Beef Ravioli MRE Meal - Genuine US Military Surplus Inspection Date 2020 and Up

I purchased menu item #18, the Beef Ravioli item. If you ordered any other menu item, this review won't apply to you as the general contents change depending on the menu. The package was dated early 2016, so roughly 2.5 years old at the time, and they last about 5 years, so it was still fairly fresh. I'll list each of the contents below and describe them just a bit:· Beef Ravioli: The main entree. I'd say there was about as much of it as you'd find in a typical can of Chef Boyardee, maybe a little less. The raviolis themselves are quite small, but the sauce is quite meaty. Overall, it's actually really good, especially when heated with the included Flameless Ration Heater (FRH), which I'll talk about at the end. Kinda wish they'd just can it and sell it in supermarkets.· Chocolate Chip Toaster Pastry: In a rather large and sorta vacuum-sealed package, we have a single generic Chocolate Chip Pop-Tart. It's ever so slightly misshapen and squished, but it tastes very much like the name brand ones.· Raisins: As the name implies, the pack includes a deceptively large bag of raisins. I'm actually not much of a fan of raisins, but they seemed like any other raisin, albeit a bit moist. The bag contains far fewer raisins than its size would imply, maybe enough for a large handful or so.· Wheat Snack Bread: In my opinion, the weak link in the package, at least on its own. The bread came as a square chunk that can be broken into 4 long strips. The bread itself is very plain and flavorless, not to mention dry and almost crumbly. Largely unappetizing.· Jalapeno Cheese Spread: I'm fairly certain this was meant to be paired with the Wheat Snack Bread. It comes in a rather large squeezable pack, large enough to easily cover all of the Wheat Snack Bread. The spread itself is a bit like Cheese Wiz, but with a touch of jalapeno that really gives it that little kick that it needs. This spread is almost required on the Wheat Snack Bread in order to make it not unappetizing.· Orange Beverage Mix: Add to 12 fluid ounces (about half a canteen, apparently) to make a rather nice orange drink. It pretty much tastes exactly as you'd expect. Definitely a welcome item in this pack.· Tabasco Sauce: This kit includes a small squeezable tube of name-brand Tabasco sauce, if you're into that sort of thing.· Coffee: Like most MREs, this kit contains a packet of ground instant coffee, as well as some non-dairy creamer and a packet of Splenda sweetener. I'm told that the coffee tasted good.· Extras: The kit also included a packet of salt, a wad of napkins / toilet paper, a 2-pack of spearmint gum squares, a moist towelette, and a plastic spoon for either mixing the drinks or eating the ravioli.The kit also includes a Flameless Ration Heater (FRH). For whatever reason, I found the directions to be quite difficult to understand at first (I guess I can't read pictures too well), so I'll explain it here. Get the FRH bag, the Ravioli, and the cardboard sleeve / nutrition info piece that comes with the ration. Yes, the cardboard nutrition info is actually a sleeve that opens on one end and stays closed on the other. Next, tear the top little bit of the FRH bag off, and put the Ravioli bag into that. Then, take both the Ravioli and the white heating pouch from inside the FRH bag, lift them both up from the bottom of the bag, and add water to the bag until it comes up in between the two fill lines marked near the bottom of the bag (pouring water and holding the two items up is a bit tricky, so maybe just remove the items about put them back in after the water is added). After the water has been added, drop the Ravioli and the white heater pack all the way into the back. With the heater part on the bottom of the bag, insert it into the cardboard sleeve and fold the loose top part of the bag upwards and into the cardboard sleeve, making it into once nice little folded up piece. Keep this whole thing level on a flat surface for about one minute to let the water fully absorb into the heater pack. Lots of steam (and a little hydrogen gas) will soon start to pour out of the bag, meaning that it's working. After a minute, set the bag upright at an angle, and keep it propped like that for about 10 minutes (15 if you're in really cold weather).After all of that, the Ravioli is piping hot and ready to eat.In short, this is a fairly decent MRE overall. I'm personally not much of a fan of raisins, and the Wheat Snack Bread was awfully bland and boring, but the orange drink mix, cheese spread, and Ravioli are very good. I may have to keep some of these on hand in case of an emergency.

I remember eating this on the go while camping a weekend not too long ago.opened it and everything was in waterproof pouches,water never touches food while the water powered heater cooks food. So you could use bottled or another source just to activate heater,bottled or filtered water is a must since there was coffee and powdered juice in pouch.didnt need a bowl since spoon can be used to scoop it right out of the pouch. Very modern! Food was pretty good and I felt good after eating this!!! Good option if you don't plan on using stove and can't have a fire involved. Worth trying

Ordered the beef ravioli MRE. It came right on time. Packaged very well it came with a coffee mix, fruit punch, utensils, snacks, and dessert. A complete full meal in just one little bag, how awesome is that. It also comes with a heating bag that will heat up beef ravioli once you add water! Will be trying their other flavors!

Great product. Grilled Chicken breast and chicken pesto pasta were my favorite MREs when I was serving. Too bad the grilled chicken breast was discontinued.Shelf life is great on these products, about 5-10 years (based on if it's stored in a cold or hot area.

Mine came with ravioli, toasted corn nuggets, dried cranberries, some snack bread + condiments, orange juice mix, and I guess gum as the desert of the day since I didn't get any fully edible candy like I've heard comes in these. I haven't tried making coffee with the included packet yet.Ravioli: It's no Chef Boyardee but I think if you've been working a long day out in the field like the soldier/marine/sailor/airman eating this might be, it could still potentially taste like the best thing you've ever eaten. Tasted more like lasagna in my opinion. The heating packet method seemed kind of like a pain so I just microwaved it for a minute like I would with any other Ravioli and went from there.Toasted corn nuggets: Never seen anything like this before, it's like freezedried heavily salted corn. Edible for a few handfuls but not greatCranberries: Best part of the meal, not the same as eating regular fresh cranberries but still plenty of flavor and it was nice and chewy.Snack bread: Gross, very weird flavor, not sure if it was stale or this is just really gross bread in general. Not personally a fan of the included condiments either. There was a choice of cheese w/ bacon or pepper sauce. Didn't even try them, that whole portion of the meal just wasn't to my picky tastes at all.Orange juice: Pretty good, not that sweet but still sweet enough and very good flavor, reminds me of Tang. The packet says it's enough for a 12 oz cup which doesn't seem like a lot to wash this all down with, especially if you're working your way through that very very dry bread. Easily supplemented with water from a canteen though or that coffee mix that's included as well.The two pieces of gum were alright, very good strong flavor that didn't last that long but that's to be expected from Chiclet-type gum.I'm clearly a very picky eater and maybe I also got what one might consider an unlucky MRE based on what came(or did not come) with it. Or maybe ravioli MREs are never good, I know some MREs get a reputation among troops for being the one that nobody wants to get. I couldn't imagine eating this every day, I was mostly just curious about what the troops are actually eating and having to do to prepare it when they eat one of these so I picked the meal I was mostly like to prefer and ordered one just to try it. I think everybody should give one of these a try in their preferred meal just to experience it, it's a very interesting meal if nothing else.

Update:This is our 2nd MRE Chili. As always very tasty and excellent customer service. Always received on time. My son loves them. This is the 4th time we have ordered. Always GREAT!My 12 yr old had to have this. He's a military fan. He said it was delicious what he got to eat as our new puppy thought it was delicious too. So I will be ordering again.

Amazing how it's all put together, was tasty and easy to prepare, although the ravioli were a little dry but seasoned well.