“I own some C-rations in their original boxes, and I would still eat them.”
I don’t have MREs in my emergency food storage. But, I do have 12 MREs with a heater in each box, in my bug out bag. That bag is only for leaving my house if a hurricane/tornado/other damages my house so I cannot stay there.
I love MREs, although for the first couple of years, many of us thought that the C-rations were better, (MREs sucked for the first few years).
MREs last a lot longer than people think, eventually the candy will get soft and mushy, but everything else stays good.
I still have some of the LRPs which are sort of MRE like, but dehydrated, they are packed in the same type of bag.