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being AF, i only had C rats in basic. the mre's were just coming out. never ate one as a GI. the C's were hit or miss. most seemed to be spam-like and had dates from the late 50's on and this was 81. in the 70's my brother was in ANG and he got a schit ton of C's and gave them to my dad for emergency grub. we took a bunch on a fishing trip to quebec. one particular trip back into the bush to a small lake we only took those things and flour, oil, etc for frying fish, figuring we were going to clean up like we always had there. we didn't catch crap and ate those friggen things for several days.

I wrote about food a lot in my books. Vietnam in '71 still had MCIs (what most mistakenly called C rats) and the first dehydrated LRRP meals. But as a pilot, we ate in mess halls mostly. In the General's Mess with the 173rd ABn, there were waiters and checkered tablecloths, but mediocre food. When I got to Ban Me Thuot, the mess hall was all ranks and all nationalities. They occasionally served dog or water buffalo, and twice a week we had monkey noodle soup (which is really good.) We were warned not to eat the veggies because the farmers used human excrement as fertilizer. When you are getting shot at almost every day, a few germs don't seem all that dangerous in comparison. We ate the veggies. The worst things were powdered milk and powdered eggs.

Trivia item: Do you know why every US Army base has a staff veterinarian? It's not a holdover from cavalry days. It's because the Army believes that only a veterinarian can properly judge if meat is edible. The one at BMT made sure that we were served the meat closest to being spoiled, saving the good stuff until it too was almost ready to be thrown out. Needless to say, he was not well liked.

MREs came out in 1983 and continue to evolve, with new meal items every year. Beef stew and Chili have been among the meals since the beginning, and probably always will be. There are vegetarian options now, and because they contain fewer preservatives, they are actually better tasting than the meat ones, all of which have that "MRE taste" of polysyllabic chemicals. There's even one with a tiny square of pizza now. It's not good pizza, but it's the one everybody has been clamoring for since '83. The one thing they cannot seem to get right is shelf-stable bread. Their crackers and tortillas are a lot better than the "snack" bread.

I gained weight in Vietnam, mostly because I refused to run for exercise. All I did was fly, eat, drink, and sleep.

Used to keep one on my key ring (no idea why)
Had a couple P-51 as well

I wonder how many even know what it is now, or how it got its name.

I've sometimes wondered if many centuries in the future archeologists will be intrigued at finding countless C-ration cans marked 'Ham & Lima Beans' scattered around former U.S. Military encampment sites and puzzle and speculate as to why ...

^^^ This.

FWIW, I'm guessing rem141r is an Air Force vet . . . .

Thanks for the reply's men ,and thank you all for your service.

My worst memory of army food was iced tea. We'd come in from the field and the cooks would make up a 5 gal pot of tea. Then the damned idiots would dump a bag of sugar in it. I know you southerners like to sit around sipping sweet tea, but when you're hot and tired, all that sugar is pure crap, besides eating up your teeth. Give me plain tea any day. The least they could do would be to put the sugar in a bowl next to the pot instead of polluting the whole thing.

Oh hell ya!
One of the bennies of pulling alert was the chow. There was a chow hall at the mole hole that served food for the alert crews. We knew which day we'd have a klaxton, we were served steaks for either lunch or dinner. During my EC days if we had an early morning takeoff we'd hit the main chow hall after a quick walk-around of the alert bird, made to order omelets and toast. I never got into the SOS. Even our inflight box lunches were decent with beef tips being a favorite. MREs were for grunts... 🤣

Mid-rats sticky buns, fantastic. After 2 weeks ay sea, powdered eggs and WW2 canned bacon, not so much.

There was big city kids that had never eaten as well in tier lives.

No complaints. Varied from pretty decent cafeteria fare, to edible- if-not-good. Deployed, it wasn’t the quality, but logistic’s ability to get it trucked or dropped at all, that was the occasional issue. Always had water, though. Had bigger fish to fry than cry about food.

Best food (outside of catered), was simple fare way back at san Antonio for officer basic. Sweaty omelets, ah yes. Fat azz 3-4 egg omelets done however you like while a couple BIG MOMMAS dripped sweat onto same griddle. Damm they were good! Evidently, that’s the secret?

I was in the Army, I don't remember 1 good meal ever, even when i was hungry, I ate what they gave us, here in the states or in S.E. Asia. the food SUCKED!! Rio7

Chili mac three times a week.
Green eggs in a green metal can.
MRE's until constipation.

Army cooks: "Death from within!"

While some meals did suck, mostly I remember them as being pretty decent. The only thing I recall in basic training was being constantly hungry; there just was not enough food for me. I enjoyed KP duty because I got more to eat. I finally started sneaking off when ever I could to buy a cheeseburger or two. Once we were out of basic and not getting as much exercise, the meals were suddenly more than adequate. I found the meals at Ft Belvoir Va.to be particularly good. This was in 1969.
In Germany, the food at the mess hall was usually pretty decent in the first two weeks of the month but in short supply for end of the month so a lot of hot dogs were served. Coffee was weak and salty. Some said this was because the coffee was being sold leaving us short.
All in all, I think our food was better than that which was served when my daughter joined up thirty years later. GD

Late '60s, Ft. Lewis, WA, 525th Replacement Company, best mess hall chow I ever ate, day in day out, breakfast, lunch and supper. Multiple meat, veggie, desert, bread choices, good portion sizes, all cooked just right. Troops assigned to the 525th were the envy of all. Meal cards to the 525th were highly coveted and offers of cash, trade goods and undesirable duty assignments for temporary use of a meal card to eat there were common.

My favorite.

Jalapeño cheese made most mres good.

Burger/slider day on the ship was good.

You can say that again, once of the best meals of the day.

🤣
Oh [bleep], sneaking in to the mess after a hard day of drinking!

Sandwiches were delicious.

So we’re the eggs......

I was in the Army during the last years of the MCIs and never saw MRIs.

My favorite meals were chopped ham and eggs, spaghetti and meatballs, and boned turkey. Few others liked the ham and eggs, so there were always extras. I always tried to keep a bottle of Frank's Red Hot and an Esbit stove in my field box to make the food better tasting. I have a small scar on my chest from carrying a p-38 on my dog tag chain when the blade stabbed me in the pec.