I particularly was always a fan of the Chilimack and Chicken Noodle.

Some other people really like the breakfast meal it has this granola in it, which is actually

really good. So everybody has their favorites.

This is Army National Guard Captain Paul Osby. He served three tours in Iraq and he's

talking about MREs which stands for meals ready to eat. These meals are a big part of what service members eat when they're on combat tours.

And MREs have to meet very specific requirements.

They have to stay preserved in pouches without refrigeration, sometimes for years.

So there are culinary limits, as long as how many foods you can make into an MRE.

They're not too bad.

Some are better than others.

But thanks to new technology and evolving tastes, MREs are changing in a big way.

This is the spork full, it's not for foodies, it's for eaters. I'm Dan Pashman.

Each week on our show we obsess about food to learn more about people.

This week we're bringing you an episode from our friends at the podcast Proof from America's

test kitchen. The show tells weird, surprising, and funny

backstories around food. This episode is about a food that most of us are not exposed to in civilian life.

MREs. Here's the host of proof Kevin Pang. MREs usually come in an 8 by 6 inch brown pouch. In each

pouch you'll find an entree, a side dish, a dessert, a cracker, a powder drink, a sordid seasonings, and a flameless

rationed heater that warms up the food right inside the pouch.

While MREs have improved over the years, no one will say it's a four-star meal.

But that's not the goal anyway.

In recent years, more MRE options have been developed to reflect the diverse backgrounds of its service members.

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