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It's amazing to me how much of a difference in flavor there is between military issue MREs and civilian rations. I don't understand how an MRE can have THAT many calories and still taste like animal waste stuck in a dirty gym sock and then drudged through a swamp...

Are you saying the civilian MRE's are bad? If so, thanks for the heads up,
I was about to order some. Don't different companies make MRE's (civilian and Militaty)? If so, which brands are preferred?

Sorry to confuse you, I meant military MREs are the ones that taste horrid. The newest most modern ones aren't all that bad (most of the dishes, anyways), but there are some real stinkers in the bunch. For example, Egg Omelette... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/barf.gif" alt="" />

Most of the civilian MREs I've had tasted wonderful, many even included a can of soda or name brand foods like chips and stuff. The calories and nutrients are less balanced than a MIL MRE though. Emergency survival food they are definitely not.
I have seen MREs on the Sportsman's Guide website that come boxed like military MREs, but since it's illegal to resale military MREs, I know they're civilian. From what I understand those are ok. As a baseline, I would say those are the worst of the civilian ones. If it's a SHTF scenario, however, I think if you're hungry it won't matter all that much how it tastes.

Also, any civilian MRE will not have nearly the amount of calories that Mil MREs do. You can expect between 2000-3500 max in a civilian MRE, while 4000 calories is the minimum in a Mil-spec meal. Either way, one MRE should last one individual at least a day, possibly a day and a half.


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