Have you ever had an idea rattling around in your head that sounded really fun, but took you awhile to get up the gumption to actually do it?
That’s what MRE Remix has been for me. I actually began dreaming about what it might look like over 5 years ago! I can’t say exactly when the idea first came into my head, but it has finally got legs.
On Monday, December 3, 2018, I launched my YouTube channel introducing the idea with a live-stream video making two coffee drinks using MRE coffee packets for the base. It was super fun, and although the MRE coffee by itself is super strong and a bit harsh tasting, I think I doctored it up in ways that are both easy to do and super yummy! Please check it out and comment with your own MRE stories.
MRE’s are kind of fascinating in general. I’ve gone backpacking for years and eaten a variety of Mountain Home freeze dried foods, but MRE’s are a different bird. I’ve heard various military people talk about their experiences with different MRE’s with stories of trading up for better candy or dessert, or even main items; stories of pilfering through the MRE options to avoid certain ones . . . The stories are entertaining!
As a mom, one of the things I disliked terribly when my kids were growing up was fixing food to take on the go. Our oldest child did sports since he was in grade school, so it was a long haul through high school bringing food that traveled well to football, basketball, baseball or track meets. I don’t miss it at all. It does help me empathize with how difficult it is to feed hungry people when not in one’s own kitchen and dining room.
In the early days of 2MyHero, the first birthday card design was a pun on MRE’s and leveraging your birthday to trade for something really good. It featured a fancy cake popping out of an MRE package. The military guys I showed it to thought it was really funny. The civilians I showed it to didn’t really get it.
It was one of the manifestations I’ve come across of civilian-military gap. As a civilian who appreciates the military for what I know is a great benefit to our country, I still am constantly trying to better understand what troops have experienced. I can’t walk in their shoes, but I want to keep asking “How can I better understand and relate to them?”
MRE Remix is my personal attempt to make that gap a little smaller. It’s already opened up some fun conversations with my nephew and with other military families, I interact with. My nephew has given me his low down on which MRE’s are ok and which ones to avoid.
Each video takes one MRE item into a civilian kitchen and transforms it from BORING to FANTASTIC!
I’ll pair my creation with a 2MyHero card and give ideas on things to write to your military someone if they are stationed far from you.
Letters from Home
Stationery set (11 sheets and envelopes, packaged in a beautiful blue box.
Available on Amazon.
Please check out and subscribe to my YouTube channel and join me in my civilian kitchen fixing up MRE’s. I’ll be posting new videos every Wednesday. I promise to keep them short and sweet – absolute maximum 3 minutes! I have a special treat for those who watch to the end!
As always, I encourage you to comment on your own experiences – in this case with MRE’s.