MREs are not all that bad, high calorie by design but not bad. Neither were all C-Rats bad.
The chow hall food I had at most places was not at all that bad for the most part. The best were in AF mess halls and when I was late in my officer career I did ABNCP alerts and the contracted food service was really good. Having spent four years as a restaurant cook and doing a lot of the cooking at home over the years, I am somewhat picky so it has to be reasonably good for me not to like it.
When we still had C-Rations in Vietnam, I had all the Ham and Eggs I wanted. When they switched to LRRP Rations (MREs), same-same with cornflake bars.