After hurricanes Rita and Katrina, I ate a lot of MREs, courtesy of the LA National Guard, and I have to agree that they're palatable, if not downright tasty. I was especially fond of the beef ravioli variety. I never got constipated, and never had sudden urges while chewing the gum. They are heavy, but each one has anywhere from 2000 to 3600 calories, and you can take things like the toiletries and condiments/spoon, things like that, and even put it I'm a much lighter Ziploc bag. I'm talking to some of my buddies in the guard to see if they can snag me a case or two before I start hitting the trails in the spring.