- Oh my God!
What is happening? - I'm freaking out.
Oh my gosh. ♪ (French accordion music) ♪ - (FBE) Due to audience
request, you're gonna be trying MREs, which stands for
meal ready to eat. - What?
Are these those astronaut meals? - (FBE) They are food rations
bought by the US military for use in combat or in
other field situations where food services may not
be available. They are also used for
relief in disasters. - So emergency food
that isn't supposed to taste good, but it's just really nutritious? - We did one last time
a while ago and there was toaster strudels and pizzas. - They had the cinnamon French toast
Pop tart little thing. That was bomb.
Everything that's a chili or chicken or some of that stuff
was-- we could do a little better. - The whole concept of it
is amazing because you need-- some of these foods,
they don't really expire or take a long time to expire
and they're actually-- a lot of them are really good. - (FBE) We have done this
once before. This time, we wanted to give you
a more authentic experience, so these are the kind
you have to heat up yourself. - Oh.
Wait, heat it up yourself? That just sounds like it's
gonna be even worse. I'm not a microwave,
so I feel like it's not gonna be that great. - When you're in disaster situations
or you're across the seas in the military, microwaves
aren't easily accessible. In fact, microwaves are sort
of a luxury, so it's interesting that we have tools for that
kind of stuff. - (FBE) Here's the first one.
- I'm gonna have to do it? - (FBE) Yeah.
- Oh my God. I didn't know I was gonna
have to work today. "Step one, insert unopened
meal pouch into heater bag." So this is just the heater?
This is crazy. - So we got Asian style beef strips.
See, that's not-- the whole beef and chicken thing
in an MRE is just not-- but anyways, "Add water to--"
I'm gonna [bleep] this up. - So, I'm gonna take this
and I'm gonna open the top of the bag.
Okay. - We're gonna insert.
Fits in perfectly, wow. - I think that's enough water. - And then just fold this over.
Okay. So literally just hold it like-- - Oh my God!
What's happening? Dude, it's so hot. - What?
I'm freaking out. Oh my gosh. - What the heck?
This is actually pretty cool. Science, man. - (FBE) So, while we wait
twelve minutes for it to heat up, we're gonna give you some
other MREs that we've already made for you.
- Oh, okay. Ooh, a snack while we wait. - (FBE) So, here's your first one
to try. - Ooh, looks scrumptious. - It looks pretty good.
Smells good. It smells like chili. - The last time I had
one of the beef ones though, it kinda tasted like dirt.
It tasted like someone farted on the pasta. - It's pretty good.
Has a little kick to it. I like it. - Little paprika, a little onion,
little bean action, little beef. - Like a really not so good chili.
Just tastes really preservativey. The beef has a kinda funky taste,
the beans have a funky taste. - It tastes like average chili.
I would never know that it was cooked in a bag.
I would slap this on a hot dog and be good to go.
It's pretty good. - (FBE) So, this is a chili MRE.
- Chili, yeah. That's what it tastes like.
That's pretty cool. - It doesn't even taste bad.
Wow, I was thinking military food was so much worse. - I would totally eat this.
If I got served this at a restaurant, I would totally
not know the difference. - (FBE) Here's the next one.
- Oh gosh. Okay, this one looks gross.
It has spinach in it, some mushrooms it looks like,
a nice sauce. It actually smells pretty good. - Okay.
Not as good as the first one, but it'll do the trick. - Not bad.
Actually, it's kinda bad. The aftertaste isn't good. - It's not bad.
It tastes like it could be served at a restaurant. - You can taste that there's
some type of cheese in there. It's just so crazy because
it feels like this was made in a pot at home,
like your mom made it or something like that.
It feels very good, very homemade. - (FBE) So, this is a spinach
fettuccine MRE. - Yeah, it's good.
I mean, it's not like, "Oh, best fettuccine
I've ever had." It would be an enjoyable meal. - It's very bland.
There's really nothing in it that's very appetizing at all. - I'm not Popeye.
I don't like that spinach action. - ♪ (upbeat tune) ♪ - (FBE) So, your twelve minutes
are up. Let's eat the one you made.
- I feel like I'm giving birth because I made this. - Oh yeah, this is like when
you bite into a Tostitos pizza roll. You gotta let it vent out
a little bit before you go in. - All right, all right.
There we go. Hell yeah.
All right, so we're gonna sit that little sizzling bag
to the side. - It's all--
oh gosh. Oh gosh, it squirted out.
Oh no. - It smells really good.
It honestly just looks like a nice soup or broth. - Kinda looks like cat food.
I'm going in, though. I'm ready for it. Damn, this [bleep]
actually good. I really like this.
I'm with it. I'm sorry I was talking
so much [bleep] about you. You're actually not that bad. - You know what?
That's pretty good. Tastes like Korean barbecue.
It's pretty bomb. Not bad. - Not bad, okay.
I'm actually quite surprised that it's not bad.
I'd give it a strong to soft seven. - It's good because it's really
warm and it's cooked all the way and it's not that bad. - It has a little bit of Asian
zest in there, but I wouldn't really consider
this to be an Asian style dish. It has a very generic taste. - (FBE) Overall, what did you think
of all these MREs and how would you feel about
maybe being put in a situation where you had to eat these
regularly? - I would not mind having
to eat them regularly because they taste good.
The idea of them is really cool just because I feel like--
especially for military people, they don't have access to stoves
and microwaves and ovens all the time.
All you need is water. It didn't even have to be
hot water. - If I had to eat these every day,
I probably wouldn't be ecstatic. I'd probably get tired of them
after a while, but it's actually kind of comforting
knowing that if I'm ever in need of having this if I'm in
a disaster or something that they're not that bad. - Having these options,
I think it's awesome and I think it's obviously
probably cost efficient to make it and ship them out. - I'm just picturing people
going for days without a hot meal and stuff like that
and it's the little things, just having a hot meal
makes you feel like a human again and you're trying to get some
sense of normalcy back in your life, so I can see how this can mean
so much to someone in such a really bad situation. - Thanks for watching us
eat MREs on the React Channel. - Subscribe for new shows
every single day. - What should we eat next?
Let us know in the comments. - Bye. - Hey, I'm Katie,
a React Channel producer. Thank you so much for watching
the college kids try some MREs today.
Be sure to follow us on Instagram @FBE
so you can see what the community team
and the reactors are up to. Bye, guys.
