Dynamic Subspace

Tag: Comparison

Unboxing Two MRE Cases: MRE Case A (10/27 Inspection Date) and MRE Halal Case (6/27)
I decided to dig into these two MRE cases that I bought last year: an MRE Case A (Menus 1-12) with an inspection date of 10/27 and an MRE Halal Meals case with an inspection date of 6/27.

Both temperature reaction stickers were in good condition with no center shading.

As shown below, I was surprised to see that the cases were not sized the same. The Halal Meals case was about 16 5/8″ long, but the standard MRE case A was about an inch shorter at 15 5/8″. The compression of the standard MRE meals explains the smaller box size, but as I’ll explain below, this spoiled some meal components in the standard case.

MRE Case A (10/27)

I was disappointed by this case for two reasons. First, there was one substitution from Case B menu options as listed below instead of my favorite: Menu 6: Beef Taco. Second, compacting some MRE menus to save space caused those menu’s jelly packs to explode and spoil those individual meal components–thankfully, there the contamination was limited to just those items and not the entree.

This Case A had these menus and substitutions:
- Menu 1: Chili with Beans
- Menu 2: Chicken Stir Fry
- Menu 3: Chicken Egg Noodles and Vegetables in Sauce
- Menu 4: Spaghetti with Beef and Sauce
- Menu 5: Chicken Chunks, White, Cooked
- Menu 7: Beef Strips in a Savory Tomato Sauce
- Menu 8: Meatballs in Marinara Sauce
- Menu 9: Beef Stew
- Menu 10: Chili and Macaroni
- Menu 11: Pizza Slice, Cheese
- Menu 12: Elbow Macaroni in Tomato Sauce
- Menu 22: Beef Goulash
As shown below, this was my first case with combination brown plastic with clear plastic backing. Perhaps this helps with inspections?

I’ve already eaten the Beef Goulash, Chicken Chunks, Beef Strips in Tomato Sauce, Chicken Egg Noodles, and Meatballs in Marinara Sauce. All were tasty, but I did add extra tomato sauce to the Beef Strips and Meatballs, both of which I ate as a soup with bread.

MRE Halal Meals (6/27)

Each menu in the MRE Halal case was in a clear plastic bag. These are the menus included:
- Halal Chicken Stew
- Halal Chicken and Vegetables
- Halal Beef Stew
- Halal Saag Chole with Lamb
- Halal Lentil Stew with Lamb
- Halal Cherry Rolled Oats with Almond Flavor
- Halal Vegetable Barley Stew with Lamb
- Halal Lentils and Masala Sauce
- Halal Saag Chole
- Halal Jalfrazi with Lamb
- Halal Beef Goulash
- Halal Vegetable Barley Stew
I’ve already eaten the Saag Chole (with Italian Breadsticks from a standard MRE case menu) and the Cheery Rolled Oats with Almond Flavor. I enjoyed both very much!

I’m looking forward to trying the other Halal menus as the reputation of these having good, strong flavors is warranted.
August 10, 2026
Back-To-Back Building of LEGO’s Forestmen’s Hideout (6054) and Forest Hideout (40567)

One of my favorite LEGO sets when I was younger was LEGO’s Forestmen’s Hideout (6054) from 1988. In 2022, LEGO released a Gift with Purchase (GWP) set that updates the 6054 set with modern bricks and design called Forest Hideout (40567). I’ve had Forest Hideout sitting on a shelf for the past two years. When Y asked me recently if I was ever going to put it together, it got me thinking about the original 6054 set. I began watching auctions on eBay for a good deal on a complete set (a boxed original was out of the question due to its much higher cost). Eventually, I found a complete set of 6054 for a reasonable price. After receiving it in the mail, I sat down to build both sets back-to-back and record it with my Panasonic Lumix DMC-G85 camera set to 2 second timer and controlled by the Panasonic Image App on my Pixel 6 phone (I’ll show how to set that up in a future post).

Forest Hideout (40567) has 258 pieces, which is 64 more than the 194 pieces in Forestmen’s Hideout (6054). While the tree branch and leave elements are the same, the tree’s main structure is constructed differently in the two sets. The original relied on Black Panel 3 x 3 x 6 Corner Wall pieces for most of the tree’s main trunk structure. These larger elements reduced the part count of the original. The updated version used a combination of Black Cylinder Half 1 x 2 x 1 and Black Cylinder Quarter 2 x 2 x 5 with 1 x 1 Cutout to create the tree trunk. While there are no vines for swinging in the new version as in the first, the update includes an internal ladder for minifigures to climb to into hideout. 6054 includes two smiling minifigures with hats while 40567 includes a male with hat and female with long hair minifigures.

Below, I show an over-the-shoulder view of the building process for each set and then side-by-side comparisons of the completed build of both sets. I used a scanned copy of the 6054 instructions to assemble it, which was displayed on my computer screen out of the frame on the right. Since I hadn’t opened 40567 until this build, it included the original set of instructions, which is seen in the photos.

Forestmen’s Hideout (6054)

Forest Hideout (40567)

Side-By-Side Comparison of 6054 and 40567

October 28, 2024