How long do MREs last?

[BelchFire]

I found some MREs in my pantry. No date or anything that I can ID. Trying to remember when I got them. A buddy gave them to me at least 8 years ago, maybe 10. And I'm not sure they were new then.:skeered:

How long do MREs last?

As Stephen would say:

MREs aren't.

[ltdann]

I found some MREs in my pantry. No date or anything that I can ID. Trying to remember when I got them. A buddy gave them to me at least 8 years ago, maybe 10. And I'm not sure they were new then.:skeered:

How long do MREs last?

As Stephen would say:]

About 7 years...maybe a year less if they haven't been frozen. If they're the dark brown ones..OMG toss them, those were left over from the 1st gulf war.

If they're the tan ones...depends. What happens is the food starts to seperate in the individual pouches. Usually the crackers get a foul taste first and thats the clue to get rid of the case.

[BelchFire]

Yup; dark brown.

Hmmmmmm, now I'm thinking the boys might get a kick out of "camping out" in the back yard. "Hey Dad! Have you got any toilet paper with you?"

[boarhunter67]

I still have a lot of dark brown ones from 15 years ago. I use a few every year. They are still delicious. If you're going to toss them, I'll take them. Seriously, I love 'em.

[weekender21]

I'm not sure where LT D got seven years from. I've had some older than that. Just open the main course up and take a look. They certainly are better these days though. The ones they make now are MUCH better than the ones we had 10 years ago!

[spectr17]

Heat is the killer for MRE's

Graph for shelf life of MRE's

http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/safetycentral_2086_63758346

[easymoney]

I would agree with you guys, temp is critical and if there are no holes in the exterior packaging. I have some of those brown ones that were still good this season, but have had a tan one that was bad.

[ltdann]

I'm not sure where LT D got seven years from. I've had some older than that. Just open the main course up and take a look. They certainly are better these days though. The ones they make now are MUCH better than the ones we had 10 years ago!

The Army Vet guys in Tazar, Hungary told me that. Said that was about the time period that they could guarantee quality. They were in the hooch across from us and had the horrible job of performing taste tests on CASES of MRE's everyday. :lol bashing sign:

I've certainly had them where they've been older and still tasted good and had new ones that tasted like butt, but I try and stick to the what the vets said.

I don't care how old or new they are, the "four fingers of death" still suck.

[Caribouman]

Most of the MRE items are marked with a date code. It will be a 4 digit number. The first digit is the year of manufacture. The last three digits are the day of the year. For example a code that reads 4365 would have been manufactured on the 365th day of 2004, or in some cases it could mean 1994. Many of the dehydrated food companies use a similar system too.
Brian

[ltdann]

I'll have to look at mine then, I never noticed a date code on the bag itself, only the case.

[BelchFire]

Yeah, I didn't see anything on these that I thought might be a date code or even manufacturer's info. I'll look again.

[Sumpnneedskillin]

I have some that every bit of 15 years old. Late last year I sampled one, forget why, anywho, it was still good. If they're the dark brown ones, skip the omelet and skip the ham steak!

[CAjackrabbitWCP]

Throw them all out and buy some mountain houses... my opinion.

[weekender21]

Throw them all out and buy some mountain houses... my opinion.


couldn't agree more!

[Wogg]

Every once in a while we still get ones issued from the end of the Vietnam era, some still good, some not so good. I belive we received a safety message a year ago or so the stated something about the 7 year period and after that you were eating them at your own risk. Last year we were updated on the milkshake powder. Certain ones could possibly carry salmonila. Ill see if I can dig up the numbers that refered to, but I wanna say it had to due with certain ones made within the last 2 or 3 years.

[Fastshot]

I bought a few from the local Army Navy store awhile back, and one of them I got was 3-4 years old and it still tasted as good as a new one.

Your right about the mountain house's jackrabbit, they are a easy to put together and they taste pretty good.