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by dredmorbius
1003 days ago
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Not to put undue weight to YouTube's reliability, but there's at least one channel devoted to eating long-out-of-date MREs and other military emergency / survival rations. From as long ago as 1906 (117 years ago): <https://yewtu.be/watch?v=562nQKR3_3M> (1h35m runtime, first bite at 16:24). There are multiple selections from the 1940s (WWII era), and selections from numerous militaries (US, UK, Canada, Vietnam, China, Japan, Sweden, Israel, South Africa, ...). <https://yewtu.be/channel/UC2I6Et1JkidnnbWgJFiMeHA> |
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Not all experiences are positive. A 1986 MRE prototype, tested in 2018 (32 years old at the time) is decidedly stale:
<https://yewtu.be/watch?v=qhCmUoDnzmk>
Watching a sampling of videos might give you an idea of what to watch for in terms of damaged / stale / degraded food. There's also good information on nutritional choices in emergency situations, including "metabolic water", the amount of water that's consumed or released in consumption of carbohydrates and fats (net positive) vs. protein (net negative), as well as caloric density by unit weight (4 kcal/g for protein and carbohydrate, 9 kcal/g for fats), vitamin, and fibre content.
A friend also reports that organisations often sell or auction out-of-date rations which can remain usable for some additional time.
With careful storage (cool, dark, dry place, low humidity, no degradation of packaging), emergency food should store well.