What is an MRE?

An MRE -- or meal ready to eat -- contains precooked, sterilized food originally made to nourish soldiers. Check out this HowStuffWorks podcast to learn more about the retort packaging that makes MREs possible.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to brain Stuff from how stuff works dot com
where smart Happens. Hi, I'm Marshall Brain with today's question,
what is an m R E? M R E stands
for meal ready to eat and m R E comes
in a plastic pouch called retort packaging. The packaging is

(00:20):
made of aluminum foil and plastic layer together. An m
r E pouch contains normal food. It might contain chili
or beef stew. The food is pre cooked, put into
the pouch, and the pouches sealed. The pouch and the
food it contains are then heated to sterilize the contents.
Since the pouch is sealed, the food stays fresh for

(00:42):
a long time, years at a time. This is no
different from metal or glass canning. The food in the
can is sterilized by heat in a sealed container so
bacteria can't get in and spoil it. Think of retort
packaging as a flexible can. The food tastes no different
from canned earlier beef stew. Retort packaging is also used

(01:03):
for a variety of drinks. The drinks that come into
flexible pouch are usually made using the same technology used
to create m R E s Do you have any
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