SEPTEMBER 22, 2025 – The old saying “variety is the spice of life” is especially true when it comes to food. While service members in combat will eat whatever they’re given, having good meals that match what they might eat at home is important for morale and readiness.
Every year, food scientists at the Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center’s Combat Feeding Division in Natick, Massachusetts, work to develop new meals, ready-to-eat components. They’re based on warfighter feedback received by each service to add variety or replace unpopular items. Researchers also look at trends in the commercial sector to see what might play well on newer menus.
What’s Coming, What’s Going
The next iteration of MREs is MRE 46, which is expected to come out in 2026. The menu’s developers said that in MRE 46, they plan to replace the beef taco filling, pork sausage patty and jalapeno pepper jack beef patty — all of which were not rated high among surveyed service members — with a Cuban-style beef picadillo with vegetables, buffalo-style chicken, 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,” explained Julie Edwards, a CFD senior technologist and registered dietitian.
More protein-filled snacks will round out the MREs, including new s’mores recovery bars and freeze-dried chocolate peanut butter bites. Another big focus of the newest iteration is more caffeinated products.
“What we’ve noticed is caffeine is one of the least consumed items in the MRE,” Edwards said. “Previous generations were big coffee drinkers, but the newer generation of soldiers are not.”
As replacements, researchers looked to develop new beverage options, as well as energy chews, energy gels, caffeinated gum and even caffeinated jellybeans.
Edwards said service members also requested a larger, more durable towelette.
“Any new item that we get that can help bring variety and increase acceptability is important,” Edwards said. “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.”
Like with the new close combat assault ration, developers also focused on reducing the weight and volume of the new MREs without cutting calories or nutritional value.
Passing the Military Grade
All new items being considered for MREs must meet shelf-life requirements before they can be evaluated by warfighters, meaning they have to still be edible after spending six months in 100 degrees Fahrenheit and three years at 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
Edwards said a lot of commercial items that could be considered for MREs wouldn’t pass muster. For example, she said it’s been a challenge to find snacks — aside from nuts — that provide 10 grams or more of protein. Many of them have a chemical reaction over time that gives them an unappetizing appearance. She used beef jerky as an example.
“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. “What happens to jerky over time is it gets dark in color and becomes unappealing. So, we had a challenge of finding jerkies that meet our shelf-life requirements.”
MREs also have to meet specific nutritional requirements under the DOW-wide Army Regulation 40-25. Those requirements are different than nutritional needs for civilians and can often depend on environmental factors.
After shelf-life requirements are met, operational testing can begin. Teams of researchers go out and work with warfighters in the field to determine what they like, then behavioral psychologists hold focus groups to elaborate on the data. Edwards said it’s important they get honest feedback from everyone at every rank.
“We want you to give us this feedback because it does help. It does make a difference,'” she said. “Operational tests are very expensive and time consuming. So, we want to make sure that we’re being good stewards of investing money in the right areas.”
From there, the feedback is analyzed and presented to service leaders who are part of the Joint Services Operational Rations Forum. Those folks decide which new items to implement.
“From start to finish, it’s about a four-year process until the soldier actually sees [the new meals],” Edwards said.
Meanwhile, items for MRE 47, which is expected to come out sometime in 2027, are already in development. One service request was to include more plant-based items, Edwards said. For snacking, the CFD has developed plant-based animal crackers, a new recovery bar, a protein bar and fruit-flavored cereal. Edwards said the four vegetarian meals currently available to troops will be replaced with plant-based entrees.
There are kosher and halal meals available for service members, too, but they’re managed by Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, not CFD.
By Katie Lange
Pentagon News