I imagine a lot of us pack a somewhat heavier first meal, but when I do that, there are much more inviting, and nutritious options than MREs. They are good for what they were designed for - decent meals that can be stockpiled, are completely self-contained, and can be distributed to large groups quickly. They are fabulous for emergencies and fire line chow, combat, etc. I sometimes take a few selected components backpacking. MREs contain a nice small plastic spoon that is a pretty good item, for instance.

To be fair, the taste is not bad at all - especially if you have no alternatives.