MRE is mostly referred to as Meal Ready to Eat, such as one from XMRE. MRE is in itself a self-contained ration for an individual field. This ration is in lightweight packaging. The ration is bought for the service members of the United States military so that it can be used in several field conditions including combat, where facilities of food are not mostly available.
Historical accounts of the MRE Meals
MRE is predicted to replace LRP ration which was developed for the Rangers and Special Forces in Vietnam by the United States Army. Therefore MRE is intended to be used by soldiers of the forces.
As far as the MRE history is concerned, it digs all its way deeper to the periods of the civil wars. During the time period of the Revolutionary war, Congressional Revolution established a first military ration, specifically for soldiers. This ration consisted of enough feed for an individual soldier for one day. The food mostly included rice, beef, and peas.
The first MRE kits and their ingredients
However, when the Civil War struck the United States, the military had transitioned its food supplies towards canned feed. Moving on, the military started issuing self-contained food kits which were the complete solid ration for the individual person. These kits were termed as the whole ration and contained things like:
• Meat
• Bread
• Pork
• Coffee
• Salt
• Sugar
The lightweight requirement of the MRE
However, a twist came about in the First World War when the United States Army decided to replace the canned meat with the lightweight packages of the preserved meat. This is the time when the soldiers were also allowed to carry more ration. All this further lead to the introduction of the MRE ration that was lightweight and could be used by an individual soldier as a complete source of nutrition.
The developmental statistics of the MRE Meal
After the experiences of the First World War, the US military recognized the fact that providing a nutritionally complete meal was not the sole focus of individual rations. Most of the service officers also required other sub-ingredients due to the various humidity and temperature settings of the zone. This would ultimately make the food edible and tasty to eat in conditions of high atmospheric temperatures.
The military also focused on the underlying fact that if the tastes of every individual ranger and military guy were to be catered, then they could consume the whole ration along with its complete nutrition. This way the military could track down the total nutritional consumption of the rangers and warriors individually.
The heavy canned food replacement
So the military required alternatives to the heavy canned rations which were difficult for the Rangers to carry on foot during combat. A lighter nutritionally balanced ration was the military’s requirement at the time.
The ranger’s requirements on board
So finally in the 1963 Meal Ready to Eat was devised and the Department of Defense began to develop it. The whole idea behind the MRE was to create an individual ranger’s ration that would incorporate the modern packaging technologies. This would ultimately replace the heavy canned foods that were had for the soldiers to carry during combats.
