"How Soldier's Rations Went From Live Hogs to..." Topic

… Indestructible MREs.

"As the saying goes, an army marches on its stomach. For contemporary U.S. armed forces in combat, that usually means Meals, Ready-to-Eat, or MREs. MREs first came to the U.S. Armed forces in the early 1980s, as replacements for the much derided canned food rations that had sustained troops from WWII through most of the war in Vietnam.

In September 2018, specially engineered pizza that can last three years was added to 24 available MRE options, as part of a larger strategy to improve morale (and avoid something called "menu fatigue"). In fact, feeding troops has been a prime directorate for all of the greatest fighting forces in history, from the Roman legions, to the hordes of Genghis Khan, to Napoleon's chasseurs…"
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Amicalement
Armand

MRE's are not quite indestructable.

After 10 years or so, the outer plastic pouch starts to crack up and fall apart. The cheeze in the 'pasta in cheeze sauce' keeps aging and getting sharper and sharper – still edible, but tastes, em, interesting. The dye in the maraschino cherries in the fruit cocktail spreads, and the pears and peaches become a uniform russet-brown (good camouflage ? ;-) )

(I'd acquired a couple of MREs in trade at the Historicon flea market in '04 or '05 (I think), kept them around for ten years in case real crisis occurred… )

Thanks!.

Amicalement
Armand