6Th day on MREs
 

So I have been surviving off the wonderful Meal Ready to Eat for the last 6 days. Background: As a lot of you know I am a US Army contractor deployed to northern Iraq. About a month ago I was approached by my manager and informed that a strong leader was needed to run a department on a base that was closing. With only hours warning I was on a convoy to my present home. It has been an interesting month, I had always heard closings are hectic and stressful but I could never have imagined what it is truly like. 9 days ago the laundry facility ended its operations, 2 days later the dining facility followed suit. Since the closure of the chow hall, daily sustenance has come from the MRE, and T-rats. Any former military personnel already know the culinary delights these wonders of modern food preparation hold, but for the rest of you I have provided a glimpse of the single food ration the MRE.
This is selection #13 better known as Cheese Tortellini (2007 vintage). This would not have been my first choice for lunch, but by time I got to the issue point today it was slim pickings.

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Here we have the contents of the package. We have peanut butter, a raspberry beverage base, Reece’s Pieces, crackers, cheese tortellini, apple slices, and a HOOAH Bar. It also includes a water activated heater, spoon, an accessory pack containing spiced cider drink mix, moist towelette, salt free seasoning blend, salt, a book of moisture resistant matches and 10 squares of TP.
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In this photo we have the main dish warming up within the water activated heater (as if the 112F outside temperature wasn’t enough)

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And here it is the tasty treat that I wish every one here could endure enjoy Bon Appétit.

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19 days till real food, but who is counting?

I'd never seen an MRE laid out on a plate before, interesting.

Cheese Tortellini is one of the better ones. Actually the vegetarian MREs in general are better, I find. The omelet is to be avoided at all costs.

MREs are not all bad, especially when you are starving. Personally I think it gets better the longer you go on them.

The plate was for display purposes only; it is hard to photograph food in the foil pouch. I do agree some of the vegetarian MRE are good; one of my favorite is vegetable manicotti.

Pity you guys probably don't have any of the cold-weather rations. Most of those were actually downright yummy.

Holy shit...is that an MRE.....on a, a, a, a.... plate?

On a side note, I'll trade you my dried cranberries for you Hooah! bar.

+1 on the omlette, I would rather starve.

I "work" for the fire service and the only kind of meal they provide is a pot noodle. Nasty looking things that will have your fingers off if you turn your back on them! :giggle:

Forgive my ignorant civillian ass, but that thing on the upper left quadrant of the plate, is that a HOOPAH bar?

...what....is it.....?

Post back up with how they taste after day 300+ or so. When will you back in the states for good?

the upper left is the broken crakers with the peanut butter squeezed out on them...hooah bar is lower left

i hate vegetables, but +1 on the vegetarian MREs....they seem to be the only ones w/o vegetables in them!

if you find the ravioli in that box, hook me up!

We had the "First Strike" MREs out in Afghanistan. Great for sitting on hills for weeks at a time. Each bag has 3-4 days (Although I've gone 7+) worth of food. You could get Tuna or Chicken (the kind you can get at a store in the bags). It actually tastes reallly good. There are a ton of those hooah bars in them and ranger bars. Actually just about everything in them is edible. Good stuff.

wow, an MRE on a plate... I usually eat straight from the bag. I also agree to the omlette avoidance.

I like mostly anything with the pressed chicken... I just eat the chicken.

A vegatarian MRE? That is dusgusting. Do they have pork free mre's? How about GLBT mre's?

So.. my question is.. if you are a US Army contractor, you are just a civ. hired to be out there right?

Are you governed by the same rules of engagement as say a US Soldier?

Do MPs have any say over you or does that only apply on their bases?

MRE is likely healthier than the big macs I been eating which make me piss out of spots which is not natural.

Healthier? I think so. Each MRE has more calories in it than a week worth of Big Macs though, lol.

They have kosher and halal. I suspect that GLBT MREs would interfere w/ "don't ask, don't tell."

My first experience with an MRE was not cool. I burned the hell out of my finger trying to make apple cider.

The possibilities for pranks using the water activated heater are endless. I am thinking about what might happen to a 2L of coke with about 40 pop rocks and one of those in it, then the cap screwed on real tight. Implementation would be tricky, but my guess is that it would be spraytacular and/or lawsuit worthy.

I'm guessing the latter of your two theories. The MRE heaters are best used in my experience to save until the next morning and shave with, I've never had the pleasure of being stuck with MRE's in a hot environment yet though. Every experience I've had with them has been during FTX's (or basic) when it was somewhere around 10 degrees below when you get to start saying "my balls are frozen to my leg".

When we had warrior week in basic training I had the cheese & vegetable omelette 4 times in 3 days. That shit was nasty. Only way I could eat it was cover it in salt and cheese spread and gag it down. Cheese tortellini was amazing, though. Same with tuna. There never seemed to be enough food in any of them, though.