I’ve bought several SOPAKA MRE cases in the past, and they all seem to sing the same tune. The FRHs do not work, and the Pop Tart is always smashed and disgusting. You never get any spread variety for your cracker. It’s always get the same apple or grape jelly that is usually really liquidy. Had they put peanut butter in there or perhaps some cheese, then this review would have probably been about four stars. There are no drink mixes, or coffee and the Tootsie Roll is usually smooshed and hard to unwrap. The only saving grace to this whole kit is the seasoning packet it comes with and the occasional spaghetti and ravioli meal. The food always gives a metallic aftertaste and you can’t eat more than one a day. BLAND. That’s personal experience. Yes, they are cheap, but you DO NOT get what you pay for, and sometimes it’s less of a value. Better to buy an actual military, MRE, get the variety and get the experience. Will not be buying SOPAKO again.

I don't know if it's going to be usable when it comes time to open it???

has a long shelf life the kids lovge them and always wanting to have them they taste ok not bad if your heaters good but had a few with bad heaters over half but guys shared them and no biggiem bit a good deal on a mre

Keep in mind the date they advertise is only the inspection date, meaning a date for anyone who oversees storing these things to check whether or not the item is still appropriate for consumption. While true, MREs don't technically have a expiration date since each one can expire at wildly different rate depending on how they're stored, keep in mind; you're basically buying a item built for long term storage, that has already went through a long term storage in conditions you are not made aware of.So it brings me to the quality of the entire package: well it varies. Some people have reported little to no problems, while others, like me, are unfortunate to get some that are most likely 5 years or older. Amazingly, I happened to get one that was packaged back in 2010 (Or at least that's what I assume the 7-24-2010 printed on the box means. Can't be too sure with these things because sometimes companies start smoking some real good stuff when they decide on how to format their dates on food items.). The Heating element at that point will not work and this seems to be a common occurrence. Keep in mind, these things have a self life of 5 years and are generally reliable. Of the 5 food items, 2 were okay, and the rest were technically edible in the sense that a leather boot is technically edible. They were definitely showing their age, and I wouldn't recommend eating these for a easy outdoors outing meal. The two that were okay (The main entree, and Crackers), it wasn't aged terribly but it's definitely one of those things I'd be eating last after going through anything else that tastes good. As for the other 3 items (Poptarts, Grape Jelly, Tootsie Roll), well, I'd figure I'd have to be surviving in a post nuclear wasteland after I ran out of supplies before I resort to eating these. Poptarts I heard are like Twinkies in the sense they never expire, but they certainly didn't look the part as they looked like someone skinned a zombie and made a pastry out of it's skin. Grape Jelly, Normally you would put these on the crackers however these have achieved a consistency where it was too watery to apply on a cracker while being too thick to be considered a beverage, Sopakco does not want you to win. And the other was just simply a tootsie roll.Some people claim it's great for the value, but I don't think so. These aren't freshly packed and already went through long term storage. The reliability is too just random, sometimes you might get one that was packaged fairly recently, others you might get one that's probably older than your kids. Not only can you buy similar things at the market for a cheaper price, but it'll actually be fresh. And it's hard to recommend these for emergency food since they've already been through it's inspection date. With that kind of stuff, you want reliability for your own long term storage, not something that might be on the verge of expiring.

I bought these to supplement my monthly food. Was researching for several months, various styles, different companies. Having used one for lunch the heater did not work, I don't know why. I waited 10 min. It never heated. I placed in in a large pot with 2in water let it boil 10 min, worked fine. I had the ziti with spices sauce and ground pork bits. Not overly spicy, just right. It had a single Pop-Tart, crackers, salt/pepper, 2 packets of strawberry spread. Over all it was filling. Hoping to use these on camping trips. There was enough food and filling. Very good investment for me. Thank you.

The heaters work. Just wet them not immerse them in water.Great value, taste and packaging.Great basic MRE w/o all of the items not needed for non military personnel.

This is by far the best 'bang for the buck' civilian MRE box you can find. & the low sodium option is a great plus since they ususally are highin sodium(like 50% sodium) these are like 10% sodum & are around 250-300 callories. For 3 or 4 bucks per meal & 16 of them crammed in a nice compact case its pretty decent. I wasn't exactly expecting them to be military/DoD MRE quality going in. Variety could be a bit better. Got lots of Vegetable Lasagna & Spagetti with Meat in Textured Soy Flour Sauce ones only like two or three of them were Cheese Tortilini & Chilli Mac. Its Okay though because I like all those ones anyway.Quality controll seems to be an issue though. On the first one I opened(Chilli-Mac) to try one of the jelly packets seems to have popped open & leaked on a bunch of stuff making a sticky mess. Also the flameless heaters do not seem to work even after 12ish minutes of waiting. Kept it on its side & at an angle didn't add too much water even tried adding some salt which I hear helps but nothing. Ended up microwaving it in a bowl instead. Not a big deal as I can just get a 12 pack of new flameless heaters for cheap. Over all, not bad considering how expensive military/DoD isssue MREs have become.