MREs

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What Are MREs

Meals Ready to Eat are made for use when regular food services are not available. Situations when this applies include military training and operations and civilian emergencies. MREs are designed to be full meals totally self-contained and ready to eat as is. They are light in weight, storable for long periods of time over a wide variety of conditions.

MREs are Meals Ready to Eat, the US military ration of choice for the field. Compared to the old K rations and C rations, MREs are much better tasting. These meals typically contain some kind of meat, vegetables, fruit, peanut butter, high protein crackers, freeze dried fruit, a beverage, condiments and a spoon.

Each MRE weighs between thirteen and eighteen ounces and provides about twelve hundred calories. The meals come with what is known as a flameless ration heater or FRH.

What Is in MREs?

An individual MRE package
MRE Package

Meals Ready to eat are designed for complete nutrition. There are 24 varieties of MREs. Each menu is different and consists of food items such as Mexican Rice White Rice Various Fruit Bakery Products Crackers and Spreads Beverages Snacks and Candy Hot Sauce, and Chow Mein with Noodles. Fruit in MREs include applesauce pears peaches pineapple strawberries. Bakery Products include fudge brownie cookies fruit bars toaster pastry pound cake. Meals Ready to Eat also have an accessory package.

Meals Ready to Eat contain about 1250 calories divided into about 13% protein, 35% fat and 51% carbs. Each meal gives you on third of the Military Recommended Daily Allowance for minerals and vitamins.

Eating MREs

A Meal Ready to Eat is just that. The MRE can be eaten straight from the package or it can be heated. There are several ways to heat MREs. These include putting the entree in hot water while still in its package or using the Flameless Ration Heating Device that is included with each meal.

Shelf Life of MREs

MRE Contents
MRE Contents

Meals Ready to Eat are sealed in retort pouches made of three layers of foil and plastic and are designed to withstand falls from 100 ft. At room temperature MREs have a shelf life of over 8 years and nearly 2 years if the temperature is 100 degrees F.

The following chart shows storage life for MREs:

Meals Ready to Eat come with a TTI or Time and Temperature Indicator located outside the box. The TTI allows inspectors to easily see if the MRE is still edible. The TTI consists of an inner lighter colored circle and an outer darker circle. If the inner circle remains lighter than the outer, then the MRE is still good to eat.

Many people store Meals Ready to Eat in their survival preparedness caches. Long shelf life, good nutrition, and ease of use make Meals Ready to Eat a good choice.

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Austin Texas
Where do you recommend that we purchase MREs?
Nick Alan
Austin Texas
Where do you recommend we purchase MREs? What company have you done business with?

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