I finally got around to making the MRE I got over two months ago. Might as well try out what our combat troops in the field are eating (I assume Meals Ready to Eat [MREs] are only used when not at a base while in the field). This MRE happened to be a beef enchilada, yum.

The unopened MRE

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All of the contents: A spoon, orange drink mix, beef enchilada, refired beans, cheese spread, a cookie, vegetable crackers, picante sauce, and in the only unlabeled package: Tootsie Rolls! I ate a bit of everything except the refried beans…I’m not a fan of beans in most any form.

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The little stuff: Napkins, coffee, matches, gum, moist towelette, sugar, salt, creamer, red pepper. I was told that the gum was also a laxative so I didn’t give that a try.

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Mixing that magic orange drink.

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This is part of the directions on the heater. Basically you put the enchilada in this bag, put water in, wait for a chemical reaction and it magically cooks. The directions say to lean the heater on a “rock or something”..my and something was the burner on the stove.

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The cooking begins…directions say 10-15 minutes.

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Then came the smoke! I turned the stove fan on – the smoke only last a minute or two though.

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This is a happy army guy on the back of one of the packages.

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Bon Appetit

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The meal itself was decent, although if I were eating this for multiple meals it would get old really quick. The cookie was good, vegetable crackers tasted like an unsalted saltine(is that possible?) but it had the consistency of a graham cracker. The beef enchilada wasn’t completely cooked so I threw it in the microwave for an extra 20 seconds…apparently I didn’t knead it enough (that’s what the directions said to do to evenly distribute the heat). The cheese spread with jalapenos was a little nasty but still edible…it never really melted. Like I said before, I passed on the gum after someone told me it was a laxative…just in case.So now I know what our troops are eating, I give it a D+, it’s passing, but is less than average. Don’t put them through this everyday! Bring them home already.