--- title: "6 rations troops are thankful the military discontinued" description: "Some rations get discontinued and troops wonder why. Some rations get produced and troops wonder why. These are the MREs we don't miss." date: "2021-11-25" modified: "2022-11-21" authors: - name: "Blake Stilwell" job_title: "Editor-In-Chief, Air Force Veteran" link: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/authors/blake/" url: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-culture/6-worst-rations-thankful-military-discontinued/" categories: - "History" - "Join the Military" - "Military Culture" tags: - "Food" - "Military Culture" - "Military History" - "Military Life" --- # 6 rations troops are thankful the military discontinued ![worst discontinued mres dvids]() *MREs come with so much other stuff to make sure you at least eat something. (U.S. Air Force/Airman 1st Class Erick Requadt)* A good meal after a hard day in the field can make everything a little bit better. MREs aren't that meal, but they try to be. Everyone has their favorite MRE, even if they have to doctor it up a bit by mixing parts from different packages or with discarded bits from the ratf\*ck box. **Also Read: [9 Recipes to make your MREs actually taste delicious]()** No matter how U.S. military rations change, there is always one meal in the box, which makes you wonder who thought it would be a good idea. This is a list of those meals that made us yearn for the days of lettuce and powdered eggs from a field mess. ![worst discontinued MREs seabees dvids]() *Guaranteed the guy on the left got Country Captain Chicken. We can tell because he's not eating it. ( U.S. Navy/Carmichael Yepez)* ### 1. Vegetable Omelette It's understandable that the military would want to come up with vegetarian options. Why anyone decided eggs would be a good option is what's hard to understand. Cheese tortellini wasn't bad. Why fix what's not broken? Instead, we have this monstrosity, also known as the "vomelet," which has all the flavor of cold scrambled eggs and all the texture of dried papier maché. It's every bit what we imagine eating SpongeBob SquarePants must be like. ![veggies omelette]() *(MREInfo.com)* ### 2. Ham and Lima Beans This is a throwback meal to the days of Vietnam War-era C-Rations. Lima Beans and Ham (also known as "Ham and Motherf\*\*kers") was so bad, it was the Voldemort of field grade lunches, as troops wouldn't even dare to say this meal's name. When GIs gave rations to hungry civilians in Korea, the Koreans would throw this particular meal back at them. Troops added cans of cheese sauce and/or cracker crumbs to try to make this war crime palatable, but it just didn't work. Many would rather have [chewed on C-4]() instead. ![ham beans mre]() *(MREInfo.com)* ### 3. Jamaican Pork Chop Come on and have a little slice of this leather with some pepper on it. Seriously, this is Uncle Sam saving money by feeding you garbage rejected by hog farmers. If we're talking about jerk cuisine, it's the clowns who wanted to give us some of our favorite international foods and then decided on Jamaican but offered none of the richness of what's cooked in Montego Bay. The result is like eating the sole of your boot with noodles. To be fair, the guys over at [MRE Info]() love this one. ![pork chop rations]() *(MREInfo.com)* ### 4. Country Captain Chicken Country Captain Chicken will give you Current Traumatic Stress Disorder. Imagine someone squished together a handful of Chicken McNuggets, flattened it out, then dried it in the sun for ten days. Then imagine they soaked the newly formed patty in a bath of tomato sauce and citrus juice, and what the hell, let's throw a couple of almonds in there. Chunks of tomato and black beans round out the most awful thing anyone ever tried to pass off as food. ![chicken mre]() *(MREInfo.com)* ### 5. Buffalo Chicken Buffalo Chicken might be the signature flavor of America, and while the MRE version of Buffalo Chicken may not be all that bad, the effect on your stomach is like having forty tailgating Bills fans making a mess of your insides. Dig the latrine before you crack this bad boy open. ![buffalo chicken rations]() *(MREInfo.com)* ### 6. Beef Frankfurters You know a meal has to be good when its nickname is "Fingers of Death," right? Right. Beef Frankfurters deserved every single insult ever lobbed at them. While I can understand the urge to give troops in the field a taste of home through a good ol' American hot dog, if you've ever tried this ration, the only home it makes you think of is Hannibal Lecter's. ![hot dog rations]() For the record, the military *does* try to taste-test these things on service members. When they created a new menu in 2007, they received some interesting responses. [The Smoking Gun]()[found the comments for some of the tested meals](), in case you've ever wondered just how some of these meals ever made it to production. Do they still serve Chicken Tetrazzini? ### Don’t Miss the Best of We Are The Mighty **• **[The 6 absolute worst MREs and field rations ever created from any era]()**** **• ****[Modern dishes anyone can make using Civil War foods]()****** **• **[11 regional American foods we’d like to see in MREs]()**** ## Author Blake Stilwell is We Are The Mighty's Editor-in-Chief, covering military news, entertainment, and history, along with veteran education, employment and entrepreneurship. He is a former U.S. Air Force combat cameraman with degrees in Graphic Design, Television and Film, International Relations, Public Relations, Business Management and Middle Eastern Affairs. After leaving the military, he began working in film and television production in New York and Los Angeles, work that included ABC News, NBC Olympics, and HBO Sports. He then spent two years in Washington with White House Communications, before joining the Near East Foundation. At NEF he served as an International Development Fellow, then Communications Officer, and finally, Media Officer for the Middle East and Africa. Based in the Palestinian Territory, he coordinated strategic communications between eight country offices, international media, and government and NGO partners. He began a career focused on writing and editing in 2015 with We Are The Mighty. He left in 2019 for Military.com, but returned as Editor-in-Chief in 2025. Blake’s work has been seen on CBS News, Fox News, CBC, The Chicago Tribune, Task & Purpose, Military Times, Recoil, Skillset, American History, and was shockingly even used in a Supreme Court argument. He is an avid traveler and small business owner in Ohio, where he spends most of his energy fixing up a very old house. ### Author social links [Facebook]() [Twitter]() [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()