I'm glad this topic came up. I've been eating MRE's on and off for the past 3 1/2 years...only 4 months more to go! There's all kinds of tricks you can do. I'll list a few:

-If yours comes with coffee creamer and sugar: Mix the two in the creamer packet. And enough water to make a paste. Instant icing for your cake, cookie, or brownie.

-If you use your teeth to open the main food packets, the tear is a whole lot cleaner than just ripping it open.

-MRE Crackers can make some good entertainment. Dare or bet somebody to eat both crackers in 2 minutes without any water or help. 9 marines out of 10 can't do it.

-The Classic "MRE Bomb" aka "CS Gas": Take the little tabasco bottle and pour it into the heater. Throw it in somebody's tent or under there camp stool. It'll run em out.

-Contrary to popular belief the two peices of gum are NOT laxitive. They do however contain flouride for your teeth.

-Add more things to the heater bag to warm

-Put the activated heater + food back into the box the food came out of. It gets warmer quicker.

-The MRE bag itself makes for an excellent toilet

-The TP/Napkins in the MRE, do not throw them away. Many uses for it includes (besides TP and napkins): ear plugs, tender, nose plugs, dust filter, shaving knicks, add spit and remove rust, clean up anything.

-The boxes that the food come in can be torn open and provide lots of room for writing

-Cleanse the used foil packets that once contained food and they will now contain water

There's many more uses to this wonderful thing called an MRE. It takes up a lot of pack room but for 1-2 nights it is well worth packing. You're only limited by your imagination.