2008 Menu: Chicken With Noodles

Review By Todd Farino

I have to admit that I looked forward to trying this MRE. I've had Chicken Noodles several times, but this was my first 2008 version. Since Chicken Noodle soup is such a popular meal in American culture there is no doubt that this meal will be a popular one for everyday people eating MREs in the woods or mountains.

Let me state that it isn't a soup. Its a mixture of chicken and noodles with some water for moisture, but it's not a soup. I was hesitant to add anything to it before I took a bite, but I remembered my one rule while; always use salt. So I put nearly all of packet of salt in the chicken with noodles.

The MRE came with Tabasco sauce, but it wasn't necessary. The meal was outstanding. First it had chicken flavor, which the salt enhanced as expected. The noodles were not mushy, hard, or cheap tasting. They tasted like your average noodles. After 3 healthy bites I decided to add the Tabasco sauce just to see what it would do and it was worth it. The Tabasco sauce spiced up the meal and helped bring out more of the chicken flavor. It also made the meal more "soupier" and gave average noodles some serious flavor. I have to admit that this was a great MRE.

The rest of the MRE wasn't overly impressive. It did come with cheese and crackers and that is always nice, but it had no side dish and for dessert was a chocolate sports bar. Not good. The snack was M&Ms.

If you like the drinks in your MRE, this one came with Hot Cocoa. I have to admit that I like to get a fruit or Gatorade electrolyte drink, so getting Cocoa didn't impress me. I won't hold that against this otherwise great MRE.

This would have been a perfect MRE if the supporting items were better, so I'll give it 4 stars. Sometimes the MRE needs to be complete. Just note that the Chicken Noodles were 5 stars and outstanding. Don't forget to add corn if you have it!

OVERALL RATING: