Your comment about making a paste with the coco powder brought back a memory from the late 80's early 90's when my dad would bring extra MRE's home. I would take the coco powder and add as little water as possible to make like a chocolate syrup and pour it over vanilla ice cream as a topping. Now I find myself really wanting a block of dried pears... Anyway, thank you for the memories. 😊
well done sir. I've only ever had 1 brown bag older MRE, can't remember which one, but contents were compromised. You guys are lucky to have friends and reviewers to send stuff to you. Also lucky to have army surplus stores. I'm a subscriber. Love your review style. (JediMindTricks on mreinfo forums)
I really enjoyed this review. The luck to have such perfection from 26 years ago... wow! I was drooling and craving corned beef hash from the moment you opened it.
If I had known that you'd never had the CBH I would have made sure to find you a good one. I just sent Emmy one that should be absolutely perfect. BTW You get lucky with the coffee alot. I have horrible luck with coffee from MREs.
Thanks Smokey. And, yeah, I was VERY surprised to see this Taster's Choice in great shape. Definitely a good indicator of how well this one was stored!
All of the original coffee instant and coffee instant type-1 & type-3 are always good as long as they haven't gotten real wet. It's the commercial packed Tasters choice that always go bad. None of us can figure out why those coffees always go bad.
I just recently got my hands on some 1993 MREs and that being the first year of the frh in the bag I thought you might be interested in getting one some time.
Def one of the better meals. Tasted good hot or cold, didn't give you heartburn, and a dash a salt and tabasco made it Outstanding. I always saved the grape jellies when I get them, every once in awhile you would get the old shelf stable bread and you could make PB&J's. We did have FRH's back then they were just packed separately in a 10 pack I think, hardly anyone ever used them since they had a high failure rate.
I know that our times in service were pretty close Gundog. I just missed getting the chance to try this one out. What an awesome replacement for the Ham and Chicken Loaf! It would be cool to find one of those old ten packs of early FRHs, not so much to try them out, but just because I don't believe I've ever seen one!
gschultz9 I’ve used one on my channel. They were cardboard inserts with I think 5 holes stamped in. The iron, magnesium, sodium filings used to always pool on the bottom of the bag. If I ever find another I’ll send it to you.
My dad's group liked to use those things more for mischief rather than actually using them for the MRE's because the failure rate. They'd usually just find some other way to heat it up if they even bothered to.
I noticed that mreinfo.com says that 93 is the first year for the thermo stabilized pouches of fruit but I think my 93 CBH has freeze dried fruit. I only feel one box in the bag which is the entrée. So I'm going on the feel but I think it has freeze dried fruit from what I can tell.
My guess (as I mentioned in the video) is that, even though TS fruits were listed as starting in 92 or 93, they probably had a lot of stock of the FD stuff on hand and decided to put it in until they ran out. Would actually be a good example of the government NOT wasting money! I was very surprised to find FD Strawberries in my 1995 Chili Mac.
Really enjoyed this review i love corned beef hash and eggs also. Thank you so much for an amazing review. You could do hour long ones and i will watch:)
Nice to see these older ones and so far it looks pretty fresh. I really want to try one of those freeze dried fruit. You gotta love it when you open crackers this old and they come out in pretty much in one piece. Cherry Cool-aid yummy. Love hot chocolate. I am happy this was stored properly and you get to eat it. Thanks for the great review
My Natick Labs soured told me the Tabasco Sauce was meant to get things going while eating MRE’S since the plumbing tends to get a tad stopped up. Did that work for you when you ate them???
Fruit block! Many good childhood memories, there. Mom sent me those and drink mixes along with whole mre's when she was in Saudi back in the day. I loved those fruit blocks, always wondered why they stopped those.
I know they must have figured that once they had the technology to add in wet pack fruit in retort pouches rather than freeze-dried it would be a win-win. I'm sure they never expected so many people (including myself) to have such fond memories of the freeze-dried fruit blocks!
They ARE finally coming out. Not sure if they've been put into GI MREs and issued to troops yet, but the Bridgford Pizza that's apparently going to be in them is now available for sale and found in some commercial MREs! I just might have a related video coming up soon...
this mre is delicious i had this one back when i was 15 a neighbor of ours was in the national guard and use to bring us mre's from his work. this packaging brings back memories from when i was in my teen years.
Another great review. The hash looks really chunky compared to canned. I think the red taster' s choice is the coffee that usually has dry mold, so the storage conditions must have been perfect.
Likely someone kept it in a stabilized environment, maybe an early prepper (i know the fad is older, but it seems to have picked up sometimes after the mid 2000s.) I know for a fact that stuff coming from preppers that know what they are doing is in the best condition it can be, and it seems some of them have smartened up to the MRE market (vis a vis reviews and eBay) and are now selling their old stock instead of eating or discarding it.
Very cool friend. I am glad it held up so well !! It is Your review, talk as much as you wish friend! You are always informative to us ! All items looked awesome sir. I am impressed !! Do not believe I have seen vintage meal hold up this well ever ! You lucked out!! The freeze dried fruit, I have never had. I see it most vintage reviews. Both in original state, and reconstituted. This must be what they based Kevlar on. It is bulletproof every time! I absolutely, respect those little bottles of Tabasco !!! Would be A lifesaver in Most rations. Sad part, even back then, too many artificial colors and dyes in the drinks! Foreign rations, taste better, without all the crap, LOL ! Very well stored ration no doubt! Once again, great ration, review, and, reviewer!! Peace, John.
Thanks a lot for all the kind words John! I'm glad to know there's a core group of subscribers who know how "talky" I am and actually don't mind. But of course we're living in a quick take world where anything over five minutes is an eternity! And yes, this MRE was a miracle of preservation! A GREAT example of what a 1992 MRE would have been like IN 1992!
Definitely! I really didn't have ANYTHING to complain about with this. The "worst" thing was the granular look of the beverage base powder (apparently due to some small amount of moisture or something), and that would be a VERY minor complaint. It still tasted fine!
Yes, Smokey, Steve1989 and I have all somewhat recently had CBH for the very first time, and we all lucked out with well-preserved examples of the dish!
@@gschultz9 The armed forces should take a cue from you MRE review guys and try to bring back the CBH. It was a hit with the boys when it was in circulation and you guys were loving it too.
If they're in god shape and have been stored well (at least as far as you know) you could think about selling them at the forums at MREInfo.com or on eBay.
Excellent trip back in time!!! The powder drink is always the crap shoot item when it comes to lasting the test of time. The humidity in the processing plant when the bulk products are first opened and on the production line can absorb that humidity. Seems like the first and last of that run goes bad over time because of this.
I really don't understand why you would watch a video about a specific ration or MRE if you're not interested in learning more about it. But hey, I've been around long enough to know some will.
I understand that they always want to put something "new" in when they discontinue stuff, but I do wonder if they'd ever consider bringing back something that was long discontinued, but had been popular. This one is probably the best example of something that should warrant a second look! Cheese and Veggie Omelet, not so much.
I miss the Tabasco bottles in the bags. I used to carry one or two in my pocket for patrol to wake me up, a few drops on the tongue and recap the bottle and your good to go.
It's such a simple thing and everyone seemed to like them, so it would seem like a good idea to bring them back. But I wonder if they see them as an "old" thing from the past and wouldn't want to bring it back in favor of "new" stuff.
It was one of the last MRE I ate when I was still in the Seabees and it was one of my favored ones but then I was one of the few that liked lima beans and ham
Yeah I miss the corn beef hash but loved the tuna al a king even more. Those you always made sure to get an extra Tabasco sauce to take the boring out of it. Very true on the freeze dried fruit I always liked it dry better.
I always gained weight out in the field in S. Korea. No body liked the corned beef except for me...I added the hot sauce and one of the crackers and ate like s king. I miss those days.
In Arizona, you can put an old, hard Tootsie Roll on you car dashboard for 2 or 3 minutes and it will soften nicely. Just remember to not leave it! That is a disaster!
The Tabasco looked a bit thin in my 92 Brown Bag but it was still spicey. The cheese was also spicey, not good. The rest of the ration was still perfect including the wet wipe. I like the Urinal Cake description, I think along the same lines with the chemical stuff you put in your motorhome toilet. It smells pleasant enough, but you wouldnt drink it.
I haven't had this one. I'm not vegetarian and I know that spinach tastes like grass, but... you can make a good pasta with spinach by using garlic, salt, pepper and heavy cream. Adding a hot sauce sounds like killing the awful taste just to make it edible.
But it was great for snacking on during long road marches and was a nice pick me up to have. It kept you from getting into your good stuff like the chocolate covered oatmeal cookie, oatmeal bar, cereal bar, etc.
Thought about it, but I ended up eating it too fast. Plus it was a monster chore to edit 55-plus minutes of raw footage down to 34 minutes. I couldn't imagine adding even MORE to it!
I hope that you don't get sick and wind up lying in bed with food poisoning if in doubt find a one that is up to date if not get a British one as British MRES might actually have corned beef hash.
Thanks for the concern, but believe me, I'm always careful with the old ones. I certainly don't want to get sick. This one was simply stored so well that it was in pretty much perfect shape! I generally don't eat the entire entree of MREs I review anymore (even the new ones) for health reasons, but this 26 year old one was just too good to waste!
Idk, I remember the 90's well so guess why I'm not too impressed, especially 92' the last month of which almost ruined my life at 13yrs old...sorry 92'-93' just brings back bad memory anytime hear the date. ANYwhoo very good review, if read this far, thanks.
MMMmmm YUM! I have always wanted to drink something that smells like a urinal cake 😑.I don't understand why these guys eat old expired and even sometimes rancid MRE's 😒
All MREs are subject to personal taste preferences, and none of them are true "gourmet" foods of course, but I have to say that I think this is the first time I've heard that opinion of the Corned Beef Hash!
I never get tired of watching the older MRE reviews. 2 thumbs up for your review.
Your comment about making a paste with the coco powder brought back a memory from the late 80's early 90's when my dad would bring extra MRE's home. I would take the coco powder and add as little water as possible to make like a chocolate syrup and pour it over vanilla ice cream as a topping. Now I find myself really wanting a block of dried pears... Anyway, thank you for the memories. 😊
well done sir. I've only ever had 1 brown bag older MRE, can't remember which one, but contents were compromised. You guys are lucky to have friends and reviewers to send stuff to you. Also lucky to have army surplus stores. I'm a subscriber. Love your review style. (JediMindTricks on mreinfo forums)
Not too wordy at all, loved your commentary! Thanks for sharing this video.
I really enjoyed this review. The luck to have such perfection from 26 years ago... wow! I was drooling and craving corned beef hash from the moment you opened it.
Love the glass transition
If I had known that you'd never had the CBH I would have made sure to find you a good one. I just sent Emmy one that should be absolutely perfect. BTW You get lucky with the coffee alot. I have horrible luck with coffee from MREs.
Thanks Smokey. And, yeah, I was VERY surprised to see this Taster's Choice in great shape. Definitely a good indicator of how well this one was stored!
ive only had a bad coffee out of a recently made MRE. it had a little tear. all the coffee instant type 1s were actually pretty good.
All of the original coffee instant and coffee instant type-1 & type-3 are always good as long as they haven't gotten real wet. It's the commercial packed Tasters choice that always go bad. None of us can figure out why those coffees always go bad.
I just recently got my hands on some 1993 MREs and that being the first year of the frh in the bag I thought you might be interested in getting one some time.
Def one of the better meals. Tasted good hot or cold, didn't give you heartburn, and a dash a salt and tabasco made it Outstanding. I always saved the grape jellies when I get them, every once in awhile you would get the old shelf stable bread and you could make PB&J's. We did have FRH's back then they were just packed separately in a 10 pack I think, hardly anyone ever used them since they had a high failure rate.
I know that our times in service were pretty close Gundog. I just missed getting the chance to try this one out. What an awesome replacement for the Ham and Chicken Loaf! It would be cool to find one of those old ten packs of early FRHs, not so much to try them out, but just because I don't believe I've ever seen one!
gschultz9 I’ve used one on my channel. They were cardboard inserts with I think 5 holes stamped in. The iron, magnesium, sodium filings used to always pool on the bottom of the bag. If I ever find another I’ll send it to you.
My dad's group liked to use those things more for mischief rather than actually using them for the MRE's because the failure rate. They'd usually just find some other way to heat it up if they even bothered to.
I'd love to do a vid on "other things you can do with a FRH" but in this day in age my channel would probably get banned LOL!
@@gundog4314 I've seen one video where an FRH was repurposed for a security device.
I was in 8th grade in 92 when a classmate bought one in for show and tell. That was my first time seeing and trying a MRE.
I noticed that mreinfo.com says that 93 is the first year for the thermo stabilized pouches of fruit but I think my 93 CBH has freeze dried fruit. I only feel one box in the bag which is the entrée. So I'm going on the feel but I think it has freeze dried fruit from what I can tell.
My guess (as I mentioned in the video) is that, even though TS fruits were listed as starting in 92 or 93, they probably had a lot of stock of the FD stuff on hand and decided to put it in until they ran out. Would actually be a good example of the government NOT wasting money! I was very surprised to find FD Strawberries in my 1995 Chili Mac.
Really enjoyed this review i love corned beef hash and eggs also. Thank you so much for an amazing review. You could do hour long ones and i will watch:)
Thank you Sharon! You know, I went out for breakfast yesterday and ordered...Hash and Eggs!
Nice to see these older ones and so far it looks pretty fresh. I really want to try one of those freeze dried fruit. You gotta love it when you open crackers this old and they come out in pretty much in one piece. Cherry Cool-aid yummy. Love hot chocolate. I am happy this was stored properly and you get to eat it. Thanks for the great review
Oatmeal bar we used to call it a track pad, it was that hard.
This was one of my favorite menus when I was a kid, playing army! I still mills the oatmeal cookie bar!
Great review, gschultz! Looked like a solid meal
Thanks, Andovarius, it was a GREAT meal!
My Natick Labs soured told me the Tabasco Sauce was meant to get things going while eating MRE’S since the plumbing tends to get a tad stopped up. Did that work for you when you ate them???
Fruit block!
Many good childhood memories, there. Mom sent me those and drink mixes along with whole mre's when she was in Saudi back in the day. I loved those fruit blocks, always wondered why they stopped those.
I know they must have figured that once they had the technology to add in wet pack fruit in retort pouches rather than freeze-dried it would be a win-win. I'm sure they never expected so many people (including myself) to have such fond memories of the freeze-dried fruit blocks!
Gschultz9 thanks for your service to our country.
You're welcome Roger. Thank you for saying so!
Do pizza MRE's exist yet? If so, are you planning on trying one?
They ARE finally coming out. Not sure if they've been put into GI MREs and issued to troops yet, but the Bridgford Pizza that's apparently going to be in them is now available for sale and found in some commercial MREs! I just might have a related video coming up soon...
this mre is delicious i had this one back when i was 15 a neighbor of ours was in the national guard and use to bring us mre's from his work. this packaging brings back memories from when i was in my teen years.
Another great review. The hash looks really chunky compared to canned. I think the red taster' s choice is the coffee that usually has dry mold, so the storage conditions must have been perfect.
Likely someone kept it in a stabilized environment, maybe an early prepper (i know the fad is older, but it seems to have picked up sometimes after the mid 2000s.)
I know for a fact that stuff coming from preppers that know what they are doing is in the best condition it can be, and it seems some of them have smartened up to the MRE market (vis a vis reviews and eBay) and are now selling their old stock instead of eating or discarding it.
Very cool friend. I am glad it held up so well !! It is Your review, talk as much as you wish friend! You are always informative to us ! All items looked awesome sir. I am impressed !! Do not believe I have seen vintage meal hold up this well ever ! You lucked out!! The freeze dried fruit, I have never had. I see it most vintage reviews. Both in original state, and reconstituted. This must be what they based Kevlar on. It is bulletproof every time! I absolutely, respect those little bottles of Tabasco !!! Would be A lifesaver in Most rations. Sad part, even back then, too many artificial colors and dyes in the drinks! Foreign rations, taste better, without all the crap, LOL ! Very well stored ration no doubt! Once again, great ration, review, and, reviewer!! Peace, John.
Thanks a lot for all the kind words John! I'm glad to know there's a core group of subscribers who know how "talky" I am and actually don't mind. But of course we're living in a quick take world where anything over five minutes is an eternity! And yes, this MRE was a miracle of preservation! A GREAT example of what a 1992 MRE would have been like IN 1992!
Always kind words for you and fellow reviewers Friend !!! Peace, If I can ever be of help, just ask sir. John.
You got a few good gems in this one!
Definitely! I really didn't have ANYTHING to complain about with this. The "worst" thing was the granular look of the beverage base powder (apparently due to some small amount of moisture or something), and that would be a VERY minor complaint. It still tasted fine!
Where did you find your mess tray at?
Cast iron gut.. i had a surplus one while in the scouts backpacking campouts I remember it to be one of the better ones
Seems like that should be a staple like chili, spaghetti, and stew, chili mac. Amazing preservation, like the one Oldsmokey opened.
Yes, Smokey, Steve1989 and I have all somewhat recently had CBH for the very first time, and we all lucked out with well-preserved examples of the dish!
@@gschultz9 The armed forces should take a cue from you MRE review guys and try to bring back the CBH. It was a hit with the boys when it was in circulation and you guys were loving it too.
I have a entire box of theses not shure what to do with them lol. Wondering how to get rid of them?
If they're in god shape and have been stored well (at least as far as you know) you could think about selling them at the forums at MREInfo.com or on eBay.
gschultz9 thank you I'll look into it my father in law recently passed away and we have lots of mre. I Will defiantly look into it
And thay have been stored well
Excellent trip back in time!!!
The powder drink is always the crap shoot item when it comes to lasting the test of time. The humidity in the processing plant when the bulk products are first opened and on the production line can absorb that humidity. Seems like the first and last of that run goes bad over time because of this.
I really don't understand why you would watch a video about a specific ration or MRE if you're not interested in learning more about it. But hey, I've been around long enough to know some will.
I really liked the corned beef hash in the C Rats.
I wish they'd bring these old menu items back.
I understand that they always want to put something "new" in when they discontinue stuff, but I do wonder if they'd ever consider bringing back something that was long discontinued, but had been popular. This one is probably the best example of something that should warrant a second look! Cheese and Veggie Omelet, not so much.
Why did the military give you MREs that were a year old?
What did you do on the service and what branch were you in @gshultz9
Army, Infantry.
I miss the Tabasco bottles in the bags. I used to carry one or two in my pocket for patrol to wake me up, a few drops on the tongue and recap the bottle and your good to go.
I was at Ft Leonard Wood for basic and AIT from Oct 93 to March 94. Corned Beef was the best.
This was my favorite MRE. To this day I still eat cold Corned Beef Hash with Tabasco sauce.
Yum Yum!
Semper Fi!
USMC 1900-1994
Thank you for your service!
1900? Are you an immortal?
Semper Fi Devil Dog
@@Anomaly188 1990 typo lol
Great video ....love it love it so much
I just got back from the field and a gunny let us take a couple of boxes come.
Of MREs? That's cool! Well, at least as long as you like them anyway!
Yea we even got to take some enhancements home since it was gonna be thrown out anyways
That was awesome. Amazing condition and looked like a great meal
What a treat this one was!
I miss the old oatmeal bars wish they would bring them back
It's such a simple thing and everyone seemed to like them, so it would seem like a good idea to bring them back. But I wonder if they see them as an "old" thing from the past and wouldn't want to bring it back in favor of "new" stuff.
It was one of the last MRE I ate when I was still in the Seabees and it was one of my favored ones but then I was one of the few that liked lima beans and ham
Let's get this out onto a tray. Nice!
Yeah I miss the corn beef hash but loved the tuna al a king even more. Those you always made sure to get an extra Tabasco sauce to take the boring out of it. Very true on the freeze dried fruit I always liked it dry better.
score! cool ration buddy!
Thanks Ben. This was a lot of fun to do!
I always gained weight out in the field in S. Korea. No body liked the corned beef except for me...I added the hot sauce and one of the crackers and ate like s king. I miss those days.
In Arizona, you can put an old, hard Tootsie Roll on you car dashboard for 2 or 3 minutes and it will soften nicely. Just remember to not leave it! That is a disaster!
mmmm corned beef hash!
The Tabasco looked a bit thin in my 92 Brown Bag but it was still spicey. The cheese was also spicey, not good. The rest of the ration was still perfect including the wet wipe. I like the Urinal Cake description, I think along the same lines with the chemical stuff you put in your motorhome toilet. It smells pleasant enough, but you wouldnt drink it.
Great review man!
Thank you!
Why on earth they got rid of those dehydrated fruit packs is beyond me. Hands down one of the top MRE foods in history
Nice!
Thank you!
One mre. I have. Bem looking for good one
I haven't had this one. I'm not vegetarian and I know that spinach tastes like grass, but... you can make a good pasta with spinach by using garlic, salt, pepper and heavy cream. Adding a hot sauce sounds like killing the awful taste just to make it edible.
Nice to see a vintage MRE where NONE of the food is skunked!
That fruit looks wild.
But it was great for snacking on during long road marches and was a nice pick me up to have. It kept you from getting into your good stuff like the chocolate covered oatmeal cookie, oatmeal bar, cereal bar, etc.
Was this reviewed because St Patrick's Day is next week? or just a coincidence?
Oh man, I should have waited to post it until next week! It WAS just a coincidence, but i wish I had thought of that!
hi i have a 1995 brown bag mre i bought from an antique store in new bedford id like to send you if you are interested.
Send me a PM if you'd like to discuss it!
don't apologise for talking too much. youtube has a fast forward option the whiners should learn to use it.
This makes me so hungry.
Nice!!
Even the tray you eat upon looks vintage...
awww dude i was waiting for that egg...
Thought about it, but I ended up eating it too fast. Plus it was a monster chore to edit 55-plus minutes of raw footage down to 34 minutes. I couldn't imagine adding even MORE to it!
U can tell it's official military and not civilian as it includes matches civilian ones do not
Looked well tasty 😋
It was indeed!
NICE
Thanks Michael!
I hope that you don't get sick and wind up lying in bed with food poisoning if in doubt find a one that is up to date if not get a British one as British MRES might actually have corned beef hash.
Thanks for the concern, but believe me, I'm always careful with the old ones. I certainly don't want to get sick. This one was simply stored so well that it was in pretty much perfect shape! I generally don't eat the entire entree of MREs I review anymore (even the new ones) for health reasons, but this 26 year old one was just too good to waste!
I think the corned beef hash was very good
After FINALLY getting the chance to try it out, I would agree!
I like corned beef hash, but i prefer the roast beef more.
Lefty like me
Idk, I remember the 90's well so guess why I'm not too impressed, especially 92' the last month of which almost ruined my life at 13yrs old...sorry 92'-93' just brings back bad memory anytime hear the date. ANYwhoo very good review, if read this far, thanks.
Sorry to hear that the time was so bad for you F. Hey, at least it produced a real kick-ass MRE entree!
MMMmmm YUM! I have always wanted to drink something that smells like a urinal cake 😑.I don't understand why these guys eat old expired and even sometimes rancid MRE's 😒
In
Corned Beef Hash was horrible......... Even when it was fresh....
All MREs are subject to personal taste preferences, and none of them are true "gourmet" foods of course, but I have to say that I think this is the first time I've heard that opinion of the Corned Beef Hash!