Subject: Re: MRE FAQ (proposal)

From: [email-masked] (Doug Kennedy)
Date: 20 Sep 1994 16:10:06 GMT

>From article <[email-masked]>, by [email-masked] (David Basiji):
> [email-masked] (Tony Alvarez) writes:
>>I ate a few of these under field exercise conditions (full pack, weapon,
>>long marches, etc) and they are little more than something
>>to get you by.  They are not very filling, and generally leave you
>>still hungry under those conditions.  I suspect that is what they were 
>>designed to do.  They aren't meals that I would want to eat exclusively 
>>for more than a few days at most.
> 
> I like the MREs I've eaten. They fill me up completely and leave no
> doubt that I've satisfied my daily grease and salt requirement.
> Mind you, I wouldn't want to live on them for weeks, but for four or
> five days, no problem.
>

I recall reading an article about MREs.  A group of soldiers were divided
into two sets.  One was fed standard field rations (can't recall if it
was B rations or not) and the other was fed nothing but MREs.  Each group
then participated in the same training excersises.

At the end of a couple of months, they compared the health of the two groups.
The MRE group was healthy, but had lost some weight compared to the other
group.  The researcher thought that was due to food boredom, i.e. eating the
same twelve meals over and over.

MREs are nutritionally complete, and provide enough calories to keep you
moving (if you eat enough of them).  They are high in fat and salt (but
amazingly don't have a lot of preservatives!), but that shouldn't be a
problem for healthy, active troops they were designed for.  I believe they
said that 2 weeks was the limit for MRE only subsistance.

I'd like to see a whole military style assault food  faq, since they make
a lot of other neat products.  T-rations (big flat metal tray/can) are
pretty cool, although probably best suited to larger groups.

Anybody know a good place to buy these, or any of the #10 cans in the
B ration line up?  For instance, the canned beef chunks,dehydrated beef
patties, dehydrated cottage cheese, american cheese powder, etc.
I need some "authentic" food to grill up on the M59 field range.

Happy Surviving,
Doug Kennedy

-- 

-- Doug Kennedy (N5RQI) <[email-masked]> --
--            University of Oklahoma            --
--  School of Library and Information Studies   --

---

From: [email-masked] (Paul K. Caughell)
Date: 20 Sep 1994 15:40:22 -0400

The major reason that MRE's are so high in fat and salt is basically to help
keep the soldier fit.  In a field environment, your on the go all the time and 
in most cases, you sweat a LOT <I know I did...>.  The salt replaces what you   burn off.  An as for the two week limit on MRE only, most field sites I've been to will serve what they call "Hot 'A'" meals for breakfast... Scrambled eggs, 
pancakes and other breakfast staples and such.  Only in a heated combat area    would this practice be avoided.  MRE's are also good when you are in a combat 
situation since you can take the packets out of the bag and stuff them into yourBDU cargo pockets and eat as you go...and save some for later.

Paul