MREs - What do Soldiers Eat?

Food Rations from the 19th century to the present day.
Meal, Ready-to-Eat
The modern ration has been refined over many years and various conflicts to be both nutritionally balanced and contain all the calories a soldier requires when in the field, with one MRE bag containing approximately 1250 calories. In addition to this, the MRE has been designed to fulfil all operational requirements. This means that they remain shelf stable for a minimum of three years, or nine months in warmer climates. They also are highly durable and have the ability to survive non-parachute drops of 100 feet and parachute drops of 1250 feet. With all these elements considered, a soldier can eat a full, nutritional meal wherever they find themselves.

Copyright: DO NOT translate and re-upload our content on Youtube or other social media.

SIMPLE HISTORY MERCHANDISE

Get the Simple History books on Amazon:

T-Shirts

Simple history gives you the facts, simple!

See the book collection here:

Amazon USA

Amazon UK

Credit:
Created by Daniel Turner (B.A. (Hons) in History, University College London)

Narrator:

Chris Kane

[j.peters]

Ah yes the MRE. Otherwise affectionately known as "Meals Rejected by Ethiopians" and "Meals Rarely Edible" by some soldiers in the field. There were other names for it too. To be fair though, the MRE has improved A LOT since it's introduction. They actually got some decent entree options now.

[zacharydavis]

Fun Fact: there a little joke about the MRE heaters. The MRE heater instructions are printed on the heater itself. Mostly dry and pretty by the book. However, when it tells you how to lean it against an item to use, it says 'Use a Rock or something'

Pretty minor, but for some reason every infantry unit I've been too think it's the funniest thing ever. Like the MRE writers got frustrated trying to explain how to use the heater.

[Grabbagar]

I'm in the US army. We did a large military exercise in Europe that involved driving a large convoy across several countries in Europe. We would make stops overnight at various military bases in these different countries.

It's customary in the Army to trade patches, flags and ranks with allied soldiers. Kind of a neat momento of where you've been and who you met.

We stopped in Hungary. They have a very small and not-very-well-funded military. I tried to trade patches with their soldiers. I was about to give him my patch, but the soldier pulled out a backpack, handed me a bunch of patches, waved away my patch, and pointed at my boxes of MREs strapped to our HUMVEE. We brought a lot of MREs with us. More than enough to feed us for more than a month. So i gave him a few MRE bags.

I was curious what their MREs looked like. They had a "Sergeant first class (equivalent)" who i asked what their MREs looked like. She reached into her backpack and pulled out a plastic wrapped pear and a croissant, and she handed it to me. I told her i didn't need it and didn't want to take food away from them. She insisted that i take it, that they didn't want it. They only wanted our MREs.

American MREs are apparently well known for being filling, fairly tasty, varied, nutritious, high in energy, and store for a long time.

[paleoph]

The long awaited sequel to "what food did soldiers eat?" I've always wanted to find out how rations further evolved from tin cans to MREs.

[brose]

My time in Afghanistan I learned about the affects of heat and sunlight on mres. Most of them remained edible. The mixed nut pouch was most likely to fail. The little bottles of Tabasco tended to dry out. That's why they switched over to packets.

[donaldsherman]

It’s amazing how fast the novelty of eating MRE’s wears off when you first join the military. At first they’re the coolest thing you’ve ever seen, and then a few weeks later the last thing you ever want to see.

[decayingsun]

I actually like most MREs. Plus, the included flameless heater is a really nice touch (love the "rock or something").

[kylejohnson]

My dad fought in Iraq in 2003 when I was just a newborn. He told me that during his time in Iraq, he would see young kids in the scorching desert with no food, so him and his unit would give those kids these MRE’s. His unit had to stop giving them these MRE’s because the Iraqi kids would be killed off by Iraqi soldiers if they were caught with the MRE’s.

[rodrigodiazdevivar]

As a trained military historian, a retired Army officer, allow me to compliment you on your research. Sadly, it is hard to convey my compliment to you in a few words.

[Doom_Guy__]

The creamy spinach MRE is truly a middle finger to whoever gets it.

[pointly]

During Hurricane Ike, and Rita, the National Guard gave civilians their MREs. My favorite was the one with pasta. It came with a mini bottle of Tobasco sauce. So good!

[MothOnWall]

I learned D-Ration Chocolate Bars were mostly compacted cocoa powder that tasted more like a potato, but were gently sweetened enough, so that soldiers didn't eat it all in one sitting. It was also designed to crumble so you can add it to hot water or coffee.

[Synomayo]

A story involving that emergency ration. During the Boer War a Canadian infanteer was pinned down by enemy rifle fire for a few days. Rather than face death on an empty stomach, he popped open his sacred emergency ration and consumed it. He managed to retreat back to his own lines only to be charged for having eaten the sacred ration. Only in the Canadian and British army would you ever be charged for trying to stay alive on the battlefield.

[Btester]

I've been eating MREs sense I was a young child. My dad was in the army and when he went out into the field they would give him 3 MREs a day and he would only eat one a day and brought the rest home for us kids. We were pretty poor and an MRE was a treat. They are actually pretty good

[sandovalperry]

I was subjected to the early Natick lab test versions of the Army’s freeze-dried rations. We added water to the beef patty and after 10 minutes it was supposed to be eatable. After eating the hockey puck it felt like it continued to expand in our stomachs. Thank god this ration never got out to the troops, it would have been hard to explain to a mother that her son was killed by a beef patty.

[MarikuSalana]

There's a creator named steve1989mreinfo who actually opens up many of these older rations. Some of them held up amazingly well over time.

[Raptor]

As much as MREs are the butt of many jokes, I think it's pretty incredible how the militaries of the world have managed to create varied, nutritious, decently tasty, and sanitary meals for soldiers literally in battlefield conditions. That's a logistical, technological, and culinary challenge of immense proportions, and they've succeeded.

[williamparker]

When I was a kid, my uncle would bring us a few MRE's from his guard trips. It was always fun to pretend we were soldiers and would set up tents in the yard to eat them. Then I got them when I went to the air force and the nostalgia wore off pretty quick.

[CrimsonRaven]

I was in the army during the Vietnam war. We had “C” rations affectionately referred to as “sea rats.” Some were pretty good like the spaghetti and meatballs or the beans and “MFs” which was good. You heat them up with a pinch of C-4. Anyway, used to get a small pack of cigarettes. Usually Camels or Lucky Strike. Also a couple of packets of Nescafé instant coffee. I wasn’t a cigarette smoker, but big time coffee drinker. Used to trade my cigarettes for coffee and small vials of Tobasco sauce. Ah memories. 🇺🇸🇺🇸

[paleoph]

2:40
I like the detail where all the US soldiers have M1917 Enfield rifles. Despite being second standard, there were more of these rifles than the official standard M1903 Springfield during WW1.