I was under the impression that military MREs weren't available to the public, but there are a bunch on Ebay. Are these okay to eat? Are they some sort of inferior product? Any other issues?

Thank you very much.

Those could either be people selling military issue MRE's or one of many imitation brands. Sometimes its hard to tell and you have no real way of knowing the expiration date, etc. IMO, if you can afford it, the best option would be to buy the "civilian" version MRE's from one of the four companies that makes them for the military. That way you have a basic quality and expiration date gurantee.

Here's a good website with information on MRE's.

http://www.mreinfo.com/us/mre/buying-mres.html

From the website under "civilian MRE's"

If you known anyone in the military, they'll gladly use some supermarket food on exercise and sell you their MREs for beer money. MRE's are dearer than food from a shop so they can make on it.
simon

I agree that if you've got a friend willing to give/trade you some MRE's its a good way to go. But again, if you have the money, with the commercial version you get a variety of 12 full course meals. Over priced? Probably. But at least you know what you're getting. Having said that, I don't own any, but if I had the cash I'd buy a Sopako 12pack. I'd be awsome to go camping and not have to cook.

I bought 6 cases of the military MRE's off of Ebay. I haven't had any problems with them, all have the dates clearly marked on each case. All I can say about Ebay is check the sellers feedback, that usually tells if there is a problem.

I'll second Ebay for MRE's, (although I'm beginning to dislike Ebay for unrelated reasons.) I've never had a problem with the quality or taste of the military rations either. I like the fact that the packaging appears to be able to withstand anything. Does anybody know if the civilian versions are packaged as tough as the military version?

You could also get MRE's here:

http://www7.mailordercentral.com/longlifefood/home.asp

Has anyone been able to get hold of the some First Strike Rations? I think these were a development of the indestructible sandwich and the dehydrated ration you could urinate on to rehydrate them. Heck you would only need 1 chemical heater rather than 2 to heat them up. Gee those boffins at Natick are really clever

A lot of them "fell off the back of the truck." Others were distributed by FEMA by the case after Katrina and these are the left overs.

Ignoring the legal issues, I wouldn't touch them. You have no idea how they were stored- MREs can tank in a few months if stored someplace very warm, say in a mechanical space. What I'd really like to see is one of the contractors producing exactly the same items, either assembled or ala carte, in civilian packaging. What we have is close, so... But at least buying a commercially produced and distributed item means you've got better odds of it being stored properly than "surplus" ones.

Me, I'm waiting for a civilian First Strike as well. Sounds like the best thing for BOB.

Xavier
The company I use, Emergency Essentials is a good choice
www.beprepared.com
I have used them for over seven years for my church and we have never had trouble with the MRE's from them. in fact, it's time to rotate them. "shrugs" Oh well will have to wait till I'm back from vacation

Goin' to Indiana see ya in a couple of weeks

Mike
"OUT"