Here is my take on MRE's. I had never tried them on a camping trip before, and I thought I would give it a try. I purchased some through theepicenter.com. I purchased through them because they had vegetarian meals. The meals themselves were very good. The down side is the weight and price. Making your own custom meals is better. You can customize the flavors to your pallet. In my opinion, MRE's make great emergency food, but they do not belong on the trail.