ohio. So they moved and I worked on finishing the shop.
@sillyheathen
shining a flashlight with a WTF look on their faces as they peer in the darkness at the rehydrated jambalaya we had brought on a backpacking trip.
Somewhere I think I have pictures of my kids (maybe 5 &
That one wasn’t the success!
@sillyheathen
Hunh… Not sure why the 8 turned into a sun…
@chienfou cause you’re too cool for school!
@chienfou @sillyheathen also because you used a )
See: semicolon and closed parenthesis
But $3.5 for a TV dinner? Is that what it’s come down to?
YES…I would be interested. I ate them often for over 21 years of my life and think most criticism is BS. They store well, travel easily and provide decent survival calories. I’d get them to occasionally share with the great grands and keep for post apocalyptic times!
@lomerson2 Perfect for your bug out bag. Now that I think about it I need to put together a couple of those.
More Raging Elephants? Sign me up!
@macromeh I anticipated the topic to be More Refurbished Electronics.
@macromeh @phendrick Or More Random Electronics.
@macromeh @narfcake @phendrick Hmmmm …
/showme Many Roiling Ewoks
@cfg83 Here’s the image you requested for “Many Roiling Ewoks”
@mediocrebot Good thing I’m not a stormtrooper.
I have never tried them but as freeze dried food goes, this seemed very reasonable. A single Mountain House entree has always been too pricey for me to pull the trigger. These even include water activated heaters.
I hear there’s pizza in modern MREs.
(I’m from the K food era)
How about vintage MREs?
Yes but the deal would be like 72 for $99… A really good deal but way too many to automatically jump on.
I’ve had several MREs in the day and most are not completely awful. I would not mind having a dozen or two on hand as emergency rations.
Honestly $42 for 12 sounds like a pretty good deal, though I haven’t priced MREs I would have expected it to be more.
@djslack Regular price was $47 and that was good enough for me. I didn’t find out they were $5 off until I checked out.
@djslack @tweezak The last order I got was a Wornick case A&B 24 pack for $68.99 delivered from Amazon in 2025. Meh would need to come close to that for the deal to be “palatable”. As for the MREs themselves, these had 2021/22 pack dates and everything in the first case was decent enough, but still working through the second case. The biggest problem with these things is usually the FRH being ineffective after sitting around for too long. Figured I might as well polish off the old ones and restock for the hurricane season.
KuoH
When my husband was alive, he would take the kids and I camping and take MRE’s. The kids ate them and it’s a fun memory. Of course, some were better than others. Lol
@melanie413 “when my husband was alive” is a hard in to any conversation. Especially without knowing time frames. Also “the kids ate them” lol.
There were tent camping things that occurred that Mom was not up for. I think the pop up camper was the compromise but it only got used a few years
We have a discount grocery in town. They occasionally have mre cases for$10.
@jaybird That’s awesome! We have a company here in town that makes freeze dried food for civilians and military contracts. I’m sure that’s where these came from. Check the pack date on the cases. That will tell you how old they are.
EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!
@tweezak these newer MREs are not freeze-dried. More like vacuum sealed canned food. I honestly haven’t seen freeze-dried military sorced rations in a very long time.
@jaybird @tweezak Retort packaging in laminated pouches. The entrees and other items that require cooking are cooked at high heat and pressure in the pouches then vacuum sealed.
@jaybird I thought the box seemed heavy for 12 freeze dried meals. I’ll still eat them. Thanks for the info.
I’ve heard stories from friends who were in the service about the horse trading that would go on. I guess the tiny bottles of Tabasco were highly coveted. People would trade quite a bit including cigarettes for those.
@tweezak “They” used to put cigarettes right in the package back in the day.
It’s been a long time since I researched but their shelf life is very dependent on storage temperature. This page has useful info.
MRE Info Page
I mean I wouldn’t be against them. Especially if you just wanted for camping.
If you wanted some actual disaster food there are better ways
@unksol There are better ways, but not necessarily easier ways. These things can be thrown straight from the delivery van into a not too warm pantry or storage closet and generally be fine for a few years. They may not be as tasty and nutritious as homemade, but I’m not sure I’d care much if it really comes down to it.
KuoH
@kuoh if you wanted prepper storage that’s not it. MRE are an acceptable level of evac. Which is what sane people in disaster zones should have
@unksol These are not the only supplies I have, but I’m not really prepping for long term existence in worl or teotwawki scenarios. I might be able to relocate for a short term cbrn event, where these could have some use, but bugging out is not a realistic option in my view, let alone having a defensible destination with adequate stockpiles to make any meaningful difference, except maybe to Meh HQ? For now, I’m content munching on one of these every couple of weeks for lunch at work and replenish when a good deal comes along.
KuoH
@kuoh lol too many acronyms for me. MREs fit a weird thing where if camping you would take better more perishable food. Getting out for a hurricane or something where you need non perishable is different
But if you just like to snack on an MRE… Whatever floats your boat… Not a picky eater/they are fine.
@unksol I wouldn’t say that I like to snack on MREs, but I’m certainly not going to throw them away and don’t have any problems with the taste. In fact, I find them reminiscent of my years of public grade school cafeteria lunches, which I was also perfectly content with. My viewpoint is if I don’t like the taste of them now, then I’m going to hate them even more when that’s all I’ve got left. Sure there are other options, but few if any are going to be cheaper, more convenient and store better long term. They might be healthier, but I’m past any concern of that at this point.
KuoH
@kuoh lol I suppose I was raised on you eat what you were given/clean your plate.
So when I mess something up I still eat it unless it’s extremely bad. Results in a rather… broad palate. Don’t waste food.
Brothers in law have some hatred for green vegetables. Which I do not get.
Granted i don’t like squash or melon dishes. But I’ll still try one and finish what I take.
I mostly meant there are better options than MREs if you wanted to mess with it. For Store bought no fuss. Yeah they are fine especially for in a pack.
Yup. These are what the kids can CLUTCH and even when expired will keep you going. I can speak from experience. Just didn’t count on the Tabasco. It’s the first to go.
How about Libby’s Vienna Sausages? My wife bought a box of 18 the other day. Man, I forgot how much I like those things.
@tweezak I added these, saltines and mustard with a glass bottle of coke to a gift I gave my dad for Father’s Day. He laughed so hard he cried and gave me the biggest hug. It’s what we always ate for lunch out on the boat when he and I would go fishing in the waterways off the inter-coastal when I was a kid.
@sillyheathen Cool memory. Sounds like a perfect gift.
Start listing food items you are likely to buy if they showed up on meh. The sausages above are one I would jump on. Canned dry food like flour or eggs would be up there for me. Paul Harrell (RIP) had some excellent Dutch oven cooking videos and some others where he tried things like dried eggs.
The Dutch oven vids were always his Thanksgiving Special because they were about 2 hours long for people who don’t like football or hanging out with the family.
2019:
/youtube tasting history D ration
There are numerous others of actually looking at 50 year old cans. And various countries current field rations
@unksol Please don’t make me start a Secret-Not-So-Secret 25 year shelf life dehydrated meal club
@capnjb @unksol
/giphy I’d buy that for a dollar
https://giphy.com/gifs/NmiVAPnPAHbonwjzpV
Definitely wouldn’t mind getting one out onto a tray…nice
Worst thing about MREs is the high fat content. Made for a hard working soldier. I’ve eaten them and they usually give me heartburn. Mountain House freeze dried stuff is probably the best. But the meals are pricey.