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2009 Menu: Chicken Fajita

2010-04-06T01:32:00.000-07:00

Review By Todd Farino

This has to be one of the worse MREs I've ever had the pleasure to eat. It starts with the Chicken Fajita entree and continues with the rest of the MRE.

Mexican Rice
Baked Snack Crackers
Cheese Spread
Tortillas
Coffee, Irish Cream Cappuccino

Entree: Chicken Fajita

The Chicken Fajita took forever to heat up. Once I opened it up the chicken was in one big clump. I ate it two ways. THe first way was mixing the pepper (Seasoning Blend) with the chicken. I then put the in a tortilla. The chicken was bland and lacked flavor. It wasn't easy to eat since it was in more of a clump then it was the normal way chicken looks. The texture was all off and that was worse then it's lack of taste.

The other way I ate it was by heating the mexican rice and mixing it with the chicken and adding that to the torilla. It was still terrible. The mexican rice was also very clumpy and hard to separate. I don't like rice to begin with and MRE rice was worse. If you have extra Tabasco sauce, use it. This MRE doesn't come with it and that is a shame. I did use some Tabasco sauce and it helped the meal, especially the rice.

Snack: Baked Snack Crakers / Cheese Spread
This was almost a joke. The MRE includes cheese spread, but nothing to put the spread on. I guess the creators of this MRE expected the soldiers to put the cheese spread on the Tortillas because there is nothing else. The baked cheese crackers (a.k.a. Cheeseits) are bad. They have a sick preservative taste that just makes them taste unnatural. Also, they lack salt.

Coffee, Irish Cream Cappuccino:

This was pretty good. I can't complain about the coffee.

What made this MRE even worse then bad was no desserts at all. Overall, terrible MRE.

Entree: 1 Stars
Snacks: 3 StarsRest Of MRE: 2 Stars
OVERALL:

2008 Menu: Chicken Dumpling

2010-02-08T00:40:00.001-08:00

Review By Todd Farino

When I pulled this MRE from the bunch I have to say I wasn't excited. For the most part, Mexican meals don't come out the best in MREs. Beef Enchiladas was an alright MRE. The Entree consists of two spicy Beef Enchiladas. Here is the rest of the MRE.

Lemon Poppyseed Pound Cake

Wheat Snack Bread
Grape Jam
Chocolate Diary Shake

Entree: Chicken Dumpling

I really wasn't impressed with the chicken dumpling entree. While it wasn't bad, it lacked feel of a warm meal. Part of that problem was that the heater just need more time to properly heat it. You might find if better to cook over a fire or in a gas stove. The chicken was in blocks and spread through noodles and juice. The taste was ok, but it was hard to stir in the Tabsaco sauce and salt. It did had some decent flavor, and would have been much better more throughly heated.

Snack: Wheat Snack Bread/ Grape Jam
It was your regular dry wheat bread, but the grape jam did make a tasty treat.

Dessert: Chocolate Vanilla Shake:

All that I have to say is wow!. In all my time of eating MREs, I never tasted a shake. The tought of it repulsed me. A milky shake made of water from an MRE? I was wrong. I finally decided to open up the shake and give it a try. I followed the direction and fill the package up to the fill line or 6 ounces of water. Just in case you don't know, there is no need for a cup or spoon to stir. You tear open the package and unzip it and pour in the water.

After you ziplock it closed, you shake it and I'd shake it for a good minute straight. It doesn't come with a straw, but if you have one that is the best way to drink it. The other way is to drink it from the pouch.

It was delicious. When you first taste it, you may taste some power, but it's like cocoa powder. The texture is almost the same as a chocolate shake, your basic chocolate with a mikly texture. I'm not sure if the chemical gets cold on it's own, but I used cold water for the shake. If you have cold water, then the colder the better as it makes your shake more realistic. The shake was an enjoyable dessert and one I'd look forward too.
Dessert: Lemon Poppyseed Pound Cake
If you know me, you know I love the pound cakes and the lemon poppyseed pound cake is no different. Nice rich flaver of a pound cake flavored by lemon. Not so much poppyseed, but I was ok with that.

The rest of the MRE was normal. Tasters Choice coffer and gum.

Entree: 4 Stars Desserts: 5 stars
Snacks: 4 StarsRest Of MRE: 3Stars
OVERALL:

MRE Review: Chocolate Diary Shake

2010-02-08T00:40:00.000-08:00

Chocolate Diary Shake By Todd Farino

All that I have to say is wow!. In all my time of eating MREs, I never tasted a shake. The tought of it repulsed me. A milky shake made of water from an MRE? I was wrong. I finally decided to open up the shake and give it a try. I followed the direction and fill the package up to the fill line or 6 ounces of water. Just in case you don't know, there is no need for a cup or spoon to stir. You tear open the package and unzip it and pour in the water.
After you ziplock it closed, you shake it and I'd shake it for a good minute straight. It doesn't come with a straw, but if you have one that is the best way to drink it. The other way is to drink it from the pouch.
It was delicious. When you first taste it, you may taste some power, but it's like cocoa powder. The texture is almost the same as a chocolate shake, your basic chocolate with a mikly texture. I'm not sure if the chemical gets cold on it's own, but I used cold water for the shake. If you have cold water, then the colder the better as it makes your shake more realistic. The shake was an enjoyable dessert and one I'd look forward too.

Overall Rating:

MRE Review: Pears

2010-02-07T23:44:00.000-08:00

Pears By Todd Farino

I really thought the MRE pears was one of the better side dishes you can get. First and foremost, it looked and tasted like pears. The pears come serves in a sweet watery syrup. Pears are one of the best side dishes because they are sweet, so they are like a dessert. The pear juice is basically flavored water, so it offers that. To get fruit as fresh as these were in an MRE it's one item I would not pass on if it came in my MRE.

I highly suggest you try MRE pears from 2007-2010. You will not be let down my an MRE item that is edible, sweet, and refreshing.

OVERALL RATING:

MRE Review: Hoohah! Bar

2010-02-07T15:59:00.000-08:00

Hoohah! Bar By Todd Farino

I've had the chance to eat several Hoohah! Bars and my take is that they are good eating. They aren't going to wow you, but they have flavor and they will fill you up. There are a few different versions, but the one I like the best is the Apple Cinnamon version. It had a mixture of soft and crunchy textures and gives you a taffy like chew, but doesn't work your jaw nearly as much. Otherwise, they are easy to chew.

I will say this, the flavor is minimal. You get it, but the flavor is limited by the texture. I do recommend you keep your Hoohah! Bar because you will enjoy eating it. I think eating the candy bar is the most enjoyable part, more so then the overall flavor.

OVERALL RATING:

MRE Review: Chocolate Peanut Butter and Crackers

2010-02-07T15:51:00.000-08:00

Chocolate Peanut Butter and Crackers By Todd Farino

I have to say that I was very impressed with the chocolate peanut butter. It was full of flavor in kind of tasted like chocolate cake batter with peanut butter. I've never been a big fan of the MRE crackers, but adding chocolate peanut butter to them made the crackers very edible. It was almost as if they were made for each other. I will try the CPB with wheat snack bread, but for now it's great with the crackers.

Another point was it's ease of spreading the CPB on the crackers. It was very easy and smooth. Overall, chocolate peanut butter and crackers was a great MRE snack.

OVERALL RATING:

MRE Review: Beef Jerky

2010-02-02T22:20:00.000-08:00

Beef Jerky By Todd Farino

Beef Jerky is a snack we all look forward to, especially in MREs. However, I hate to disappoint you, but it's not very good. The texture and taste hardly resemble real beef jerky. The jerky I've got was very soft to start. Then when you eat it, it's like eating tough bread. It breaks down in your mouth quickly into crumbs. That may sound alright, but it's not what you want from beef jerky.
Then the taste, not good. While I admit it tastes like beef jerky, the meat flavoring is like and the preservative is a stronger flavor making the jerky uneditable if you have sensitive tastes. It also leaves a weird after taste in your mouth. If you do eat it, you will find yourself eating a little and putting it away for later. It's just not good enough to eat all in one serving. You do get two sticks of jerky in the package.

OVERALL RATING:

MRE Review: Baked Snack Crackers

2010-02-02T22:09:00.000-08:00

Baked Snack Crackers By Todd Farino

This review will be short. The Baked Snack Crackers are better known in the real world as CheeseIts. However, the MRE version is not nearly as tasty. To start, the smell like a chemical solvent and not like cheese-based crackers. Then they lack salt, which a bit more would help. Finally, you can taste the chemical smell in them and it leaves a nasty after taste.

You can try eating the Baked Snack Crackers, but you will find that when you get to about the thrid or fourth cracker you won't be able to eat more. Even worse, don't put a handful in your mouth, it will disgust you.

According to the ingredients, Citric Acid and TBHQ are added to preserve freshness. I don't taste citric acid, but maybe the chemical taste could be the TBHQ.

From Wikipedia:
tert-Butylhydroquinone (TBHQ, tertiary butylhydroquinone) is an aromatic organic compound which is a type of phenol. It is a derivative of hydroquinone, substituted with tert-butyl group. TBHQ is a highly effective preservative for unsaturated vegetable oils and many edible animal fats. It does not cause discoloration even in the presence of iron, and does not change flavor or odor of the material to which it is added.

Doesn't change the flavor. Bull. These were terrible. Whatever you do, don't give these to your kids. They won't want them. If you get them in your MRE, trade them as soon as you can. Let the other guy figure out how bad they are. If you have to eat them, add salt and eat them one at a time and take breaks.

OVERALL RATING:

2008 Menu: Pork Rib

2009-05-17T20:21:00.000-07:00

Review By Badtux the Culinary Penguin

This consisted of:
1 chocolate mint cookie
2 packets MRE "bread" (actually a sort of soft wheat cookie)
1 packet clam chowder
1 packet pork loaf
1 packet MRE cheese If you don't have a spare MRE heater around, I recommend heating up the chowder, it's pretty dismal cold. Luckily I had a pot of boiling water to dunk my pork loaf and chowder packets into. While the pork loaf and chowder were heating up, I tried the cookie. Yum!
I took out a plate and a small bowl, and put the MRE bread and small bowl on the plate. Then when the chowder and pork loaf were warm, I opened the chowder packet and put the chowder in the bowl, and opened the pork loaf packet and extracted the pork loaf and put it on the bread. Then I topped the pork loaf with the MRE cheese, slapped the other slice of "bread" on top, and there we are. Do *NOT* just turn the pork loaf packet upside down and dump out the pork loaf, there's a lot of grease in there that'll turn your bread into a soggy mess if you do. Carefully tear / cut the packet and extract just the pork loaf, not the grease. Optionally, dump some of the grease into the clam chowder for some more flavor.
Verdict:
Clam chowder: Kind of bland, but then, most clam chowder is. A little of the pork loaf grease and a little black pepper gets it perked right up and it tastes like, well, clam chowder. Nice.
Pork loaf sandwich: This sandwich was *good*. The pork loaf had a nicely smoked and meaty flavor that was well accented by the taste of the cheese and the flatbread taste of the "bread" (soft wheat crackers).
Cookie: That was good too.
So give this one a four-stars (out of four) rating -- definitely a keeper if this one gets issued to you as disaster rations. Just remember, the clam chowder gets the heater pouch, otherwise it's like eating chalk!
-- Badtux the Culinary Penguin

2008 Menu: Beef Enchiladas

2009-05-17T19:54:00.000-07:00

Review By Todd Farino

Refried Beans

Oatmeal Cookie

Vegetable Crackers/ Jalapeno Cheese Spread

Cheyenne Pepper

Red Punch

Entree: Beef Enchiladas

The Beef Enchiladas are in fact two Beef Enchiladas just like you'd get in a restaurant. Normally I don't like entrees you don't have to kneed before you eat them, but I did kneed the Beef Enchiladas. It made it much easier to season and eat later. It is key that you eat the Beef Enchiladas hot. Do not eat them cold. Alone, they are quite spicy. Salt made them much more edible, but if you like your food very spicy add the pepper and you will be very happy and your eyes may even water. The Beef Enchiladas were a bit mushy, but I don't know what else you can get when you store tortillas with juices in a airtight MRE package.

Side Dish: Refried Beans

I do not like refried beans, but I have to admit that the refried beans in this MRE were actually good and worth eating, though I could not finish them. I tried them three different ways. I did heat them up in the heater, by putting them in after the Enchiladas. If you have an extra MRE heater, use it. Refried beans are much better if they are heated up. Plain, they were OK. I then added salt and they were very good, and probably the best. Again, if you need a little spice in your life go for the pepper with salt. It was very good and make the overall meal worth eating.

Snack: Vegetable Crackers/ Jalapeno Cheese Spread

Always good crackers and extra spicy cheese spread added to the overall taste of the Mexican meal.

Dessert: Oatmeal Cookie

The cookies are one of the best part of the MREs. The Oatmeal cookie was moist and messy, but very good and made the meal worth eating.

The rest of the MRE was normal. I do like the fruit punch drink and that is always great to mix with the sugar in a water bottle. It also came with coffee, but I did not drink any coffee.

Entree: 3.5 Stars
Side Dish: 3 Stars
Dessert: 5 stars
Snacks: 4 Stars
Rest Of MRE: 4 Stars
OVERALL:

2007 Menu: Beef Patty

2009-05-09T23:09:00.000-07:00

We are changing up our MRE reviews a little. We are going to add 1-5 star ratings on the entree, the side dish, snacks, desserts, and the rest of the MRE contents. The final rating will be an overall rating.

I had the joy of trying the MRE Beef Patty from the 2007 menu. It is one of the more different MREs. Here is the MRE's contents:

Beef Patty, Grilled

Mexican Macaroni

Cheese Spread /w Bacon

2 Wheat Snack Breads

BBQ Sauce

Nacho Cheese Pretzels

Ice Tea

Tropical Punch

Tabasco

Entree: Beef Patty Grilled

To start the Grilled patty was outstanding. First off, I cooked it in the MRE heater for about 22 minutes. When it was done it was steaming hot and heated all the way through. Now, it was more like a hamburger patty, but it was grilled like it was a steak and it maintained a steak flavor. I first tried it without anything, and it was very good. It tasted like chopped steak. The patty was very moist and had a good steak taste, and not the normal MRE taste.

I then added salt and that was so good that I felt it would be a waste of Tabasco sauce, so I never used it. The salt was a little hard to mix in, but I got it done. I also added the BBQ sauce and it really didn't help much. While the BBQ sauce tastes good, it just wasn't the best mix. I do recommend you try it, maybe you'll like the flavor.

The final way to enjoy this MRE is to use the two breads as buns. Spread the cheese onto one of them. Put the patty in the middle and spread the BBQ Sauce. Walla! A cheeseburger. The bread was a bit dry. I didn't like it that way. Enjoy this entree.

Side Dish: Macaroni and Cheese Mexican Style

This is normally one of the more favorite meals of the kids. They like their macaroni and cheese. This one was a bit unimpressive. The flavoring is additional hot sauce over the macaroni and cheese. So it gave it an enchilada taste, and I feel the kids like it normal. The macaroni was a bit chewy, but it was very tolerable. Adding salt really helped the overall taste. If you like it really spicy, pour the Tabasco into the macaroni and cheese and throw it into the heater for 10-15 minutes. You should always cook the macaroni and cheese.

Desserts: None

Isn't that sad? This is a rare no dessert MRE.

Snacks: 2 Wheat Snack Breads, cheese spread with bacon, and Nacho Cheese Pretzels

Lots of snacks in this MRE. First you get 2 Wheat Snack Breads. There are two breads if you choose to make the cheeseburger and us them for buns. The wheat bread is always good, but a little dry. The cheese spread is alright, but the other flavors are better. One of my favorite snacks is the nacho cheese pretzels. They are little round pretzels with cheese in the middle. Very good and very tasty.

The rest of the MRE was good as well. there was Tabasco sauce if you needed it or just save it. It also came with two drinks; ice tea and tropical punch power. If you have water bottles, I'd use both and share the sugar between them.

Overall the MRE was very good. It was disappointing because it had no desserts and if you are like me you like your cakes, cookies, candy, and other desserts. The entree to my surprise was excellent, but the side dish was only alright. I think they should remove the side dish and add some dessert.

Entree: 4.5 Stars

Side Dish: 3.5 Stars

Dessert: N/A

Snacks: 4.5 Stars

Rest Of MRE: 5 Stars

OVERALL:

2008 Menu: Chicken With Noodles

2009-04-29T03:17:00.000-07:00

Review By Todd Farino

I have to admit that I looked forward to trying this MRE. I've had Chicken Noodles several times, but this was my first 2008 version. Since Chicken Noodle soup is such a popular meal in American culture there is no doubt that this meal will be a popular one for everyday people eating MREs in the woods or mountains.

Let me state that it isn't a soup. Its a mixture of chicken and noodles with some water for moisture, but it's not a soup. I was hesitant to add anything to it before I took a bite, but I remembered my one rule while; always use salt. So I put nearly all of packet of salt in the chicken with noodles.

The MRE came with Tabasco sauce, but it wasn't necessary. The meal was outstanding. First it had chicken flavor, which the salt enhanced as expected. The noodles were not mushy, hard, or cheap tasting. They tasted like your average noodles. After 3 healthy bites I decided to add the Tabasco sauce just to see what it would do and it was worth it. The Tabasco sauce spiced up the meal and helped bring out more of the chicken flavor. It also made the meal more "soupier" and gave average noodles some serious flavor. I have to admit that this was a great MRE.

The rest of the MRE wasn't overly impressive. It did come with cheese and crackers and that is always nice, but it had no side dish and for dessert was a chocolate sports bar. Not good. The snack was M&Ms.

If you like the drinks in your MRE, this one came with Hot Cocoa. I have to admit that I like to get a fruit or Gatorade electrolyte drink, so getting Cocoa didn't impress me. I won't hold that against this otherwise great MRE.

This would have been a perfect MRE if the supporting items were better, so I'll give it 4 stars. Sometimes the MRE needs to be complete. Just note that the Chicken Noodles were 5 stars and outstanding. Don't forget to add corn if you have it!

OVERALL RATING:

2008 Menu: Chili Macaroni

2009-03-26T02:02:00.001-07:00

Review By Todd Farino

Whether it was a family dinner or a night at the chow hall while I served in the USAF, Chili & Macaroni was always a favorite meal of mine. Such a great idea combining chili and macaroni for a tasty inexpensive meal and then adding it to the MRE menus was brilliant. Chili & Macaroni is not new to MREs and they go back as far as 2003 as a Menu item.

The version I had to review was the 2008 Chili & Macaroni. First off, Chili & Macaroni is great to mix with just about anything. Corn is the best item if you have a can of it on hand, but really you only need to add one thing to Chili & Macaroni, salt. Tabasco Sauce is always a good thing to add to any MRE meal, but its really not needed in the chili macaroni. Chili flavored macaroni is one of the best meals for storing and keeping its original flavor.

You definitely taste the chili flavoring and neither the meat or macaroni was too chewy. Chili Macaroni is one of the few meals that is good hot or cold, so its a perfect MRE in my eyes. The MRE as a whole is one of the better ones as it came with a wet fruit package that was tasty pineapple slices. It also came with a cookie and skittles, but the big kicker was wheat snack bread and jalapeno cheese spread.

This would be the absolute perfect MRE if it came with crackers over wheat snack bread. Frankly, I'd prefer wheat snack bread and grape jelly instead of jalapeno cheese spread. Overall a fantastic MRE.

OVERALL RATING:

2007 Menu: Chicken Fajita

2009-03-26T01:52:00.000-07:00

Review By Todd Farino

I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of MREs that are based on Mexican food. Not because I don't like Mexican food, but because Mexican food is best served fresh and hot. Flavoring like peppers and cilantro are great when served fresh. Cheese is also a problem in this mixture in an MRE meal.

When I took my first bite of the Chicken Fajita I have to admit it wasn't horrible at all, but right off the bat it was runny and didn't have the taste you'd expect. This meal tasted like it was out of a box or a military ration. It was bland and lacked the kind of Mexican flavor, but thank God for the Tabasco Sauce.

There are three things you can add to the chicken fajita entree to make it tasty and certainly edible. Tabasco Sauce, salt, and if you happen to have it at your camp site or in your food storage, corn. Throw in about 1/3 to 1/2 of the packet of salt, the entire bottle of Tabasco Sauce, and as much corn as you'd like. Doing that makes the Chicken Fajita worth eating and quite a nice meal.

Overall this is not a good entree. If you have the chance to choose another, steer clear of this one. I'm not telling you this just because of the entree, but the whole MRE isn't worth eating or fun. The side entree is fried rice. Need I say more? Maybe you are a fan of fried rice and that's great because you will love this meal, but for most of us who pay big bucks for these MREs want more. Then the snack and dessert is terrible.

No cookies or candy, but a tortilla (for the chicken fajita) and raisin nut mix! Again, neither are bad on its own, but altogether that makes a bad MRE. The only positive part of this MRE are the baked snack cracker and cheese spread. That part is very good, and enjoy it cause there isn't much after that. If given the choice, pass on this MRE.

OVERALL RATING:

2007 Menu: Pot Roast with Vegetables

2009-01-13T20:19:00.000-08:00

Review By Todd Farino

I have to admit that I looked forward to this MRE because of the possibility of of having hot pot roast. To say the least, it was a slight disappointment. First off, the amount of meat was less than the vegetables, s the meat wasn't up to snuff. The overall taste of the pot roast was bland, but the vegetables did carry the flavor of the entire meal. This meal definitely was helped by Tabasco sauce. The only problem was this MRE didn't come with Tabasco sauce, I'm not sure if that was a mistake because its suppose to have it. I added my own Tabasco sauce and it made the meal great. So if you have this MRE make sure you have some extra Tabasco sauce around to make the flavor rich.

The rest of the MRE was very pleasant. The dried cranberries were very good and made the meal better. The pineapple pound cake (a personal favorite) was outstanding, but was a little drier than usual. The Chocolate peanut butter wasn't good at all and with no topping the crackers are useless. If I had some cheese spread or jelly it would have been better.

Overall Rating:

MRE Menu Item Review: Cherry Blueberry Cobbler

2008-12-19T02:39:00.001-08:00

Cherry Blueberry Cobbler Review By Todd Farino

I had the luxury of eating the Cherry Blueberry Cobbler desert item which I got from a 2007 Spaghetti with Meat Sauce MRE. I have to say it was a delight to eat. It was moist, sweet, and the blueberries tasted surprising fresh. I do admit that the blueberries were a bit tart, but that is how most blue berries taste.

The cobbler or bread portion was moist and sweet and frankly the whole dessert tasted as though it was only a few days old. The biggest difference between Cherry Blueberry Cobbler and the other bread desserts was the moistness of the bread. I love the MRE pound cakes, but they are normally dry and require a liquid during or after eating.

I'd say that the Cherry Blueberry Cobbler has to be the best overall dessert I've tasted to date. If the Spaghetti MRE wasn't good enough, now you get the bonus awesome Cherry Blueberry Cobbler dessert.

The only reason its not a perfect 5 star rating is the sweetness wasn't quite enough and balanced with the tart of the blueberry. More cherry would make it a 5 star dessert. Enjoy it when you can as it only comes in the 2006-2008 Spaghetti w/ Meat Sauce MRE.

Overall Rating:

MRE Menu Item Review: Potato Sticks

2008-12-18T01:59:00.000-08:00

Potatoe Sticks Review By Todd Farino

This will be an easy review. They were terrible. The taste of the potato sticks was not a real taste. It was a weird, bland taste that seemed to be manufactured. Even the after taste was awful. You did get the sensation while you were chewing them that they were french fries, but that was only for a moment. I offered some to my 4 year old son who loves french fries. I said, "look, miniature french fries, try one." He ate one and actually said they were "disgusting." He didn't eat another. Very bad menu item. I would recommend trading these for just about anything.

OVERALL REVIEW:

2008 Menu: Spicy Penne Pasta with Vegetarian Sausage

2008-12-17T22:35:00.000-08:00

Spicy Penne Pasta with Vegetarian Sausage Review By Todd Farino

This was another fantastic MRE. It wasn't one of the top 10, but all-in-all a very good MRE. The entree Spicy Penne Pasta with Vegetarian Sausage was exactly what it said it was, SPICY. I added Tabasco sauce like I always do, but it was not necessary. The meal was not only spicy, but it was full of flavor primarily garlic. I did add salt to the entree itself and that added to the flavor, but it didn't help the vegetable sausage. I have to say that the vegetable sausage wasn't the best part of the meal. It was chunky and rubbery. Mixed in with the pasta shells and sauce it was OK, but I probably could have done without it or at least with real meat. The entree was definitely worth having and it is one you will enjoy and remember.

The rest of the MRE was average and lackluster. It came with dried fruit, pound cake, and crackers. Since the crackers came with peanut butter I wasn't too thrilled with it because I would rather have jelly. The pound cake was outstanding as usual, and the dried fruit was pretty good. Overall, the MRE as a whole was missing some things. It didn't have candy, but it had a pound cake. The side it came with was good (dried fruit), but I would have liked to get something different like pretzels, clam chowder, or just something more dinner oriented.

Overall Rating:

2007 Menu: Chicken with Cavatelli

2008-12-17T02:29:00.000-08:00

Review By Badtux the Culinary Penguin

Snack: Bacon cheese spread with wheat snack bread: The bacon cheese spread tasted like, well, Cheese Wiz. About what you'd expect from a pasteurized canned cheese spread. Pretty good, if you like Cheese Wiz. It ain't the Ritz, but then I was camped at 6,000 feet, so whadya expect? The wheat snack bread is, as usual, pretty good. It's actually more of a snack wheat cookie because it is rather dense, but nicely moist, not crumbly.
Snack: Fig newtons. I don't know how they got this to be so yummy. They came out of the package nice and moist.
Main dish: Chicken Cavatelli. Yummy. Another reviewer has said "better than Chef Boy-ar-dee but not as good as Olive Garden." Probably about right. A word of warning: It does need the little bottle of hot sauce.
Gripe: No cracker! The Chicken Cavatelli really needs a cracker! Thankfully I saved a cracker from one of the other MRE's I've eaten. MRE crackers are the hardest substance known to man, but do manage to taste decently despite that (just a very, very slight stale taste to them).
Pound cake: Meh. Somewhat dense. Needs peanut butter. Borrow peanut butter from another MRE. With peanut butter it is edible. That's the best you can say for it. Not bad, not great, edible.
All in all, if someone wants to trade you their Chicken Cavetelli for your Meatloaf (a.k.a. "cat food"), jump at it. Good stuff. Just look for a cracker and a peanut butter from another MRE for best results with the Chicken Cavatelli and the pound cake.

2007 Menu: Chicken With Salsa

2008-12-17T02:26:00.000-08:00

Review By Badtux the Culinary Penguin

This one was good! For best results, heat up the chicken with salsa and pour over the spanish rice. Top with the jalapeno cheese spread, mix well, eat with crackers. Needs a bit of hot sauce, but that comes in the accessory packet. All in all, I enjoyed this MRE and enjoyed the deserts too (peanut M&M's, and shortbread cookies). If you can find some white bread dude who enjoys the meatloaf (which has the consistency and taste of cat food), trade'em your meatloaf for this delicious bundle of joy.

2008 Menu: Chicken With Salsa

2008-12-17T02:02:00.000-08:00

Review By Todd Farino

The Chicken with Salsa is one of the best MREs I've ever had when prepared special. Alone the Chicken with Salsa entree is alright. It does have a light salsa flavor that can easily be made hotter with Tabasco sauce. One thing I've learned over the years of eating MREs is mixing certain items, spices, and flavors make the MREs extremely tasty. In the case of Chicken with Salsa, I had a can of whole kernel corn. I ate it while camping and I have a gas stove, so I poured the contents of the entree into a small camping pan, and poured the corn (removing the water from the can first). I heated them up for 10 minutes or so, while mixing in salt and Tabasco sauce. It was absolutely outstanding. I encourage everyone to experiment with the MREs. Add flavors, vegetables, or flavors. It made an alright meal outstanding and that is worth packing a can of corn.

What was even better is adding the fried rice. I removed half of the meal onto a plate and then added most, but not all of the rice to the Chicken with Salsa and corn. Again, the meal was outstanding. It was a great mix of flavors that was both filling and tasty.

The rest of the MRE was wonderful as well. You got cracker sand Jalapeno cheese spread, which my wife loved and always does love. It had for a snack, shortbread cookies and they were somewhat moist, but could have used a bit more sweetness. The dessert was M&Ms and I loved those.

This was truly an excellent MRE.

OVERALL RATING:

2007 Menu: Meatloaf with Gravy

2008-11-25T22:42:00.000-08:00

Meatloaf with Gravy Review By Todd Farino

I've had the Meatloaf with Gravy several times and before I wrote this review I had to have it one more time. I will admit that regardless of how good MREs are, there are some bad ones and some very bad ones. Meatloaf with Gravy is a very bad one. Its one of those MREs where the MRE itself is far better then the entree.

Let's start with its look. The eyes are critical as one of the five senses that determine taste and guess what, it looks gross. Its a big brown gooey square chunk of what I suspect is meat. So from the start you aren't liking the meal or happy with it. Many MREs look better then they taste, and that is a fact. You will spend the next 1-3 minutes smashing it up and put the entire bottle of Tabasco Sauce in with at least half of the packet of salt. That will help mask the chewy texture and the bland almost Nil taste. Only the weak almost fading taste of onion is really present. If you haven't noticed I don't like the taste of the Meatloaf, nor do I like the look of. It was an all-around bad experience and not one I could wish on anyone. So, unless you like to eat a chewy block of god knows what with a scent of onion, then the meatloaf with gravy is for you.

The side you get is mashed potatoes and you can mix them into the meatloaf. However, the potatoes are not very good and are frankly chunky, bland, and in some parts hard. I through the potatoes out after a few bites. That's how bad those were.

The rest of the MRE isn't bad. You get crackers and apple jelly, which make a nice appetizer. That tastes very good, and I love the apple jelly. It is our favorite jelly in the MREs. It also comes with an Oatmeal cookie, which also is our favorite cookie in the MREs, and adds a perfect touch of taste after the bland meatloaf. It also came with Skittles, but can come with an assortment of candies. I have to say avoid this MRE if you can, but it may meet the tastes of some MRE eaters, but not this one.

OVERALL RATING:

2007 Menu: Cheese Tortellini

2008-11-18T15:56:00.000-08:00

The MRE Cheese Tortellini is a perfect entree for vegetarians and meat eaters alike. It is comprised of stuffed tortellini shells filled with cheese tossed in a tasty tomato sauce. The shells are perfectly preserved and are soft without being mushy. The sauce carries quite a bit of flavor and a hint of garlic. To add more flavor I added salt and Tabasco sauce which gave it a spicy kick and brought out the flavors. I recommend not mushing the contents in the pouch as regular MRE's but instead just stir in the salt and sauce until all is covered since they're are bit seize pieces and easily mixed.

The Spiced Apples side dish added more taste and a great mix to the meal. Though the spiced apples could have used more spice. The MRE also came with crackers, peanut butter, and a HooAH! Bar. I have to say I wasn't pleased with the peanut butter or the HooAH! Bar. However, I did get some cheese spread from my Husband's Spaghetti MRE and it was divine!

Personally, this is one of my favorite all time MRE. It gets 5 stars from me !

OVERALL RATING:

MRE Review: Cheese Spread and Wheat Snack Bread

2008-11-18T03:48:00.000-08:00

Cheese Spread and Wheat Snack Bread By Todd Farino

I have to admit when I decided to try the cheese spread I was skeptical. I haven't eaten the spread since 1996 after I had a bad experience with it. However, my wife asked me to try it and I did with one of my personal favorite MRE contents, Wheat Snack Bread. Let me just say it was pretty good. The bread was dry as we expect with MRE breads, but not as dry as you would expect. The cheese spread certainly performed its job of not only moistening the bread, but also giving it a very rich cheese flavor. I have to say they were a perfect match. The wheat bread without a doubt is a softer and more flavorful eat then the crackers, so I would recommend the wheat bread over the crackers.

Also, the cheese spread was easy to spread on with the MRE spoon and made little mess. The only negatives were the dry bread and the lack of overall flavor. There was flavor from the cheese spread as expected, but it wasn't overwhelming and the bread provided more of a holder of the cheese. Otherwise, the cheese didn't bring out the breads natural flavor. We recommend spreading salt on the cheese for more flavor.

Overall, I give this combo a thumbs up and say if you get the cheese spread and wheat snack bread you will be very happy.

OVERALL RATING: