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FAQs, Frequently Asked Questions
What are MREs?In 1980 the U.S. Military followed the lead of the U.S. Space Program in recognizing the workability of a brand new food technology. They used it to totally overhaul their food ration program. They started putting servings of meat, vegetables and fruit into RETORT POUCH instead of the familiar tins cans that had been used for more than 50 years. The big difference was the TASTE. But look at what else these new MRE pouches offered then, and offer now: - Shelf Life of 5-10 years (See storage life chart). - Not Freeze Dried or otherwise Dehydrated! Full moisture, gravy and sauce are retained in natural form. - Ready to Eat. Hot in 5 minutes with boiling water (contaminated and/or dirty water can work for boiling if used carefully) or 10 minutes with one of our Flameless Heater Pouches. - The food can be eaten cold in an emergency (contents were fully cooked in the sealed pouch!). - Specially formulated for maximum nutrition (an average of 55% meat compared with 35% normally, for the meat main dishes, for example). You can purchase from us the MRE Full Meal, or the individual pieces that make up the meals! Try some of these MRE pouches to see if they aren’t the best tasting, most convenient, most “real” outdoor and emergency foods available! Read more About MREs. How long do MRE products last - what is their Shelf Life?We guarantee our MRE products to last 5 years from the date of sale, if products stored in a room temperature environment (70 deg. F), no matter what the production date.Of course, the production date is visible on all our entrees and on most side dishes, desserts, and other components. The production date is a four digit number (date code) on each item, example "5156." In this example the 5 represents the year 2005 (a "4" would represent 2004, etc.), the 156 represents the 156th day of the year. See the top of the individual box or look on pouch for the Date Code. At this time nearly all of our MRE products were manufactured between 2008 and 2009 and have always been kept in a climate-controlled warehouse to ensure freshness. The official MRE Shelf Life Chart, created by the Army's Natick Research Lab, gives the whole picture and explains why we are prepared to guarantee our products for 5 years from date of sale. It is clear that the wholesomeness of the products extends well beyond 5 years. To see this chart and a more complete discussion of MRE Shelf Life, click here. How do you Heat an MRE?U. S. soldiers and thousands of Emergency Relief workers around the world have been forced to eat MREs cold. They weren't intended to be eaten cold exactly, but one of their great advantages is that they can be. MREs have served their purpose well with no reheating in personal emergencies, family emergencies, and city or state emergencies (earthquakes, toxic spills, hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, floods,etc.). In most situations, there is time and opportunity to heat this food. Here are the best ways: 1) Boiling for 3-5 min. - take the pouch from outer carton and place it in clean boiling water heated from available sources: fire, heating tabs, or stoves. 2) Placing next to a non-liquid heat source: radiator, engine block, or even the human body. Be careful of burning or melting the pouch if the heat source is too hot. 3) Placing in a chemical, non-flame heater. There are a couple kinds of civilian market heaters for retort pouches. One of these, Zestotherm, has even been adapted to Olive Drab format for military use and officially called the "MRE Heater". We sell these in bundles of 12 and also sell a version of our MRE Full Meals which includes a Heater Pouch in each meal. You can click here to see our MRE Heater Pouch instructions. 4)
Microwave 2-3 min. after removing from the pouch. (The pouch contains
an aluminum, non-microwaveable layer which gives the pouch such
a long shelf life). Do your MRE Full Meals come with Heater Pouches?We're prepared to go either way! Most of our customers prefer MRE Full Meals to come without Heater Pouches. However, many customers do want the Heater Pouches and we find that it depends on your plans and the resources available. If you have a fire or stove in your plans, then the Heater Pouches may be an unnecessary expense. (We are referring to the standard US Military non-flame, chemical heater pouches which use a simple reaction between water and iron oxide to produce enough heat to heat an MRE food pouch very nicely without any flame or fire of any kind.)
If you want Heater Pouches separately, we sell them by the bundle of 12. Once again, we aim to please by offering common sense options. "Would you like your Full Meals with or without Heater Pouches?" Click here to see our MRE Heater Pouch instructions.
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