Aging MRE's

[Bozz10mm]

I bought several cases of MRE's in 2006 that have a manufacture date of late 2005. They have been stored in a climate controlled house since I bought them. I read all the charts on shelf life, and these have gone way beyond what is recommended. I can't get myself to throw them out.

My feeling is that MREs are still edible for many, many, years beyond what the shelf life charts show. Even up to 20 years. Anyone have experience with "out of date" MREs? What are your thoughts on this?

At an average of $80-$85 per case, plus shipping, it's too expensive to replace them every 5 or 6 years. I have a pretty good stock of #10 can freeze dried food, but I want to keep MREs on hand too.

 

[Shotgun Jeremy]

I know the m&ms in them break down after a while. I would think the actual meal might be able to last though.

 

[rsayloriii]

The longest I've seen is 10 years. You also have to take into account that sometimes, if not most times, shelf life isn't so much as the product will make you ill, but it's that the nutrients and palatability has dropped to a level that is too low to be deemed viable.

 

[FrankT]

When you do decide to toss them they make great hog bait, prep them like you are going to eat to get the odor in the air.

 

[Rebel]

Eh, buy another case, rotate the old ones out 1 meal at a time.

 

[majormadmax]

I've busted open MREs that were from the 1980s, some of the contents were still edible and it's obvious those that are not. I wouldn't bank on them (I've picked up a few cases "just in case") but I wouldn't also just throw them away!

By the way, we've had several threads on MREs. Ya might want to search the forum a bit to see if this topic has already been discussed...

Cheers! M2

 

[grumper]

I recently ate a vegetarian MRE from my preps for Hurricane Ike (or maybe was it Rita? I cant remember which). So the age should be 7-10yrs old. They were stored inside the house in an air conditioned room. The crackers, spiced apples, carrot cake, and peanut butter still tasted good and caused no ill effects.

But the pasta main entree gave me the massive shits.

 

[shortround]

I have a good supply of MREs. Never broke any out for a taste test.

That will happen when I really need to open them up.

If they are bad, they will be used for bait.

On the other hand, I have a better supply of freeze-dried rations (Mountain House) and they will be good until the day I expire.

Be well.

 

[majormadmax]

I recently ate a vegetarian MRE from my preps for Hurricane Ike (or maybe was it Rita? I cant remember which). So the age should be 7-10yrs old. They were stored inside the house in an air conditioned room. The crackers, spiced apples, carrot cake, and peanut butter still tasted good and caused no ill effects.

But the pasta main entree gave me the massive shits.

Standard.

 

[TheDan]

If you have any maple nut cakes I will buy them off you.

 

[Southpaw]

 

[Rebel]

Standard.

It seems they either do that, or you don't shit for 3 days and then you shit your brains out.

 

[wbstx11]

I'm laughing, remembering the C-rations we got in 'Nam left over from Korea and earlier. Tasted the same. God Bless Tabasco.

 

[majormadmax]

It seems they either do that, or you don't shit for 3 days and then you shit your brains out.

Yep, and I laughed when I saw a bunch of injured basic trainees at Wilford Hall Medical Center on Lackland eating them for lunch. I told 'em if you not in a high activity state, MREs will block you up big time until the explosion hits (never be too far away from a toilet when you're expecting it). They were designed to make up for the calorie deficiency experienced in a combat/hostile situation, were most males of fighting age (18-30) need 4200 calories a day but were only consuming about half that. An MRE is roughly 1200 calories, so 3-4 should be consumed under those conditions; but in less strenuous situations they can obviously have a detrimental impact (so to speak).

Still, they make for good eats when there were no other options. I always carried a couple of them out on missions "just in case." I can recount several times where we got stuck somewhere that all we had to eat was what we had, at which point I was happy to have 'em. Compared to the C- and K-rations (technically MCIs, but still called them that) we had before them, they were a definite improvement! If anything, at least there was a broader selection of meals compared to the four entrees before them...

 

[Bozz10mm]

I had a couple of favorite C-rats. Beef with spiced sauce and the beef slices with potatoes. Even the scrambled eggs weren't bad, if you could get past the color. I can not remember having a favorite MRE though. I really missed the C's when MREs came out. For a while, we were issued LRRP rations, which were all pretty horrible.

 

[cpileri]

http://www.mreinfo.com/us/mre/mre-shelf-life.html

 

[TheDan]

MREs never gave me any poop issues. Must be all that cajun food, texmex, and southern cooking I was raised on

 

[45tex]

After Ike we were given a couple of cases of MRE's by the Army guys. Didn't really need them, so I let my boys play with them. Since they were on the move all the time. (no TV) I figured the 4k calorie meal would do them no harm. They loved the chemical cooker. Problem was they were too young to have taste cause they loved them. Ate em up in like 2 weeks.
I remember reading on the package they advised not to discard them if expired as they would last much beyond the expiration date if properly stored.
I came from the C rat days and the MRE's were a great improvement. But no cigarettes, matches, p38's, or Oily coated water in a can.

 

[dogfoot]

I just ate a pound cake out of a 1989 MRE and it was dang good.
That's all I felt comfortable with trying. I had no ill effects and I really enjoyed it.
Dog

 

[ROGER4314]

I watch expiration dates pretty closely even though most folks say that's not important. I gave 6 cases of expired MRE's to one of our TGT members and never heard back about any quality issues. I'll let him respond if he wishes.

Now, I've gone to freeze dried foods with 25 year shelf life and have about 2 months supply. Two months is about all of the water I can scrounge up, so after that time period, ............. I don't know what I'll do.

Freeze dried food is expensive, but I'll pay the price rather than to keep recycling the old food out. 25 years is the perfect time period. I probably won't need the emergency food by then.

Flash