MRE dating...four digits. Tell me the gov't wasn't this dumb...

[Manedwolf]

From a website on the matter:

Sometimes you'll have a nice date packed such "03/09/01" which you know to mean March 9, 2001. However, some cases will use a different form such as "1068". In this case, the first number "1" stands for the year (2001) and the next three numbers indicate which day of the year (365 days in a year) it was packed. So "068" would be day 68 of the year 2001...or March 9, 2001.

Almost every component that goes into an MRE has a date code stamped on it in the form "0132" (see above explanation). Everything from entrees, crackers, peanut butter, accessory packs, etc. - they all have date codes. If you can open up your MRE, you should be able to figure out how old each piece is.

So this one would be the 139th day of 2001.

They used a four-digit number. The year is represented only by the first digit, representing the last digit of the year?

So that means the numbers recycle every decade, and there's really no way to tell, at a glance, whether a given MRE individual meal pack  was made in 1997 or 2007 unless you know, specifically, what menu number corresponds to the entree?

Why was it so hard for them to just put the entire date in six digits? Why did they have to use something so...unusual, in the form of only one digit for the year and three digits for the day of year?

This one:



The 243rd of a year ending in "8".
If someone finds this when they're hungry next year, or someone is buying surplus, how will they know if it means 1998 or 2008?

[Tallpine]

Using the words "government" and "dumb" in the same sentence is like repeating yourself again.

Four digits ... how about just month and year      (like "0907" for Sept, 2007)

[Devonai]

As a soldier for the past 7 years, I have been exposed to a long string of MREs.  There have been design changes on every edible item and, as you mentioned, many main meals have been "retired" and new meals introduced.  If you can get your hands on a very old MRE (Omelette w/Ham, Frankfurter) or even a more recent one that's been discontinued (Chicken w/Salsa, Beef Stew), you can compare them with a new MRE (Spicy Penne, Chicken Cavatelli, Meatloaf w/Gravy, to name a few).

One of the most obvious signs in a new MRE is the recently-introduced "beverage bag," a small clear bag for mixing beverage base powders.  Some new items also include Hazelnut Cocoa Powder and Chocolate Peanut Butter (yum).

The most challenging thing to date would be the old mainstay Crackers, as the package has changed little over the years.  If you find Vegetable Crackers you can be sure they are newer.

Stick with unopened MREs and you should be all set, once you get familiar with them.

[K Frame]

Month and year alone would probably be too hard/expensive to recall if there were problems.

If there is a problem with a day's batch, you can recall items by Julian date.

At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[Sergeant Bob]

The most challenging thing to date would be the old mainstay Crackers, as the package has changed little over the years.  If you find Vegetable Crackers you can be sure they are newer.

If you save up enough of those old crackers and the peanut butter, you can build yourself a fine temporary shelter!

Month and year alone would probably be too hard/expensive to recall if there were problems.

If there is a problem with a day's batch, you can recall items by Julian date.

At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Good call!

[Manedwolf]

I try to avoid the crackers ever since an ROTC roomie in college, out of money, ate what was left of some MREs from training. Like four packages of the crackers at the same time.

And then a day later or so, yelling something about "I CAN'T (use the bathroom)!" ...but in less polite terms. 

I've also seen the old omelette, back then. It scared me. A greyish, moist slab that oozed out of the package and landed on a plate with an anemic splat. I can't imagine anyone ever wanted to eat it. That one, Potatoes Au Gratin, and the shelf-stable bread that to me smelled like cleaning fluid.

My personal favorite that I know they've discontinued now was the Grilled Chicken Breast. It was just a piece of grilled chicken! Not bad at all.

And I try to get actual surplus ones when I can for camping and such, because while I know the same companies make nearly-identical versions, they usually lack two things...the tabasco, and The Military Spoon, that peculiarly strong OD spoon that doesn't snap when digging in. 

[K Frame]

Those crackers are vicious.

My favorite item is the freeze dried peaches.

Take a block, crumble them, and pour over vanilla ice cream.

Very tasty.

[Tallpine]

So would five digits have killed anybody ...? 

[K Frame]

OK, is it my imagination, or are MRE's supposed to be cycled through the system and disposed of from military inventory well before the 10 year mark?

[Manedwolf]

Supposed to? Perhaps. But this is from their own testing. 130 months is just over 10 years.



And if someone finds some in a base or depot that hasn't been used in a while and is hungry, it'd be nice to know what the date was beyond a number that recycles every ten years.

Not just the military, either. MREs were given out to civilians after Katrina and other hurricanes.

The people who buy ancient MREs, (I see dark-brown ones all the time at gun shows, they're probably Gulf War I age!) and eat them, that's caveat emptor.

[Gewehr98]

It's not your imagination, Mike.

That's how it's supposed to work - they don't stay in the system long enough to worry about which decade they were produced.  We knew they were made in the current decade, and the logistics folks took care of those that were about to expire.

However, for non-military types like Manedwolf, those outdated MREs sometimes end up in surplus Army/Navy stores, Sportsman's Guide, CheaperThanDirt, or so forth after they're cycled out of inventory, or were overruns by the manufacturers.  Then it's buyer beware.  Of course, the military contractor should take into account surplus sales when dealing with their date codes, right? I can't wait to see when Manedwolf posts a gripe about the date codes on some C-Rations he found somewhere.

As for "dumb", the military uses the Julian Date system for all sorts of things.  Even the master clocks on my reconnaissance systems used it for the time/date stamps on data recordings. 

(That's also why I have a Datum 9700 precision time code generator like the one below as the house master clock...)   

[K Frame]

"Of course, the military contractor should take into account surplus sales when dealing with their date codes, right?"

It would be interesting to see how the contract for the packaging reads. It could very well be that the markings are done in accordance with the specific terms of the contract and that it's outside of the contractor's hands.

If you suspect that your MRE just isn't springtime fresh anymore?

Get a can of Dinty Moore.

[Gewehr98]

Twinkies.  They'll keep forever.

MREs undergo the same contract specs as everything else that carries an NSN or GSA rating.  That's often to a bewildering degree of checks and tests, just spend a day or two with the acquisitions and contracting folks - it'll make your head pop. 

We loved our IMPAC purchase cards, but suffered the consequences when an off-the-shelf item didn't hold up to the environment we subjected it to.

Ever see what happens to a ProSine StatPower inverter when subjected to aircraft 28vdc power? Just like 12vdc automobile power, it's neither clean nor regulated that well.  Our engineering guys had egg all over their faces. 

[Fly320s]

So, is the date code the date of manufacturing/packaging or the expiration date?



As for Dinty Moore... blech.  That stuff is as bad as the "meat cracker" in the old MREs.  It was a dehydrated pork patty that should be reconstituted with hot water.  Only I didn't have any hot water, so...  I think that is what a spider web would taste like.  A dirty spider web.

[Manedwolf]

Dinty Moore = Alpo with a label switch

[K Frame]

Alpo is good stuff.

My ROTC roommate in college called the MRE pork patty "Satan Pucks" or something like that.

[lee n. field]

At least they're not counting in Unix time (number of seconds since the start of 1970).

[RevDisk]

They used a four-digit number. The year is represented only by the first digit, representing the last digit of the year?

So that means the numbers recycle every decade, and there's really no way to tell, at a glance, whether a given MRE individual meal pack  was made in 1997 or 2007 unless you know, specifically, what menu number corresponds to the entree?

Why was it so hard for them to just put the entire date in six digits? Why did they have to use something so...unusual, in the form of only one digit for the year and three digits for the day of year?

There are more extensive lot numbers on each box of MRE's.  MRE's are generally not left as individual packages on a shelf for a decade.  Actually, most bases I stayed at, absolutely zero individual packages were EVER left out per CO orders.  If you ever find an individual MRE of questionable decade, toss in the trash.

Julian date is very common with military commo systems.  If you want a chart, go over to any unit, ask for the commo section, ask for a photocopy of their Julian date chart.  Or ask to borrow the unit level tech manual for the SINCGARS.  The Julian chart is one of the appendix.  Julian date is used for setting the date of the timestamp in all SINCGARS models for frequency hopping.  In english, we use it for the encryption thingie in our tactical radios.

[m1911owner]

This coding does have one major advantage.  If the USS Ninitz sails through a funny-looking storm and ends up 40 years in the past, they won't have somebody accidentally discover what's going on by reading the date code on a ration that's dated 40 years in the future.   

[Perd Hapley]

The people who buy ancient MREs, (I see dark-brown ones all the time at gun shows, they're probably Gulf War I age!) and eat them, that's caveat emptor.

Gulf War I?  I don't know what color they were then, but they were dark brown until about 1998.  (Or maybe we grunts got the old ones.  )   Still pretty old, though, of course.

Forgive me if you were just exaggerating for comic effect.