MREs are certainly not bad, especially if you are hungry. If you don't like the taste, hike another five miles and sample again.

Actually, there are all kinds of boil in bag items, microwavable dishes etc., available in the supermarket which can substitute very well for MREs. All of these dishes contain water, so they are relatively heavy, regardless of the container. An earlier post was right on about the utility of recyclable cans in a survival situation.

I stock up on can goods for survival situations. I also maintain a few MREs and also dehydrated backpacking entrees for situations where weight is critical. In other words, a little bit of everything.