in my latest review I decided to tackle a question that I get asked a lot.
"Whats the difference in the Military and Civilian MRE's on the market?"
Well, today we are gonna look at the two, side by side. I have a Military Menu 18, Beef Ravioli, produced in 2013 by SoPakCo. I also have a 2012 production SoPakCo civilian Reduced Sodium Beef Ravioli meal. So let's do a Side by Side comparison...
heres the Military version....
Coffee and Lemon Lime beverage, 1 snack, bread and cheese, main, and a fruit for dessert. Nice Haul
Heres the civilian version
Hmmm….no beverage (weird) , snack, bread and jelly, main and dessert.
Side by side....
Military unloaded onto a tray
Looks lovely, notice the vibrance of the green Lemon Lime beverage, and the darkness the coffee retained even though I added creamer.
Civilian on the tray
Tootsie rolls look good, Poptarts have seen better days, but still edible. Sauce on the ravioli looks awesome, nice and meaty.
Side by side trays
Military Ravioli
Sauce was a little tight, but very flavorful. Hot sauce took it to the next level.
Civilian Ravioli
Meaty sauce, but the Military looked to have more overall ravioli. Definitely Low Sodium, kinda bland. Seasoning packet helped, but really needed something like Red Pepper Flakes for some heat and spice.
All in all, both meals are respectable. You can tell differences in the Civvie and the .Mil, but a person hiking the trail or clearing storm debris is not going to have the same caloric requirements as a warfighter in the field. To be exact, the .Mil average around 1250 cal per meal, the Civ SurePak ranges between 100-1300 cal. Either choice is good, but I’m really surprised by the lack of coffee or a beverage in the Civilian meal. I’m gonna reach out to SoPakCo and see if this is standard.
*****Followup!*****So, reached out to the vendor, and had a rep get back with me.
The SOPAKCO Reduced Sodium Emergency Ration is not our commercial meal. This meal was made per contract guidelines for Federal relief in the event of a natural or manmade disasters. Our commercial meal is the Sure Pak
Our Sure Pak is very close to the military meal – case pack and meal configuration being the biggest difference. Sure Pak comes 12 meals per case – 2 each of 6 different menus. All meals contain an entrée, side dish, dessert, cracker, spread, beverage powder, spoon, napkin, wet nap, salt, pepper, coffee, creamer and sugars. It does not contain the toilet paper, gum, candy or matches that you would find in the MRE. We take out the extras to help reduce the cost for the individual consumer.
If you would like any further information you can also visit our website http://www.surepak-12.com/products
So, this is not an actual representation of the Sure-Pak meals. This was a contract meal, and all bets are off. I will say this, the Reduced Sodium contract meal like this one comes in the 1050-1110 cal range. Slightly less than both Civ and Mil, but still respectable, especially in the disaster situation they are meant for.
Which ALSO means.... get ready for MILvsCIV….ROUND 2! In the near future.
