MREs or "Meals Ready to Eat" are vital in your emergency food storage. The U.S. Military relies on MREs to give them the nutrition and energy they need to survive in the most extreme conditions. MREs are great for use during an emergency you can grab them and go during a disaster. Experts recommend that you keep a fresh supply on hand or to stock them up in your food storage.



There are a lot of questions about MREs. Here is a quick review. Lets call it MRE 101.

* You can buy MREs. The Department of Defense contractors make them to military specifications, the only difference is they come in civilian packaging.

* How long will they store? About 5-7 years if stored at 75 degrees or less. The cooler the temperature, the longer they will store.

Since MREs have no expiration date, it's hard to know when they have gone bad. They do however last a very long time. Use the smell test to see if they have gone rancid.

* How do I read the manufacture date on my MREs? Each MRE will be date stamped with a 4 digit code to tell you the date of manufacture. For example, it will look something like this 8145. The first number is the year and the next three numbers are the day within that year that the food was manufactured. So, 8145 means that MRE was made on 145th day of 2008 (May 24th).

The difference between a "Full Meal MRE" and an MRE entree is A Full Meal MRE comes with the entrée plus, side dish, snack, dessert, beverage mix, coffee, napkin, spoon and accessory pack. An MRE entrée is just the main dish entrée by itself. If all you want is the entrée, don’t buy the Full Meal.

I hope this info helps.