Food Review: XMRE Blue Line
Yay! Breakfast for Dinner
On our recent trip to Big Bend National Park, I lugged an XMRE Blue Line meal with me until the 2nd night of the backpacking trip. I probably should have eaten it the night before because of its huge size. I was silly and didn't check what the meal was, so I ended up with oatmeal, which is what I had eaten for breakfast at least three days prior and was eating again in the morning.
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| Jack eating his XMRE before setting up camp |
The Background
These are civilian lines of Meals Ready to Eat (MRE), and the Blue Line is specifically designed for government, medical, and educational institutions.
Price: $119.99 per case of 12
Calories: 1,000 to 1,200 a meal
Website: https://www.xmremeals.com/
Key Attributes: Extended shelf life, individually bagged, no water needed, self-heating, and provides all utensils
A quick note on the website: at first, it seems like a well-designed site, but I’ve found a few issues. If you want to know exactly what meal comes in a case, almost all that information is lost to broken links. In addition, they have a neat feature where you can design your own meals, but the window just closes after 5 seconds, so I was never able to fully try it.
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| XMRE Blue Line |
Performance
This is what my Blue Line XMRE contained: plain, but slightly sweetened oatmeal, a bag of dried fruit, a pilot cracker, a packet of grape jelly, and a mocha coffee drink. Please note that everything comes in a metal-lined bag/package.
With this XMRE meal, you add water to the oatmeal and then heat it up using the provided water-activated heater. I sampled it cold, and it was not the best, so I would always recommend heating it up if you have the time. The dried fruit is the same as any old dried fruit in look and taste, so nothing special here. However, for flavor’s sake, I would recommend adding it to the oatmeal. The cracker is extremely dry and hard, but it turned out to be good with the jelly. I definitely wouldn’t recommend eating the cracker without any toppings. The mocha drink was a nice change from just water. It had a good flavor when mixed thoroughly, but it was hard to pour water into the pouch and equally hard to drink from.
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| XMRE Case of 12 |
Final Thoughts
If you're looking for a civilian MRE clone, this product meets the description, but it is on the pricey side, so it might be worth shopping around. Additionally, XMREs fill a crucial role in long-term food storage and prepping. I would highly discourage anyone from lugging these around while hiking and backpacking.
Giveaway
There was no winner for our last giveaway, so Team Adventures with BeeGee is giving away 12 Steps to a Lighter Pack (linked to our book report) and a GoBites Duo set. Use this book to gain a little knowledge and lighten your load, and the GoBites kit is a handy fork/spoon combo.
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| GoBites Duo |
Please let us know if you enjoy MREs or if they are just a necessary item, and how you plan to use them. Additionally, if you enjoy the blog, follow us on Facebook to stay up to date.
They make them sound so much better on the walking dead.
ReplyDeleteWell to be fair they haven't had anything close to junk food for like a year. If I was in their situation I'd be estatic too!
DeleteHow heavy are they?
ReplyDeleteIf I remember right most are about two pounds.
DeleteI just weighed an Army MRE and came in at 1 pound 13 ounces. That's way to much to carry around for a backpacking meal. Leave them in the case for camping and prepping.
Delete