I’m an avid camper, and I’m always looking for food I can eat when I’m away from home. I was intrigued when I saw the XMRE 1300 Meals Ready to Eat line. These military-grade MRE meals seemed like they were perfect for camping trips.

I purchased the 12-case XMRE Meals 1300XT. Since my case arrived, I’ve had the chance to sample several different meals. Here’s a quick overview of what the meals offer.

A Complete Meal

XMRE meals offer more than just an entree. When you dig into one of these meals, you get the full package. Every meal that I ate had a dessert, beverage, and snack to compliment the entree. My meals also came with bread or crackers and instant coffee. I had more than enough food to fill me up.

When you’re out in the wilderness, you need to make sure you’re consuming an ample amount of calories. I push my body to its limits when I’m out camping; I need all the fuel I can get. When I was XMRE, I had all the food I could need.

The Meals Are Easy To Prepare

XMRE meals can be served in two ways: hot or cold. Personally, I wasn’t a big fan of the cold meals. When I’m eating meat dishes, I definitely prefer to have my food hot. If you don’t mind cold food, that’s definitely a valid option. All of the meals come pre-cooked.

However, I appreciate that these meals aren’t difficult to heat up at all. The only thing I had to do was add a little bit of water. While the meals come with a flameless heater, I used the portable stove I normally take on my camping trip to get my meals heated up. They were ready to eat within minutes.

The Meals Taste Pretty Great

If you’re expecting restaurant-quality food from your XMRE meals, you’re going to be disappointed. This isn’t gourmet cuisine; the meals contain things like shredded beef and chicken. The snacks I had with my meals included trail mix, dry fruit, and corn nuggets.

Even though this isn’t restaurant food, I thought that everything I had was pretty tasty. In my opinion, the beef meal was the best of the month; the quality of the meat was actually pretty high. As for desserts, I was blown away by the instant puddings. They tasted just like the pudding cups I buy for when I’m at home.

The Extra Supplies Are A Nice Perk

These meals contain more than food and drinks; they also come with supplies. There’s a heavy-duty spoon to eat your meal with, a napkin, and even a moist towelette!

When you’re out camping, it isn’t always easy to clean your hands. I appreciate that I can get myself all cleaned up after finishing my meal. I also like that I don’t have to bring anything extra with me.

These Meals Will Last For A Long Time

After my meals arrived, I immediately checked their expiration date. I wanted to know how long these meals would last. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the meals had a shelf life of 5 years! While I’ll be finishing off the meals I bought long before that, it’s nice to know that I won’t have to rush to use them.

I was really impressed with the quality of the meals in my case. I’ll definitely be ordering more after I finish this case off. The meals taste great, and they’re so easy to take with you. I’d recommend them to any camper or survivalist. These meals offer a great value for the price.