MRE's, to me, taste alright. Of course that depends on the entree but most I've had I would rate above average.

I recently had the opportunity to pick up a couple of the Winter (white packaging) MRE's off the fleabay. In my opinion these were much better than the regular brown packaging type. The white winter kind do not come with heating elements, I'm assuming because they would not be effective in extreme cold. I believe they are also all freeze dried, as opposed to brown - having basically canned goods in a pouch. (makes sense, you don't want a spaghetti popcycle for dinner). The last one i had was a spicey asian chicken w/rice. Tasted very good for a freeze dried meal, very comparable to the consumer freeze dried camp food if not better (maybe it was the tobasco that gave it the edge <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> ) fyi though, these are usually expensive, upwards of $8-10 each because they are 'rare'. Though if you think about the normal consumer camp food being $6+ for 2 servings of one entree it doesn't sound all that bad.

MRE's have a bit of novelty factor too, kind of neat to have a few if you've never had the pleasure (or displeasure). Basically my rule of thumb on MRE's is if I can get them for below $4-5 each (this includes shipping cost) I will buy them. Just have to watch out for shipping gouges. For instance I will only buy a case if the grand total, auction+shipping is less than $60. They love to charge $30 to ship these boxes, just gotta watch out.

site with just about all the info you need if your curious http://www.mreinfo.com/

I've alwasy wanted to try a canadian imp or some of the other countries' mre, however they are too expensive on fleabay (upwards of $20-30 each when you include shipping)

Bottom line however, making your own 'pack food' will have a higher taste:cost ratio for sure.