2008 Menu: Chili Macaroni

Review By Todd Farino

Whether it was a family dinner or a night at the chow hall while I served in the USAF, Chili & Macaroni was always a favorite meal of mine. Such a great idea combining chili and macaroni for a tasty inexpensive meal and then adding it to the MRE menus was brilliant. Chili & Macaroni is not new to MREs and they go back as far as 2003 as a Menu item.

The version I had to review was the 2008 Chili & Macaroni. First off, Chili & Macaroni is great to mix with just about anything. Corn is the best item if you have a can of it on hand, but really you only need to add one thing to Chili & Macaroni, salt. Tabasco Sauce is always a good thing to add to any MRE meal, but its really not needed in the chili macaroni. Chili flavored macaroni is one of the best meals for storing and keeping its original flavor.

You definitely taste the chili flavoring and neither the meat or macaroni was too chewy. Chili Macaroni is one of the few meals that is good hot or cold, so its a perfect MRE in my eyes. The MRE as a whole is one of the better ones as it came with a wet fruit package that was tasty pineapple slices. It also came with a cookie and skittles, but the big kicker was wheat snack bread and jalapeno cheese spread.

This would be the absolute perfect MRE if it came with crackers over wheat snack bread. Frankly, I'd prefer wheat snack bread and grape jelly instead of jalapeno cheese spread. Overall a fantastic MRE.

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2007 Menu: Chicken Fajita

Review By Todd Farino

I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of MREs that are based on Mexican food. Not because I don't like Mexican food, but because Mexican food is best served fresh and hot. Flavoring like peppers and cilantro are great when served fresh. Cheese is also a problem in this mixture in an MRE meal.

When I took my first bite of the Chicken Fajita I have to admit it wasn't horrible at all, but right off the bat it was runny and didn't have the taste you'd expect. This meal tasted like it was out of a box or a military ration. It was bland and lacked the kind of Mexican flavor, but thank God for the Tabasco Sauce.

There are three things you can add to the chicken fajita entree to make it tasty and certainly edible. Tabasco Sauce, salt, and if you happen to have it at your camp site or in your food storage, corn. Throw in about 1/3 to 1/2 of the packet of salt, the entire bottle of Tabasco Sauce, and as much corn as you'd like. Doing that makes the Chicken Fajita worth eating and quite a nice meal.

Overall this is not a good entree. If you have the chance to choose another, steer clear of this one. I'm not telling you this just because of the entree, but the whole MRE isn't worth eating or fun. The side entree is fried rice. Need I say more? Maybe you are a fan of fried rice and that's great because you will love this meal, but for most of us who pay big bucks for these MREs want more. Then the snack and dessert is terrible.

No cookies or candy, but a tortilla (for the chicken fajita) and raisin nut mix! Again, neither are bad on its own, but altogether that makes a bad MRE. The only positive part of this MRE are the baked snack cracker and cheese spread. That part is very good, and enjoy it cause there isn't much after that. If given the choice, pass on this MRE.

OVERALL RATING: