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My brother Jake and I had some expired MREs we wanted to put to the test. See if we can conquer our hike with nothing more than MREs to eat
Check out our Easy Food Storage Plan: https://pantrypreparedness.com/food-storage-made-of-the-meals-your-family-loves/
#preparedness #readyforanything #mreating #hiking
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
1:58 Hiking the trail
3:06 Opening MREs
4:33 Heating Food
7:14 Crackers
14:12 Main Course
20:12 Dessert
28:16 The Hike Back
29:20 Conclusion
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0:00
You think pork's supposed to sit in a bag for 20 years before eating
0:04
Same thing with beef. It's not great, but this is the best thing I've..
0:09
Oh, hold on. Hey, what's up? I got my brother Jake here with me
0:14
We were talking to a friend of ours recently, and he was in the Navy a while back
0:19
and he had some of these MREs from literally the late 90s
0:23
He told us these things rode around in the back of their Humvee with them over in the Middle East and the heat
0:27
And then he had some extras, and he brought them. home to keep as emergency food. And you know how I feel about testing emergency food. I love eating
0:35
disgusting stuff that's maybe outdated. So he said it's been in his garage, it's been in the crawl
0:41
space. Who knows? So we've got these probably 25-ish-year-old MREs, and we're going to put
0:48
them to the test, not only eating them, but seeing if they can actually sustain us when we're doing
0:53
some real intense work. So we're going on a hike, and that's where we're headed next
1:00
Ready? Yeah. Yeah
1:15
Go to the Boise River Wildlife Management Area
1:26
All right, where are we? Right here. Walking that way? Something along those lines
1:33
So for today's challenge, Jake, who's running the camera right now, Jake and I are gonna be hiking up
1:39
It's about three miles in, up through these hills here. And once we get to where we're going
1:44
we're gonna stop for a bit, we're gonna eat our MREs. Jake said enjoy them, we'll see, I guess
1:50
And then when we're done with those, we're gonna work our way back out here and see if we survive the way back without any, you know
1:57
major problems. Don't eat it! I slip when you can slide
2:58
This spot looks good as any. Yeah
3:09
All right. All right. Get some lunch. Let's see what we got
3:21
What did you get? Pork chop? Pork chop? That's mine. Nope. I get pork chop
3:32
I got the beef terriaki. I guess it says the seal is peelable. I doubt it
3:36
Yeah, we'll just cut them because we're men. You got nice. I mean, women can cut too, I'm just saying
3:43
Beef and terriarchy sauce with vegetables. Looks like these are most of my seasoning
3:49
We've got some rice, cheese crackers, and peanut butter. Is this gum
3:56
Must be. Probably. I like candy. Disorted charms. Huh. It was like a hard candy. Sheesh
4:06
These guys are eating large out there. Seriously, I have no idea
4:12
Cheese spread, I've heard good things. Says it's fortified, so that means it's good for
4:16
20 years, right? That's what fortified means. I got more crackers. I got all sorts of crackers
4:22
I don't know if I'm going to be able to eat all this. Apple slices and spiced sauce. Right
4:27
Man, I hit the gold. All right. Chocolate mint pound cake. See, here's the heater deal
4:33
This is what I was telling you about where you add water and it heats up. Having used this in years, so we'll have to follow the instructions
4:42
Oh, you need to put it back in the MRE back, huh? These things aren't looking so bad for being 20 years old
4:49
If I'm going to heat up my apple slices and my pork chops with Jamaican-style sauce
4:54
I love gerrachians. Good performance meals gives you energy. So this says this has 1,200 to 1,300 calories
5:02
Do these have an expiration date on them? No. No. They don't actually say when they expire or when they were made
5:08
Yeah, we couldn't find any dates on them, but we know that Graydon had him in the late 90s
5:13
Whatever that means. Yeah. 96, 99. Yeah, he said. Either way, it was a long time ago
5:20
Probably too long ago to be eating inside, but whatever. It's what we got, you know
5:28
Got a mission. We'll slide it all in here. Maybe this will be the thing that's too expired to work
5:38
That's a good point. It is... It is... real old. It also says to tilt it up on an angle
5:45
You're that grading, Jake thinks you're real old. He is real old
5:50
And then an incline, it says. Does that look like an incline? Yep
5:57
All right. On to the appetizers. Hold that there. Vegetable crackers and cheese spread
6:09
Can't be that bad. Beverage powder, great powder. I guess I could mix this in my bladder on the way out
6:17
Yeah, if you want to. I wonder if it says if it has electrolytes or anything. I'd assume so
6:23
Well, maybe now. we would know to put electrolytes in there. Yeah, this was the 90s. Yeah. Back then
6:30
they're just like living in caves I believe right? Not quite. Oh no, they had cars
6:36
Yeah, we had cars in the 90s. 32 grams of sugar in here. Yeah, I think it was
6:44
probably more about like the energy. Yeah, definitely. They didn't. All carbs are from
6:49
sugar. 32 grams of carbohydrate, 32 grams of sugar. And in case it's not enough, you got a little more sugar here
6:58
I don't know that I'll use this today, but I'm going to hang on there. It's really cool. In fact, we would hold on to a bunch of them and play checkers with the lids
7:05
Because you can make a really small board and just draw the lines of a checker board
7:09
Uh-huh. And then when you got a bunch of time to waste. Right
7:14
They're just straight up the same ones. They still sell. It smells a little old, but
7:23
It smells like vegetable crackers too, so what's the worst that could happen
7:28
I can think of a few things. Oh, shoot. My bag expanded a bunch
7:35
It's definitely warm. The heater's working. So the heater was not expired
7:40
Oh yeah. The heater still works. But I got to contain the heat
7:45
I going to turn around because I got rice and meat in there so I flip it around The cheese doesn smell as good but it still just kind of smells like cheese spread
8:01
That's true, it just smells like cheese bread. Yeah, I think I'm psyching myself out
8:05
Hold on. October 3rd, 99. That's the date on these crackers. The expiration date or the manufacturer
8:12
Probably expiration. Probably. Probably. 99. Late late 90s. So expired in the late 90s
8:22
Does that look like cheese? Is that cheese spread? Looks more like peanut butter
8:27
Yeah. This is basically fine. It's a little stale, but... This tastes like that
8:36
A cracker with cheese on it? It's a bit stale, but not. Like, a lot of the flavor that I know these have
8:45
having them or it's just gone. Yeah. But it's like still crunchy and stuff
8:51
Like it doesn't, when things go stale often, they, they go like that
8:57
Oh, gross. That cheese is a no-go? Yeah. You try one of these, see
9:05
Yeah. Let me rinse my mouth out first. You know, you could probably survive on it
9:15
But you won't enjoy it. As the cracker, though. Stale, but... But fine
9:25
I mean, your cracker that you had cheese on. It was hard to differentiate
9:29
I'm pretty sure it was the cheese spread that was so bad about it. This tastes fine
9:37
He's great. Yeah. So I got crackers and strawberry jam. Maybe a tiny bit crunchier than back in 99
9:45
All right. These are a yay cheese spread
9:56
That's what's crazy is like, this one actually has an expiration date on it
10:01
And it's from 24 years ago. Are these peanut butter or cheese crackers
10:07
They're cheese crackers with peanut butter spread. Oh, with peanut butter spread. Okay
10:11
So maybe the peanut butter is more stable than the squeezed cheese
10:15
Yeah, probably. Probably. It says it has quite a bit of protein in it, though
10:22
Six grams of protein, good amounts of vitamins. What the heck? Some fat
10:30
My strawberry jam is like totally separated. I should have pushed it around first
10:35
The jams are actually, you know, in my experience, pretty decent. Well, yeah, the sugar is a pretty good preservative. Totally
10:45
it might be somewhat the cracker no the cracker's not too bad
10:54
because definitely the cheese bread my cracker tastes like basically nothing that's the same yeah
10:59
it's kind of how I feel about normal crackers though unless they're heavily salted
11:04
like saltines so yeah I'd say that this was pretty stable the vegetable crackers
11:11
not something I'm going back for more of but palatable. I wonder why it came with matches
11:22
There's nothing to... For your cigarettes, dude. Oh, that's right. They just barely pulled the cigarette packs out of the rations
11:31
Surgeon General says we can't have cigarettes anymore, but we'll at least give you matches for your own
11:35
There you go. So this strawberry jam, I don't know if it's different than it was 20 years ago
11:44
But not enjoying that flavor. No? No. Here. Maybe I'm just being picky
11:55
Because I literally this morning had strawberry jam that I made. Well, you're just comparing the two
12:01
I don't think that their strawberry jam is going to do very well against yours. Although, judging by the color, this might be a little outdated
12:13
That's a little gross. it's more like a jelly that got gross the flavor is just a bit weird to me
12:25
after taste is what I have a problem with I had no problem until just now
12:32
but still like edible way better than the cheese bread if you get brave enough you should uh... torture yourself
12:44
It didn't just plain. Yeah, I don't love the cracker, but... Yeah
12:49
Again. I mean, if I was starving, I would be happy to have it, but..
12:53
I'm ready to dig into the main course. I think it's been heating for a little bit
13:00
Might as well go for it. Yeah. Open it up. Let's see if it got warm enough yet
13:05
Can't get to dessert yet. What did you get for dessert? You got the dessert
13:10
No. Maybe my strawberry jam and crackers was my dessert. Mushem around a little bit
13:23
Mush them around a little bit. Yeah, it's warmed up, but not like a ton. Same
13:31
Oh, this one's better. The one that was in contact with it, which was the spiced apples
13:37
Oh man, I'm pretty pumped for these. I'm just going to give it another sec
13:45
Yeah, me too. Let's check out some of the nutritional facts. Got a full list of everything on here and the vitamins and minerals in each
13:55
So like I can get calcium either from the crackers or the beverage case
14:00
Since the crackers suck, better have some beverage so I get some calcium, right? Yeah
14:06
Everything the service member needs to know about nutrition is on this box
14:09
All right, I'm going to dive into my rice and my beef terriaki
14:21
I think I got it heated up all the way. Let's see how they look
14:28
It's still a little hard. It's squishing enough. It's usually a good sign that it's fairly warm
14:35
See how my rice. That doesn't look. Good. Is it supposed to like be in sauce
14:46
It just says white rice. The sauce developed over time. It's artificially flavored
14:53
So maybe it's supposed to be in something. It just doesn't say it's just this white rice
14:57
So I assumed it would be fairly plain rice. It is not
15:02
What was this one again? This is pork chops with noodles in Jamaican style sauce
15:09
I have high hopes for this. this because I love Jamaican jerk yeah yeah the hot sauce that comes on the
15:17
wings at Buffalo Wild Wings oh yeah Jamaican jerk okay well that doesn't
15:22
taste like mold so I'm gonna assume it's intentional that's what you make and
15:27
jerk looks like on the inside I don't see what it tastes like how's yours let me
15:34
let you finish your taste test not looking good there's like a super
15:39
after taste Really Yeah Bitter huh Yeah What would that Maybe the preservatives Maybe Ooh I can see why there a shelf life to these
15:50
You're not supposed to eat them 23 years, 25 years later? These noodles don't look the best
15:59
What about my beef teriyaki? I definitely should have let it heat up some more
16:06
Okay, this kind of just looks like a beef stew, which is a good sign
16:13
It's fine until the aftertaste. Is that the same with yours? The bitterness came later
16:18
Yeah. There's the beef terriaki. We'll see
16:29
I got my first piece of pork. You think pork's supposed to sit in a bag for 20 years before eating
16:36
Same thing with beef. Real dry. Yeah, the meat's dry, but..
16:51
It's meat. Not good meat. Yeah, it's not great, but this is..
17:00
The best thing I've... Oh, hold on. It's doing something to my tongue
17:05
Really? Yeah, it's like, it's kind of like chalky, but it's also like, I can't even describe that feeling, but it's not a taste
17:15
It's like a feeling, even on my teeth. I have no idea
17:20
There's probably little critters in there, like crawling around in. That's so weird
17:28
It's like it's kind of like tightening up. And every time I kind of wet my mouth, it goes away for a second, then it starts to come back
17:35
What is that? I would not recommend eating a 25-year-old MRE. No
17:44
Not these ones. Not if you have other means available to you
17:49
Dude, what? I'm getting somewhat of a similar sensation, but... It's weird
17:57
It's almost like... I'm going to keep digging in see if it's worse. It's not quite like it, but it's almost like when the dentist puts novocaine in your mouth
18:04
Uh-huh. The topical. nova cane, right? It's like kind of a weird numbing, but not totally numbing sensation. It kind of feels
18:12
like Novakane on my teeth and on the sides of my tongue. It sounds like a good ration for
18:20
soldiers. Yeah. Novocaine and your food. I have no idea what that is, but I do not
18:29
recommend this at all. So on a scale of one to three, 10
18:37
Does it get anything more than a one? No. No? Well, if it wasn't making my mouth feel weird, I'd say, yeah, it's a four or five
18:47
Like, I could get by. Not a, okay, three. I'm way too generous, typically
18:53
I was going to say. When I rate things. But, yeah, no, like, three, but then where I like, yeah, I'm not cool with that
19:03
I don't even think I want to mix some powder into my..
19:06
I'd rather just have my water. Especially this is... What about your calcium
19:11
This is the smart water 9.5 plus pH, so it's... Distilled water that's alkaline, and they added selenium and electrolytes for taste
19:22
That's stuff that makes you fly, isn't it? Yeah, I think so. So, this might be more nutritious
19:29
Just straight water. Man. Water with selenium added. Do have weird sensations in my mouth
19:37
It really does kind of feel like when they put, like, just the topical laticane or something
19:45
But I'll try one of the hard candies. You can't ruin hard. You can't screw up hard candy, can you
19:50
Well, let's find out what the U.S. military can't screw up. Oh, man
19:58
Especially in the 90s. The bike cleaning off my spoon was a worse flavor than any of the past
20:03
bites. I wasn't looking forward to cleaning it off and I was like, yeah, whatever
20:08
They like mixed all the worst parts of everything together. Oh, well, I still have apple slices. Good luck
20:16
And I might share with you if they're good. All right. I'll definitely share them with you if they're bad
20:24
Okay, this even these look like they've probably gotten screwed up with time. It's like it's just sugar
20:33
It doesn't, it's not supposed to go back. I can't get on my backpack
20:39
Can't even get the peel off. It's like stuck to it. Some of this may have to do with the fact that it's been in
20:48
hot and cold temperatures back and forth many times. It was in the back of a Humvee
20:53
It was in a garage. Crawl space. It's been around. Is this what apple slices are supposed to look like
21:03
You decide. You decide. All right, this one's a little better. Let's see how they taste
21:11
Got a spoon here. Not great, huh
21:25
Again, really bitter. Well, was your bitterness an aftertaste? Because that was way on the front
21:31
Was it? Yeah, before I tasted any after. Mine were an aftertaste. All right
21:37
What about the gum? Is the gum going to be okay? I'm good on the crackers
21:43
The gum's super hard. I bet. Once I get through it, it still works
21:47
It starts to, it tastes mostly fine. So this was actually pretty good
21:53
Oh, thank you. Get the other flavors out of your mouth. Well, I was concerned about hiking out on this food to see if it would cause
22:03
gastric distress but I don't know if I ate enough to have gastric distress which is a
22:09
different problem yeah right yeah if the food's gone bad it's not gonna do any good
22:13
yep so I'm gonna say that before the hike out my preliminary my preliminary
22:23
call on this is military MREs especially the ones from the 90s that say that
22:30
they're only supposed to last what seven seven years year. U.S.D. said, I believe
22:35
And only six years in hot temperatures, or six months. Six months
22:39
In hot temperatures, probably not the best long-term survival food. Not double the expiration date
22:46
Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. So hard candies, I'll take forever to eat, too
22:51
Might lose a tooth. And these days, we have so many options with, like
22:56
freeze-dried foods that actually do stay good for 30 years. This isn't your option for
23:03
over six years and it's not that these foods were just that bad to start with I mean
23:08
grade must tell us like the pound cake and the pineapple was amazing he said still got
23:14
pound cake you've got one more thing to try but try the pound cake you got apples and
23:18
pound cake my dessert was nasty rice sometimes you just get screwed you know yeah
23:25
seriously there's a half pound I don't know if I want to try it
23:33
If I have to Oh man It smells like the bad flavors I just ate Whatever that they have in this thing
23:46
Yeah, it's like, what is that? I don't know what it is, but I don't want it
23:54
Thanks for the pound cake, but no things. It might suffocate you if you eat it too fast for that water
24:02
Well, I basically have a full MRE to carry out. Yeah, we didn't light in our packs at all
24:12
I'd drink a little water. Yeah, more water than food for sure
24:21
But it's been a good hike. I have that dry face back on my mouth
24:25
Yeah. It's super gross. Yep. The beverage powder's coming home, I don't
24:34
I don't feel the need to mix that in. Alright, so anything else cool in here
24:42
You already showed off most of this stuff. There's some salt. There's that gum
24:46
It's like sticking real bad to my teeth though. I got a moist towelette
24:50
Yeah, you can wipe your hands with it. Or something else. Or something else
24:55
Depending on how this goes through us. A cream substitute. Okay, so you got something for your coffee
25:01
your coffee. There's the salt. Hand wipes. Oh, are these those napkins that you like get wet and
25:09
then they're a towel? Did you have one of these? Yeah. I just assumed it was a napkin
25:16
Let's find out. Oh, it just unfolds. Yeah, it's a napkin. Oh, it's multiple napkins
25:22
There you go. This is some good toilet paper. I bet. Yep. That's your daily allotment of toilet paper. This is what you get
25:31
Imagine if you would have handed these out at your house during COVID when toilet paper was light
25:38
This is what you get kids. Be clean with it. Even the hard candy has a little bit of a weird, weird taste to it
25:52
Try the gum. Is this even normal Tabasco because it's brown? Right
26:01
Yeah, it's brown. I mean, Tabasco's... Well, and I've seen different flavors
26:06
Usually not like you. Like, some are green, some are red. That's true. I don't know if there's a brown one
26:10
There is now. There is now. Yeah, this gum sucks, too. All right
26:18
The match is even like... All right, yeah. Is the salt even salt anymore
26:24
Salt is literally the thing that does not go bad. What about sugar
26:31
Got to test it all, right? It's the best part of the MRI so far is the sugar packet
26:48
Still tastes like sugar? Yep. Okay, good. You want some? I need some food for the way out
26:52
I think I've had enough. Still salty? Still salt
27:05
Real salty. It's pretty wet out here so I don't feel too worried about lighting a match
27:11
I won't drop it in the grass. Yes. We will be safe
27:15
Well, the tip just came off. Nothing but the highest quality for our boys
27:24
Men and women. Men and women, yes. Oh, there's coffee. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah
27:31
Oh, yeah, there is. So, freeze-dried coffee, one serving. Yeah, this is not lighting
27:38
Let's see if we put all. Oh, okay, good. I got the match to learn
27:42
You were able to get it burning for a sec. That's still going. Now it's out
27:50
All right. That's one of the few useful things in a 20-year-old MRE
27:58
The matches and the salt and the sugar. Everything else? Everything else just toss
28:09
If you're dying, find other food. Better get headed back. Yep. Make sure to hold on to my moist towelette
28:23
in case we have an emergency on the way out. Do you see that boat down there
28:28
Yeah. What is that? Has a cover on it? Someone got stuck
28:36
Uh-oh. Or they parked it and didn't think about how they were going to get it out later
28:42
They are, let's just say, unprepared. We did it
29:17
We did. Overall, I'd say it was a pretty good time. Yeah
29:26
We made it back out without any incidents, we'll say. And so there's that at least
29:33
I'm not sure that we ate enough though for there to have been any incidents. So I'd say in terms of MREs for like emergency food, I wouldn't store them for like long term
29:47
So we've got like long term food storage, the food you're going to eat on a regular basis
29:52
And then there's like emergency food, which is like in case something really bad happens that I need big food
29:57
This isn't what I'd store for long term. Definitely not for long term. I don't know. Maybe it was a good go item, like if you were heading out and you needed to be able to take a full meal with you
30:06
Yeah. Didn't have a lot of time to prepare preserved food. But. But then, like, maybe from a cost standpoint, I don't know what it's cost these days
30:15
But, like, there's freeze-ride meals that are also just that water. Right
30:20
So the only thing with the MRI is it literally comes with everything. You got your napkins. You got your moist towelettes. You got your spoon. So it's everything. That's the short of it
30:29
Yeah. Situationaly, there's a strong case for them. It works for the armed forces
30:34
But, uh, yeah, I mean, I've been using them for the longest time and it does keep our fighting forces in the head
30:40
But for like long-term prep boot, I'm gonna go to no. No
30:45
Thumb down. All right, well, it was a good time. Nothing else we got
30:50
It was an opportunity to get out to, one, like, enjoy a good hike and test out these MRAs, but also to kind of work on our physical preparedness
30:58
I think it's really important. Absolutely. We're capable of, you know, carrying some weight on a bag
31:07
go on, you know, be able to trek across terrain with, you know, maybe even not meager, meager rations, right
31:16
Right. But hey, comment below if there's something else you'd like us to test. Hopefully, it tastes better. It's a good day
31:28
You know
#Food
#Hiking & Camping