New options are coming to troops’ rations, and some less popular items will disappear from the menu.
The next iteration of Meals Ready-to-Eat is MRE 46, set to release in 2026.
Among the options — all of which are required to have shelf lives of six months in 100 degrees Fahrenheit and three years at 80 degrees Fahrenheit — troops will no longer see beef taco filling, a pork sausage patty and jalapeno pepper jack beef patty.
Instead, those items will be replaced with buffalo chicken, Cuban-style beef picadillo with vegetables and a Thai-style red curry with chicken and rice.
“Buffalo chicken is something that [soldiers] have requested. It’s a popular item … so we’re hoping that this item will be longstanding,” Julie Edwards, a Combat Feeding Division senior technologist and registered dietitian, said in a U.S. Army release.
The Soldier Center’s Combat Feeding Division in Natick Massachusetts, part of the Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, is responsible for developing the MRE menu. Researchers there work with troops in the field to get feedback about the meals, and behavioral psychologists hold focus groups to dig into the data.
The feedback is analyzed and presented to the Joint Services Operational Rations Forum, which decides which new items to include.
The beef taco filling, pork sausage patty and jalapeno pepper jack beef patty were not rated highly among surveyed service members. The process to bring in new meals takes about four years, Edwards said.
“Any new item that we get that can help bring variety and increase acceptability is important,” Edwards said in the release. “We know that eating an MRE isn’t everyone’s No. 1 thing, but we want to make it safe to eat — that’s our No. 1 priority — and then to make it taste good as well.”
A s’mores recovery bar and freeze-dried chocolate peanut butter bites, both high in protein, are also among the new items that will be included in MRE 46.
Edwards said it’s been challenging to find protein-rich products, other than nuts, that can withstand the shelf-life requirements for MREs. Many options, such as beef jerky, experience a chemical reaction that gives them an unappetizing look, she said.
“I know in the commercial sector, you see lots of beef jerky that’s shelf stable. However, it has a very short commercial shelf life,” Edwards said.
Also included in the MRE 46 lineup are more caffeinated products offered as an alternative to coffee, which isn’t as popular among troops as it used to be. To replace coffee, researchers developed other caffeinated beverages, as well as energy chews, gels, caffeinated gum and caffeinated jellybeans.
“What we’ve noticed is caffeine is one of the least consumed items in the MRE,” Edwards said in the release. “Previous generations were big coffee drinkers, but the newer generation of soldiers are not.”
Troops also requested a larger, more durable towelette.
The next menu, MRE 47, is already in development and expected to come out in 2027.
One request from troops was to include more plant-based items. For 2027, the Combat Feeding Division is developing plant-based animal crackers, a new recovery bar, a protein bar and a fruit-flavored cereal, Edwards said. The four vegetarian meals currently in the MRE rotation will be replaced with other plant-based entrees, she said.
Todd South has written about crime, courts, government and the military for multiple publications since 2004 and was named a 2014 Pulitzer finalist for a co-written project on witness intimidation. Todd is a Marine veteran of the Iraq War.
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