Experation Code MRE ?

[missionary5155]

Greetings
Have a loose MRE meal #5 Chicken Breast we have carried with us for all these months "Just in case" and happily so far no need to pop it open.
The seal is marked 6132 13 . Then same #"s are repeated.. How do you rescent military troopers interpret this code ?
Have 2 cases produced 07/2007 Says to inspect or test 07/2010... What is the real shelf life on these cases if maintaned in a secure enviorment ?
Mike in ILL

[waksupi]

If one goes bad, you will know it immediately when you open the pouch. Try not to do it in a closed vehicle in cold weather.

[Love Life]

What Waksupi said.

[farmallcrew]

I ate MRE's when I was in boy scouts. The older guys would go on campouts in full military woodland fatigues. And we would eat them all weekend. The following week we couldn't go to the bathroom.

Now a days we have them in our cars and trucks for when we are on fire calls, sometimes we miss meals because of helping others. So a bunch of us carry them with us.

Yea you will know when one goes south.

[1bluehorse]

I find it interesting that MRE's go bad in a "short" time. When I went through boot' in 1965 we had world war two C-rations fed to us on biviouc (nasty stuff). Cookies in the packs were similiar to clay pigeons in texture and probably taste about the same...(never having eaten a clay pigeon) (but to those who remember Army basic back then probably also remember we were so hungry we'd eat anything that was offered) 4pack Lucky Strike (straights), with a P-38 in each big carton...still have mine..never tried an MRE...

[kmag]

I was in service in the early 1960 and also remember the c-rations. The beef and potatoes and the franks and beans were not too bad. But one of the meals was eggs with some kind of greens, they were rotten tasting. We were sent to the dump with a truck load of c's one time. We took all the Lucky's out and ate some of the jelly, peanut butter and John Wayne crackers while we unloaded the truck. I have tried 1 MRE they are not much better the the c-rations.

[Lloyd Smale]

dont know but when i was in the service in the early 70s we ate some we found that were supposidly from the korean war that were still fine.

[P.K.]

IME, MRE's are good for about the shelf life of a Twinkie (RIP). While in Basic I remember eating M&M's that had "expired" ten years prior to my opening them in 1991, so if they are unopened for the most part they should be good to go. I've had C and T rats that were produced around my B-day in the 70's and they were edible so go with the ole smell test and you shouldn't have any problems.

[missionary5155]

Good morning
I was in the pickle suit Army also (71-74) but I find it difficult to find any C rats out there anymore. Would I really want to ?? At least on the M60A1 we always had a heat source for a hot canned meal.
Anyway just trying to find out what the expected shelf life is on these MRE's. I am headed back to Peru in 20 some days and it just seems counter productive to carry 2 heavy cases to storage IF they are known to not be healthy to eat.
Figured soem new trooper out there must know the real deal on MRE's.

[P.K.]

Good morning
I was in the pickle suit Army also (71-74) but I find it difficult to find any C rats out there anymore. Would I really want to ?? At least on the M60A1 we always had a heat source for a hot canned meal.
Anyway just trying to find out what the expected shelf life is on these MRE's. I am headed back to Peru in 20 some days and it just seems counter productive to carry 2 heavy cases to storage IF they are known to not be healthy to eat.
Figured soem new trooper out there must know the real deal on MRE's.

No worries, yours are in good shape. http://www.mreinfo.com/us/mre/mre-date-codes.html Pretty good info to be had decyphering all the codes if the origional carton is lost.

Rule of thumb here, light brown or clear( civie disaster relife version, missing heater) are current and with a production date of 2007 you are GTG.

[3006guns]

Well, way back in my "just divorced, bachelor days" (1991) I somehow aquired a case of MRE's (Meals Rejected by Everybody/Ethiopians) dated 1972! Out of curiosity instead of caution I opened the box and pulled out several swollen cans of ham and other meat dishes which were trashed immediately. The noodle stuff seemed o.k. boiled, but pretty much tasteless while the fruitcake was actually pretty good. Each meal also contained a piece of toilet paper suitable for a chipmunk and a 4 pack of Marlboros that tasted like burning horse poop. Maybe I was supposed to smoke the t.p. and use the cigarettes for.........ah, never mind.........

Years have gone by and via the internet I've discovered that the standard MRE is mostly fat and carbohydrate loaded foods. Great if you're physically hyperactive in combat. Not so great if you're just trying to survive....unless you have a LOT of laxatives because it WILL constipate the bejeebers out of ya! That explains another problem back in '91......

[Jeffrey]

Re: MREs and constipation. My understanding is that the chewing gum packets with an MRE is actually a laxative (Feen-a-mint) that is supposed to keep things moving.

[missionary5155]

Hey P.K. Thanks for that web site ! That has a wealth of info Mike in ILL

[drklynoon]

When I went through basic the Mars bar I ate out of an MRE was dated 79. This was in 97. They never made me constipated and I am quite easily effected in that way. I ate a lot of them flying and the only problem I had with ones gone bad were from someone being overly exuberant when opening a case and cutting them. As Bert Gummer in Tremors said "plastic is not a moisture barrier" The new ones will go bad if they are torn and kept in the wrong conditions.