Product Review: More MREs

I Highly Recommend You Add These To Your Larder

I had two more of the MREs from www.MealKitSupply.com today and the one yesterday was not a fluke.  So far, everything I've had either meets or exceeds my expectations.

This morning I had:

• Pork Sausage Patty with Maple Flavoring - not bad... not Jimmy Dean, but not bad - it was a little "hammy" tasting like the sausage patties from Cracker Barrel - I like those, my wife doesn't care for them that much - the maple flavor was pretty good - it was better than the scrapple with maple syrup I had at a diner the other day for lunch
• Hashbrowns with Bacon - good flavor, consistency was similar to a microwave breakfast - tons better than the old MRE potato cakes
• Strawberry Toaster Pastry - I opened up the OD foil retort packaging and was amazed to find a genuine, honest-to-goodness Kellogg's Pop Tart in a secondary package - it was smushed flat from the vacuum packaging, but the same Pop Tart taste that we all know and love
• Wheat Snack Bread - I tried toasting it today and spread some butter on it with my...
• Peanut Butter - this was the creamy, and just as I recalled from the old days - nothing wrong with it, but I liked the crunchy yesterday a lot better - on the toast with some butter and honey, it was all pretty good
• Orange Electrolyte Drink Powder - didn't try this
• Cocoa Beverage Powder - better than yesterday, no grit at all - I probably didn't shake it up enough yesterday

I liked the oatmeal meal yesterday better, but this would be welcome in a SHTF situation.

For lunch I had:

• Chicken with Noodles and Vegetables in Sauce - this was a spicy, Asian dish - very tasty - the chicken chunks were good, not gristly, and the sauce had a nice tang to it
• Fried Rice - this was very similar to that Uncle Bens that you microwave right in the bag and its ready to go - not bad - it was better when I mixed the chicken sauce in with it
• MRE Cracker - hasn't changed a bit since the  mid-80s
• Crunchy Peanut Butter - this stuff rocks - I forgot to try my old recipe from the Corps... take an MRE cracker, spread the peanut butter on it, then take the cocoa powder and just moisten it ever so slightly to make a chocolaty paste, spreading it on the cracker as well - you end up with a chocolate peanut butter pie worthy of the Thanksgiving dinner table... well, maybe not that good, but still a nice change up
• Grape Beverage Powder - pretty tasty, close to grape kool aid
• Cocoa Beverage Powder - same as for breakfast
• Vanilla Pudding - I was real interested in trying this - it was a powder in a pouch, and called for a few ounces of water, shaking it up for 60 seconds, then some final mixing with a spoon - it was a nice, thick pudding consistency, great vanilla flavor, and an all around great dessert

MealKitSupply sells a case of 12 of these MREs for $129.95.  At first glance, that seems kind of expensive, but they have free shipping, and these MREs are fresh (The ones they currently have for sale were made in September).  You won't get MREs this fresh at the gun show.  With the right storage, you'll get at least 5 years of shelf life.  With average storage conditions, you'll still get 3-5 years with optimal taste and consistency, and easily several more years where they are still in pretty good shape.  I've had garage stored MREs that were 8 years old, and I really couldn't tell that they were that old.

I'd encourage you to look at getting a case for each adult or teen family member and perhaps one case for every two young children.  They are just the ticket for a multi-day power outage or a home evacuation (and also great for camping, hunting, canoe trips, search & rescue operations, and other outdoors activities) after a few years, get some new ones and use the older ones during a family weekend grid down drill.  These MREs would also be great to have a few extra cases stocked up for those in-laws or co-workers who might show up unexpectedly during a SHTF situation.

Give MealKitSupply a visit, and if you order from them, please tell them you heard about them at If It Hits The Fan.


Music To My Ears

I was out in the front yard burning some leaves this evening when I heard a familiar sound coming down the road.  It seems that someone in the area has a full auto Thompson Submachinegun.  It was definitely a .45 caliber full auto, and the cyclic rate was pretty slow, so I ruled out a M3 and an Ingram.  Wish I knew who it was... and that they'd invite me over to play.