M R E?? Meals Ready to Eat???????

Question

You know what and MRE is right? Well I would like to know the average shelf life for MREs (Meals Ready to Eat)? I am thinking of purchasing a case or two incase those damn terrorists go at it again, anyone have any experience with these? I have eaten them, but just want to know how long they would last with out being used.

Answer 1

Wow, 50+ years...:/

I do believe most of the cases you can buy give a shelf life of up to 5 years as the person before me said. But, the official shelf life of a military MRE can be up to little over 10 years as was concluded. It gives a chart of varying shelf lifes depending on the conditions its stored in.

It said if stored in 60 degrees, it can have a shelf life (with still good taste) of 130 months. Lower temperatures haven't been tested but they forsee the life to extend the 130 month mark.

Answer 2

So long as they are kept in a cool place, like a basement or a bomb shelter, MRE's and canned food can last forever. The only difference is that their vitamins may begin to break down after a year or two. Still, they are edible and contain the same calories.

Edit: I second Fly Guy's idea of keeping some around for natural disasters and storms.

Answer 3

1) The shelf life ratings shown in the chart below were determined by taste panels, panels of "average" people, mostly office personnel at the Army's Natick Research 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.


http://longlifefood.com/images/mre_storage_chart.gif


And while you can eat them cold, they are a lot better when heated. I loved the Beef Ravioli cold myself.


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.

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.

DD '73

Answer 4

The shelf life of MRE's is incredibly long (50+ years). It wouldn't be a bad idea to have plenty on hand, not only for terrorists, but natural disasters or bad weather as well.

Answer 5

http://www.mountainhouse.com/

Started to re-think my supply situation last fall after watching Jericho on TV. As MRE's are :lowest bidder" design I just think they are a bit to much on fat content, additives, etc.

Most seem to have a seven year or so shelf life. Will use some and rotate them for years, between the bird flu, that pandemic flu and such one has to be able to last a few weeks or more.

30 Year Shelf-Life http://survivalacres.com/mountainhouse/aboutmh.html
is a good read, I intend to store some wine and enjoy the end-of-civilization with my woman and pets.

http://www.rei.com/camping/TOC/Food?cm_re=toc*toc*food&vcat=REI_SSHP_CAMPING_TOC

REI is my favorite place, seems I left it out, many gormet items!
self heating units, etc.

Answer 6

Actually, MRE's are Meals Rejected by Ethiopians. To call them food would be an insult to farmers and cooks everywhere.

Answer 7

I've eaten plenty of the nasty things they usually last around 1 to 2 years depends on the tempature

Answer 8

In my region (PA), we were told approx 10 years but remember, proper storage and sealed packages will pretty much keep them for over 50 years. They will taste bad but won't kill ya if you keep them too long. But when you're starving... even bad tasting food is better than none!

Answer 9

A minimim of 5 years if unopened in their sealed packages.

Answer 10

You can buy them at Army Surplus stores or online at camping/hiking/outdoor websites.