**A Custom MRE Experience: Exploring the World of Military Rations**

As I sat down to enjoy my custom MRE, I couldn't help but think about how much I've come to love tasting these military rations. There's something fascinating about understanding the cultural context and history behind each meal, even if it's just a packet of food. The process of customizing my own MRE was both exciting and intimidating, but ultimately, it paid off in a big way.

My first attempt at cooking my MRE was a bit of a letdown. I had opted for the plain option, and while it was warm and comforting, it lacked a certain je ne sais quoi. The bread was dense and slightly chewy, with a tomato sauce that felt more like an afterthought than a integral part of the dish. But, as I later discovered, adding some toppings could really elevate the experience.

I began by sprinkling some parmesan cheese on top, which added a rich, salty flavor to the dish. Next, I added some Italian seasoning, which brought out notes of oregano and basil that complemented the tomato sauce nicely. But it wasn't until I added a dash of tabasco that things really started to come together. The acidity of the vinegar helped cut through the richness of the cheese and sauce, leaving me with a dish that was both spicy and satisfying.

**A Sweet Finale: Sugar Cookies and Mentos**

But just as I thought my MRE experience couldn't get any better, it took a delightful turn into dessert territory. My sugar cookie was a sweet surprise, with a crunchy exterior giving way to a soft, chewy interior. It was clear that these were not your average cookies – they had a certain European flair that set them apart from the bland, mass-produced treats I'm used to.

As I bit into one of the cookies, I was struck by the sudden transformation it underwent in the presence of hot coffee or tea. The cookie, which felt meh on its own, suddenly became sublime as the warmth and flavors melded together. It was a testament to the power of pairing opposites – in this case, the sweetness of the cookie with the bitterness of the coffee.

And speaking of contrasting flavors, I decided to try out some Mentos for the first time. The orange version caught me off guard – it tasted exactly like an Orange Starburst! But what really impressed me was the subtle taffy-like texture that gave way to a hard candy coating on the outside. It was like nothing I'd ever experienced before.

**A Note from the Creator**

I want to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to those who made this video possible – Black Bob, Gundog, and all the lovely people who helped me along the way. Your contributions were invaluable, and I'm so glad that they're shared with the world. To everyone watching, thank you for joining me on this culinary adventure. If you enjoyed it as much as I did, be sure to share it with your friends and family – and don't forget to subscribe!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: engreetings my beautiful lovelies hello it's emmy welcome back today i'm going to be unboxing this package so this was sent to me by black dog bob and i was sent an email saying that i should probably film the unboxing because it was something special so first things first big thanks to bob for sending this to me bob has sent me so many wonderful mres international ones rare ones so if you haven't seen them i will direct you to the playlist there and there so thanks bob so let's open this up and see what's inside all right all righty let's see what this is oh it feels plasticky there's like a note i think in there oh my gosh it's my own mre i do believe that is my face oh my gosh that is awesome so there's a little note it says emmy before reviewing this ration please contact either me or gundog thanks bob yes look at this this is an mre it feels absolutely legit from the plastic with my face on it emmy made in japan mrv with the pepperoni yes i'm so excited i've been wanting to try the pepperoni pizza for so long this is so exciting i'm gonna get in touch with gundog and black dog bob and get more information about this before i consume it because i was told to do so so that was the unboxing and i will be back to do the tasting portion and now i'm back to taste it so as i was putting my hand into the other bag to pull this out the weight of the plastic the mill of the plastic feels exactly the same it's the same tough really thick durable plastic same tan color just happens to have my face and name on it it's a peelable seal let's see if i can peel it and again oh thank you that opened with much satisfaction just need a nice swift yank on it and look it's filled with all kinds of treats all right let's here we go oh my goodness look at this first thing i noticed there's not a specific little sundries bag lots of small things instead so let's separate these out and see what i've got asian trail mix i've got a bridge for pepperoni pizza actually two bridge for pepperoni pizzas with cheese and sauce these look like they are identical a sugar cookie and i've got some candy looks like it's hard coated chocolate mint thanks bob i love mint and chocolate a vanilla latte here's some chunky peanut butter here is a tortilla plain which can go with my chunky peanut butter so there is an accessories kit it just comes in a different kind of packaging so this is a little ziploc probably reusable bag and it lists everything that's in there and there's some parmesan cheese for my pizza these are italian spices here's my tropical punch here is the flameless ration heater this one looks a little bit different than the ones i've seen before but i think in terms of use it's going to be exactly the same a hot beverage bag let's open the accessories kit first lost my cookies okay i like that this bag is reusable okay great got orange mentos great never had that before here's some creole seasoning here's another mint so we have an orange and a regular mint mentos i love mint mentos i can eat the entire roll of those couple sugar packets full non-dairy creamers here's my matches these are green tipped oh tabasco packet nice one pack of pepper one packet of salt this is a wet nap little towelette another sugar a nice big napkin plastic spoon toothpick and taster's choice hazelnut coffee because i like the light matches let's test out our matches you can strike them this way yes we have fire or we can strike them this way we have fire and let's wipe my hands with a wet nap and oh i love that i always sniff the wet naps because i have memories associated with wet naps and fried chicken when i was a kid my mom used to take me to kfc and they'd have these lemon wet naps love them and this is exactly the same it smells like lemon joy dish soap love that smell just because it reminds me of kentucky fried chicken and my mom all right so clean up my hands all the brichard breads and sandwiches are all ready to eat so i don't necessarily need to heat this up but i think it will taste infinitely better warmed here's the ration heater i'm gonna tear it right here slip the entree in there now we're gonna add our water not much just like three tablespoons between between the lines and already i can hear it sizzling already it's reacting and i'm going to fold it up swish it up and usually you put this back into the entree box i don't have whoa look at it puff i'm going to let it do its thing all right so while the entree is heating up let's taste some other things let's taste the tortillas so there are the tortillas remove that two tortillas they look and they smell exactly like the tortillas that you buy in the store exactly a little bit of a yeasty sour smell to them i'm gonna have that with a little bit of chunky peanut butter give that a fold for a nice fast snack all right itadakimasu it's not bad i'm not a huge peanut butter fan but having said that this is still not bad the tortilla is pretty supple and soft tastes just like a regular flour tortilla and then you've got some salty chunky peanut butter in the middle quick and easy way to get some quick protein and carbs in you you can eat it one hand and you can eat it while you're doing other things so for that i give it points for taste and flavor but i am not a huge peanut butter hand so if you are this is probably excellent so the hot beverage bag gives you directions on how to make your coffee or hot beverage in the bag and then place this into the ration heater my ration heater is currently occupied and from past experience when i put multiple things in a flameless ration heater i found that it doesn't heat nearly as well one item is always typically colder just because of the way the ration heater works there's only one thing that can have direct contact with that little pad that's in there so i've never really had much success heating multiple things in one bag so while my water is heating up i'm gonna go ahead and make my other beverages eight ounces of water and that's about a third of a canteen cup tropical punch oh it smells just like hawaiian punch it smells great very narrow opening here so i'm going to pour carefully now seal it really well i think it was in one of my canadian imps i made a beverage powder and i'm like oh make sure you seal it and i shook it and just proceeded to spill all over the place slightly embarrassing but fun all right zipper is zipped now i'm going to shake let's see how well this mixed this up this is great it mixed it perfectly there are no chunks of powder or anything it's perfectly clear there's no sugar settled at the bottom excellent all right let's give our punch a taste here we go cheers and tastes exactly like remember tastes just like hawaiian punch but i actually like this better it is not as coolingly sweet and strong as hawaiian punch it doesn't like burn your throat i always felt that when i drink too much wine punch my throat always felt a little bit burny this is actually much more like a fruit punch flavored actually tropical punch flavored electrolyte drink so it's a little bit lighter it's a little bit more acidic and yeah very quenching and it's perfectly red as well to make my coffee all right so these are just freeze-dried coffee crystals now i'm going to add one-third of a canteen cups worth it smells great i don't usually have my coffee with sugar but when in rome and then i'm gonna add some creamer as well non-dairy so i don't have to worry about lactose intolerance so i'll add about half a packet i don't know what the heck i'll add the whole thing okay coffee time oh that's hot hot coffee and that's great i love the fact that this includes a hazelnut coffee as opposed to the regular coffee a nice little change up a little bit of variety and it's a hot cup of coffee i've never had asian trail mix before in fact i don't even know if they have trail mix in asia so i'm curious to see what makes this asian oh i see i see i see this is a little like japanese snack mix so these have little japanese rice crackers along with peanuts and roasted peas wasabi peas and little bits of nori but what i love about the snacks are the variety you've got different shapes different textures different crunches different flavors and these ones are peanuts so these are coated with a crunchy a little bit sweet coating on the outside now the sweet is say like an m m definitely savory and then they've got a peanut in the middle so what i like also about this snack is that it's a savory snack traditional trail mixes often contain dried fruit and chocolate so they're more like a dessert but i love savory snacks and that's definitely what this is yum love the snack mix flip it so for the vanilla latte it says add six ounces of hot water about a quarter canteen cups worth so let's do that a little less water than the coffee yes yes yes yes so seal that up very tightly because now this water is gonna be hot i'm gonna roll it for added insurance and shake it all right let's see how well this blended up oh look at that color kinda wasn't expecting it to be that color but this is a latte so presumably there's some coffee in here here we go cheers oh that's sweet mmm but it's like dessert it's like a hot watery milkshake it's good it does taste processed it does taste of dry milk powder and vanilla flavoring but somehow in its syrupy sacrini dairiedness it's good let me go grab my pizza oh it has that signature ration heater smell there's the heater i'm gonna dispose of that i'm gonna go give my bag a rinse okay here we go there's the pizza oh my goodness look at this it kind of looks like a slightly dehydrated mini version of the pizza that was served to you in cafeteria at school at hot lunges the cheese is odd because it's not melted although it does have some kind of broiled look to it and the pieces of pepperoni are like the school hot lunches as well they're cute look at that oh don't eat that i'm glad i found that the crust looks like it's almost laminated look it has layers of it and this is warm which is great the bridge for breads i've noticed tend to be a little bit doughy all right i'm gonna try it plain first and then i'm gonna have it with the toppings all right here we go itadakimasu and that tastes like a pizza it's not a delicious pizza but it tastes like a pizza the bread is pretty doughy and dense and slightly chewy but it is warm and has tomato sauce on it and little bits of pepperoni it's not bad it's not delicious but it certainly scratches that craving for pizza now let's try it with the toppings i'm gonna add some parmesan cheese is the stuff that comes in the green can sprinkle that on that'll give it some extra cheesy pungency oh man it has that same stinky smell and i'm gonna add some extra italian spice so that's probably got some oregano in it some basil and because i have it and i love heat i'm gonna add a little bit of tabasco this is really gonna change it because tabasco is very vinegary but i love heat i always put chili flakes on my pizza so now let's have it doctored up here we go yes so those added comments and the act of actually customizing your own pizza really really helped this a lot you get a little bit more cheesy funk in there you've got a little bit heightened more flavor from the oregano and basil makes it feel a little bit fresher and then you've got the kick of the tabasco it does make it a little bit different because it's acidic but that little bit of bright tanginess really enlivens this pizza and i think it surely needs it definitely a great idea to add those condiments on there as well now let's finish off with our dessert and this is my sugar cookie here it is cute it's like a little sandwich cookie or they're two cookies i'm not sure if they're two separate cookies or yes two separate cookies they almost look like the almond cookies i used to eat when i was a kid coughing mhm yeah uh-huh there's something about a hot beverage coffee or tea that transforms a kind of meh cookie into something that can be utterly sublime it's a transformation of the cookie from being crunchy to just being soaked up with that coffee-ness even if the coffee and the cookie aren't that great it's that combination of hot and dried and it's just a match made in heaven these cookies are just sugar cookies they taste just like the ones that you buy on a flat at the grocery store but it really is nice to finish off your meal with something a little bit sweet and hot candy hard coated chocolate mint look how chewy that is they're very minty smelling i've never seen candies like this before they almost look like candies that you can find in europe or something look at these colors those are great super minty just a touch of chocolate it's mostly mint they taste like a candy coated version of junior mints that's what they like kind of less on the chocolate but more about the mint and the fondant in the middle very very pepperminty cooling but crunchy rather than soft delicious so mentos particularly the peppermint mint mentos are my favorite i buy these all the time they've got a candy coating on the outside that's thin and then inside you've got this chewy slightly fluffy interior that's full of minty flavor and sugar delicious love those but i've never had the orange version before so here is the mentos they look actually kind of similar to the mint candies but this doesn't have the glossy finish all right let's give that a go let me show what looks like the inside and that's great it tastes exactly like an orange starburst it's not a sticky in texture but it is kind of taffy like a starburst and of course it has a hard candy coating on the outside love it alrighty so that was my custom mre and it was excellent so much fun so much thought that was put into it thank you so much black bob thank you gundog and thank you guys so much for watching i hope you guys enjoyed that one i hope you guys learned something i absolutely adore tasting these military rations mres i feel like i learned so much about just culture simply through food please share this video with your friends follow me on social media so you can get little updates about my life including my chicks my chicks are getting so stinking big and my bees and yeah subscribe and i shall see you in my next video oh check out my other channel too emmy made where i share longer vlogs and things about my chicks and my v's all right i'll see you in the next one too take care bye um attractive attractivegreetings my beautiful lovelies hello it's emmy welcome back today i'm going to be unboxing this package so this was sent to me by black dog bob and i was sent an email saying that i should probably film the unboxing because it was something special so first things first big thanks to bob for sending this to me bob has sent me so many wonderful mres international ones rare ones so if you haven't seen them i will direct you to the playlist there and there so thanks bob so let's open this up and see what's inside all right all righty let's see what this is oh it feels plasticky there's like a note i think in there oh my gosh it's my own mre i do believe that is my face oh my gosh that is awesome so there's a little note it says emmy before reviewing this ration please contact either me or gundog thanks bob yes look at this this is an mre it feels absolutely legit from the plastic with my face on it emmy made in japan mrv with the pepperoni yes i'm so excited i've been wanting to try the pepperoni pizza for so long this is so exciting i'm gonna get in touch with gundog and black dog bob and get more information about this before i consume it because i was told to do so so that was the unboxing and i will be back to do the tasting portion and now i'm back to taste it so as i was putting my hand into the other bag to pull this out the weight of the plastic the mill of the plastic feels exactly the same it's the same tough really thick durable plastic same tan color just happens to have my face and name on it it's a peelable seal let's see if i can peel it and again oh thank you that opened with much satisfaction just need a nice swift yank on it and look it's filled with all kinds of treats all right let's here we go oh my goodness look at this first thing i noticed there's not a specific little sundries bag lots of small things instead so let's separate these out and see what i've got asian trail mix i've got a bridge for pepperoni pizza actually two bridge for pepperoni pizzas with cheese and sauce these look like they are identical a sugar cookie and i've got some candy looks like it's hard coated chocolate mint thanks bob i love mint and chocolate a vanilla latte here's some chunky peanut butter here is a tortilla plain which can go with my chunky peanut butter so there is an accessories kit it just comes in a different kind of packaging so this is a little ziploc probably reusable bag and it lists everything that's in there and there's some parmesan cheese for my pizza these are italian spices here's my tropical punch here is the flameless ration heater this one looks a little bit different than the ones i've seen before but i think in terms of use it's going to be exactly the same a hot beverage bag let's open the accessories kit first lost my cookies okay i like that this bag is reusable okay great got orange mentos great never had that before here's some creole seasoning here's another mint so we have an orange and a regular mint mentos i love mint mentos i can eat the entire roll of those couple sugar packets full non-dairy creamers here's my matches these are green tipped oh tabasco packet nice one pack of pepper one packet of salt this is a wet nap little towelette another sugar a nice big napkin plastic spoon toothpick and taster's choice hazelnut coffee because i like the light matches let's test out our matches you can strike them this way yes we have fire or we can strike them this way we have fire and let's wipe my hands with a wet nap and oh i love that i always sniff the wet naps because i have memories associated with wet naps and fried chicken when i was a kid my mom used to take me to kfc and they'd have these lemon wet naps love them and this is exactly the same it smells like lemon joy dish soap love that smell just because it reminds me of kentucky fried chicken and my mom all right so clean up my hands all the brichard breads and sandwiches are all ready to eat so i don't necessarily need to heat this up but i think it will taste infinitely better warmed here's the ration heater i'm gonna tear it right here slip the entree in there now we're gonna add our water not much just like three tablespoons between between the lines and already i can hear it sizzling already it's reacting and i'm going to fold it up swish it up and usually you put this back into the entree box i don't have whoa look at it puff i'm going to let it do its thing all right so while the entree is heating up let's taste some other things let's taste the tortillas so there are the tortillas remove that two tortillas they look and they smell exactly like the tortillas that you buy in the store exactly a little bit of a yeasty sour smell to them i'm gonna have that with a little bit of chunky peanut butter give that a fold for a nice fast snack all right itadakimasu it's not bad i'm not a huge peanut butter fan but having said that this is still not bad the tortilla is pretty supple and soft tastes just like a regular flour tortilla and then you've got some salty chunky peanut butter in the middle quick and easy way to get some quick protein and carbs in you you can eat it one hand and you can eat it while you're doing other things so for that i give it points for taste and flavor but i am not a huge peanut butter hand so if you are this is probably excellent so the hot beverage bag gives you directions on how to make your coffee or hot beverage in the bag and then place this into the ration heater my ration heater is currently occupied and from past experience when i put multiple things in a flameless ration heater i found that it doesn't heat nearly as well one item is always typically colder just because of the way the ration heater works there's only one thing that can have direct contact with that little pad that's in there so i've never really had much success heating multiple things in one bag so while my water is heating up i'm gonna go ahead and make my other beverages eight ounces of water and that's about a third of a canteen cup tropical punch oh it smells just like hawaiian punch it smells great very narrow opening here so i'm going to pour carefully now seal it really well i think it was in one of my canadian imps i made a beverage powder and i'm like oh make sure you seal it and i shook it and just proceeded to spill all over the place slightly embarrassing but fun all right zipper is zipped now i'm going to shake let's see how well this mixed this up this is great it mixed it perfectly there are no chunks of powder or anything it's perfectly clear there's no sugar settled at the bottom excellent all right let's give our punch a taste here we go cheers and tastes exactly like remember tastes just like hawaiian punch but i actually like this better it is not as coolingly sweet and strong as hawaiian punch it doesn't like burn your throat i always felt that when i drink too much wine punch my throat always felt a little bit burny this is actually much more like a fruit punch flavored actually tropical punch flavored electrolyte drink so it's a little bit lighter it's a little bit more acidic and yeah very quenching and it's perfectly red as well to make my coffee all right so these are just freeze-dried coffee crystals now i'm going to add one-third of a canteen cups worth it smells great i don't usually have my coffee with sugar but when in rome and then i'm gonna add some creamer as well non-dairy so i don't have to worry about lactose intolerance so i'll add about half a packet i don't know what the heck i'll add the whole thing okay coffee time oh that's hot hot coffee and that's great i love the fact that this includes a hazelnut coffee as opposed to the regular coffee a nice little change up a little bit of variety and it's a hot cup of coffee i've never had asian trail mix before in fact i don't even know if they have trail mix in asia so i'm curious to see what makes this asian oh i see i see i see this is a little like japanese snack mix so these have little japanese rice crackers along with peanuts and roasted peas wasabi peas and little bits of nori but what i love about the snacks are the variety you've got different shapes different textures different crunches different flavors and these ones are peanuts so these are coated with a crunchy a little bit sweet coating on the outside now the sweet is say like an m m definitely savory and then they've got a peanut in the middle so what i like also about this snack is that it's a savory snack traditional trail mixes often contain dried fruit and chocolate so they're more like a dessert but i love savory snacks and that's definitely what this is yum love the snack mix flip it so for the vanilla latte it says add six ounces of hot water about a quarter canteen cups worth so let's do that a little less water than the coffee yes yes yes yes so seal that up very tightly because now this water is gonna be hot i'm gonna roll it for added insurance and shake it all right let's see how well this blended up oh look at that color kinda wasn't expecting it to be that color but this is a latte so presumably there's some coffee in here here we go cheers oh that's sweet mmm but it's like dessert it's like a hot watery milkshake it's good it does taste processed it does taste of dry milk powder and vanilla flavoring but somehow in its syrupy sacrini dairiedness it's good let me go grab my pizza oh it has that signature ration heater smell there's the heater i'm gonna dispose of that i'm gonna go give my bag a rinse okay here we go there's the pizza oh my goodness look at this it kind of looks like a slightly dehydrated mini version of the pizza that was served to you in cafeteria at school at hot lunges the cheese is odd because it's not melted although it does have some kind of broiled look to it and the pieces of pepperoni are like the school hot lunches as well they're cute look at that oh don't eat that i'm glad i found that the crust looks like it's almost laminated look it has layers of it and this is warm which is great the bridge for breads i've noticed tend to be a little bit doughy all right i'm gonna try it plain first and then i'm gonna have it with the toppings all right here we go itadakimasu and that tastes like a pizza it's not a delicious pizza but it tastes like a pizza the bread is pretty doughy and dense and slightly chewy but it is warm and has tomato sauce on it and little bits of pepperoni it's not bad it's not delicious but it certainly scratches that craving for pizza now let's try it with the toppings i'm gonna add some parmesan cheese is the stuff that comes in the green can sprinkle that on that'll give it some extra cheesy pungency oh man it has that same stinky smell and i'm gonna add some extra italian spice so that's probably got some oregano in it some basil and because i have it and i love heat i'm gonna add a little bit of tabasco this is really gonna change it because tabasco is very vinegary but i love heat i always put chili flakes on my pizza so now let's have it doctored up here we go yes so those added comments and the act of actually customizing your own pizza really really helped this a lot you get a little bit more cheesy funk in there you've got a little bit heightened more flavor from the oregano and basil makes it feel a little bit fresher and then you've got the kick of the tabasco it does make it a little bit different because it's acidic but that little bit of bright tanginess really enlivens this pizza and i think it surely needs it definitely a great idea to add those condiments on there as well now let's finish off with our dessert and this is my sugar cookie here it is cute it's like a little sandwich cookie or they're two cookies i'm not sure if they're two separate cookies or yes two separate cookies they almost look like the almond cookies i used to eat when i was a kid coughing mhm yeah uh-huh there's something about a hot beverage coffee or tea that transforms a kind of meh cookie into something that can be utterly sublime it's a transformation of the cookie from being crunchy to just being soaked up with that coffee-ness even if the coffee and the cookie aren't that great it's that combination of hot and dried and it's just a match made in heaven these cookies are just sugar cookies they taste just like the ones that you buy on a flat at the grocery store but it really is nice to finish off your meal with something a little bit sweet and hot candy hard coated chocolate mint look how chewy that is they're very minty smelling i've never seen candies like this before they almost look like candies that you can find in europe or something look at these colors those are great super minty just a touch of chocolate it's mostly mint they taste like a candy coated version of junior mints that's what they like kind of less on the chocolate but more about the mint and the fondant in the middle very very pepperminty cooling but crunchy rather than soft delicious so mentos particularly the peppermint mint mentos are my favorite i buy these all the time they've got a candy coating on the outside that's thin and then inside you've got this chewy slightly fluffy interior that's full of minty flavor and sugar delicious love those but i've never had the orange version before so here is the mentos they look actually kind of similar to the mint candies but this doesn't have the glossy finish all right let's give that a go let me show what looks like the inside and that's great it tastes exactly like an orange starburst it's not a sticky in texture but it is kind of taffy like a starburst and of course it has a hard candy coating on the outside love it alrighty so that was my custom mre and it was excellent so much fun so much thought that was put into it thank you so much black bob thank you gundog and thank you guys so much for watching i hope you guys enjoyed that one i hope you guys learned something i absolutely adore tasting these military rations mres i feel like i learned so much about just culture simply through food please share this video with your friends follow me on social media so you can get little updates about my life including my chicks my chicks are getting so stinking big and my bees and yeah subscribe and i shall see you in my next video oh check out my other channel too emmy made where i share longer vlogs and things about my chicks and my v's all right i'll see you in the next one too take care bye um attractive attractive\n"