Bored Panda reached out to David Hong, a Youtuber behind the series of videos that revealed what’s inside these military food rations. It turns out, David is also an artist in the furry fandom and Warhammer Horus Heresy project, which recently became his main focus.

The thirty-year-old Youtuber started out back in 2011 and his channel was mainly about blogging and gaming. ”I never have thought it would be an MRE Review Channel since I first opened a US MRE ration that I bought from an expat living in my country,” he recounted.

But it turns out, David isn’t connected to any military himself. “This question comes up due to the fact that MREs can only be had if provided by the army, or bought from a commissary in a base.” He explained that this isn’t the case anymore because military rations are now available publicly. 

It’s hard to say which food ration was David’s fave since “every ration is unique to the taste and culture of their corresponding nation.” Having said that, he loved “the Russian IRP because it offers the most protein of all the MREs I had. The pork fat or sowbelly is probably the oddest choice in it; it tastes like bacon when you mix it with the rice included.”

Other nice treats included meatballs that “feel and taste realer than manufactured ones that are soggy and bland” and crackers that “are great to snack on, dunking it in the sauces of the entrees is heavenly.”

Moreover, David believes that “the entrees in the Russia IRP are the best seasoned,” which means you don’t need to add salt or pepper. “The mini stove is also very cute when warming the entrees within their containers, as a civilian, I feel like camping when using it,” he added.

The Youtuber, who is originally from the Philippines, also told us about the time he tried living on “twenty-four colon-blocking [army ration] flavors to choose from.” It may sound fun, but in reality, “It is quite a fattening and a constipating endeavor as a civilian with moderate exercise, the amount of calories in each pack is designed for soldiers.”

Not only can the MREs truly be fattening since they’re packed with calories, they can also get dull easily. “Once you already cycled through the menus as they can have the same desserts or spreads in consecutive packs.”

All in all, David wouldn’t recommend relying on MREs as a quick meal even for an athlete because “they can really throw off your diet and bowels.”