Steve1989MREInfo / Steve1989 / Steve Thomas - that guy that eats old MREs

[Aunt Carol]

Is there anything you guys are curious about? I might be able to grab recent US entrees/sides/etc and show.

Same as with Steve, it comes down to what the MRE connoisseur feels most excited about showing.

Do they have any of the MRE pizzas? Everyone was getting so excited about those a while back.

There's an MRE thread in Self-Sufficiency that might appreciate your intel, too.

 

[SteinserGate]

Well, dropped $50 and got some goodies. One surprise was a MCW, so I shelled out for one for $30. It's the newer series of MCW, packed July 29th, 2022.
Everything else was generally just curiosity picks or great deals. The famous lemon-lime neon green beverage, a pizza slice (cheese), and a recovery bar (never really seen that before) stood out to me.
My guilty pleasure is the marble cake, and the second "sodium reduced" MRE was a 5$ steal (even if the entree tastes like ass, I noticed an apple jelly packet).



First, let's take a look at the Salted Caramel Marshmallow Crisp Recovery Bar.
I will go through the rest at a later date, possibly in the next few days.
Turns out, double wrapping.



Videos are present for a more in-depth viewing. I apologize for the Star Trek in the background, but I was too lazy to go and turn it off.
Overall, it was very similar to a rice crispy treat in flavor. More salted caramel than marshmallow in terms of flavoring.
It's great from a flavor profile, but it is quite dense and tough to bit off.
Use coffee or some hot beverage to soften this up.

 

[AnOminous]

Same as with Steve, it comes down to what the MRE connoisseur feels most excited about showing.

I like how it seems like the MRE gourmet loves two kinds of MRE the most. The rare actually good ones, and the most notoriously awful of them, like the Vomelet.

 

[Gruntgar The Indentured]

One last year end treat for those interested.

 

[CIS White Droid]

A new Steve video on New Years Eve? 2025 is looking nice.

 

[Gruntgar The Indentured]

A new Steve video on New Years Eve? 2025 is looking nice.

Let's get the next 365 days out on the tray.

 

[Hey Johnny Bravo]

I like how it seems like the MRE gourmet loves two kinds of MRE the most. The rare actually good ones, and the most notoriously awful of them, like the Vomelet.

A "friend" of mine gave me a Vomelet in 2007 and I ate it on a day hike (I'm not former military, this was a regular ass day hike). I puked it up before finishing the hike. It was vile.

 

[WonderWino]

So I was checking youtube to see if steve had anymore christmas stuff uploaded and got recommended this:

Its not steve but holy shit does that sound like chris chan doing ration reviews

 

[Aunt Carol]

One last year end treat for those interested.

2024 US MRE: Beef Strips in Savory Tomato Sauce

"That is utterly fantastic. A new component... and a nutritious one at that."

Another fresh one; good to see Steve treating himself. Although it'd be interesting if he bought a case of the same menu, and then opened one every five years to record the aging process. I'm picturing a holo-recording of Grandpa Steve reviewing the shades of color the dehydrated juice powder has slowly turned.

"That's ...very strange and delicious. I betcha the peanut butter will help. ...I actually like it, 'cause I understand and respect the utility behind this pudding, but some might be a bit alarmed by that beef stock flavor. Hmm. It is a bit bitter."

 

[AnOminous]

A "friend" of mine gave me a Vomelet in 2007 and I ate it on a day hike (I'm not former military, this was a regular ass day hike). I puked it up before finishing the hike. It was vile.

It's pretty rare for something to be so vile you actually throw up from eating it when it isn't actually literally poisonous or infected with something.

 

[Capsaicin Addict]

Wake up Kiwis, new videos just dropped!

 

[Aunt Carol]

2022 and 2024--Steve's on a fresh streak again.

It seemed strange to have Mexican-ish beef wrap and Indian curry in the same ration, but Steve sure seemed to enjoy that menu.

The Indonesian ration looks so fancy and modern, with everything in matte black.

"Oh wow, that smells like Dutch chocolate!!"
> Indonesian ration

Steve is getting some really gourmet stuff, it seems like. Big change from the botulism risk rations.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

The Indonesian one is like they went full in with the packaging but the content is pretty abysmal. No heating pouch, not a lot of variety (3 beverages, 3 biscuits/cookies and a vile looking main), and a LESS THAN ONE YEAR SHELF LIFE what the absolute fuck were they thinking?

Edit: Norwegian looks way better, but Curry and Tortilla are weird ass mains for a European country. Granted if they used classic Norwegian dishes everyone in a 5 miles radius with a functioning nose would smell them.

 

[Aunt Carol]

The Indonesian one is like they went full in with the packaging but the content is pretty abysmal. No heating pouch, not a lot of variety (3 beverages, 3 biscuits/cookies and a vile looking main), and a LESS THAN ONE YEAR SHELF LIFE what the absolute fuck were they thinking?

Yeah, it'd be nice to know a little more about what the military of a given country is making their MRE for. e.g. China is doing it out of peer pressure/to supplement mobile kitchens, and other countries have different formulas for pilots vs. cold weather freeze-dried vs. first strike. Maybe Indonesia bought the just-in-time philosophy, and assumes easy access to boiled water at all times.

Everything in the Indonesian ration (except the entree) seemed so small and self-contained. Thinking on it a bit, that plus the cool wrappers made it like something that wouldn't seem out of place if you got it when you boarded a commercial flight. Here's all your snacks; ask the attendant for hot water when you're ready.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Yeah, it'd be nice to know a little more about what the military of a given country is making their MRE for. e.g. China is doing it out of peer pressure/to supplement mobile kitchens, and other countries have different formulas for pilots vs. cold weather freeze-dried vs. first strike. Maybe Indonesia bought the just-in-time philosophy, and assumes easy access to boiled water at all times.

Everything in the Indonesian ration (except the entree) seemed so small and self-contained. Thinking on it a bit, that plus the cool wrappers made it like something that wouldn't seem out of place if you got it when you boarded a commercial flight. Here's all your snacks; ask the attendant for hot water when you're ready.

Indonesia screams "Some politician wanted to make very fancy looking MREs to show he does a good work and the soldiers will get absolutely fucked during wartime". Even the Matt black wrappers looks fancy but in case of actual need to eat it at the field after dark you could easily misplace the food or the wrappers which, at worst case, would mean that whoever you're fighting will have a very easy time seeing that you passed there by daytime. Even if the food is tasty just basic design wise it's abysmal, and the idea of Just-In-Time for an army is absolutely insane. Those things are going straight to a warehouse where they won't be touched for years.

 

[AnOminous]

Everything in the Indonesian ration (except the entree) seemed so small and self-contained. Thinking on it a bit, that plus the cool wrappers made it like something that wouldn't seem out of place if you got it when you boarded a commercial flight. Here's all your snacks; ask the attendant for hot water when you're ready.

It all looked good to me and Steve appeared very happy with it. The hot beverages with oats or some kind of grain in them seemed high protein and tasty, as well as the cookies. I'm not sure what the exact problem was with the rice and chicken dish, other than maybe its appearance or its apparently short shelf life.

Steve said it tasted great, and it looked entirely okay. That's about how rice should look if done and contained. And dark meat chicken is a lot more calorically dense (also I generally prefer it to white chicken).

The only real issue I see here is the lack of a heater. And I'd want to know what kind of use scenario Indonesia has for these things. Because there are definitely scenarios where the people eating the rations already have alternate means of heating them.

I actually thought that Indonesian ration looked good enough I got hungry while watching the video and had to go make a sandwich.

Even if the food is tasty just basic design wise it's abysmal, and the idea of Just-In-Time for an army is absolutely insane.

Is this their generic, though, or is it literally just something they make on that basis? I believe they have other varieties, maybe some of them are more shelf-stable. I actually have zero idea what the needs of Indonesia are as far as feeding their soldiers.

 

[Gruntgar The Indentured]

Isn't Indonesia on the "Ring of fire" earthquake and volcanic zone? They only need their stockpiled military rations to last long enough to feed survivors of a major natural disaster. 10+ year shelf life rations are very low on their to-do list.

 

[Consider the Lizards]

Double serving of Steve content.

 

[Aunt Carol]

Aw, he's so stoked about the Austrian rations!

Life lesson: "Any turned hot chocolate will have a bread--like a stale, grainy, wheaty bread, like, undertone. You'll know after you smell it enough times."

"Looks like iced tea... maybe that's normal."

"You know, it smells really good, but it has like a slight, onion-soup-armpit undertone to the scent here."

"Canned bread, from 1990. [...] Whoa, it feels like a seat cushion in there."

"Bland, confusingly bland flavor. Hmm."



"You know what? Might make me want to get into a survival situation, just so I can try these out."

"Something like this, you wouldn't want to eat it even if you had water. It would be great for seasoning some snake. Hmm. Or, like, you ever eat snake? White meat, with those black veiny bits going through it. I had a water moccasin once. ...Look at this, though."

That soup is absolutely disgusting! Here, let's try it out again. Hmm. There's so much starch thickener. Really, it's not too bad now, like, all considering. It's like gritty potato soup with little pieces of like, what is that, a grain? Soy protein? I don't know. Maybe I shouldn't know. Let's check out a cracker."


It's nice to see an antique again, too. The flight ration looks pretty complicated for its intended use.

"I can't believe it--yeah, those weevils! Can't trust 'em. Wonder if I can still get the coffee out."

"That's dinner, right there. Well, it was, like 74 years ago."

"Mmkay. Let's start out by checking out that accessory packet, which looks like it may have gotten a visitor or two in there. Wonder if it's still alive. You know, like a living weevil friend that we can let outside into Nature. I won't do anything to 'em."

"Weevil went into the tea. Heh. Can you imagine what the weevil must have gone through, in flavor and... it was probably the end for the weevil."

"Jelly disk--oh, wow. Hit the jackpot."

"This is a historical cookie right here, look. ...Smells kinda historical, too."

"Smells like a break room at Staples. With, like, carpet cleaner. One sec."

"Oh, wow, this is rare. Look at that: pink pack, Coffee Instant. [...] It's like a light pink-white. That is exceptionally rare. I'm gonna save one for my coffee extravaganza, which is now finally happening, because look what I just found here. This really rounds it off."

"Hm. Why's that sugar brown? ...Probably 'cause it's mixed in the tea now. You want that stuff tasting normal."

"Yes! Finally found a chocolate chip cookie worth eating. Just, we had to change wars. The Korean War chocolate chip cookie was no good."

 

[Korpon]

Him just standing there only being able to eat the chocolate bar while being perplexed on how "dull" it is, then just crossing his arms in contemplation was really funny to me, I don't know why.

Magnificent sideburns as well