What are ready to eat meals and what are their benefits? Where can you buy them and who should buy them? These questions will be answered throughout the rest of this article, and it will provide you with other useful information about them. By the end of this article, you can decide whether or not you should buy ready to eat meals, such as one from XMRE, MREStar or Eversafe MREs.
What Are Ready To Eat Meals
Ready to eat meals, or MRE meals as they are more commonly known, are food rations that are given to members of the United States Armed Forces. In short, they are self-contained food items that provide soldiers with adequate nutrition/food for a day. Some people refer to MREs as being quick nutrition for soldiers who are always on the move. Throughout the years, MRE meals have been used in a number of wars, such as Vietnam, Korea, and World War II, but they were known by different names and they evolved from k-rations and c-rations.
Civilian MREs
However, you cannot purchase military-grade MRE meals. There are brands that have produced and continue to produce civilian grade MRE meals such as Wornick. These meals have the same concept as military-grade products, making the meals come in self-contained units.
What Do MRE Meals Contain
Different MRE meals contain different types of food. Many products contain an entree, a side dish, a spread, dessert, candy, a beverage, some sauce or seasoning and sometimes accessories such as chewing gum, spoon, matches and things of that nature. An MRE product will contain food that is packed with high calories and other nutrition.
Generally speaking, you can expect to consume around 1,200 calories in a single MRE. A good portion of the calories will come from carbs, fat and the rest is protein. Once again, different MRE products contain a different amount of calories and nutrients. However, the idea and objective behind all MRE meals are generally the same.
How Do You Eat An MRE
Most MREs are designed to be prepared and eaten with minimal effort. The chances are the product you get will come with some sort of heating mechanism, or you just open up the contents and eat them as is. The way you consume an MRE meal depends on the product you actually get.
No matter what MRE you get, you will receive instructions with it. They’ll tell you exactly how to prepare your meals. However, the chances are you won’t even need any instructions.
Where To Buy Civilian MRE Meals
There are a number of places you can buy civilian MRE meals, such as online. Some surplus or specialty stores may sell them or have them in stock. Your best bet is to go online to buy MRE meals because you can compare many products within a short period of time.
Online marketplaces such as Amazon sell MREs, and so do individual websites. In fact, there are sites that focus solely on selling MRE meals. All you have to do is enter “MRE meals for sale” into your favorite search engine, and you’ll be shown many sites that sell them.
Tips For Finding And Buying MRE Meals
There are many places that sell meal ready to eat products, so you want to do your research. As previously mentioned, you go online and perform a search for “MREs for sale” and then you want to visit at least 3-6 sites. Take a look at their selection of products and how much they are going for, as well as read reviews about each site. Don’t base your decision on buying an MRE from a site solely on reviews because even the best site will have a negative review or two, but you can still learn a lot by reading reviews.
While you’re at it, research brands and manufacturers of MRE meals. There are dozens and dozens of brands out there. The more research you do, the better your chances are of finding a brand you will like.
Decide on what type of MRE meal you want. There are breakfast-only meals, vegetarian meals and so forth. Once you have an idea of what you want, it will be easier to narrow down your search.
As for price, it does matter. However, it’s not the most important thing to consider, but nonetheless, you want to pay attention to how much an MRE meal is and what’s included. You don’t want to overpay for meals, which is another reason why you want to browse a few sites that sell them.
Who Should Buy Them
Many people should and do buy MRE meals, and this includes campers. Whether you’re camping for a week, two weeks or longer, it’s always good to be as prepared as possible. Part of being prepared is having enough food. Some campers solely rely on MRE meals, or they bring the meals with them in the event of an emergency.
Backpackers are another huge base of consumers who use MRE meals. Backpackers don’t want to spend a lot of time preparing food, especially when they are always on the go. This is why if you do a lot of backpacking, you should buy a few MRE meals.
XMRE For Backpacking – Are They Good For The Trail? from XMRE on Vimeo.
Do you do long distance driving, either for work purposes or recreational? Either way, it’s handy to have MRE meals because you could end up breaking down on the road or you might get hungry but be too far from the nearest place that sells food. All you would have to do if you had an MRE, is take out the contents, prepare the food and consume it.
Those who want to be prepared for any kind of emergency should buy MRE products. This is especially if you live in an area that is prone to natural disasters such as tornadoes, hurricanes, flooding, etc. . . If you end up getting stuck in the house for a few days, then you’ll be glad to have MRE meals.
Those who are looking to diet should use them. This is because you only have to eat one box of MREs to get adequate nutrition. Sure, you don’t really want to eat them for months to come, but you can definitely eat them for a few weeks straight to jump-start your diet or path to eating healthier. Dieting is hard for a lot of people, but if you want to get in shape fast and you want to consume a good among of calories, then start eating MRE meals once per day.
If you’re an occasional hiker, but enjoy doing long hikes when you do go for one, then buy MREs. Every time you head out, you can pack one or two MRE packages. If you get hungry as you are hiking, then simply sit down and take out the food within the package and you’re good to go. Make sure you follow the instructions on the package.
The bottom line is anyone can and should buy MREs. Just make sure you stock up on as many MRE products as possible. The more, the better.
The Benefits Of MRE Meals
By now, you’re probably wondering what the benefits of MRE meals are, and the truth is there are many. It’s worth mentioning that MRE meals are becoming more and more popular because of the benefits they offer. With that said, some of the main benefits of MRE products include:
1. They Taste Good – MRE products have come a long way since their inception. In the past, they used to have a reputation of not tasting good. In fact, it’s fair to say a lot of people thought they tasted horrible, but things have changed.
Fast forward to today, MREs do not taste bad at all, and many people actually enjoy the taste of them. Best of all, MREs retain their nutrients and nutritional value, which is why campers are fond of them, as well as hikers, backpackers, truck drivers and many others. You will find that everything within the package tastes delicious or at least very tolerable.
As previously mentioned, different meal ready to eat products contain various types of food. You can choose the package that contains the food you think tastes the best. Alternatively, you can choose packages that contain foods you simply want to try. The beauty of having so many packages to choose from is you can experiment by ordering various MRE meals.
2. Appearance – The meals found in these cases not only tastes good, but they look good. They are designed to retain their original shape and texture. Furthermore, the food doesn’t shrink, nor does it warp and if you choose packages with veggies, then you can rest assure they are cooked, and the same goes for meats. When the time comes to use the containers, you follow a few simple instructions, and you’re good to go.
A lot of people are under the impression that food in the packages loses their appearance over a period of time. However, they last for a very long time. This means they will retain their appearance for a very long time.
3. Easy To Take With You – One of the best things about MRE products is how easy they are to bring with you. This is why campers, truckers, hikers, cyclists and many other types of people bring them along. The chances are you too can benefit from bringing along a few MRE products.
Since the packages are easy to transport, they come in handy in the event of an emergency. For example, if something bad has happened and you have to go to the hospital or if you have to evacuate your home, then you can’t bring along a bunch of bulky and healthy items. Most MRE meals can be placed inside a bag or backpack. Don’t worry though because MREs are lightweight and you won’t even notice you have them in your bag.
4. Only Water Is Needed – You don’t need much to prepare MREs because all you really need is a bit of water. Some products do come with a tool to heat the food. Whether yours comes with a tool or if all you need is water, you can rest assured you will be eating your MRE in no time.
This is in contrast to many types of stored foods out there, which can take a long time to prepare. It’s also worth pointing out that you can prepare MREs for yourself or for your family. Whether you are feeding one or five, preparing an MRE meal won’t take long at all.
5. Shelf Life – MREs are designed and put together with the purpose they will last for a very long time. Many products have a shelf life of up to five years or even more than that. When you are shopping around for MRE meals, make sure you find out what the shelf life is because you want it to last for as long as possible.
6. Affordable – The final benefit is MRE meals are affordable, but they do vary in price. What you’ll pay for them depends on where you buy it from, how many food packets are included in a single box of MRE and things of that nature. What you want to do is compare the price of at least 4-5 MRE meals before you decide which one to get. A lot of people are fans of the prices of MRE, and you will be too once you have ordered and tried one.
It doesn’t matter what brand of MRE meals you go for, you will love the benefits they offer. It doesn’t matter who you are, you should consider getting a few. Just make sure you order the meals from a reputable company.
A lot of people can benefit from ready to eat meals. As you can see from the above, there are many advantages and benefits of MRE meals. If you want to gather all of the potential benefits they offer, then order some today. Remember, take your time when shopping around for these meals because you want to make sure you choose quality meals.
