About MREs

Emergency Meals from Outer Space

The Big Breakthrough was the Pouch!

MRE Shelf Life

The Full Moisture Pouch is the Best Meal Time Solution for...

MRE True Adventures

Heating the MRE

How to Read and Understand Production Dates

Emergency Meals from Outer Space!

MREs were born on Earth, but grew up on Apollo flights to the moon. Then they served in Skylab floating workshops and on every US space Shuttle flight from Enterprise to Challenger.

In the 1970's, retort pouches (the popular name for thermostabilized, laminated food pouches named after the retort steam cooker) were put to their first real test by the U.S. Space Program.

NASA was looking for delicious, easy to prepare, "normal" food that wouldn't increase human stress the way that freeze dried and "toothpaste tube food" sometimes did.

More than any other technology, retort pouches have satisfied the program's needs.

And so, over 30 years ago, retort pouches found a home at NASA, where all their unusual characteristics were much appreciated. They have been successfully feeding astronauts on the moon and in flight ever since.

From the Moon to a Split Personality of Applications!

- Feeding Soldiers!

- Relief of Human Misery!

In the 1980's, the US military research labs took the lead in the use and development of retort pouches.

The new pouches enabled the Defense Department to upgrade its entire field ration program to retort pouches from the earlier, less workable technologies of canning and freeze drying.

Over the past 30 years, the same research labs which invented them have continually upgraded the taste and nutritional profile of the pouched meals.

Also over the past 30 years, our military has come to depend on the MRE Full Meal kits for most of their operations.

They fed Desert Shield and Desert Storm in the 1990's, and have become the mainstay of all U.S. offensive and defensive operations up to this very day. They continue to feed our troops, and those of allies, whereever they are deployed.

And yet, in the last 10 years, national Television and Print Media have been full of stories about the same MRE Full Meals kits being used for Relief...

...Relief and Preparation for Relief.

Relief, Relief, Relief...

Hurricane Relief, Flood Relief, Earthquake Relief, Hunger Relief, Refugee Relief, Forest Fire Relief, Y2K Fever Relief, Relief from Future Food Worries...

Hundreds of millions of MRE Full Meals have been produced and eaten. They have gone to every theatre of war and every theatre of relief of human misery - sort of a split personality.

While all this was happening, Resourceful Foods Co. and its successor, Long Life Food Depot LLC, opened and continually upgraded a clearing house for MRE pouches (and the Full Meal kits and other kits we make from them). This clearing house, which became our "MRE Smorgasbord," features MRE components from a dozen manufacturers involved in the MRE Ration Program.

In recent years, this has expanded into a full fledged "Smorgasbord" of MRE style, full moisture pouched food.

This MRE Smorgasbord brings direct access to these same Relief-bringing MRE pouches and Full Meals, to CIVILIANS AND EVERYONE.

Our Customers include Fire Fighters, Smoke Jumpers, Campers, Backpackers, Hunters, Coast Guard units, Geological Expeditions, Everest Climbers, Cities, States, Counties, Adventurers, Explorers, Scouts, Survivalists, Self Reliance Practitioners, Relief Agencies, Red Cross, Church Relief Groups, and many more.

The Big Breakthrough was the Pouch!

The MRE pouch was orginally made of a tri-laminate material including Polyester Film (Outer Layer), Aluminum Foil (Middle Layer), and Polypropylene (Inner Layer). In recent years, the pouch design has been modified to include Nylon as a fourth layer. The addition of Nylon improves the overall durability of the pouch without adding a siginificant amount of weight.

The multiple layers of the MRE pouch allow the food to be sealed and then cooked evenly (because of the thin pouch) and never exposed to the air again until opened. Thus, the food is actually sterilized in the pouch and then blocked from future contamination. The result is almost unbelievable shelf life and food which retains its natural moisture and juice (i.e. is not freeze dried or dehydrated!)

Here is the breakdown of the breakthrough pouch:

OUTER LAYER: A tough polyester film which provides protection for the middle layer and is an excellent printing surface.

OUTER MIDDLE LAYER: The newer Nylon layer makes the pouch more durable. Adding strength to the pouch improves the pouch's performance in extreme temperatures and condition, such as: the cooking/sterilization process, cold-weather storage, and rough handling.

INNER MIDDLE LAYER: The key to the pouch’s shelf stability, aluminum foil, the most effective and economical barrier to moisture, light and oxygen. The result: No refrigeration or freezing will ever be required.

INNER LAYER: Next to your product is a very special polypropylene film. It is compatible with the widest variety of foods so that no “canned” or other unwanted taste is added to the food. It also ensures an exceptionally strong heat seal.

MRE Shelf Life

A main concern in the development and testing of rations for our armed forces has always been SHELF LIFE. An amazing amount of research has been done in the development of the retort pouch and the MRE to determine the exact length of time and the exact conditions under which it is safe to store the entrees and the side dishes.

The main thing we have to work with is the shelf life chart (shown below) compiled by the Army's Natick Research labs. This gives a very good overview and summary of all the findings gathered from all the testing of MRE products. However, it leaves many questions unanswered. Here are additional facts and observations we have gathered about MRE shelf life:

1) The shelf life ratings shown in the chart below were determined by taste panels, panels of "average" people, mostly office personnel at the Natick labs. Their opinions were combined to determine when a particular component or, in this case, the entire MRE ration, was no longer acceptable.

2) The shelf life determinations were made solely on the basis of taste, as it was discovered that acceptable nutritional content and basic product safety would extend way beyond the point where taste degradation would occur. This means that MREs would be safe and give a high degree of food value long after the official expiration of the products as determined by taste.

3) MRE pouches have been tested and redesigned where necessary according to standards much more strict than for commercial food. They must be able to stand up to abuse tests such as obstacle course traversals in field clothing pockets, storage outdoors anywhere in the world, shipping under extremely rough circumstances, 100% survival of parachute drops, 75% survival of free-fall air drops, severe repetitive vibration (1 hour at 1 G vibration), 7,920 individual pouch drops from 20 inches, and individual pouches being subjected to a static load of 200 lbs for 3 minutes.

4) Freezing an MRE retort pouch does not destroy the food inside, but repeated freezing increases the chances that the stretching and stressing of the pouch will cause a break in a layer of the laminated pouch. These pouches are made to withstand 1,000 flexes, but repetitive freezing does increase the failure rate by a small fraction of a percent.

MRE Storage Life Chart

The Full Moisture Pouch is the Best Meal Time Solution for...

Ready to Eat individual serving pouches are the correct mealtime solution for Emergency Preparedness, Camping, Hunting and all outdoor activities! Our full moisture “flexible can” pouches won’t slow you down!

In 1980, the U.S. Military followed the lead of the U.S. Space program in recognizing the workability of a brand new technology. They used it to overhaul their food rations with the main result of delicious, long-lasting Meat & Non-Meat dinners complete with moisture, gravy and sauce.

The big breakthrough was the POUCH. Its three special layers allow the food to be sealed and then cooked inside and never exposed to the air again until opened.

The resulting taste and texture beats the heck out of the LPR’s (Long Range Patrol Rations - dehydrated and freeze dried rations used during the Viet Nam era) and the C-rations (the famous canned rations from World War II).

The big difference is the TASTE. But look at what else the MRE pouches give:

• Shelf Life 5-10 years!*
• NOT FREEZE DRIED! Moisture, gravy and sauce are retained in natural form.
• Ready to eat. Hot in 5 minutes with boiling water! (contaminated and/or dirty water has worked when it never touched the food).
• The food can be eaten cold in an emergency (contents were fully cooked
  in the sealed pouch!).
• Specially developed for maximum nutrition (an average of 55% meat compared with 35% normally).

Try some of these MRE pouches to see if they aren’t the best tasting, yet least expensive camping, outdoor adventure, and disaster relief foods available.

See storage life chart

MRE True Adventures

Many of our customers have written or called us with their experiences with MREs in life or death situations. Some of these emergencies were Nature-made and some were man-made.

We always hope that the man-made emergencies have prepared our customer for the real ones!

One of our customers goes to Alaska every year and lives in a cave with MREs, for the purpose of just seeing if he can survive a week!

One recent shopper is a 72 year old backpacker taking MREs high into the Colorado mountains.

One young male customer races with MREs down rushing rivers.

But then, as we have all witnessed over and over in Hurricanes Andrew to Katrina, and from Earthquakes to Tsunamis, MREs have done an excellent job in saving thousands of lives around the United States and around the world!

Whether your Emergency is a hurricane, tornado, flood or earthquake or a self-created one like the hunt, the fishing trip or the sporting expedition, MREs will solve your emergency food needs like nothing else.

Convenient and long-lasting, MREs are always ready to go!

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