I am a stay at home mother of two, an 8 year old boy, and a 6 year old girl. Both my kids are pretty adventurous, though, like most kids they can be a little picky when it comes to food.

On a recent camping adventure, we took along a supply of MREs, or Meals Ready to Eat. These are all-in-one military rations kits complete with main course, side dish, snack items, dessert, and water activated heater.

I wasn't sure what the children would think. After all, the MREs are packaged in tan bags, with no fun cartoon characters on the sides, and little flavor.

They are perfect for camping, hunting, and for stocking in your emergency food pantry, but would probably be difficult to eat day in day out for any length of time. Being as they were the only main course food items we brought along on the trip, I was concerned the kids wouldn't like them.

We set up our tent, set up a nice campfire and prepared for the meal. I prayed for the best, all the while trying to remember where I saw the closest restaurant on the way into the campground, in case I was met with abject refusal.


But I was wrong indeed! When handed their own spaghetti MRE, both kids thought the experience was a blast.

They had fun opening all the nondescript packages, playing with the water activated chemical heater (with help from mom, of course), and devouring all the snack items. It was their favorite part of the whole trip.

The rest of the night and into the next day, they both had fun pretending they were in the Army, and that their MREs were special rations on a secret mission. They stuck leaves in their shirts for camouflage and used sticks as weapons.

It was nice to see that the trip and the MREs brought out the creative side in them. A hard thing to find nowadays.

I'm not sure if they would enjoy the MREs nearly as much at home, or once the novelty wore off, but for now, they are asking for more. We keep a few MREs in our trunk for an emergency situation, and the kids have seen them in there. They've asked to have a picnic with them.

I'm glad they like them. I've just ordered a few cases for our hurricane pantry, as storm season is fast approaching. Their size and completeness make them the ideal food to have on hand if the big one hits.

Rayven Perkins is a stay home mom who has put together a resource on MREs, including where to find the best prices for purchasing them. Visit her website at: Discount MREs