Why doesn’t the US military use Soylent now?
Soldier morale is important and Soylent is not exactly morale boosting
this must explain why I can't keep up with my soylent routine
Unloved by generations of soldiers, the MRE finds a fan base
101–105 of 105 posts
Re: Unloved by generations of soldiers, the MRE finds a fan base
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've had Chinese MREs, once. It was the worst food I've ever tasted. Someone in the family had a can from former prc military service. I don't know what it is, but maybe the Chinese army deploys so infrequently (almost never?) that they place zero priority on their MREs. I begrudgingly eat US MREs once every 3-5 years for about a week or so as I replenish my one case of MREs for earthquake supplies. They're actually…
>I begrudgingly eat US MREs once every 3-5 years for about a week or so as I replenish my one case of MREs for earthquake supplies. What's the TCO on using MREs for disaster prep? I did some light research a while ago and figured it was pretty pricey compared to buying traditional nonperishables (eg. instant noodles, canned vegetables, dried beans). Plus, those foods are easier to work into a conventional meal than M…
Not great. Aside from higher cost, MREs are heavy (because they contain their own water), and their shelf life is a couple of years. Freeze-dried canned food beats them for most prepping applications.
The point of MREs is to have a high-calorie hot meal that can be thrown into a backpack, and then prepared and eaten in the field with minimal fuss - i.e. no need to make a fire or mess around with utensils. But even the military doesn't rely on them as soldiers' primary source of food except when necessary.
Re: Unloved by generations of soldiers, the MRE finds a fan base
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've had Chinese MREs, once. It was the worst food I've ever tasted. Someone in the family had a can from former prc military service. I don't know what it is, but maybe the Chinese army deploys so infrequently (almost never?) that they place zero priority on their MREs. I begrudgingly eat US MREs once every 3-5 years for about a week or so as I replenish my one case of MREs for earthquake supplies. They're actually…
>> I don't know what it is, but maybe the Chinese army deploys so infrequently (almost never?) that they place zero priority on their MREs. I don't know about the Chinese, but my poor army doesn't have an official MRE. On the rare occasion that they are deployed to where they can't setup kitchens, like disaster zones: storm, flooding, etc.., the soldiers typically make do with instant noodle or ration bar until a fie…
In Chechnya, the rebels have long used Snickers bars as their on-the-go food - apart from its good nutritious qualities as a trail bar, it's also easy to get in any convenience store, and doing so isn't suspicious (or wasn't until it became prevalent, anyway).
Re: Unloved by generations of soldiers, the MRE finds a fan base
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
Here you go: https://www.mredepot.com/MRE-Vanilla-Pound-Cake-p/aq0005.htm Annoyingly expensive per-calorie, of course.
How the hell have they managed the supply chain such that they can sell a limited item like a specific MRE dessert for roughly the same price as a gas station muffin or sweet?
I've bought a few MRE components by the case (100 units per case, or thereabouts, IIRC) that were identical to what was in the contemporaneous MREs. I would assume that these are coming directly from the upstream vendors supplying the company with the MRE contract.
Re: Unloved by generations of soldiers, the MRE finds a fan base
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've had Chinese MREs, once. It was the worst food I've ever tasted. Someone in the family had a can from former prc military service. I don't know what it is, but maybe the Chinese army deploys so infrequently (almost never?) that they place zero priority on their MREs. I begrudgingly eat US MREs once every 3-5 years for about a week or so as I replenish my one case of MREs for earthquake supplies. They're actually…
>I begrudgingly eat US MREs once every 3-5 years for about a week or so as I replenish my one case of MREs for earthquake supplies. What's the TCO on using MREs for disaster prep? I did some light research a while ago and figured it was pretty pricey compared to buying traditional nonperishables (eg. instant noodles, canned vegetables, dried beans). Plus, those foods are easier to work into a conventional meal than M…
My MREs are only to get me from point A of Seattle turned into an unnavigable pit of sludge post earthquake to point B somewhere that FEMA can get shit into.
If I didn't live somewhere where half the city isn't going to dissolve and/or get tidal waved, then I probably wouldn't have MREs. I didn't have any when I lived in the Midwest. Blizzards and tornadoes, not actually much travel needs to be done in case of a natural disaster.
They're contained enough that I can transport them along with water and water filtering/iodine.
I should note that depending on the distance I need to travel, I have even more contained dense rations which are basically, as far as I can tell, solid cardboard consistency... food stuffs. MREs weigh a bit more, so if I'm going farther, I wouldn't take too many.
For almost all other emergency I'm instead relying on staying put and eating stuff that sucks less.