Instant meals have gone from microwave TV dinners to incredibly high tech foods that can heat themselves.
Meals Ready to Eat (MRE) are high energy, 1,200 calorie, packages developed for soldiers, medics and firefighters that can be eaten anytime, anywhere, without a heat source. Each little parcel contains a four course meal, one of which, like pasta or stew, is heated.
“The main course is contained in a sealed pouch that you insert into another pouch that chemically reacts to produce an intense heat. The meal inside gets steaming hot,” KK.org says.
They’re designed for those who might otherwise not get the opportunity to consume enough food to obtain adequate nutrition when on the job or in battle. As those are the times when quality calories count most, the MRE packages could be a huge for those industries.
MREs are also not a bad thing to have in your house, especially if you live in an area prone to natural disasters. Each $5 meal has a shelf life of 3 years, and they sound a whole lot more appetizing than a cold tin of Chef Boyardi!
Flavors are listed below.
What's Driving This Trend
- Self-heating Meal Packs
- Opportunity for innovation in self-heating packaging technology to create convenient and portable meals.
- High Tech Foods
- Opportunity for creating technologically advanced food products with self-heating capabilities.
- Emergency Preparedness
- Opportunity for developing self-heating meal packs as essential emergency supplies for natural disasters.
Who This Affects Most
- Military
- Opportunity for providing self-heating meal packs as nutrition solutions for soldiers and medics in the military.
- Firefighting
- Opportunity for supplying self-heating meal packs as convenient and nourishing food options for firefighters on duty.
- Food Industry
- Opportunity for introducing self-heating meal packs as innovative and high-tech food products in the market.
