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.
