EXEXCRED'S Guide to an MRE

When my friend Kyle and I went dumpster diving, we found a MRE nestled between some empty pizza boxes. MRE stands for Meal Ready-to-Eat, which is basically a portable lunch box that cooks itself. The military has some awesome stuff sometimes. Who knows why someone would ditch it. It was perfectly fine.
Since I've never eaten one before, and I suspect you haven't either, I decided to document what it was like eating food that cooks itself. We did this at four in the morning, right before a final and threw the wrappers out the sixth story window. Why not?
My first reaction, was how did all this fit in there? A general rundown includes beefsteak with mushroom sauce, wild cooked beans, dehydrated coffee, a dehydrated milkshake, crackers and jam, candy and a package of condiments.
I ate the crackers first. They were unsalted, bland but not bad. The blackberry jam was pretty sick tho.
I opened the candy and found tootsie rolls. I didn't expect that.
The dairyshake was pretty easy to make, just add water, but I didn't do it exactly right with the shaking. It tasted alright, but not sweet. The random chunks were gross in texture.
The coffee tasted authentic, but I ended up throwing it out the window after a sip. Why not?
According to Kyle, the beans were amazing. I did not try them as they looked like cockroach puree.
There was some gum, which was like normal gum. I also spat it out the window when it lost its flavor.
Finally, there was the steak. It was not bad. The flavor was weird, unlike any beefsteak I've ever had, and the texture was rancid. It was interesting tho, and I think if I was in the middle of Afghanistan I would not complain so much. But I am not. I am in a college dorm, littering out the window.

Hope you learned something.
M. Tekel










---x
Click here for more pictures of this event: http://www.flickr.com/photos/menetekel/sets/72157604930053806/