A U.S. Army laboratory in Natic, Massachusetts is testing new Meals Ready to Eat that have some surprising new ingredients, including caffeine, omega 3, and curcumin, which acts as an anti-inflammatory. A new beef jerky stick contains the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee. And Maltodextrin – a complex carbohydrate that can give service men and women an extra turbo charge is being injected into an applesauce they have called Zapplesauce.
When these new recipes are finalized, there’s a good chance wildland firefighters will see them out on the fireline.
Here is an excerpt from an article at the Daily Mail:
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…The MRE is notorious within the ranks for being as popular as school dinners are likely to be with children.
They have been called a variety of names such as, Meals Rejected by Everyone, Meals Refused by the Enemy, Materials Resembling Edibles. and Meals Refusing to Exit, according to the Bangor Daily News.
However, now that that the MRE dishes have been given a gourmet makeover, the meals, which have a shelf-life of three years at 80 degrees and can withstand an airdrop from thousands of feet [with a parachute, or a free-fall from 100 feet] may just prove popular for the first time.
Recent additions to the MRE range include chicken and pesto pasta, feta cheese and tomato, soldiers now can choose from ratatouille, garlic mashed potatoes, salsa verde and a strawberry-banana dairy shake.
The scientists who have doubled the number of MRE options from 12 to 24, asked soldiers at military bases across the U.S for feedback at ‘sampling sessions’.
Some MRE’s are BETTER than some of those “Coyote” meals and mystery meat sandwiches put out on the line by “caterers” as early as 4 yrs ago and as long as 20 yrs ago.
Watch some one horse tradr MRE’s….did not see much horse tradin with those 8 pound “Coyote” meals