MREs in general have always been a mystery to those who have never tried them. They have been given a bad rap for many who hold to the old idea that military field rations are by design bland and poor tasting (started by the early forms of C and K rations). I have known for many years that this is not the case with the modern MRE rations. I first tried MREs back in the early late 1980's with the MRE version VII. At that time, the entree's and side dishes were good, but not great and they only had 12 total entree choices. The first I had tried was "Frankfurters with Beans" and as I remember, they were good.

Well now, MRE's are up to version XXV and there are 24 different entrees available, and a multitude of side dishes, beverages, snacks and condiments available for each individual MRE package. I have tried several of the MRE versions in the years between the 1980s and now, and I can say they have improved to the point that I can safely say that they are "Good Eats".

You will notice that the MREs I have to review here, are "Civilian Packaged". The US military has banned the sale of Military Packaged MREs to civilians, but 2 manufacturers of MREs have taken the initiative to make and package slightly different MREs for sale to civilians. The two companies are SOPAKCO and Wornick.

The main differences between the Military and Civilian MREs are thus: (the following information was obtained from mreinfo.com )

QUOTE:
1. Civilian MREs have around 800-900 calories per meal. Military MREs have 1300 calories per meal.

2. Civilian MREs do not contain the Flameless Ration Heaters (FRHs) in the bag. However, most places that sell civilian MREs also sell the FRHs.

3. Civilian MREs have a more limited menu. Whereas current military MREs have 24 menus - 12 different meals per case - civilian MREs typically only have six different menus per box - two of each menu. The menus included in each case will vary based on production runs but they are usually comparable to the military MREs.

There are also a number of minor differences - no tobasco sauce, no hard candy, different spoon (regular picnic spoon as opposed to the nice, long brown military spoon), no toilet paper, etc. Also, whereas the military MRE components vary from menu to menu (one has peanut butter, another cheese spread - one has pound cake, another has a fudge brownie) - the civilian MREs usually all have the same thing - each has peanut butter and each has a chocolate covered cookie. Or each would have strawberry jelly and oatmeal cookies. Military MREs have wide variety of different components and civilian MREs usually have a much more limited variety.

Spoon Update! I have been informed that the spoons included in the Sopakco Civilian MREs are now the standard long brown spoons found in the military MREs.

Thanks to mreinfo.com for this information. Please visit www.mreinfo.com for more important information about Civilian MREs

Now that we have that information out in the open, I will be getting on to the reviews. I have made sure that I purchased the one brand and civilian MRE product that is most similar to the Military MRE product, so that I can get the most out of my MRE experience.

12 main entrees
12 side dishes
12 desserts
12 crackers
12 spreads
12 beverage powders
12 coffee packs

In each case, are 12 individual MRE packs, each contains one of each of the above items, but only 6 different Entrees.

The following reviews will be added to as I have a chance to try each menu item. Check back from time to time for new reviews

Nutritional Information:
Calories: 250
Total Fat: 9g
Sat Fat: 3.5g
Cholesterol: 15mg
Sodium: 620mg
Total Carb: 32g
Protien: 11g
Net WT: 8 oz.

Taste comments when eaten cold: Being a pasta item, this item would be expected to taste ok, just as there are cold pasta salads, any cooked pasta item that remains hydrated is generally going to taste ok. I would have to say that this Cheese Tortellini tastes just fine eaten cold. In fact I would say it tastes very good.

Taste comments and details when eaten hot: The pasta is cooked perfectly, not to soft, not to hard. The red sauce is quite tasty and contains a nice combination of spices and herbs. No powdered herbs here, these are dried oregano flakes, parsely flakes and celery flakes. There is a recognizable flavor of garlic (probably powdered garlic) The cheese filling in the tortellini appears to be primarily parmesan.

I would have to give this entree a thumbs up. But then of course I really like pasta. Of course the true test would be to have an Italian try it :)

Nutritional Information:
Calories: 340
Total Fat: 11g
Sat Fat: 3.5g
Cholesterol: 15mg
Sodium: 670mg
Total Carb: 48g
Protien: 13g
Net WT: 8 oz.

Before I get on to the details.... I have to say EXCELLENT entree! Even when eaten cold. If you are a fan of spicy food, your gonna love this, but if you have a problem with "makes you sweat" spicy food, you may want to stay away. This is basically a jambalaya type dish, but it doesn't have the shrimp and chicken usually associated with jambalaya. The majority of the dish is made up of the rice and bean, with a good portion of sausage. The Cajun spice is very prominent, and had my forehead sweating the whole time I was eating it. I would have to say that so far, this is the best MRE Entree item I have tried.

Nutritional Information:
Calories: 120
Total Fat: 11g
Sat Fat: 2.5g
Cholesterol: 20mg
Sodium: 350mg
Total Carb: 15g
Protien: 8g
Net WT: 5oz.

I really cant be a good critic for this item. I never liked clam chowder, no matter where or how it was made. I tried this entree and hated it so much that I threw it away after the first 3 bites. Because of my dislike for clam chowder though, you should not take that as a sign that this entree is bad. I will attempt to find someone who actually likes clam chowder to try this, and get a more objective review.

The following reviews will be added to as I have a chance to try each menu item. Check back from time to time for new reviews

Nutritional Information:
Calories: 110
Total Fat: 1g
Sat Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 105mg
Total Carb: 24g
Protein: 1g
Net WT: 4.5oz.

Well there isn't much I can say about this side dish. Its sliced pineapple pieces in lightly sweetened pineapple juice. If you like pineapple, you will like this. I have no complaints, though being a diabetic, I would not want to eat the whole thing unless I really needed sugar.

Nutritional Information:
Calories: 90
Total Fat: 1g
Sat Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 5mg
Total Carb: 23g
Protein: 0g
Net WT: 4.5oz.

Again.. not much I can say, its applesauce. I like applesauce. This is one item thats a quickie. I scarfed this one down in less than a minute. Fast carbs.

Nutritional Information:
Calories: 90
Total Fat: 0g
Sat Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 10mg
Total Carb: 23g
Protein: less than 1g
Net WT: 4.5oz.

This is basically as good as the regular applesuace reviewed above, except its got rasberry in it too, you can easily taste rasberry, giving this more of a "pucker" to it. Good Stuff!

The following reviews will be added to as I have a chance to try each menu item. Check back from time to time for new reviews

Nutritional Information:
Calories: 280
Total Fat: 13g
Sat Fat: 3g
Cholesterol: 45mg
Sodium: 150mg
Total Carb: 37g
Protien: 3g
Net WT: 3.5 oz.

When I first saw this item I said to myself "Excellent... pumpkin, I love pumpkin!" When I took the first bite, it seems a bit dry. Not so dry that it crumbles, but it was dry. It has the standard "pumpkin pie spice" flavor to it, but there seems to be an abnormally high amount of allspice compared to your average pumpkin pie spice forumula. All in all, I'd say this item is agreeable, but not great.

Nutritional Information:
Calories: 180
Total Fat: 5g
Sat Fat: 1g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 330mg
Total Carb: 25g
Protien: 3g
Net WT: 2 oz.

The packaging this bread comes in (vacuum packed) makes you think this is nothing more than a single slice of bread. When you open it though, you find that it is an individually baked piece of bread, shaped like a slice from a standard loaf. Basically... its covered entirely by "crust". So if your one of those that never eats your crust, you probably wont like this :) It does taste like normal wheat bread though. Nothing fantastic. Because of the way this bread is baked, the "soft" inside isn't really soft like a normal piece of bread. A normal loaf's interior is soft because of the space that it has for the bread to rise... this bread does not have that luxury. You could call it "unleavan" bread. Alone, I cant say I would eat this unless I had to, but with a topping such as jelly or peanut butter it would be good.

Nutritional Information:
Calories: 70
Total Fat: 0g
Sat Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 0mg
Total Carb: 19g
Protien: 0g
Net WT: 1 oz.

All I can say is... Although its not my grandma's apple jelly, this is good stuff :)

The following reviews will be added to as I have a chance to try each menu item. Check back from time to time for new reviews

Nutritional Information:
Calories: 130
Total Fat: 0g
Sat Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 0mg
Total Carb: 32g
Protein: 0g
Net WT: 34g
Vitamin C: 35% RDA

This beverage item is very similar to HiC orange drink. The directions for mixing the drink are:

Dissolve the contents of the 34 gram envelope into 12 ounces (1/2 canteen cup) of cold water. Allow water JUST chemically purified to stand 30 minutes before adding beverage powder.

This is a very tasty beverage as long as you make sure its mixed well. Without mixing it well, the drink can be a little powdery. It tasted better when mixed with cool or cold water than it does with warm water.