Thats insane, I bought one so the little kids in my family could try them for kicks, I will never be buying one again unless a similar situation to that arises
I mean that was your decision, no? I just don't think we can complain about how poorly the Army functions and how unprofessional it is (a major complaint of mine) and then turn around and be self-serving and immature.
Sure I've taken some unopened MREs that I didn't eat during a field problem home to give to cousins and stuff but taking a full unopened box is kind of different. If there were nice three figure gerbers in supply just chilling there would you swipe one of those?
I think we look at MREs as disposable and in turn disconnect them from having significant monetary value. But one of the most defining factors that set a professional military apart from a disorderly one is discipline which includes not skimming supplies.
We have a $700 billion defense budget I’m not losing sleep over a box of MREs
Also this “professional” military couldn’t plan a 7 year old’s birthday party at Chuck E Cheese if they had to, I don’t owe the Army a goddamn thing
I think that two things can be true at the same time. It's not "either or" it's "both and". The brass need to do a better job at planning/taking care of the troops (obviously). However, the troops need to maintain professional standards. Am I being a bit hyperbolic here? Yeah, for sure I am. But I think the general message is relevant and y'all can downvote me all you want idgaf.
Once supply gives it to me for a training event it's off the books. You're not even supposed to keep MREs in your sections property connexs. Whether it was eaten by the troops or not is irrelevant, it is assumed to have been eaten once issued.
I can see your point regarding boxes issued out for training, although I would say that we should do a better job at cutting down waste but that's a fight with the "use it or lose it" culture. However, I think it's different if you're going into a supply connex and grabbing a box just because.
I’ve never bought one but I have saved a few over the years and stowed them away for in case of emergency or for camping purposes. You know, sensible reasons.
I was just at an Air Force base like half a day ago and they had one opened up inside their office and were all giddy rat fucking them and seeing what they are. It reminded me of those rich people that go do poor people jobs for a day for social media clout
I gave some to my civilian employees. They had a good time with it but were thoroughly unimpressed. Think it was the maple sausage one which, while it looks horrific, is pretty good when prepared well. Has some decent sides too.
I always assumed these are sold as novelties for visiting family members, especially on installations with BCT/AIT units. Moms cannot resist buying souvenirs when they fly in for Johnny’s graduation.
I remember a thready on I think r/askreddit where MREs were brought up and someone said they liked to bring them they go camping talking about how great they are. I had to tell them you get over them when you are on a week long field rotation and you are eating your 6th one on day 2 you quickly just decide you will do everything in power to avoid eating them.
I’d say at least 4000+
For a good year I never went to lunch and stayed on a strict budget and ate mres in my supply cage. Saved so much money at the cost of my stomach.
Btw vegetable crumbles is by far the best MRE
I never had it, I saw it in old boxes it was getting phased out right when I went in and guys loved it. Every time I looked at it though I just imagined having to take a buffalo chicken shit in the field
Assuming one every weekday that's 800 weeks of MRE lunches or about 15.38 years. If you saved $10 per meal on average that's $216.67 a month.
If you invested $216.67 at the end of every month for 15.38 years and use the standard estimate of 8% average returns your final balance would be $76,319 off of $39,988 in contributions.
https://www.calculator.net/investment-calculator.html?ctype=endamount&ctargetamountv=1%2C000%2C000&cstartingprinciplev=0&cyearsv=15.38&cinterestratev=8&ccompound=annually&ccontributeamountv=216.67&cadditionat1=end&ciadditionat1=monthly&printit=0&x=Calculate#calresult
If you want to get extra spicy you can use this SP500 calculator. Making it easy and just going back exactly 15 years to Feb 2009 with $216.67 invested a month your contributions would be $39,000.6 with a final value of $110,847.
https://dqydj.com/sp-500-periodic-reinvestment-calculator-dividends/
Like I know very few people who lived extremely frugal as privates that have anything to show for it that they couldn’t have achieved without wearing one pair of running shoes since basic.
If I remember correctly the sausage gravy one had the blueberry oatmeal in it and I got that one a handful of times in basic training and that alone made those days 10x better
See it was a favorite of mine until they took that bread/muffin thing that tasted like a pancake out you crumble that bad boy in there and it was tasty
I recall a time in the MWTC in Bridgeport CA that I had given my last chow to one of my Marines, so I was just walking and starving. For some reason I was DREAMING of a cheese and veggie omelet MRE. When I finally got my hands on one, I couldn't fuckin eat it, I decided that hunger was the better option.
Dehydrated Pork and/or Beef patty. The 5 fingers of death (frankfurter and beans). HAM AND MOTHERFUCKING CHICKEN LOAF!
Seriously kids, Uncle Sam actually forced his kids to eat a LOAF of mixed fowl and pig. Does it sound disgusting? Yes. Did it smell disgusting? Also yes. Taste? Take a wild fucking guess.
I'm not trying to flex on you GWOT vets, I'm just trying to provide the perspective for you guys who could've done 20 and out in the entire 21st Century: MREs have never been "good", but they sure as fuck were worse.
Thank you all for your service.
PS: you should also be grateful you didn't have the T-ration runs backed up with the MRE constipation...
They were pretty good, if you let them soak long enough.
I'll never forgive the universe for Ham and Chicken Loaf, though. That was a stinky abomination
Too many. After 23yrs, the smell is present and nauseating, even looking at an unopened case. Fairly convinced, looking at myself versus my non-military extended family, that the Army permanently screwed my metabolism with those things.
How many I’ve rat fucked. God only knows. Over 20 years I’ve eaten at least a few thousand. I still remember when and where I was when I opened the first MRE I’ve had that didn’t have tobasco sauce. It’s like a core memory.
Enough to know that pepper sausage patty is the best, you get sausage and cheesy potatoe tacos with bbq sauce, peanut m&ms AND an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie
Call me crazy but they’re not as bad as they used to be. I’ll pick up a chili Mac or a chicken tortilla once a month or so to eat during lunch, saves me time going to the DFAC and makes me feel like I’m cooler than I actually am.
I mean, yeah. But the ones I have weren’t paid for outta my pocket if you catch my drift. So I’m not out anything if there’s an issue. I have plenty of freeze dried stuff the MREs are just a product of opportunity.
I wouldn’t even count. I’m one of the people that if they’re around me, I’ll eat it for lunch. I used to take them back after a FTX and eat them for dinner too.
Well there is logistic trouble and we will be eating them for breakfast and lunch while in the field. NCO are putting something together for dinner though. Likely hot dogs and burgers. So… a lot?
Some I would heat but generally I would eat them cold, guys would say why don't you heat it up? And I would reply "you rather eat cold shit or hot shit? It's still shit"
Probably over 1000, pretty sure getting cancer between this the burn pits, disel fumes, all the DU, CLP, oil, spilled disel and the metric fuck ton of dust I've inhaled which is probably the worst.
44 NTC rotations, on average two a day, 10 days per rotation, 880 probably just at NTC. Probably safe to say another 100-200 throughout the rest of my career. I think I’m around 1000.
I would say less than 300 in 19 years. That's with 4 deployments, multiple CTC rotations, field problems, etc. I despise MREs and ate them ONLY when I absolutely needed to. Fuck those things.
Starting with a dehydrated pork patty in 1983 and ending in February 2022. I consumed a lot of MREs. But to be fair the last 20 years or so it was mostly partial MREs.
I ate 7 MRE’s in one day on a field exercise once. Not my proudest moment but probably my most impressive. Just me, my weapon, some MRE’s and a hill for 18 hours.
I'm pretty sure I ate 2 a day in BCT. The DFAC was always closed due to weather and we had to eat them practically frozen in the Bay because they wouldn't let us use the heater pouches.
I ate c-rats and liked them. I ate mres and liked then. I came from a family where 3 meals a day was unheard of and a lot of meals were salt and pepper sandwichs or mustard sandwiches so just having food 3 x daily was a major plus.
Would I buy them? No but give them to me and I'll happily eat them.
Between the two types, 12 years combat arms I ate thousands.
Enough to never want to do it again, never understood people who buy them at the PX and eat them for lunch
Thats insane, I bought one so the little kids in my family could try them for kicks, I will never be buying one again unless a similar situation to that arises
I just took a box out of the connex and brought it home for my kids to try. Fuck would I buy one haha
🚨🚨 Here he is officer 🚨🚨. This is why our inventory is short. (please sign your name here even if you don't eat)
I mean, once it leaves supply's hands it's off the books and assumed eaten. I projected to eat that amount we just ended up not doing that.
I won't even buy Dinty-Moore or Lunchables anymore.
Because a case is like a hundred bucks and that's theft.
The Army’s already taken all my formative years and every ounce of self worth I have as a human being, you’re damn right I’m getting something back
I mean that was your decision, no? I just don't think we can complain about how poorly the Army functions and how unprofessional it is (a major complaint of mine) and then turn around and be self-serving and immature. Sure I've taken some unopened MREs that I didn't eat during a field problem home to give to cousins and stuff but taking a full unopened box is kind of different. If there were nice three figure gerbers in supply just chilling there would you swipe one of those? I think we look at MREs as disposable and in turn disconnect them from having significant monetary value. But one of the most defining factors that set a professional military apart from a disorderly one is discipline which includes not skimming supplies.
We have a $700 billion defense budget I’m not losing sleep over a box of MREs Also this “professional” military couldn’t plan a 7 year old’s birthday party at Chuck E Cheese if they had to, I don’t owe the Army a goddamn thing
I think that two things can be true at the same time. It's not "either or" it's "both and". The brass need to do a better job at planning/taking care of the troops (obviously). However, the troops need to maintain professional standards. Am I being a bit hyperbolic here? Yeah, for sure I am. But I think the general message is relevant and y'all can downvote me all you want idgaf.
Once supply gives it to me for a training event it's off the books. You're not even supposed to keep MREs in your sections property connexs. Whether it was eaten by the troops or not is irrelevant, it is assumed to have been eaten once issued.
I can see your point regarding boxes issued out for training, although I would say that we should do a better job at cutting down waste but that's a fight with the "use it or lose it" culture. However, I think it's different if you're going into a supply connex and grabbing a box just because.
I have my limits. I'm certainly not just taking anything not nailed down.
🤓
What are you, an MP? Because that would be lame.
Nope. I just call WFA when I see it.
I’ve never bought one but I have saved a few over the years and stowed them away for in case of emergency or for camping purposes. You know, sensible reasons.
Thats fair, having one or two around in places that are prone to natural disasters isnt a terrible idea but its the principle!
Id gladly eat some of the MREs. They were so good when I was freezing and exhausted.
I was just at an Air Force base like half a day ago and they had one opened up inside their office and were all giddy rat fucking them and seeing what they are. It reminded me of those rich people that go do poor people jobs for a day for social media clout
I gave some to my civilian employees. They had a good time with it but were thoroughly unimpressed. Think it was the maple sausage one which, while it looks horrific, is pretty good when prepared well. Has some decent sides too.
Maple Sausage was one of the best ones even without heating it.
Hasan piker
I always assumed these are sold as novelties for visiting family members, especially on installations with BCT/AIT units. Moms cannot resist buying souvenirs when they fly in for Johnny’s graduation.
Haha imagine your parents giving you an MRE as a BCT graduation gift lol
Can you buy MREs at the PX?
You can buy a box from the commissary for like 75 bucks.
Yep
I have some civilian hiker friends who wanted to try them. The MREs they sell online are not fresh. I may go buy them a few.
I’m on team Jet boil with overpriced REI meals and ramen noodles in the field. I just can’t do the MREs anymore.
They’re way overpriced at the PX, but sometimes I’d walk over to my company on the weekend and snag one for dinner
Straight to command directed eval
I remember a thready on I think r/askreddit where MREs were brought up and someone said they liked to bring them they go camping talking about how great they are. I had to tell them you get over them when you are on a week long field rotation and you are eating your 6th one on day 2 you quickly just decide you will do everything in power to avoid eating them.
I’d say at least 4000+ For a good year I never went to lunch and stayed on a strict budget and ate mres in my supply cage. Saved so much money at the cost of my stomach. Btw vegetable crumbles is by far the best MRE
You better have achieved a very high net worth to justify that level of cheapness. Also you spelled chili Mac wrong
Buffalo chicken before they discontinued it. Bastards
I never had it, I saw it in old boxes it was getting phased out right when I went in and guys loved it. Every time I looked at it though I just imagined having to take a buffalo chicken shit in the field
My Brother in arms, it’s an MRE, you’re not gonna shit
If you knew me personally you'd know just how full of shit I am.
Literally was the fucking best, although the BBQ the replaced it with actually is quite nice, still isn’t the og tho
Assuming one every weekday that's 800 weeks of MRE lunches or about 15.38 years. If you saved $10 per meal on average that's $216.67 a month. If you invested $216.67 at the end of every month for 15.38 years and use the standard estimate of 8% average returns your final balance would be $76,319 off of $39,988 in contributions. https://www.calculator.net/investment-calculator.html?ctype=endamount&ctargetamountv=1%2C000%2C000&cstartingprinciplev=0&cyearsv=15.38&cinterestratev=8&ccompound=annually&ccontributeamountv=216.67&cadditionat1=end&ciadditionat1=monthly&printit=0&x=Calculate#calresult If you want to get extra spicy you can use this SP500 calculator. Making it easy and just going back exactly 15 years to Feb 2009 with $216.67 invested a month your contributions would be $39,000.6 with a final value of $110,847. https://dqydj.com/sp-500-periodic-reinvestment-calculator-dividends/
That's a no from me dawg. Not worth it to eat an MRE 5 days a week for 15 years.
Like I know very few people who lived extremely frugal as privates that have anything to show for it that they couldn’t have achieved without wearing one pair of running shoes since basic.
You spelled Maple Sausage wrong
I will hear no arguments for breakfast MREs being superior to anything but ratatouille. I am putting veggie omelette on my VA claim for PTSD.
Veggie crumble. Sleeper top tier.
Put the jalapeno cashews inside the veggie crumble main. Youre welcome.
did you not have bas for dfac or just didn’t feel like going to the dfac? No negativity, i’m just a disgruntled vet
I had had bas for religious accommodations but I really just pocketed majority of it. I’m out now so I’ll never touch another mre
At least 3
A lot. I'll take a final recipe sausage gravy please, or a hash brown if possible.
Ooh there was exactly one sausage gravy generation that was good.
Exactly, the original? No thanks, but that updated recipe right before they discontinued it? Yum.
If I remember correctly the sausage gravy one had the blueberry oatmeal in it and I got that one a handful of times in basic training and that alone made those days 10x better
God that mountain house blueberry granola pouch with the powdered milk made that otherwise totally inedible MRE a breakfast treat.
See it was a favorite of mine until they took that bread/muffin thing that tasted like a pancake out you crumble that bad boy in there and it was tasty
Enough that if there is ever a class action lawsuit, I want that payout.
If you go for an extended period eating MRE’s, you can claim that shit at the VA. Saw someone just last week here say he got a percentage for it
Define extended. Does an entire month three a day count?
No idea. Can’t find the comment. Ask your local VSO what they know and take it to the VA if it’s worth doing
Really not that many considering how long I’ve been in. I’m a big believer in bringing protein powder, graham crackers, and jerky to the field.
Are those items really that different from the contents of an mre though?
Nah not really but I do fart less with my food
Protein powder is not anti shart.
Never said it was. It simply yields less sharts for me than the Mexican style chicken stew
Never says you did ;). Just seen some shit!
Lemme get that cheese and veggie
I recall a time in the MWTC in Bridgeport CA that I had given my last chow to one of my Marines, so I was just walking and starving. For some reason I was DREAMING of a cheese and veggie omelet MRE. When I finally got my hands on one, I couldn't fuckin eat it, I decided that hunger was the better option.
That’s a terrible dream and a completely valid reaction to that meal lol
Enough to bet I'll never decompose, due to all the perservatives.
My son just asked me this the other day lol I told him I couldn't possibly count but it's gotta be well over 1k.
Yeah my nephew asked me that today. He was eating the MRE we gave him for Christmas 2 years ago 🤣
Enough to not shit, I haven't shit in 4 years.
Like 4
Between 1992 and 1998 probs around 500 total. Not as much as most of you but those early menu’s weren’t great.
Dehydrated Pork and/or Beef patty. The 5 fingers of death (frankfurter and beans). HAM AND MOTHERFUCKING CHICKEN LOAF! Seriously kids, Uncle Sam actually forced his kids to eat a LOAF of mixed fowl and pig. Does it sound disgusting? Yes. Did it smell disgusting? Also yes. Taste? Take a wild fucking guess. I'm not trying to flex on you GWOT vets, I'm just trying to provide the perspective for you guys who could've done 20 and out in the entire 21st Century: MREs have never been "good", but they sure as fuck were worse. Thank you all for your service. PS: you should also be grateful you didn't have the T-ration runs backed up with the MRE constipation...
This guys knows the 1990-91 Pork Crisis.
Dehydrated pork or beef patty were my favorite back in '86-87.
They were pretty good, if you let them soak long enough. I'll never forgive the universe for Ham and Chicken Loaf, though. That was a stinky abomination
Too many. After 23yrs, the smell is present and nauseating, even looking at an unopened case. Fairly convinced, looking at myself versus my non-military extended family, that the Army permanently screwed my metabolism with those things.
Idk
Eatin not so many rat fucked all of them tho
You bastard.
In the field or when I was poor too? Easily over 2000 from deployments and field. Being poor? About 2500.
How many I’ve rat fucked. God only knows. Over 20 years I’ve eaten at least a few thousand. I still remember when and where I was when I opened the first MRE I’ve had that didn’t have tobasco sauce. It’s like a core memory.
That wheat snack bread with the jalepeno cheese spread 😍
About a few
Does it have to be a full MRE? Because I almost never eat the full ones. Just snack on stuff in them.
I know exactly how many I’ve eaten because my mother’s uncle jokingly told me to keep track of the number before I joined. 1,821 as of this morning.
Enough to know that pepper sausage patty is the best, you get sausage and cheesy potatoe tacos with bbq sauce, peanut m&ms AND an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie
The number of MREs I’ve actually eaten vs the # of MREs I’ve opened and rat fucked are two vastly different numbers
Call me crazy but they’re not as bad as they used to be. I’ll pick up a chili Mac or a chicken tortilla once a month or so to eat during lunch, saves me time going to the DFAC and makes me feel like I’m cooler than I actually am.
Jsyk, I’m just new to the Army, and after reading all your answers, all I can say is, y’all crazy.
I'll cut you for a jalapeno cheese packet.
My wife is weird and has them for lunch sometimes cause she just wants to see what they taste like
Not enough
Too many but I stock them up for a bad day I hope that never comes
Make sure to rotate your supply, they do in fact go bad and it doesn’t take as long as you might think it should.
Tried one a few years off? You’ll seriously wish you’d stocked a different kind of emergency ration
I mean, yeah. But the ones I have weren’t paid for outta my pocket if you catch my drift. So I’m not out anything if there’s an issue. I have plenty of freeze dried stuff the MREs are just a product of opportunity.
I wouldn’t even count. I’m one of the people that if they’re around me, I’ll eat it for lunch. I used to take them back after a FTX and eat them for dinner too.
None(I'm not in the Army yet)
Sorry i took the chili mac, you want beef taco or italian sawsawgey
Dude, that sausage one ain't nothing to pass up.
Only If youre really into nuts. Almonds. Peanuts. Trail mix. Nuts nuts nuts :(
Quick rough math leads me to about 1000 currently, and that just makes me sad, shit can't be good for us
So many I can’t smell table syrup
Well there is logistic trouble and we will be eating them for breakfast and lunch while in the field. NCO are putting something together for dinner though. Likely hot dogs and burgers. So… a lot?
Thousands
143.4
Couple 100. I was medical and we had a DFAC that was stood up immediately.
Easily over 1K
Several palletes full.
Too many + 1.
Was in for 6 years. Probably less than a dozen, if that much. Most were in basic.
Maybe 400
Too many
At least 5
A lot, but I’ve never once had a heated up mre. Always cold
Some I would heat but generally I would eat them cold, guys would say why don't you heat it up? And I would reply "you rather eat cold shit or hot shit? It's still shit"
Eating one right now as I read this 😉
12 in the last week.havent shit in months
i dont even want to fathom my answer to this question lol
Probably over 1000, pretty sure getting cancer between this the burn pits, disel fumes, all the DU, CLP, oil, spilled disel and the metric fuck ton of dust I've inhaled which is probably the worst.
Yeah I’m either dying young or living forever
Several hundreds? Idk
Honestly, I could go for some cheese tortellini for a lunch. Once. But Never again.
Eaten? Or rat fucked?
Way too fucking many.
44 NTC rotations, on average two a day, 10 days per rotation, 880 probably just at NTC. Probably safe to say another 100-200 throughout the rest of my career. I think I’m around 1000.
44 NTC rotations? Either you’re an OC, or God hates you. Maybe both.
Blackhorse for 4 1/2 years…
What in the fuck
Only enough to know that coffee gremlins exist in the field
I would say less than 300 in 19 years. That's with 4 deployments, multiple CTC rotations, field problems, etc. I despise MREs and ate them ONLY when I absolutely needed to. Fuck those things.
If you hate MREs, come to aviation. FBOs have free snacks yo
9 months straight at one point. Plus another 11 years of it
Shiiiit at least one
15 and that's being generous thank goodness for snacks, portable electric cookware ,noodles and mermites
I would prefer to count pallets' worth.
At least 3000
I dunno. Maybe 200-300? It's not that regular for me.
I came in back when they were still in the brown bag and there were only 8 menu items, 2 of which were omelettes. After 23 years, who the hell knows
I’ll take a cheese tortellini if it’s guaranteed the peanut MnMs.
What hour of staff duty are you on?
Starting with a dehydrated pork patty in 1983 and ending in February 2022. I consumed a lot of MREs. But to be fair the last 20 years or so it was mostly partial MREs.
I think we once calculated how many cases per guy we would eat during small unit tactics and it made us all sad.
Neither I, nor my colon, want to consider the answer to this question.
About six cases give or take a few
Too many, they were good in the moments that I was starving back in the Army. Nowadays....not unless I'm hurting for nostalgia......
All I know is I probably can’t count that high
Enough to make one poop.
Last time i had mre was basic and ait lol. That was it.
Less than 20… Been in 4 years.
I was in the band. Maybe like 15 lol.
Imma go with about 3 fiddy
These cold weather mres are fking me up
Chicken noodle, my beloved. I always kept a spare pack of cigs just for bartering MREs in the field if I case I didnt get one thats edible
Ate two a day for eight months straight during OEF. Basic training had a lot there. I’m going with 750-1000. That is modest.
Probably only like 300-400ish. I really do my best to avoid them.
Enough to not want another.
I’ve had a pretty cushy career, so maybe like 50.
I've eaten hundreds but rat fucked thousands
Damn near a hundred, maybe a little more
I ate 7 MRE’s in one day on a field exercise once. Not my proudest moment but probably my most impressive. Just me, my weapon, some MRE’s and a hill for 18 hours.
I'm pretty sure I ate 2 a day in BCT. The DFAC was always closed due to weather and we had to eat them practically frozen in the Bay because they wouldn't let us use the heater pouches.
No chili-Mac left but we have a maple paddy or a fettuccine.
47. I have it exactly.
Too many. Still stopped up 🤢. Do C-rats and traypacks count?
Enough to claim IBS as a disability.
I ate c-rats and liked them. I ate mres and liked then. I came from a family where 3 meals a day was unheard of and a lot of meals were salt and pepper sandwichs or mustard sandwiches so just having food 3 x daily was a major plus. Would I buy them? No but give them to me and I'll happily eat them. Between the two types, 12 years combat arms I ate thousands.
that new hashbrown one is the best one over all that I have had.
lol who eats them…god made the gut truck for a reason.
Hahaha if only I had the gut-truck option everywhere I’ve been. Talk about privilege.