Posted on 01/04/2006 4:11:32 PM PST by SandRat
U.S. MARINE CORPS FORCES, PACIFIC, CAMP H. M. SMITH, Hawaii (01-03-2006) -- If you are tired of trying to make Meal-Ready-to-Eat menus more palatable, then your search may be over.
The field rations have progressed a long way from the C-rats of the past, and they continue to change even to this day.
Four of the current 24 MREs have been removed and are being replaced by new and improved menus, according to the U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center, located in Natick, Mass. Usually the ASSC only replaces two MREs a year, but this year they wanted to give the list a boost in variety.
“There was a lot of negative feedback on these four MREs, we couldn’t narrow it down to just two,” said Judith Aylward, the MRE Improvement project manager.
Country Captain’s Chicken, Thai Chicken, Beef Teriyaki and Pasta with Vegetables have all been scratched off the MRE menu.
The ASSC has come up with four new main meals and an assortment of new sides and candies approved by servicemembers by suggestion or taste tests.
“If there were four MRE boxes with one MRE left in each, all of them would be Country Captain’s Chicken,” said Sgt. Rusty Campbell, who while deployed in Afghanistan, had eaten MREs for 35 or more days straight. “If you got stuck with one, you just took everyone else’s Tabasco sauce and made the best of it.”
The four new meals include a penne pasta dish, chicken fajitas with soft tortillas, Sloppy Joe sauce to put on wheat snack bread and a cheese omelet breakfast meal.
The new meals were put on trial to ensure quality.
“All of our meals are put through field tests, which allows us to see how well the new meals fare against the current menus,” said Aylward.
The Operational Forces Interface Group is a team that takes surveys from Marine and Army installations throughout the nation. These surveys are used to get an accurate look at what the servicemembers enjoy, and what they just throw back in the box.
“Troop preference is the biggest consideration. We can make the meal fit every regulation, but if you don’t like it you’re not going to eat it,” said Aylward.
The new meals did well in recent taste tests with chicken fajitas being the favorite.
“I might be a little cautious about eating chicken fajitas from an MRE, but the idea does sound fairly appetizing,” said Sgt. Wayne R. Welty, a security specialist at Marine Corps Forces, Pacific.
Main meals are not the only thing needed to make an MRE the gourmet meals they are; sometimes little treats can make an unpopular meal great.
Snacks like the cinnamon scone and the orange carbohydrate drink, which has a strong resemblance to Gatorade, both scored high in the taste test. However, one item surpassed them all; Walnettos, a caramel and walnut flavored candy.
“The Walnettos went over surprisingly well, so we have started to work on a similar chocolate flavored candy,” said Alyward. “We have also been looking at adding more commercial items such as M&M’s, which are big moral boosters.”
Coming up with new menu ideas is a rather large challenge. Nutritionists like Alyward have to meet all sorts of standards.
These standards include nutritional value, weight & volume, and variety. There are even certain stipulations that require MREs to be made with only American-made products.
“There are so many factors to juggle, but the by far the most influential one is whether or not you like them,” said Alyward.
There shouldn’t be too much to worry about if you don’t like the taste of some of the items. Chances are if a lot of people share your opinion, the item will be gone by next year.
According to Alyward, the items for 2006 and 2007 have already been selected and the list for 2008 will be approved sometime in Feb. 2006.
“In the end, we may complain about it but we will still eat it,” said Campbell. “Its just a bonus if it tastes edible.”
Here is a sneak preview at the items slated for 2006 and 2007.
2006 What’s in:
· HooAH! Bar
· Chili with beef
· Tuna fish
· Mango peach apple sauce
· Raisin nut mix with pan coated chocolate discs
· Caramel apple bar
· Chocolate banana muffin top
· Pizza cheese spread
· Chocolate peanut butter spread
What’s out:
· Beefsteak with mushroom gravy
· Chicken tetrazzini
2007, What’s in:
· Meatball with marinara sauce
· Chicken with dumplings
· Cornbread stuffing
· Wild berry and tropical Skittles
· Marbled pound cake
· Apple butter
· Chunky peanut butter
What’s out:
· Jambalaya
· Cajun rice with sausage
Cute story about your kids...
I myself have eaten a few MREs...sometimes when the hubby was not at home for dinner, and I did not feel like cooking for just myself, I would crack out an MRE...I actually did enjoy a number of them that I had tried...but my hubby just wont touch them...but like you, the little Tabasco bottles were his...
In the C-Rats it was toilet paper. I was never brave enough to actually use it. It just didn't seem like there was enough for a decent dump. I alway brought my own.
Some of it could use the tabasco sauce just to moisten it. Like the wheat bread, I believe it was. I took one bite and had to chase it with water.
When we moved across country a few years back, we ran across a C-ration carton in my hubby's old wooden trunk. He hasn't been in the Marine Corps since 1879. It looked edible but no one wanted to try it!
Thank you. Exactly right! It's the same old military it was when I was in it; decisions that should be in the hands of one competent individual are instead in the hands of large committees whose members have way too many stars on their lapels. When I was in we had C-rations (or K-rations, I can't remember which...it was the late 60s). Awful stuff.
Recycled toilet paper. Got a problem with that? ;-)
It was around '84 that the Marines made the switchover from c-rats to MREs. I don't recall one single Marine being happy about it. As for me, I still kept my P38 hanging with my tags and got to missing not only the c-rats (who'd a thunk?) but also the makeshift heat-tab stoves that you made out of empty c-rat cans to warm up the morning coffee. I thought the MREs were disgusting.
From the amount of tissue that was in the tiny package, I don't want to get gross or anything, but, you'd get more on your hand... nevermind, too nasty to finish.
No, I wouldn't recommend 100+ year-old c-rats, lol!
I never went ANYWHERE on long-term drills without Red Devil Hot Sauce. And I rarely sat at a Marine Corps mess that didn't have a bowl of hot cherry peppers in the middle of every table. Putting Jalapena spread in MREs sounds like the smartest thing they ever did.
Man.... it's a long time since I had to remember how many holes there are in a c-rat cracker.
Fall in! Tensh-HUT! ;-)
Anybody have a link for purchase of the genuine U.S. issued article?
(They can be useful to have for camping, etc.)
a) It's a treat to have a flashback.
2)This is an opportunity to try the old stuff, from a more mature perspective.
iii. It's a risk, and that's not a bad thing.
;>)
/johnny
1879? ROTFLMAO!
They are "vegetable crackers," yes? Maybe a compressed vegetable dish? That's why they're green?
Anyway, I thought they were inoffensive, so long as you had enough of the orangeish "cheese product" to slather on them.
I agree. The food on the ENTERPRISE was not up to five-star standards, maybe, but it was hot and there was plenty of it. We had roast beef two to three days per week while at sea -- which frequency earned it a nickname (RBA - "Roast Beef Again") among us snipes. (Roast beef is actually a good choice for long deployments: it freezes solid for EZ reefer storage, is fairly compact, and is relatively easy to cook). The breakfasts on board the E were especially good -- three-egg omelets and plenty of toast and bacon. Sure, we had a few dud meals (haze-gray Spam, anyone?), but on those occasions I just stuck to potatoes and salad and dipped into my gedunk stash to fill in the corners.
Navy chow at sea is good. Fresh food is the first thing you miss: although we baked our own bread (ah, the smell of MIDRATS), it sucked when we'd run out of fresh fruit and milk. (They'd serve us up that chunky UHT-sterilized "milk" and canned fruit instead.) We still ate well, but it sure felt good to see the good old SPICA (food ship) come over the horizon filled with milk, fruit, and Cokes.
Ashore, the food's not so great. The absolute worst food in the Navy is served at Grisholm Hall (the chow hall at the Recruit Training Center at NS Great Lakes) -- slop, pure and simple, but you don't care because you're so hungry. The best food I had ashore in the Navy: tied between the chow hall at the late, lamented Nuke School in Orlando, and the chow hall at NHQ Norfolk. Both were easily on a par with any commercial cafeteria in terms of quality and selection.
B-Chan
Former MM3, USS ENTERPRISE (CVN-65)
I've been having a serious hankering for Red Beans and Rice--not on the menu in central Wisconsin. :( I can make 'em pretty good but nobody else in the house will eat them.
Try on the web The Cavalry Store or Brigade Quartermaster.
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