I meant of the actual beef stew/main entrees.

....
I'm having this for dinner, and it's not bad.
Once again, the chemical heater failed so I microwaved it.
It contains hamburger, potato, peas, and carrots.
It doesn't taste 11 years old.
I want to eat it with rice, but I won't.
Tomorrow,  I'll have the bread with peanut butter and jelly with the hot cocoa for breakfast.

I just had the bread with peanut butter and jelly with hot hazelnut cocoa and mm candy.
The bread was terribly dry.
The cocoa had a funny smell.
The candy was a little stale.
Overall, everything was ok to eat considering that it was 11 years old. In a SHTF situation, I would be happy to have it.

I just had the bread with peanut butter and jelly with hot hazelnut cocoa and mm candy.
The bread was terribly dry.
The cocoa had a funny smell.
The candy was a little stale.
Overall, everything was ok to eat considering that it was 11 years old. In a SHTF situation, I would be happy to have it.

This is what MRE's bring when SHTF, variety. Not only the main,but the sides they come with.  Compared to Mountain House or like entree's taht are just mains.Even with different mains, they get old very quickly due to no sides.

I new a guy during OIF and everytime he left the FOB, he would have just a MRE entree in his pocket.  His thinking is that you never know when you will be separated from your vehicle and need food.  He didn't carry the entire MRE due to the added weight, a single entree was good enough. Ounces=pounds.

...and finally,  the honey mustard pretzels and peanuts actually tasted fresh. Pretty amazing for 11 years..
I'm going to finish those with a cold beer.

I am going to start making my own long term survival food with stuff I like to eat.  I finally broke down and ordered a Harvest Right med size freeze dryer from Home Depot.  With 2 years 0% interest, I couldn't pass it up.  It was something I wanted for a long time.  It should be here by the end of the month.

Part of that MRE was a bag of chocolate MMs.
The best by date was 10-2015
 

I was going to pick up Chinese food but got too lazy to drive. So here is another MRE report.
Today's meal is an 11 year old "vegetarian Taco pasta".
It looked like Hamburger pasta so I checked the ingredients. It said "vegetarian sausage ".
Tasted pretty good. Just a little spicy. The fake meat had me fooled for a while.

7.21.25
I'm having more of that MRE for breakfast.
Cracker
Peanut butter
Vanilla cappuccino

Keep in mind that this stuff is 11 years old.
The cracker was still crispy, albeit a little stale.
The peanut butter still looked good. It stuck to the roof of my mouth like peanut butter should.
The coffee thing was ok but kind of tasteless.

...more to come

Have you tried adding rice to the meals?  My school used to serve chicken nuggets with rice and it was good.  Went to McDonalds years later and got McNuggets and took it home to eat with rice.  It doesn't jive.  Since then, I could no logger eat McNuggets.

Years later, I did teh same with beef jerky figuring steak and rice is what I eat all the time.  Since then, I could no longer eat beef jerky.

So adding rice to say the beef stew would be interesting.  Def not veg taco.

Have you tried adding rice to the meals?  My school used to serve chicken nuggets with rice and it was good.  Went to McDonalds years later and got McNuggets and took it home to eat with rice.  It doesn't jive.  Since then, I could no logger eat McNuggets.

Years later, I did teh same with beef jerky figuring steak and rice is what I eat all the time.  Since then, I could no longer eat beef jerky.

So adding rice to say the beef stew would be interesting.  Def not veg taco.

==========
Adding rice would be awesome, but it would ruin the integrity of the taste test.
It would work even with the vegetarian thing because it looked like hamburger.

coming up next is the taste test of the chocolate chip cookie and applesauce from this package

Yummy 11 yr old Applesauce-raspberry.
Not much to look at but the taste was ok.
Kind of sweet.

Yummy 11 yr old Applesauce-raspberry.
Not much to look at but the taste was ok.
Kind of sweet.

Was the texture like apple sauce?  I'm wondering if the XP also has a factor for consistancy.  LIke it turned to water type thinness.

Was the texture like apple sauce?  I'm wondering if the XP also has a factor for consistancy.  LIke it turned to water type thinness.

...
Texture was ok. Color was ugly. Taste was good. I'm sssttilll aalliivve wwiitthh nooo ppprroobbllemmzzz

I still have a chocolate chip cookie and an 11 year old package of Twizzlers left.

...
Texture was ok. Color was ugly. Taste was good. I'm sssttilll aalliivve wwiitthh nooo ppprroobbllemmzzz

I still have a chocolate chip cookie and an 11 year old package of Twizzlers left.

I bought a 1 month XP Red Vines in the 90s form Longs. It wasn't chewy at all, but broke apart like the T-1000 when frozen.  I wrote a letter to the company (red vines) and they sent me a case of red vines, licorice, and some new berry bites. The XP date isn't easy to read if you don't know what to look for at the time. LMK about the Twizzlers.

Finally, the chocolate chip cookie and twizzler.
The cookie crumbled easily but tasted great. No stale taste.
Just a little dry, so I ate it with milk.
The twizzler was also fine.
Hard to believe these were 11 years old.

Bonus ...
I found a tortilla mre with a date of 2016 on it. I guess that would make it around 10 years old.
I put some chicken and cheese in it.
It tasted a little sweet. It was pretty good.
Not sure where this came from.

I'd be a little worried at that age. I tried some old ones I had and they smelled rancid which isn't good for you.  I am curious how the taste has changed over the years, I haven't tried any in a decade.

I'd be a little worried at that age. I tried some old ones I had and they smelled rancid which isn't good for you.  I am curious how the taste has changed over the years, I haven't tried any in a decade.

....
This is the whole purpose of this thread....emergency preps and survival.

Generally, most everything I've tried was fine.
The only item that I didn't eat was a bag of mm candy.
The peanuts tasted stale, but I didn't get sick in any way.

What have I learned from this experiment?
If you keep MREs as an emergency food supply,  you'll be in pretty good shape.
But I would rotate your supply about every 5 to 10 years.
The chemical heaters in these packs fail when they get old.
Rotating your supply is a good practice run to familiarize you and your family with emergency preparations.

....
This is the whole purpose of this thread....emergency preps and survival.

Generally, most everything I've tried was fine.
The only item that I didn't eat was a bag of mm candy.
The peanuts tasted stale, but I didn't get sick in any way.

What have I learned from this experiment?
If you keep MREs as an emergency food supply,  you'll be in pretty good shape.
But I would rotate your supply about every 5 to 10 years.
The chemical heaters in these packs fail when they get old.
Rotating your supply is a good practice run to familiarize you and your family with emergency preparations.

I tossed out my MREs and have Mountain House freeze dried stuff as my emergency supply. Downside is you need water but the taste is very good. Expensive per serving size though

Just picked up a dehydrator and vacuum sealer and will try making some diy versions without all the extra poison