The various government agencies that finally got around delivering aid to people hit by Katrina often brag about the 2.2 million Meals-Ready-to-Eat (MREs) they handed out. Surely these did some good for someone, somewhere, but I can also report that MREs are everywhere these days in the Deep South, and wastefully so.
Apparently, agencies drove around any neighborhood they could find where they electricity was spotty, and handed out boxes and boxes of these. So families that didn’t need them ended up with dozens of these strange items developed for soldiers in warzones, providing the first full civilian exposure to military cuisine. As a result, people are giving them away to family members, dissecting the bag contents and marveling over the peculiar heating methods, and even eating some. “Let’s have an MRE party!”
These meals are designed to have a shelf life of 3 years at normal temperatures, and withstand a drop of 100 feet. The Wikipedia entry on the history of the MRE is fascinating. They’ve come a long way since the days of C-Rations. Nowadays, you can get “Chicken Tetrazzini,” “Vegetable Manicotti,” “Beef Echiladas,” and other seemingly gourmet products. The items inside are also packaged to look more beautiful than in the past. As the Wiki says, “studies showed commercial packaging increased consumption and acceptance.” The triumph of the marketplace!
There is also something creepy about MREs. Of course they are barely edible by comparison with just about anything else, though you don’t expect much from survival food. What’s bothersome about them is the sense you have that this is what we would all be eating, every meal, in the case of central planning and extreme rationing. A pessimist might look at these boxed meals and see the future of American eating. And yet it would be even worse, since many of the items in MREs are actually commercial products.
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I had two or so of those meals for the days before and after I went into Jefferson (the city just next to New Orleans, to the west) to inspect our house and move out of town with a rented truck. It was, as you say, “edible” and nothing to write home about. I can see how people would even consider having MRE parties as it’s a funky experience. “Just add water” and, as Emeril would say, BAM!
Hey! I like MRE’s. I know a lot of people who buy them, or food like them, for camping and hiking. I like MRE’s better than most fast food out there.
Don’t forget Beef Teriyaki or BBQ Rib Meat! I typically have to use the full little bottle of tabasco that comes with ‘em..
I was in the AF at the time of the switch from C-Rations to MRE’s. C-Rats were better because every box was like crackerjacks – you were never sure what you were gonna get.
The MRE is in fact a government solution to the problem. They work as advertised, and there are plenty of calories for a grunt on patrol. But thanks for the Tabasco sauce! Without it even the boxes taste better.
I don’t miss it. As we used to say as we bartered and traded for favored entrees and extras from the pouches, and then dining in the bushes “Just like Mother used to make, and that is why I left home!”
why don’t they give out MREs instead of food stamps? I guess the grocer lobby would be upset.
I am from the N.O. area, so I have seen them.
Try reading and digesting the confusing, byzantine instructions on how to heat them in the field.
There is also a pack of un-identified green tablets (might of missed their description in the instructions) within the package that look like breath mints; however, from what I heard, they are exlax, because MRE’s are supposedly not very passable. Is this true or bunk?
All you have to do is “add water up to the line (do NOT overfill), and place on a rock or something” <- actual instructions!
They are chewing gum, but even with those it takes me 3 days to deliver a food baby.
The green tablets should be gum. I heard the laxative rumor too, and all I can say is that my drill sergeant in Ft. Knox denied it… not that that proves much. After all, he used to recommend that we eat some of the match-heads from the book of matches provided in the MRE as a way to stave off tick infestation.
Just be careful not to expose that “just-add-water” heater to an open flame–it produces hydrogen which likely wont hurt you, but it has certainly scared the heck out of me before when I wasn’t expecting it to ignite (results in a somewhat loud “whoosh” if ignited).
FEMA was giving away ice for free in Lake Charles and Sulphur, Louisiana, therefore FEMA was the only source for ice. When my friends would go by to get ice each day, the soldiers would throw in bottled water and MRE’s that my friends didn’t need. They never lost potable utility water and they had plenty of food. The only need FEMA really met was ice (and way too much, as has been documented) and by doing so they made it impossible for many to conveniently get a sufficient amount.
BTW, I lived in Lake Charles from 1990 til 2002 and I think I met your brother in 1990.
The match head trick works – the ticks are repelled by the sulphur in your system from the matchheads.
On the laxative issue…
Many years ago I heard a story concerning the British Army rations. Apparently they were deliberately designed to be constipating, to reduce the problems for troops in the field. But apparently a certain quartermaster sergeant didn’t know this. He was pilfering on a regular basis and used some of these supplies for his family – until the entire family was hospitalised with severe constipation, as a result of which he was detected.
Anyhow, if the rations themselves are designed on this basis, it would make sense to be able to counteract this effect deliberately.
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