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6 Veterans Choose Mouthwatering MRE Recipes

Meals Rejected by Everyone? These veterans made the reputedly inedible delicious

spinner image flame and blade soup
Flame and Blade
Photo: Scott Suchman; Food Stylist: Lisa Cherkasky

Troops have always groused about food. When the modern MREs (meals ready to eat) were introduced to the U.S. military in 1981, they were often maligned as “meals rejected by everyone.” A 1983 field evaluation with the Army’s 25th Infantry Division found that only 60 percent of MREs were consumed.

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You can subscribe here to AARP Veteran Report, a free e-newsletter published every two weeks. If you have feedback or a story idea then please contact us here.

But American service members are a resourceful bunch. They make the best out of a culinary challenge by bartering rations and coming up with creative combinations. These concoctions may have been a subject of mirth at the time, but now they stir up feelings of nostalgia and memories of camaraderie.

Here are six favorite recipes that use MREs, which can be purchased easily. Who knows? Some of these unique dishes might even be making an appearance at holiday dinners.

Flame and Blade

Trevor Snyder, from Whittier, California, served in the Army from 1998 to 2013 and was deployed to Iraq in 2003 and Afghanistan in 2009. He describes his recipe as a twisted take on the old-time staple Ranger Pudding. “I like to call it Flame and Blade pudding, named after the 63rd Infantry Division,” Snyder told AARP Veteran Report.

  • 1 packet hot cocoa powder
  • 1 packet coffee creamer
  • 1 packet sugar
  • 1 packet instant coffee from the MRE accessories bag
  • Water
  • 1 packet red pepper packet A, or cayenne pepper (kept from an old pizza order)
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In a cup, mix hot cocoa powder, coffee creamer, sugar and instant coffee with water. Add red pepper, stir until pudding consistency and enjoy. “The cayenne gave it a complementary kick to an otherwise tasteless pudding concoction,” Snyder said. 

spinner image beef stew
Beef Stew
Photo: Scott Suchman; Food Stylist: Lisa Cherkasky

Beef Stew

Laura Purdy, from Russellville, Kentucky, served as an Army physician for 14 years and was the surgeon for the 91st Civil Affairs Battalion, a special operations unit. “Beef stew was a popular creation in the field,” she told AARP Veteran Report. This meaty, cheesy concoction is classic comfort food.

  • 1 package Grilled Jalapeno Pepper Jack-Flavored Beef Patty
  • 1 package cheese spread
  • Hot sauce
  • Corn nuts or crackers

Heat up the beef patty, then cut it into bite sizes. Add cheese spread and hot sauce. Top with corn nuts or crackers.

spinner image beef tacos
5 Star Beef Taco
Photo: Scott Suchman; Food Stylist: Lisa Cherkasky

Five-Star Beef Taco

Marine Corps officer Samir Glenn-Roundtree of Philadelphia shared his go-to recipe in a How to Eat Like a Marine in the Field video for Vice, observing that beef jerky “takes your four-star MRE to a fifth star.”

  • 1 package beef ravioli
  • Hot sauce
  • 1 tortilla
  • 1 package of beef strips
  • Heat up the beef ravioli. Add hot sauce. Spread the beef ravioli onto a tortilla and top with beef strips. Fold the taco in half and dig in!
spinner image field pizza
Field Pizza
Photo: Scott Suchman; Food Stylist: Lisa Cherkasky

Field Pizza

Julio Medina, an Air Force veteran from Dubuque, Iowa, wrote a book called MRE Recipes: The Ultimate M.R.E. Recipe Cookbook and Guide. It is chockful of ideas for entrées, desserts and drinks. Before pizza was introduced in MRE No. 38, he came up with this recipe.

  • 1 packet Jalapeño Cheese Spread
  • 1 Wheat Snack Bread
  • 1 package of beef strips, chopped
  • Hot sauce to taste
  • Spread cheese over the bread. Top with chopped Beef Snack Strip. Add hot sauce, if desired. 
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Loaded Baked Potato
Photo: Scott Suchman; Food Stylist: Lisa Cherkasky

Loaded Baked Potato

Logan Nye, a former paratrooper with the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, from Lanham, Maryland, shared nine MRE recipes with the veteran-led website We Are the Mighty. His carb-lover’s potato dish could easily be served at a holiday dinner party:

  • 1 package garlic mashed potatoes
  • 1 packet bacon cheese spread
  • Hot sauce
  • Salt
  • Crackers (or vegetable crackers)
spinner image toasted cheese sandwich
Toasted Cheese Sandwich
Photo: Scott Suchman; Food Stylist: Lisa Cherkasky

Toasted Cheese Sandwich

This one predates MREs and was derived from the MCI (meal, combat, individual) ration, which troops referred to as C-Rats. Ron “Doc” Mosbaugh, from Joplin, Missouri, was a hospital corpsman master chief who served in Vietnam from 1966 to 1967. In his memoir Marine Down, Corpsman Up: Vietnam and PTSD, he recalled his favorite recipe:

  • 1 can bread from the B-3 unit
  • 1 can cheese from a B-2 unit

Open both cans, but do not take the lid off. Place both cans in an empty B-unit box. “Light the box on fire until it burned completely. Remove the bread and open it. Pour the melted cheese over the bread; viola, a toasted cheese sandwich,” he wrote. 

Heat up garlic mashed potatoes and mix in bacon cheese spread and hot sauce. Season with salt to taste. Crumble crackers and sprinkle over the top.

Bottom line: There are currently 24 MRE menus containing over 200 different ingredients. Simply add military ingenuity and the possibilities are limitless.

You can subscribe here to AARP Veteran Report, a free e-newsletter published every two weeks. If you have feedback or a story idea then please contact us here.

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