Meals Ready to Eat (Or 'Meals Rejected By Ethiopians'?)

Fox News ^ | 3/31/07

[Mr. Brightside]

Meals Ready to Eat

By David Mac Dougall

Fox News

Sadr City, Baghdad — This was the final day of our Sadr City embed, and we realized we've become experts on military rations, or MREs (Meals Ready to Eat). They're full of calories and carbs, a Dr. Atkins nightmare. But they do the job, sustaining soldiers (and journalists!) in tough times. Inside, there are usually crackers and peanut butter or cheese spread; a main dish; a cookie or cake; and powdered drinks. After just a week, we have already decided which MREs are our favorites.

I like the pasta. Cameraman Michael Pohl likes the spare rib (which curiously contains no actual ribs — just a meat patty). Producer Nicola Sadler likes the beef enchiladas. We do a lot of swapping. I take Nicola's peanut butter; she prefers the cheese spread. Michael swaps chocolate mint cake for strawberry milkshake powder. It's really obvious which MREs the soldiers don't like; Cajun rice with beans, and jambalaya remain unopened.

[Cvengr]

From http://www.usariem.army.mil/nutri/appenda.htm

Table A-1. Basic Nutrient¹Information on Rations

Nutrient	Unit	Standard&#178	A&#179 Ration	B&#179 Ration	T&#179 Ration	MRE4 XII	GTW4
Energy	kcal	3600	3371	4290	3600	4044	3837
Protein	g/%	100/11	145/17	144/13	156/16	148/15	139/14
Carbohydrate	g/%	440/50-55	403/51	579/54	440/55	502/50	537/56
Fat	g/%	160/<40	121/32	157/33	131/29	161/36	138/32
Vitamin A	IU	5,000	17,230	7,907	7,092	10,851	8,130
Vitamin C	mg	60	197	93	285	306	106
Calcium	mg	800	1,894	1,048	1,467	1,539	1,740
Iron	mg	18	18	26	25	18	17
Sodium	mg	5,000- 7,000	5,491	*	6,963	5,469	5,370

Table A-2. Basic Nutrient1 Information on Restricted Rations

Nutrient	Unit	Standard&#178	Restricted Rations5
			RLW	LRP	GP
Energy	g/%	1100- 1500	2132	1556	1544
Protein	g/%	50-70/15	71.6/13	59.7/15	18.5/5
Carbohydrate	g/%	100- 200/>46	202/38	195/50	221/57
Fat	g/%	50-70/<42	115/49	60/34	66/38
Vitamin A	IU	2,500	3,555	1,215	1,607
Vitamin C	mg	30	127	61	0
Calcium	mg	400	995	383	132
Iron	mg	9	30	8	5
Sodium	mg	2,500- 3,500	3,588	2,580	2,366

Table A-3. Nutrient Fortification in Rations

Ration Component	Vitamins						Minerals
	A	C	B1	B2	Niacin	B6	Calcium
Beverage Base Powder6		X
CocoaBeverage Powder	X	X	X			X
Cheese Spread	X	X	X			X
Oatmeal Cookies Coating	X	X	X			X
Brownies Coating	X	X	X			X
Peanut Butter	X	X	X
Crackers			X	X	X	X	X

B1=Thiamin; B2=Riboflavin; B6=Pyridoxine

FOOTNOTES, APPENDIX A

¹Nutrients provided per day; one ration.

²Nutrition standards for rations are what a ration must contain. There are no "requirements" for carbohydrate and fat. The value given for fat if the maximum amount that should be consumed per day; the value for carbohydrate is a "suggested" value. Higher levels are permissible. These are different from the MRDAs which are the nutrition recommendations for dietary intakes for service members.

³Group rations.

4Individual rations. Three meals per day, i.e., 3 MREs or 3 Go to War rations (GTW) per day.

5Restricted rations: RLW=Ration, Lightweight; LRP=Food Packet, Long Range Patrol; GP=Food Packet, Survival, General Purpose. Restricted rations do not provide enough nutrients to meet the MRDAs.

6Note: Sugar-free beverage base powder is not fortified with Vitamin C.

*Data not available.

[M Kehoe]

I'm old enough to remember the old C-rations. These can't be any worse.

Took only 7 posts. Not bad.

I hated the ham and eggs. I'd trade them for a pack of cigarettes (if the other Grunt didn't smoke).

5.56mm

[processing please hold]

Do they still put the little bottle in them?

Yes.

[eXe]

I get them from here..

http://www.longlifefood.com/

[Cvengr]

"Ditto...I still have one or two of those little can opener thingies in a drawer someplace."

How quickly they forget,..2 John Waynes per case of Rats...Still on my key chain after 30 years.

[Cvengr]

They must be about 1350cal per individual MRE and about 1500 per LRP, giving about 4100cal/day for 3 MREs and 4500+ for LRPs.

[ditto h]

Just a couple idle thoughts.

most guys in the bush had hot sauce

Heat them up quickly with C-4

No one smoked Chesterfields.

Fruit cake was not our friend.

C-rats. were fazed out in my unit(2/7 1ST Marines ) around the Tet offensive.

[Waco]

In the late 50's guys would curse the C-Rations, but some would keep some in their locker for mid-nite snacks. Like when they came in late from a nite on the town.

[WTSand]

Spaghetti w/ Meatballs took the place of the infamous Ham and M*******rs. Like the Beefsteak and Potatoes,the only way to eat'em cold was to open them upside down and be careful not to disturb the congealed mass at the bottom. I ate C-rats that were canned before I was born.

The only thing MREs have over C-rats is the Tobasco sauce.I still use it on everything but ice cream. If you're out of water MREs are no fun.

[ditto h]

Still on my key chain after 30 years.

Is it still sticking you in the neck??

[null and void]

They're pretty good really, just monotonous after a while.

[Cvengr]

No, I solved that my placing a little peanut butter on it to keep it from opening. The dog stopped kissing my neck though a few years back...;^)

[Wombat101]

"The funniest one I heard is "Meals Resisting Excretion."

We used to call them "Meal, Ready to Expel" or "Meal, Refusing to Exit", depending on which variety you managed to snag.

[null and void]

I've long been skeptical of the use of "bomb calorimetry" to determine the available energy in food,

Yeah, a blend of hair, motor oil and sawdust would test out as just fine.

[null and void]

Think that through a little more...

[xp38]

Just curious what would you serve instead of MRE's for in the field meals? The only thing I could think of and I have had no military experience is maybe complete meal type high energy bars. I think you might get bored of those after a while too but maybe not disgusted.

[Moonman62]

Is mango chutney the same as mango salsa?

[Pox]

I'd go back to C-rations, but as I didn't personally experience too many of those, I could be underestimating the disgust that millions of soldiers hold towards them.

[martin_fierro]

Yeah, I messed up. < |:(~

[Pox]

LOL, I thought the same thing when I read that. Love that series of commercials.