I thought they had a different name. Mealtime in the boonies, you could always hear "Ham and MOTHER..."something, which is why the NCO's alway opened the carton upside down.
(Those beans were almost always in the third box from the end.)
I've never seen an MRE, but I knew oldtimers that claimed to Love K rations. I really liked the freeze dried LRRP rats. Add water, roll the top, and stash it in your thigh pocket. I got a case of Airforce in-flight grub once. No taste in the air, but good in the mud.
The transdermal patches in the article sound nasty to me. Who wants to do PT down wind of someone wearing a Sour Beer and Pickled Pigs Feet patch.
Ham and Mothers, I hated those. But I had a buddy who loved that crap so we traded all of ours to him for anything else.
Pound cake and peaches was one of my favorites. Oh the days of eating spagetti and meatballs 8 years older or more than myself. And the joy of using my trusty P-38 to open the tins. And we got the 4 packs of smokes for after chow.