Reviewing the Eversafe MRE Meal Kits with Heaters

Feb 102012

Eversafe MRE Meal Kits with Heaters

This is a cost-effective MRE kit. The meals are tasty and basically filling. The main problems are the lack of variety, the lack of a side dish, and the use of candy as a dessert.

There are six different menus and each is duplicated. If you plan to go camping or hunting, and you intend using all the meals during your trip, then you will be eating each meal twice.

The lack of either a formal dessert or a side dish means that these meals aren’t as filling as some of Eversafe’s competitor’s meals. Each meal is nearly 200 fewer calories than some competitor’s meals. The absence of these two items from each meal probably also accounts for the cost effectiveness of this MRE kit.

The Basic Facts:

Company name: The Wornick Company of Cincinnati, Ohio
Product name: Eversafe MRE Meal Kits with Heaters – Case of 12 (Civilian MRE)
Purchased from: amazon.com
Purchase date: January, 2012
Purchase price: $92.50 plus $12.49 shipping = $104.99
Number of meals in product: 12
Average price per meal: $8.75
Average weight per meal: 392 grams
Average calorie count per meal: 1,052 calories

The Pros and Cons:

Pros:
1. The kit we ordered is very fresh.
2. The price is good at an average of $8.75 per meal.
3. The menu selections are good enough. There really isn’t a bad meal in the kit.
4. Its components are the military components, which is a point of interest for many consumers when assessing commercially available MREs.
5. The Skittles and M&Ms are great, and are also in the military MRE.
6. There are some really nice items like the dairy shake, peanut butter and Tabasco sauce.
Cons:
1. There are only 6 different menus, each of which is repeated.
2. There are no side dishes.
3. Although we listed the candy as a Pro above, we are also listing it as a Con here. The Eversafe MRE provides the candy as the dessert. There are no military dessert items. Usually you would see a single pack of skittles in a whole case of MREs, not in nearly every meal.
4. Not every meal comes with a spread like peanut butter, cheese or jam. Only 2 of the 12 meals contain a spread.
5. The meals average 1052 calories per meal. Some of the meals contain as low a calorie count as 990.

The Items in Detail:

MRE Menu #	Main	Dessert	Bread	Drink	Condiment**
Menu 1 404 g 1000 cal	Spaghetti with Meat and Sauce	Tropical Skittles	Crackers	Strawberry dairy shake	Condiment / utensil pkg, heater bag and Tabasco sauce
Menu 6 435 g 1150 cal	Cheese Tortellini in a Tomato sauce	(1) Almond Poppy Seed Pound Cake and (2) Tropical Skittles	Crackers	Lemon-Lime flavored beverage	Condiment / utensil pkg and heater bag
Menu 7a 388 g 1040 cal	Chili and Macaroni	M&M’s Peanut chocolate candies	Crackers	Strawberry dairy shake	Condiment / utensil pkg and heater bag
Menu 8 412 g 990 cal	(1) Chili with Beans	(1) M&M’s Chocolate candies and (2) Cranberries	Crackers	Lemon-Lime flavored beverage	Condiment / utensil pkg, heater bag and Tabasco sauce
Menu 10a 312 g 1100 cal	Beef Patty	(1) Almond Poppy Seed Pound Cake and (2) M&M’s Chocolate candies	Tortillas	Lemon-Lime flavored beverage	Condiment / utensil pkg and heater bag
Menu 11a 401 g 1030 cal	Penne with Vegetable Sausage crumbles in a spicy Tomato sauce	(1) Kreamsicle cookies and (2) peanut butter	Crackers	Lemon-Lime flavored beverage	Condiment / utensil pkg and heater bag