MRE Week day 2: pepper jack grilled beef patty

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After the inaugural meal yesterday, I was looking for something a little different, so something with beef would do very nicely.

In a previous conversation with Eric (or did I read it somewhere else?) the topic of the side effects/secondary purpose of MREs had come up.  It should come as no surprise that when a soldier is out in the field of battle, the task of going to the toilet is a real pain in the ass, and definitely gets in the way of the soldier performing his/her duties.  Therefore MREs are designed to minimize the need (or at least the frequency) of such bodily functions.  With that in mind, I promptly went out and got myself a salad for lunch...

Today's package contained the following items:

Main dish: Jalapeno pepper jack flavored grilled beef patty

Side dish: Apple sauce

Snack #1: Multigrain snack bread

Snack #2: Chocolate chip cookie

Strawberry jam

Beverage powder for orange-flavored drink

Of course the flame-less heater, spoon and seasoning are all included.

With only one pouch to heat up, the flame-less heater did its job much quicker today, getting things nice and warm in 10 minutes or so.  I was more careful with the brine inside the pouch today, so no liquids got out.

Jalapeno pepper jack flavored grilled beef patty, served on multigrain snack bread - I dunno why, but the minute I read "beef patty" I immediately thought "burger", and it just seemed like a no-brainer that the patty was always gonna go on top of the bread.  I was even cursing the fact that there was only one piece of bread, and I couldn't grab this like a proper burger!

Taste-wise this was actually pretty yummy!  Sooo much better than the chicken breast last night!  Texture was reasonably firm, with a little bounce to it, too.  Pretty spicy and not bland at all.  If I were a soldier out in the middle of nowhere, I'd be pretty happy with this in my sack.  The multi-grain bread was also reasonably tasty.

Tonight's wine pairing was a bottle of Californian red, because I figured "beef burger" would go well with a big red.  Well, yes and no…

Everyday Red - yes, that IS the name of the wine.  There's no vintage on here… and there's also no grape varietal indicated.  On the back label it says "…soft and fruity blend of red varietals…"  We used to joke about eating "mystery meat" at school.  Now I find myself drinking "mystery wine".  The label credits "Wine for Life Cellars" but it's actually made by Delicato Family Vineyards.

So how did it taste?!  Well, the label wasn't lying!  It was surprisingly soft, and definitely fruity.  This was very ripe and sweet on the palate, while the jammy nose showed notes of blueberries, oak, dried herbs, cinnamon, nutmeg and plum.  With the jalapeños, the alcohol was like adding fuel to the fire, and my tongue burned a little more.  Fortunately the sugar level was high and that helped a little…  For HKD 34 a bottle, this drank surprisingly well.  But I'd drink it quickly after cracking open the screwcap, though… as the palate took a real dive after I left the wine in glass for about 20 minutes.

Done with my main course and one snack, I moved on to the side dish of apple sauce.  I could have very well just squeezed the pouch and let the sauce come through the spout and land directly in my mouth, but we're not exactly in the field here…  Here's where I realized the first mistake I made tonight - I should have had this with the beef patty.  The sugar in the apple sauce would have helped neutralize the jalapeños and doused out the fires that is was dancing on my tongue.  There was a valid reason for this pairing!

I was now left with the chocolate cookie and a pack of strawberry jam.  Mistake #2: the beef patty wasn't meant to be made into a "sandwich" along with the multigrain bread.  The bread was meant to be eaten as a snack, along with the jam.  So what was I to do?  Well, squeeze the strawberry jam on top of the chocolate cookie, of course!  BTW this was one BIG cookie!  I felt pretty full after this… and it came with a whopping 300 calories (140 of which from fat) - the combined total of both the beef patty and the multigrain snack bread!

Finally, we've got the orange-flavored drink.  The package today didn't say "electrolytes", and maybe that's why I thought it lacked the slight salty taste of the drink I had yesterday…

I actually felt a little stuffed tonight - more so than last night.  The final tally tonight was 930 calories, with 250 calories coming from fat.  Well, at least the main course tonight was pretty tasty!