This is crazy because I remember these bags in desert storm but I am not an American nor a soldier, believe it or not I was actually on the other side of this story, I am a Kurd from Iraq and back in 1992 -1993 we fled to Turkey away from Saddam and we stayed on the border with no food so they gave us these ration bags, I remember I was a boy and we used to get so excited when opening these as we couldn’t understand the writings on them lol they were yummy man brings back memories
Wow! Looks tasty, especially the Maple Nut Cake. Loved the spaghetti, Beef Stew and Meatballs, Rice in Spicy Tomato Sauce. (US Army 1990-1995 here so I ate plenty of all the MREs in those days.)
Thanks for sharing. Brings back memories. I always pick this menu not because of the spag, but because of the maple nut cake that comes with it. I used to trade the main meals just for it. Now that you mentioned that it smelled the same, I would love to get a hands on this MRE set
I know a guy who used to mix his sugar, creamer, and a little water to make a "frosting" for his cake. Sounds like a good idea, especially if you're not a coffee drinker. Great video.
Yeah, we would always save the cocoa powder from other mres to make ranger pudding. If you had to stay up all night we'd pour the instant coffee in the pudding as well.
Hey Gun, Very good vid. I served from 3/80 to 11/94 initially when I enlisted from 80 to 81 basic to my first permanent party unit the 5th engineers at ft. Leonardwood we were given c-ration crats which I enjoyed. From the 5th engineers I was transferred up to Post HQ and worked there for the remaining two years of my initial three year contract. During that time at Post HQ I did not go to the field because I was a staff command driver and dignitary visiting driver so all of my meals were either at the Officers mess, or whatever my then wife prepared for me brown bag. After my first three years was over I got out and went to college and was in the California NG and it was then I saw and tasted my first MRE. I thought they were pretty good for what they were supposed to do. When I reenlisted in 86 I was back at Leonardwood for a year then transferred to Hood Tx. and then it was all MRE's for me I was again not disappointed and a lot of times preferred MRE to the mess hall food that our battalion mess hall cooked. I am glad to hear positive reviews of the mre you did in this vid thank you for posting and thank you for your time in service brother.
Memories. I used to take the creamer packet and mix in the sugar packet and set the creamer pack on fire. The paper burned away and the aluminum foil liner was left and it made a ‘Ranger cookie’ I still make a version of the tuna noodles occasional at home. I used to like the beef stew until we got a dog and I bought a can of Pedigree beef stew. Looked and smelled identical! Never was brave enough to compare...
we used to place the entree, out of cardboard, as that was all discarded before we moved out, inside our jacket. the belt from the rucksack would keep it from falling down. as we humped around through the woods, the mre entree would heat up like a champ, especially if we wound up doing any mock engagements and had to do a bit of rushing around. those packs never busted on me, even when lying in a prone position. when the mre heaters were introduced, they were something that was occasionally handed out, usually in winter only, but not all the time. to make it worse we weren't allowed to start even the smallest of fires to heat your coffee or chocolate drink up, do we just chugged it dry with a swig of water from the canteen. lastly, I reguraly traded away my spaghetti for either the chicken ala stink, or the tuna with noodles, my favorites! and I loved the sawdust bar with peanut butter, i'd give my m&m's away for that combo all the time! I was one weird kid!
+bizzarrogeorge Yes you were the weird one LOL! Then again you always got what you wanted too! When I first went in I actually like both of the mains you liked. But at Bragg I got food poisoning from Chik-a-king. Never could look at the stuff without turning my stomach again.
+gundog4314, bizzarrogeorge Did you ever notice that in all the old chicken MREs, the chicken tasted like tuna, and the Tuna with Noodles tasted like chicken?
love it, I still have a case, I got out in 92, I remember there was a MRE cookbook you could buy at the PX. When I came back in in '06 I ate my MRE cold until someone showed me the heater.
Great vid! That was definitely one of my favorites! When we got our case in the field guys always traded for what they liked. I always got rid of the tuna with noodles and the vomelette asap!! Keep up the good job!!
IDK...I loved the Ham slice! My fav was Chicken-a-la-King though! Tabasco sauce made everything taste better in the field. This review takes me back, we used our HUMMVs or Vulcan exhaust to heat these MREs up just like you guys did. My first MRE was in Basic back in 1987...I stayed in the Army until I hurt my back in 2001. The MREs changed dramatically over the years, along with the T-rats. We did get to try some real C-rats in basic as well. Both of my Sons-in-Laws are in the Army now and give me MREs all the time...some of it is better...some not so much.
Chicken a la King! We couldn't give that one away at Bragg! LOL It was like getting extra duty in the field! Yeah we went in right around the same time. We got C Rats and MREs in Basic and still wore steel pots. Those were so versatile I missed them when we went to Kevlars.
gundog4314 Yeah...the good ole' days. I wore the steel pot in Basic & AIT...didn't see a Kevlar helmet until I went to Airborne school. I had a thing for the Chicken a la King! I could get it without even trading for it...I was great with lots of Tabasco!
Man this brings back memories. #5 was the most fought over in my unit as well. That cheese spread was pretty good but man did it lock you up. I never needed or used Tabasco on this meal but it was a life saver on some of the other MRE's.
I remember when they called my dad back into service for national guard and offered to let him finish his from when he was enlisted in the army. he would go out for his 2 week summer training and one year he came back with a case of mre's. i loved the chicken a la king. i remember opening a breakfast pack with scrambled eggs and they were pink, even after my dad warned me to not try the eggs.
My dad was in the army from 89 to 91 and I remember him telling me about this menu. He told me it was his favorite and chicken- al-a king was the worse.
Great vids, Gundog! Watching you, gschultz, steve1989 and others has caused me to conclude that the Zombie Apocalypse will be caused by an illness one of you crazy SOBs gets from eating one of these old rations! Love the vids, keep it up!
ah, i remember these, i lived on them while over in the desert, ( shield and storm ) they were a pain in the ass to get in to, and you could "buy" anything you wanted with the m&m's but you didnt get rid of them to often . i remember mixing it all together in the pouch.................. good times !
I was deployed for both Desert Shield and Desert. What he mentioned is true, you heat them by putting them somewhere hot. We used to use a metal chair and set it out in the sun. He's also right that the omelet one is absolutely horrible. There are halfway decent ones out there, but not many. I remember hoarding the peanut butter, jelly, and crackers in case I was forced to eat something really bad.
It is all about temperature when stored. Below 68 Degree F but not frozen is preferred. I have some from the early 90's that I got while working at Edwards, Air Force Base and opened one of them in Jan of 2005 and all of the items were still good. The color was off a bit, but tasted fresh as the day it food went into the pouch. Thanks for the videos and I look forward to seeing more. Cheers
I found a pile of MRE cases one time during Desert Shield/Storm. I grabbed one case and pulled the #5 spaghetti mre out and ate it. Then i threw the case in my Bradley Fighting Vehicle. A week or so later we came across it, opened it, and everyone was mad the #5 was gone. Even after careful explanation (that technically the whole case being there at all was thanks to me), my buddies were still annoyed with me, lol.
US Army '90-'97 here. My faves were, luckily for me, the ones that no one else ever wanted. Omelette with ham and Corned Beef Hash. Throw a little Tabasco and pepper in there and they were quite good.
First time I ever ate an MRE was on the ramp at the Qatari air base in 1990. Tossed it on a piece of Aircraft Mobile Support Equipment that was sitting in the sun to heat it up. I think it was Chicken a la King. The AMSE was hot enough to fry an egg and, yes, someone obtained an egg to prove it.
Hi gundog Thanks for uploading These Videos. This takes me back to my active duty days in the USAF (1971-1995) 20 years of that time with the US Army doing Tactical Air Support. C-Rats, MREs, T-Rations, Shelf Stable and fresh stuff too! I´m retired and live in Germany now. Would you be interested in the Bundeswehr (German Military) Rations? Bob
I was in the army back in 1990 and our MRE's actually had meat "balls" and spaghetti. Looks like the military cheaped out on the troops with the meat sauce only two years later. Also, we just opened the pouch and dug in with NO cooking needed. It was freaking great cold and out of the pouch.
We were in at the same time, the only thing with meatballs I remember was the meatballs in tomato sauce which was menu #9. I too, never used a ration heater, for the most part ate them cold or we taped them to a muffler while we moved so it would be warm after we got the gun set up. This outta give you a trip down memory lane. Here's a list of all those 90/91 era MREs. www.mreinfo.com/mres/mre-menus/mre-menus-1990-1991/
+1Slo_Daytona Yeah, these are all my earlier vids before a learned a few tricks of the trade, sort of haha. I'm constantly striving to improve my stuff, thanks for watching!
Much better to hear a grunt's perspective on GI food. I was in the C-rat era, and I would still fancy trying to eat that food if I didn't think it would kill me.
I was actually is Srebrenica, Bosnia during 92-95 when USA was dropping humanitarian aid... often they would drop MREs.... Wish they make some of them now, it bring good and bad memories
Yeah, i was 15 when Srebrenica happened, went through it all.... I just remember as a kid staying up late to wait for the drops. One nearly killed me, it crushed into tree right next to me. At the beginning we didn't even know that fruit was dehydrated....lol... we were eating it like a bar and asking our self "what the hell is this garbage Americans are eating, it horrible?"... I loved the maple nut cake!
it was close call. I was there in UN compound during Srebrenica fall. They took away few of my friends (12-15 year olds) and by some reason they missed me. One Serb asked me about my age, I lied I was 11. Thank for lack of food (weird to say) I was not that tall so he couldn't tell my real age.
I liked the pork and beef patties. We'd mix them with our "Care package" Raman noodles, with the "Chicken Ala King" (I think. Or maybe a turkey based MRE kinda fuzzy. These were the relaxive fun times. Most of them got whipped out because of the rest.) I do remeber just munching on dried beef patties. Real beef. A little salt and it was practicaly jerky.
Awesome video. Just got myself four of these, one is unfortunately open and stanks like soil! Totally on the fence as whether to open them or not. Makes me wish I had room for a chest freezer.
Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of the vintage stuff. I'd much rather know what I purchase is for consumption rather than spending 20-40 bucks on something that can get me sick or require room fumigation HAHA
@@gundog4314 😂. I have a mix. Some more modern MRE/ORP and some German rations a friend in Germany sends over. Then I have stuff from Korea onwards....in varying states. I actually have a sealed box of these in the post. Packaged Nov 89 and inspected Nov 92. I consider them all collectors pieces and potential time capsules. Always interesting to look through and super cool that it brought back some old memories yourself. Must take you right back!
Spaghetti is about the only menu that has remained in service from generation 1 to today. By the way, for gen 1, ham slice was my favorite, and with regards to most other gen 1's, they were so bad that I preferred C-rats over them.
You truely are a brave man! Lol most of my friends and relatives that had the umm, pleasure, to enjoy these during that time were a lot more vocal on their dislike for them lol i never got to eat any but I'll gladly take your word on it. Bless you!
I have to admit it took me over 20 years before I was even remotely tempted to try one of these again. The new stuff is leaps and bounds better than the 80's early 90's crap. Cheers!
Exactly! I used to carry a ton of beef jerky and would have an advanced arrangement with the 1SG's driver to pick me up more jerky and smokes when he took the Old Man back to the rear to grab ass and for hot chow.
Man those M&Ms were 6 yrs old before being packaged in the mre. I remember them they said proud sponsor of the 1984 LA Olympics, and in 92 it was 50/50 if they were still edible.
I know I am an outlier....when we were in Desert Storm/ Shield , I loved the tuna noodle casserole. Leave it out in the sun for an hour......whoowee! Baby, what a mf*g feast! Hot temperature cream sauce, pease, melted cheesiness, hot tuna, plus knowing that 99% of your buddies hated this meal and traded it to you for junk you did not like. Man, I feasted in The Desert for a year this way. Cold? No way. I'd rather go hungry. Hot? Heck yeah! It had a nut bar for dessert (I think, which was not bad) and the usual coffee junk, toilet paper matches etcetera.
Thanks for your reviews, they really bring back memories. I always kept a few FRHs stashed on me, they came in handy for trades. I know I'll catch some flak for this, but I actually liked the chicken a la s#*t. Peace.
Maple nut cake, I friggin love maple nut cake. As a starving E-1 during Reforger, everybody gave me the various nut cake selection. When I finaly did take a dump, I tell you Sir, it was an epic poo indeed.
I wouldn't laugh at you if you got food poisoning Gundog! It's always a tough decision to take that step of trying out something that could very well make you sick for the sake of a thorough review. Good stuff!
I laughed when you said the Maple nut cake would give you flash backs, because I was already having the flash backs!! That was funny. I wish I could have tasted it again, But I swear i could smell it and feel all of those little nuts on my tongue. I loved those cakes. I served in 89-90 during the beginning of Desert Storm and I ate my fair share of MRE. I loved to see this old one with the brown case.
Damn I hated those maple nut hockey pucks! Still miss the Dehydrated Port Patty! Best trading items were the chocolate covered cookie and peanut butter.
Wish I had a case of track pads (brownie, chocolate covered). They were good. Hard as a rock but good. The old oatmeal bars were OK. But if you ate too many you would break a tooth.
This video took me down memory lane. I can't believe we used to enjoy this crap! I guess if you're hungry anything tastes good. This one was way better than the green eggs and spam or the four fingers of death; too bad the cheese didn't make it.
LOL! Beef jerky, spicy peanuts, smokes, Whiskey minitures and a bunch of gum. Also used to pack a few cans of Coppenhagen for when my guys would run out. Bitching is bitching but a soldier bitching from nicotine withdrawl is pure drama
gundog4314 Thank you for reminding me of my childhood . I am from Yakutia (the place is not far from Alaska) After the collapse of the USSR , in Yakutia 1991-92 year was a famine . There was no food . We did not even has flour to bake bread. We was very hungry. But one evening, we received humanitarian assistance, my father said that the Americans helped us. With Food and Medical products. And that was exactly the bag of groceries in this video. And we ate it for 2 years. Thank you A m e r i c a for it. i always remember that BROWN bag...crying....
gundog4314 I think it is the Oatmeal Cookie Bar.Thanx. I don't think they have them anymore in the MRE's. The Fruit FD was also great. Especially the small cherries.
Spaghetti was my favorite too. I hate the MREs though because if you eat them more than a few days in a row, it just give ya the runs. Question though.... How is that a desert storm MRE when desert storm was over in 91?
It's been what? 6 or 7 years since I filmed this...probably bought it on ebay when the seller sold it as Desert Storm. Hard to tell since these things have no date codes on the outside. I think as a caveat I have "Era" cause something in this ration had to be made in 90/91
Chocolate nut cake was the best! Coffee, hot chocolate mix, creamer and sugar preceeded Starbucks! if you were lucky enough to find the soft bread packets it was culinary delight!
I remember in '99 when they released Chick Alfredo. That and Spaghetti were damn good. I always felt sorry for the poor bastard that got ham slice. haha
I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised both the cake AND the spaghetti survived. As for you,... we shall see (steeples fingers) >:) . Dun..dun..DUNNNN ;)
I still have a whole bunch of these "Brown bag" MRE's from the 1980's to 1995. Oh and the cheese spread will have gone really bad after 20 years. BTW invest in some cans of cheese wiz for the older MREs.
The oldest one I have is at least 30 years old hopefully the freeze dried entrée is still good. LOL I had picked those up as a case of 8 brown bags and 4 tan bag MRE's for $5 for all 12
No the cheese will have not gone bad after all this time! That's the whole idea of its manufacture. Massage it well, get it soft and enjoy! Welcome to 20th Century Food Technology buddy!
I use to live in Kuwait before and after the gulf war with my parenths. They had U.N. soldier friends. They use to bring me MREs. I loved them! I use to put on face camuflage and sit under a blancet under the desk and pretend I was a U.S. Marine. (Even though I'm Polish). Anyhow, my question is: what were the "cookie blocks" called? I'm refering to the square compresed blocks of what looked like some crumbles and some fat. I really loved them!!! I'm wondering if they are still avelable. I bought some MRE's some time ago to do some revievs for the Polish YT and I'm wondering if I'll find them. By the way my favorite was: spaghetti, "cookie" block, grape jelly and cocoa.
Yes, i think this is it! I always prefered the plain one. The chockolate covered the flavour of the bar, which for some bizzare reason i enjoyed so much back then.
Daniel Lubaszka I agree, I liked the plain one better myself. The contents of the older MREs would heat up if left in the sun, so that the chocolate was always a melted mess on the chocolate covered one.
i don't plan on getting one soon, but where can i look? I've always wanted to try for myself what military food is like. I'm in AU, so i'd to have it shipped in (which means genuine military packaging is out of the picture because of sale restrictions)
This is crazy because I remember these bags in desert storm but I am not an American nor a soldier, believe it or not I was actually on the other side of this story, I am a Kurd from Iraq and back in 1992 -1993 we fled to Turkey away from Saddam and we stayed on the border with no food so they gave us these ration bags, I remember I was a boy and we used to get so excited when opening these as we couldn’t understand the writings on them lol they were yummy man brings back memories
Cool story. Thanks for sharing !
@@sunshinesideoflife7710 haha I see you everywhere
I was waiting to hear "Let's get this out onto a tray! Nice!" Lol
LOL
Lol
Wow! Looks tasty, especially the Maple Nut Cake. Loved the spaghetti, Beef Stew and Meatballs, Rice in Spicy Tomato Sauce. (US Army 1990-1995 here so I ate plenty of all the MREs in those days.)
Thanks for sharing. Brings back memories.
I always pick this menu not because of the spag, but because of the maple nut cake that comes with it. I used to trade the main meals just for it. Now that you mentioned that it smelled the same, I would love to get a hands on this MRE set
I know a guy who used to mix his sugar, creamer, and a little water to make a "frosting" for his cake. Sounds like a good idea, especially if you're not a coffee drinker. Great video.
'Canteen cookery ;) ?
Yeah, we would always save the cocoa powder from other mres to make ranger pudding. If you had to stay up all night we'd pour the instant coffee in the pudding as well.
We used to mix all three plus the coffee pack to make "turbo" in the infantry to give us energy to keep humping the miles or to stay awake.
Hey Gun,
Very good vid. I served from 3/80 to 11/94 initially when I enlisted from 80 to 81 basic to my first permanent party unit the 5th engineers at ft. Leonardwood we were given c-ration crats which I enjoyed. From the 5th engineers I was transferred up to Post HQ and worked there for the remaining two years of my initial three year contract. During that time at Post HQ I did not go to the field because I was a staff command driver and dignitary visiting driver so all of my meals were either at the Officers mess, or whatever my then wife prepared for me brown bag. After my first three years was over I got out and went to college and was in the California NG and it was then I saw and tasted my first MRE. I thought they were pretty good for what they were supposed to do. When I reenlisted in 86 I was back at Leonardwood for a year then transferred to Hood Tx. and then it was all MRE's for me I was again not disappointed and a lot of times preferred MRE to the mess hall food that our battalion mess hall cooked. I am glad to hear positive reviews of the mre you did in this vid thank you for posting and thank you for your time in service brother.
Memories.
I used to take the creamer packet and mix in the sugar packet and set the creamer pack on fire.
The paper burned away and the aluminum foil liner was left and it made a ‘Ranger cookie’
I still make a version of the tuna noodles occasional at home.
I used to like the beef stew until we got a dog and I bought a can of Pedigree beef stew.
Looked and smelled identical!
Never was brave enough to compare...
It's incredible how long this stuff can last
That spaghetti is 3 years older than me, and yet it's still in tact? Time to buy me some MRE's.
we used to place the entree, out of cardboard, as that was all discarded before we moved out, inside our jacket. the belt from the rucksack would keep it from falling down. as we humped around through the woods, the mre entree would heat up like a champ, especially if we wound up doing any mock engagements and had to do a bit of rushing around. those packs never busted on me, even when lying in a prone position. when the mre heaters were introduced, they were something that was occasionally handed out, usually in winter only, but not all the time. to make it worse we weren't allowed to start even the smallest of fires to heat your coffee or chocolate drink up, do we just chugged it dry with a swig of water from the canteen. lastly, I reguraly traded away my spaghetti for either the chicken ala stink, or the tuna with noodles, my favorites! and I loved the sawdust bar with peanut butter, i'd give my m&m's away for that combo all the time! I was one weird kid!
+bizzarrogeorge Yes you were the weird one LOL! Then again you always got what you wanted too! When I first went in I actually like both of the mains you liked. But at Bragg I got food poisoning from Chik-a-king. Never could look at the stuff without turning my stomach again.
+gundog4314, bizzarrogeorge Did you ever notice that in all the old chicken MREs, the chicken tasted like tuna, and the Tuna with Noodles tasted like chicken?
gundog4314 no sir! After dumping the whole bottle of Tabasco inside, all I could really taste was the heat!
That's awesome my uncle served in Desert Storm!
love it, I still have a case, I got out in 92, I remember there was a MRE cookbook you could buy at the PX. When I came back in in '06 I ate my MRE cold until someone showed me the heater.
Great vid! That was definitely one of my favorites! When we got our case in the field guys always traded for what they liked. I always got rid of the tuna with noodles and the vomelette asap!! Keep up the good job!!
IDK...I loved the Ham slice! My fav was Chicken-a-la-King though! Tabasco sauce made everything taste better in the field. This review takes me back, we used our HUMMVs or Vulcan exhaust to heat these MREs up just like you guys did. My first MRE was in Basic back in 1987...I stayed in the Army until I hurt my back in 2001. The MREs changed dramatically over the years, along with the T-rats. We did get to try some real C-rats in basic as well. Both of my Sons-in-Laws are in the Army now and give me MREs all the time...some of it is better...some not so much.
Chicken a la King! We couldn't give that one away at Bragg! LOL It was like getting extra duty in the field! Yeah we went in right around the same time. We got C Rats and MREs in Basic and still wore steel pots. Those were so versatile I missed them when we went to Kevlars.
gundog4314 Yeah...the good ole' days. I wore the steel pot in Basic & AIT...didn't see a Kevlar helmet until I went to Airborne school. I had a thing for the Chicken a la King! I could get it without even trading for it...I was great with lots of Tabasco!
It's funny you should mention that, I just got a chicken ala king MRE from eBay
wmr0225 I like it. Especially when it's cold out...Chicken ala King is the best in cold weather...just my opinion.
Do you think it's safe to eat still?
Man this brings back memories. #5 was the most fought over in my unit as well.
That cheese spread was pretty good but man did it lock you up.
I never needed or used Tabasco on this meal but it was a life saver on some of the other MRE's.
I remember when they called my dad back into service for national guard and offered to let him finish his from when he was enlisted in the army. he would go out for his 2 week summer training and one year he came back with a case of mre's. i loved the chicken a la king. i remember opening a breakfast pack with scrambled eggs and they were pink, even after my dad warned me to not try the eggs.
My dad was in the army from 89 to 91 and I remember him telling me about this menu. He told me it was his favorite and chicken- al-a king was the worse.
yep thats hanks dad.
Great vids, Gundog! Watching you, gschultz, steve1989 and others has caused me to conclude that the Zombie Apocalypse will be caused by an illness one of you crazy SOBs gets from eating one of these old rations! Love the vids, keep it up!
Thank You for your service gundog
That one was one of my favorites.Every time I went to the field I had a bottle of hot sauce and a can of easy cheese with me.
Spaghetti was my fav. The omelettes were gross. M&M's was def the jackpot!
Spaghetti was everyone's favorite cause the M&Ms HAHA! Cheers T
I love them all... Please eat this now!
i had a spaghetti MRE yesterday that was only 3 years old, and was hesitant about the meat. 22 year old meat? you are braver than i.
me too
ah, i remember these, i lived on them while over in the desert, ( shield and storm ) they were a pain in the ass to get in to, and you could "buy" anything you wanted with the m&m's but you didnt get rid of them to often . i remember mixing it all together in the pouch.................. good times !
your just pumpin out the vids man great job!
I was deployed for both Desert Shield and Desert. What he mentioned is true, you heat them by putting them somewhere hot. We used to use a metal chair and set it out in the sun. He's also right that the omelet one is absolutely horrible. There are halfway decent ones out there, but not many. I remember hoarding the peanut butter, jelly, and crackers in case I was forced to eat something really bad.
Cheers!
My moms brother was in desert storm he worked on tanks and armoured vehicles mostly Abram tanks. He told me he loved the candy and m&ms.
Fantastic! Thanks for another great video. Regards Phil
It is all about temperature when stored. Below 68 Degree F but not frozen is preferred. I have some from the early 90's that I got while working at Edwards, Air Force Base and opened one of them in Jan of 2005 and all of the items were still good. The color was off a bit, but tasted fresh as the day it food went into the pouch.
Thanks for the videos and I look forward to seeing more. Cheers
Not quite sure exactly but, I love this guys videos...
+dannyb2303 Rock on Danny, Cheers!
I found a pile of MRE cases one time during Desert Shield/Storm. I grabbed one case and pulled the #5 spaghetti mre out and ate it. Then i threw the case in my Bradley Fighting Vehicle. A week or so later we came across it, opened it, and everyone was mad the #5 was gone. Even after careful explanation (that technically the whole case being there at all was thanks to me), my buddies were still annoyed with me, lol.
I could smell the maple nut cake through the screen. I was having the flash back with you. That was the best. The cherry nut cake was pretty good too
+tyler durden I couldn't do the cherry nut cake. Reminded me too much of fruit cake I had to endure as a kid. Cheers
US Army '90-'97 here. My faves were, luckily for me, the ones that no one else ever wanted. Omelette with ham and Corned Beef Hash. Throw a little Tabasco and pepper in there and they were quite good.
+lisarenee3505 So you were "That Person" lol Cheers Lisa
First time I ever ate an MRE was on the ramp at the Qatari air base in 1990. Tossed it on a piece of Aircraft Mobile Support Equipment that was sitting in the sun to heat it up. I think it was Chicken a la King. The AMSE was hot enough to fry an egg and, yes, someone obtained an egg to prove it.
I got a few French MRE’s a couple years ago for a hunting trip they were like eating something Gordon Ramsay made, amazing.
Oh yeah my JAM in the 90’s. 😋
All the MRE's that I have gotten had Tabasco in it which made all the meals better.
Hi gundog
Thanks for uploading These Videos.
This takes me back to my active duty days in the USAF (1971-1995) 20 years of that time with the US Army doing Tactical Air Support.
C-Rats, MREs, T-Rations, Shelf Stable and fresh stuff too!
I´m retired and live in Germany now. Would you be interested in the Bundeswehr (German Military) Rations?
Bob
Bob, Hit me up at: gundog4314@gmail.com and you're soooo lucky to be in Deustchland! I was stationed there for just a bit over a year! Cheers
I was in the army back in 1990 and our MRE's actually had meat "balls" and spaghetti. Looks like the military cheaped out on the troops with the meat sauce only two years later. Also, we just opened the pouch and dug in with NO cooking needed. It was freaking great cold and out of the pouch.
We were in at the same time, the only thing with meatballs I remember was the meatballs in tomato sauce which was menu #9. I too, never used a ration heater, for the most part ate them cold or we taped them to a muffler while we moved so it would be warm after we got the gun set up. This outta give you a trip down memory lane. Here's a list of all those 90/91 era MREs. www.mreinfo.com/mres/mre-menus/mre-menus-1990-1991/
i like the chicken and rice only 23 years old and was good
Look, the Olympic rings on the M&m,s Norway had the winter Olympics 1994... cool :)
Best regards from Norway
Quick tip. If you hold your hand behind the object you're holding up to the camera, the camera will autofocus a lot easier on the object.
+1Slo_Daytona Yeah, these are all my earlier vids before a learned a few tricks of the trade, sort of haha. I'm constantly striving to improve my stuff, thanks for watching!
No problem. I really enjoy watching your videos. You just earned yourself a subscriber!
Much better to hear a grunt's perspective on GI food. I was in the C-rat era, and I would still fancy trying to eat that food if I didn't think it would kill me.
Once again nice vid
I was actually is Srebrenica, Bosnia during 92-95 when USA was dropping humanitarian aid... often they would drop MREs.... Wish they make some of them now, it bring good and bad memories
My brother was there for a deployment or two he says the same thing good and bad memories. Cheers
Yeah, i was 15 when Srebrenica happened, went through it all.... I just remember as a kid staying up late to wait for the drops. One nearly killed me, it crushed into tree right next to me. At the beginning we didn't even know that fruit was dehydrated....lol... we were eating it like a bar and asking our self "what the hell is this garbage Americans are eating, it horrible?"... I loved the maple nut cake!
it was close call. I was there in UN compound during Srebrenica fall. They took away few of my friends (12-15 year olds) and by some reason they missed me. One Serb asked me about my age, I lied I was 11. Thank for lack of food (weird to say) I was not that tall so he couldn't tell my real age.
I used to trade all the time for the maple nut cake!!! I loved that stuff
+matthew schlosser Yeah that was pretty good. I'd much rather have that than a "toaster pastry".
+gundog4314 I retired from the Marine Corp 10-18-2013, you have brought back so many memories,, THANK YOU!!
You're welcome Matt, Semper Fi!
I went in The Army back in 92 and Loved the Spaghetti MRE! HA! It looks the same! No Joke! Hot Sauce is a must with that one!
HA! Thats Awesome!
***** HA! Thats Awesome!
I liked the pork and beef patties. We'd mix them with our "Care package" Raman noodles, with the "Chicken Ala King" (I think. Or maybe a turkey based MRE kinda fuzzy. These were the relaxive fun times. Most of them got whipped out because of the rest.) I do remeber just munching on dried beef patties. Real beef. A little salt and it was practicaly jerky.
The CHEESE and Cherry nut cake ...was EVERYONE'S FAV....we RARELY got to eat them warm...90-93.....Army Wurzburg , Germany
Awesome video. Just got myself four of these, one is unfortunately open and stanks like soil! Totally on the fence as whether to open them or not. Makes me wish I had room for a chest freezer.
Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of the vintage stuff. I'd much rather know what I purchase is for consumption rather than spending 20-40 bucks on something that can get me sick or require room fumigation HAHA
@@gundog4314 😂. I have a mix. Some more modern MRE/ORP and some German rations a friend in Germany sends over. Then I have stuff from Korea onwards....in varying states. I actually have a sealed box of these in the post. Packaged Nov 89 and inspected Nov 92. I consider them all collectors pieces and potential time capsules. Always interesting to look through and super cool that it brought back some old memories yourself. Must take you right back!
thank you for your service and that looks like it would be pretty good
btw my favorite mre would be the cheese tortellini or the barbecue veggie burger damn those are good lol
Spaghetti is about the only menu that has remained in service from generation 1 to today. By the way, for gen 1, ham slice was my favorite, and with regards to most other gen 1's, they were so bad that I preferred C-rats over them.
You truely are a brave man! Lol most of my friends and relatives that had the umm, pleasure, to enjoy these during that time were a lot more vocal on their dislike for them lol i never got to eat any but I'll gladly take your word on it. Bless you!
I have to admit it took me over 20 years before I was even remotely tempted to try one of these again. The new stuff is leaps and bounds better than the 80's early 90's crap. Cheers!
For its age it seems to be in exceptional condition I’m guessing it’s been stored well.
Nice!
I remember the old MREs. You learned quick to pack a bunch of pogie bait in your ruck sack when you went to the field.
Exactly! I used to carry a ton of beef jerky and would have an advanced arrangement with the 1SG's driver to pick me up more jerky and smokes when he took the Old Man back to the rear to grab ass and for hot chow.
Man those M&Ms were 6 yrs old before being packaged in the mre. I remember them they said proud sponsor of the 1984 LA Olympics, and in 92 it was 50/50 if they were still edible.
Awesome video, keep it up!
chicken ala king and tuna noodle casserole were killer
I know I am an outlier....when we were in Desert Storm/ Shield , I loved the tuna noodle casserole. Leave it out in the sun for an hour......whoowee! Baby, what a mf*g feast! Hot temperature cream sauce, pease, melted cheesiness, hot tuna, plus knowing that 99% of your buddies hated this meal and traded it to you for junk you did not like. Man, I feasted in The Desert for a year this way. Cold? No way. I'd rather go hungry. Hot? Heck yeah! It had a nut bar for dessert (I think, which was not bad) and the usual coffee junk, toilet paper matches etcetera.
That was pretty interesting. I'm surprised most of your MRE was still edible.
"Here, dogs, try this food that was cooked back when your great great granddogs were around" haha, awesome.
Well to be completely honest I waited a couple of hours before I let them try it just in case I had a reaction. And they did gobble it up! Cheers
I have a menu #9 Meatballs, beef, and rice. Going to take a look at on my show next week.
Sniff test before it goes in your mouth lol! Let me know when you post or the link so I can watch your impressions. Cheers
Ate a ton of them things during the storm
92 Olympic addition m&m's never opened! aweee
Thanks for your reviews, they really bring back memories. I always kept a few FRHs stashed on me, they came in handy for trades. I know I'll catch some flak for this, but I actually liked the chicken a la s#*t. Peace.
Maple nut cake, I friggin love maple nut cake. As a starving E-1 during Reforger, everybody gave me the various nut cake selection. When I finaly did take a dump, I tell you Sir, it was an epic poo indeed.
I bet! Day 4 in the field was always when they hit me. Good times LOL!
I wouldn't laugh at you if you got food poisoning Gundog! It's always a tough decision to take that step of trying out something that could very well make you sick for the sake of a thorough review. Good stuff!
I mean, you'd at least giggle internally for sure
haha
I saw the M&Ms packaging, and I immediately thought of Doctor Who and specifically the 9th-to-10th Doctor regeneration. "Barcelona!"
You're a brave man.
This should be a recruitment video. After basic this is all you do.
I laughed when you said the Maple nut cake would give you flash backs, because I was already having the flash backs!! That was funny. I wish I could have tasted it again, But I swear i could smell it and feel all of those little nuts on my tongue. I loved those cakes. I served in 89-90 during the beginning of Desert Storm and I ate my fair share of MRE. I loved to see this old one with the brown case.
LOL! The things our senses remember huh? Cheers Candace!
Dude, I gotta say, you've got guts! Eating a 22 year old MRE without even heating! Wow! I hope you were fine!
Yeah, I hear from the lady of the house I'm not the brightest star in the sky at times haha! Cheers
The Spaghetti was 1 of the best for sure, Buffalo Chicken rocks as well as the sloppy joe, SCREW any of the tuna dishes
those puppies are adorable
Nice one. And looked was tasty.
I liked the beef slices in bbq sauce
Damn I hated those maple nut hockey pucks! Still miss the Dehydrated Port Patty! Best trading items were the chocolate covered cookie and peanut butter.
Wish I had a case of track pads (brownie, chocolate covered). They were good. Hard as a rock but good. The old oatmeal bars were OK. But if you ate too many you would break a tooth.
Wow takes me back lol good times....except for the mopp4 in the Saudi sun lol
This video took me down memory lane. I can't believe we used to enjoy this crap! I guess if you're hungry anything tastes good. This one was way better than the green eggs and spam or the four fingers of death; too bad the cheese didn't make it.
simonferrer You enjoyed this crap!? HAHA! I used to carry a 20 lb bag of pogey bait so I didn't have to eat it everyday. Cheers!
gundog4314 C'mon now, we ALL had pogey bait, it goes without saying :) My go to stash was beef jerky, closely followed by Pizzeria Pretzel Combos.
LOL! Beef jerky, spicy peanuts, smokes, Whiskey minitures and a bunch of gum. Also used to pack a few cans of Coppenhagen for when my guys would run out. Bitching is bitching but a soldier bitching from nicotine withdrawl is pure drama
gundog4314 Thank you for reminding me of my childhood .
I am from Yakutia (the place is not far from Alaska)
After the collapse of the USSR , in Yakutia 1991-92 year was a famine . There was no food . We did not even has flour to bake bread. We was very hungry. But one evening, we received humanitarian assistance, my father said that the Americans helped us. With Food and Medical products. And that was exactly the bag of groceries in this video. And we ate it for 2 years. Thank you A m e r i c a for it. i always remember that BROWN bag...crying....
Thank you for sharing that with us Reema
@daniel lubaszka
I think you're referring to the brownies? I'm not sure if you have them in your country but they're very popular in the states
That could be, I just checked the menus on mreinfo so you may be right. Here's a link: www.mreinfo.com/us/mre/menus-x-xi-1990-1991.html
gundog4314
I think it is the Oatmeal Cookie Bar.Thanx. I don't think they have them anymore in the MRE's. The Fruit FD was also great. Especially the small cherries.
Pyrepenol Yeah, wa have brownies in Poland. Cola and McDonald's was also reported to be seen somewhere, but no one has proven it yet! ;)
to bad about the cheese. That was my favorite way back when. Thanks for sharing
Spaghetti was my favorite too. I hate the MREs though because if you eat them more than a few days in a row, it just give ya the runs.
Question though.... How is that a desert storm MRE when desert storm was over in 91?
It's been what? 6 or 7 years since I filmed this...probably bought it on ebay when the seller sold it as Desert Storm. Hard to tell since these things have no date codes on the outside. I think as a caveat I have "Era" cause something in this ration had to be made in 90/91
@@gundog4314 Always hated the crackers though. I'd much rather eat the cardboard box that the meals came in.
looks good
Chocolate nut cake was the best! Coffee, hot chocolate mix, creamer and sugar preceeded Starbucks! if you were lucky enough to find the soft bread packets it was culinary delight!
same thing fisherman do, put the burrito on the motor to heat up
I remember in '99 when they released Chick Alfredo. That and Spaghetti were damn good. I always felt sorry for the poor bastard that got ham slice. haha
I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised both the cake AND the spaghetti survived. As for you,... we shall see (steeples fingers) >:) .
Dun..dun..DUNNNN ;)
Is that a promo on the M&M's for the Atlanta Olympic Games? Weird.
+Micah J if this was 92, it would've been Barcelona.
Nice vid
I still have a whole bunch of these "Brown bag" MRE's from the 1980's to 1995. Oh and the cheese spread will have gone really bad after 20 years.
BTW invest in some cans of cheese wiz for the older MREs.
Try one of them out, it was tasty. Cheers
The oldest one I have is at least 30 years old hopefully the freeze dried entrée is still good. LOL
I had picked those up as a case of 8 brown bags and 4 tan bag MRE's for $5 for all 12
No the cheese will have not gone bad after all this time! That's the whole idea of its manufacture. Massage it well, get it soft and enjoy! Welcome to 20th Century Food Technology buddy!
Great vid. Subbed.
Thanks!
Kinda looks like corn beef hash. My brother still has a few from Vietnam
omg you saying corn beef hash is making me so hungry
I use to live in Kuwait before and after the gulf war with my parenths. They had U.N. soldier friends. They use to bring me MREs. I loved them! I use to put on face camuflage and sit under a blancet under the desk and pretend I was a U.S. Marine. (Even though I'm Polish). Anyhow, my question is: what were the "cookie blocks" called? I'm refering to the square compresed blocks of what looked like some crumbles and some fat. I really loved them!!! I'm wondering if they are still avelable. I bought some MRE's some time ago to do some revievs for the Polish YT and I'm wondering if I'll find them. By the way my favorite was: spaghetti, "cookie" block, grape jelly and cocoa.
+Daniel Lubaszka It sounds like you're referring to the Oatmeal Cookie Bar. It came two different ways, plain or chocolate covered.
Yes, i think this is it! I always prefered the plain one. The chockolate covered the flavour of the bar, which for some bizzare reason i enjoyed so much back then.
Daniel Lubaszka I agree, I liked the plain one better myself. The contents of the older MREs would heat up if left in the sun, so that the chocolate was always a melted mess on the chocolate covered one.
got the tan m&ms
so in the midst of watching your video, my older brother wants to try out an mre. so I'm giving him menu #24 buffalo chicken.
That's funny! Hope he liked it, Buffalo Chicken can be a challenge for a "first" MRE experience! Cheers
gundog4314 Any Recommendation for a first experience? :P
+ClaudioSanchezCC Spaghetti with Meat Sauce or the Chili meal are both good ones for a first try.
i don't plan on getting one soon, but where can i look? I've always wanted to try for myself what military food is like. I'm in AU, so i'd to have it shipped in (which means genuine military packaging is out of the picture because of sale restrictions)
maksuree You can find them reasonably cheap on U.S. ebay and first class shipping is $25. May take a bit tho get there but you'd get one. Cheers
*Watching this eating spaghetti and meat with sauce, and he says spaghetti and meat sauce* Well what a coincidence.
Liar
Brings it all back, BAD just BAD I wouldn't feed that to my dog LOL
Is this what you ate when you were in the service?