Army Food?

Interested in packing some MREs on your next camping trip? They’re available locally at some military surplus stores, but bear this in mind: MREs are far from delicious.

A hastily assembled taste panel found the freeze-dried potato particularly “nauseating”--especially when consumed “as is”(without rehydrating), as the package suggests. Beans in tomato sauce were better, rather like canned vegetarian beans, and the beef stew was somewhat like Dinty Moore’s, only grayer. After just one bite of turkey and gravy, comments ranged from grudging tolerance to sheer disgust.

The sweets were a little better. A cherry nut cake that looks like something that has been squashed in a schoolboy’s back pocket for a week has a strong almond flavor and is generally very sweet. The fruit mix, however, once rehydrated with cool water, is very close to fruit cocktail. Skip the cheese spread, though.

One taster suggested that the army increase combat pay to compensate the soldiers for eating the “stuff.”