Meal, Ready-to-Eat

The Meal, Ready-to-Eat (MRE) is a self-contained individual United States military ration used by the United States Armed Forces and Department of Defense. It is intended for use by American service members in combat or field conditions where other food is not available. MREs have also been distributed to civilians as humanitarian daily rations during natural disasters and wars.^[1]

The MRE replaced the canned Meal, Combat, Individual (MCI) in 1981.^[2] Its garrison ration and group ration equivalent is the Unitized Group Ration (UGR), its in-combat and mobile equivalent is the First Strike Ration (FSR), and its long-range and cold weather equivalents are the Long Range Patrol (LRP) and Meal, Cold Weather (MCW) respectively.

^ https://www.ucl.ac.uk/rdr/teaching/acc-risk-disaster-reduction/mres^{[permanent dead link]}
^ Mason, V.C., Meyer, A.V., and Klicka, M.V., Summary of Operational Rations, Natick, MA: U.S. Army Natick Research & Development Laboratory Technical Report TR-82/013 (June 1982): The MRE was officially type-classified for adoption in 1975 but due to budget cuts was not officially placed into production until 1981; stocks of the MCI continued to be issued until exhausted.