7 year old mre's

[Venomousgrin]

I have some ameriqual mre from 2006 that i am about to try tomorrow. they have been stored in a tupperware in the basement so i think i will be ok but who can tell. I ate the crackers out of it, and they were still pretty crunchy, so i am optimistic wish me luck

 

[MSant]

They are good for ten years, then require inspection for another ten. Enjoy. What flavors do you have?

 

[Venomousgrin]

I have every flavor imaginable, today i am going to eat the vegetable patty in bbq sauce. I figured i would weed out the ones that seem the least appetizing.

 

[Taka]

 

[Stryker]

What is a good source nowadays for picking up MRE's?

 

[Venomousgrin]

i bought these back in 2006 but i got them from nitro-pak.com

 

[CapitalistDog]

How was it Slugworth? Did it age like fine wine?

 

[shemdogg]

^lol

 

[Hustler One]

What is a good source nowadays for picking up MRE's?

Joining the military and becoming friends with the supply sergeant It's what I do.

 

[Chet0729]

Why would you take a chance with 7 year old food when you don't have to.

 

[garandman]

I ate a C-rat dated 1945 - in 1981. To be honest it didn't taste any different.

 

[Midnight412]

The MRE should taste find and probably won't be rotten. The proteins are probably deteriorated, so that part of the meal are mostly empty calories. The sugars and starches will all be fine.

 

[Tyke]

What is a good source nowadays for picking up MRE's?

I've used Ocean State Job Lot in the past...but they don't carry them reliably...more of a "hey let's see...SWEET!!! They have 'em!" sort of deal.

 

[je25ff]

What is a good source nowadays for picking up MRE's?

I go here http://beprepared.com/food-storage/mres.html but I'm sure someone has a cheaper source. I've just found these to be of good quality. Don't buy those stupid combos. I just buy the entree and other stuff separately.

 

[NorthShore]

+1

 

[Venomousgrin]

everything i ate tasted great, there was spiced apples that were great, the crackers tasted like crap but they were still very crunchy. i think they tasted like crap in 2006 also. all in all i was very pleased

 

[Venomousgrin]

Why would you take a chance with 7 year old food when you don't have to.[/QUOTE

better to know they are no good now, then when shtf and i am screwed. I figured i could handle a few days on the throne if it went south. I test my reserves every few years

 

[Sir_Macadoo]

The MRE should taste find and probably won't be rotten. The proteins are probably deteriorated, so that part of the meal are mostly empty calories. The sugars and starches will all be fine.

Not necessarily. Proteins denature thanks to oxidation, heat, light, or being in solution with other compounds - in an aqueous environment. The freeze dry process removes free water from the product - so that mitigates that degradation pathway. Keep it in an air free, opaque plastic bag mitigates light and oxidation. The sugars present actually help stabilize everything - sugars are used in the lyophilization of drug products as cryogenic preservatives because they tend to wrap themselves around the protein (due to surface chemistry) and create literally a hard shell around the protein thus protecting it from being denatured by other compounds in solution. Once the water is removed due to freezing then sublimation, that protein is now wrapped in a shell, locked in a dry crystal with little to no solution movement. Also, most food grade freeze drying involves pasteurizing the food prior to freeze drying, so they cook it first to kill microorganisms. Long story short, shelf life is very good for these kinds of products. Further, as these are nutritious proteins (not really active in the pharmaceutical sense where the morphology of the protein is of critical import to the activity of the drug) they will still provide nourishment for many years, provided the freeze drying and packaging operations are performed correctly.