Got my hands on a legit MRE (Meals Ready to Eat) that the Army guys are eating overseas as we speak. Though it would be interesting to see how they rough it over there, so I dug in to one yesterday for lunch. The object: to follow the directions and eat as much as I could stomach.
I say follow the directions because it's a bit of a puzzle to put the thing together. Here's the bag it all comes in:
Once you open the bag, there's a myriad of things in there. You can see the Spicy Chicken meal in the center there, the cooking bag (gren color), white bread crackers, cheese spread, peanut butter, utensil package, lime drink mix and a 'power bar' or some sort.
This is the puzzle I spoke of before. Lots of directions here in small print. It's pretty interesting, actually. All you need to have a hot meal is about 3 ounces of water, really. It has a water activated heater inside, sort of like those kinds you put in your gloves during the winter that get warm? Except this get's so hot it'll bun your hands. I was sorta frightened for a bit when I first added the water. It was intense.
Essentially, you take the foil food bag, and put it into the green back with the heater, add 3oz or water or so, and then fold the bag up and put it back in the cardboard box, and tilt it up on end like I'm doing here on this red colored tray, and leave it for 10-15 minutes. It get's hot! Afterwards, take the bag out, tear open the top and eat with the spoon. The foil bag acts as a 'bowl' of sorts.. you don't even need a plate, really.
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| Food back in the box |
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| Peanut butter and crackers are a high protein and carb addition, apparently. |
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| This stuff is just like what you buy as drink mix in the store, except a bit more maltodextrin, I think... |
This was sorta cool in that the bag with the spoon also contains a wet nap, a paper towel, instant coffee package, powered creamer, sugar and a small salt and pepper packet. Really, there's everything you need in here. Curious! They don't tell you how, or give you any fancy way to het up the required 6oz of water for the coffee, though. I cheated and used the microwave.
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| The mix didn't really wanna mix in all the way... |
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| A view into the bag with the heater... |
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| And the heater itself, after use. Helpfully, they tell you not to eat this part... |
And here's the finished Spicy Chicken meal in a bag. It looks a little of putting, but it was actually quite tasty. I didn't get to eat any diner on this day until 2130 hours, and this had held me over since I ate it at 1300 hours. Not bad! And yeah, it was good and spicy, too. I'd definitely eat another one of these things. It was quite interesting.
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| Spicy chicken! |
