Enlisted US Army here! Can confirm: the garlic mashed potatoes are always like that. I'm pretty sure the gum is laxative gum but they might've been messing with us, regardless it's always hard and chewy like that. I'm just glad you picked one of the better entrees, the meatballs are pretty coveted!

I'm curious how Ollie's digestive system is later. American MREs have a reputation for causing constipation, especially the cheese.

i genuinely didn’t think there were any more rations they could get their hands on and was undoubtedly disappointed but i should never have doubted ollie

Fellas as a retired U.S.Marine, here a few tips with MREs, anything in a red sauce like meatballs you can eat cold, anything white like potatoes, rice or noodles in white sauce is almost inedible cold. You should have been able to slide the meatballs and mash potatoes into the heater and then close to top and lean it against something at an angle. Also MRE heater fumes are not good so you should have done that outside. From basic troops to special operators folks will strp down MRE to make them lighter and take only the ones you can eat cold sometimes. My wife and I love your channels Semper Fi.

Josh & Ollie pull out the "teriyaki" beef jerky and make amaze face over the fact it's a condensed cylinder. People in USA are like, "Um, ya'll don't have Slim Jims in the UK?"

As the child of veterans and having tried MREs myself, I screamed when they ate the cheese. "Don't do it, you won't be able to poop for a week!" 😅😂 Some of the MREs aren't bad though. The milkshake is awesome. My dad loved the Fruit Cake.

Hi there 😊 love your stuff. I am an American and I was enlisted. I can answer some of the questions you guys asked. So it says "warfighter" because a soldier is a specific title to an individual in the US Army. Marines are called marines. Navy is sailors. Airforce is air men. So, it's a big deal to a LOT people here. Oh and if you try American MRE's again I highly recommend the vegetarian or chili-mac options. Just douse it in the included hot sauce and you'll be alright. Otherwise the texture and "real meat" will mess up your stomach. They're meant to last for like 25-50 years. Oh and the cookie, cracker, pound cake, etc will dry you out so drink plenty of water. They make a ton of different versions of these some even included candy, like reap skittles and Starburst. It's an entire culture. Good luck 👍

To all of the military men and women in this chat - thank you for your service

Female Soldier here. Watching some British dudes being confused about my old food brings me joy XD But Ollie, when you said Navy Seals are the strongest in the ARMY, I almost died. No no no!

Former US Army as well now living in London. My favorite MRE was the Beef Stew. The absolute worst one is the Omelet. Stay away! or if you are Ollie Buy a pack of them and make everyone try it for a video lol. Love you guys keep it up! Also those things are good for at least 25 years

as an italian myself, i’m just gonna pretend i never saw those iTAliAn breadsticks

The meatball MRE was my favorite one in the Army. I used to trade candy to get it. You should shake & knead the heating pouch. To thoroughly wet the chemical pack for it to really fire up.

Fun fact, the spoon in the American MRE has a confirmed kill in combat!

You always seem to post just before I eat lunch and then I get to sit down and eat with a video it's so perfect thank you 😌

Hi Jolly! I’m a combat medic in the US Army. I’ve been watching you guys since 2015. I’m so glad you tried our MREs.

The Teriyaki Beef Sticks look like they're the Navy's generic version of Slim Jim's. They're a popular snack in America, although they're thinner and way longer. But for rations, I can see how you'd need them much shorter, lol. But yeah, they're good right?

Fun fact. The manufacture date is what is stamped. Every 5 years they get a recertification for "freshness". If one MRE in a case doesn't pass. The whole case fails 😅

I swear, Ollie would win at the game "Truth or Dare" every time.

The MREs are also perfectly safe to eat without heating, if you're in a situation where you can't heat it They also last a *looong* time, so if it "expired" in 2015, then it was probably made in the 90s

Speaking to the volume of the packaging josh is correct, if you're in close combat needing to be quiet then there's no shot you get to cook your MRE. You just pop it and eat as is

"It smells chemically..." Well, yeah, you're cooking something without a flame. ROFL

Jalapeno cheese spread is significantly better than anyone would expect on the first viewing. Heat it up with the packet some to improve it even more. Also, Soldiers (Army), Marines, Sailors (Navy), Airmen(Air Force) are all together "warfighters"

YAY! I missed this series! I hope you guys continue eating army rations from more countries! Just try not to burn your new studio down like in the Russian and French army rations videos HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

As an avid hiker. There is something about “trail food”/“field food”. Try this stuff after 4 day in the woods. Everything tastes miraculous!!!

I cackle at the way Ollie is fixated on the word "warfighter" 😂🤣🤣 "We're gonna do our warfighting in the toilet..." AJKAJDKFFJKFLGKGKALLOPJA I CAN'T 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

😂😂 I remember eating MREs when I was in the beginning stages of the Air Force. All the days of eating at sketchy Florida gas stations had prepared me for eating those MREs during training. 😂😂😂😂

The funny thing is... Ollie, the one with the potato allergy, was the one with enough balls to try the mash 😂

2015 just means it was manufactured in 2015. There are no expiration dates on US mre's cause they are meant to last for a super long time, typically up to 6+ years. But people say 4 years is when the food starts to taste weird.

As an active duty enlisted army member here I can wholeheartedly tell you the mashed potatoes are always like that and the gum is definitely a laxative

You guys never fail to make me smile.

As a retired U.S. Navy dude (stationed mostly in San Diego), I can positively state that the MREs have really improved. I didn't spend my entire 24 years stationed on ships, but did a lot of shore duty. We were constantly involved in these field exercises, mostly disaster recovery, nuclear war scenarios, etc., in Fort Hunter-Liggett, California, where I've had at least 2 lifetimes of meals created by Chef MRE! Its a shame they don't put in more than one heater packet per pouch, nobody in their right mind drinks cold coffee in the morning, especially at early 0-dark-thirty in the morning in Hunter-Liggett, California!

Ollie adding solid cheese to everything is the most american thing tbh

That MRE will stay for a week in your system now. As a veteran myself I hated eating those things but I had to. Also you don't need to worry about it being "out of date". When you opened the potatoes I could literally remember that damn smell. LMAO!!!

Not military myself, but I used to work with a former army cook who was assigned TDY to a seal team, and apparently the seals have a weird diet. They'd go out on a mission at sunset, get back sometime between dawn and a week later. They'd subsist on field rations the whole time out, which is way more than almost any other US military unit does these days, and my coworker had to be ready to feed them real food at a moment's notice when they got back to base. The other cooks would look at him weird for making dinner at 0600h, but what else do you feed someone who just got off a hard shift at work and is getting ready for bed? Also, I'm pretty sure terms like "war fighter" are to keep anyone from getting confused that maybe these rations are for someone else. Everyone in the Navy is called a "sailor," even if they're a seal ground combat team, and marines are always called "marines" ; only army are called "soldiers." I don't think anyone cares about civilians like you and me calling all ground troops "soldiers," but the word has a more specific meaning among actual military personnel.

This is exactly what I needed at 2:32am here in New Zealand!!!! It's also my birthday so the timing is perfect 🥳✨

OMG! As a Navy Seabee Vet, this cracks me up!!!

As a US Combat Veteran...I really enjoy your facial reaction to MRE's...ive both done and witnessed those reactions 😄 Btw...there are dozens of better rations...the mash is awesome heated

To note for Josh and Ollie, even if an MRE or ration is out of date, if properly stored, a nice tasting MRE can still be very good. If you watch one of the MRE review guys out there, one of the big guys who does a lot of ration reviewers, Steve1989MREInfo, can say some of the basics for telling if the food and items in an MRE is still okay, somewhat, like if the drink powders are a solid block, they are no longer good, if the tin for canned cheese or jam is bulging despite being properly sealed, they are probably also gone too bad. More of the dehydrated and drier stuff, if stored properly are still really good today, if I recall one such rations was a West Berlin survival ration or something. If the food is able to be stored properly, nothing is there to decompress the food further and make it rot, and oxidation isn’t an issue, then you will that your MREs should be fairly safe to eat, all you would have to worry about is if they made the food taste good. Edit: to note, maybe you should have had the priest and the major twin duo come in and do MRE reviews with you.

So sweet to see you both giggling like this. Stop being adorable. Stop it.

I’d love to see you guys do a collaboration with someone to develop a Michelin star MRE. Seems right up your alley.

세상의 전투식량이 맛있어지는 그 날까지♡♡♡모든 군인분들 수고가 많으세요 항상 감사합니다!

Really enjoying these videos, have you guys thought of trying army rations from any African country outside of Egypt? Although it might be difficult to acquire, it would be a cool video to see.

Im celebrating Lunar New Year with my family now in Vietnam 🎆 This is like the 1st gift, the 1st luck i get from you lol Your videos entertained me a lot in 2021 and hopefully bring people more joy and positivity in 2022 ❤️

US Civilian here... I've kept MREs around for emergencies for years, and they're not that bad compared to a lot of other emergency food items (there are better ones, but these are convenient). They are good for many years after the dates- might be a little less flavorful, but they're safe. I got a French one after you did the episode on that, and WOWZA - even though I haven't tried it yet, the packaging and branded items are amazing- mine has cannele in it ! And the pouch-o-spuds DOES need to be heated and stirred up... adding the cheese to those helps. The cookies are all dry- but at least you didn't get Skittles with multiple artificial colorings and titanium dioxide ! MREs are also good in storms that cause power outages. The heating packs are too hot initially, but feel great if it's cold and my hands get nippy. The MREs are cooked just prior to packing, so it is relatively fresh, since it goes from cooked to pouch pretty quickly. I'm on an international MRE quest now (I'm housebound, so low maintenance with entertainment 😂). You guys have been a godsend.

Guyss, please try Pakistani snacks or food if possible please! Been your fan from the start and I love your videos, they always comfort me after a long day! Thank you for your videos.

We had 2 names for MREs when I went to the Navy in 2001, M-eals R-ejected by E-thiopians (no explanations needed, but yeah fucked up) and Desert Storms because it was supposedly from the 1st Gulf War.

The best thing about the MRE is the chemical heating pack can be used in the winter to warm you up. I used to put them between my BDU shirt and my t-shirt. They would keep me warm for hours.

Watching your videos are like waiting for the christmas time, with jolliness everywhere. The only difference is Christmas comes once a year and your JOLLY videos comes throughout the year🤗. I loooove your channel and I am literally binge watching now 🥰

You guys could have the craziest conversations over coffee time, comparing different army rations :D

First time to see a video when it's released

I was the Wardroom Cook on a LST in the 90's, had embarked Marines onboard for Team Spirit exercise. The Marine Captain in charge was gone on an exercise for 4 days and when he came back and sat down to eat, he said he's been eating MRE's for 4 days and he needs regular food that will make him crap again. We gave him another plate for the cause.

As I was informed, a lot of mres people sell are actually from companies that make them, not the actual us military. The difference is the privately made ones last at most 5 years, and they have significantly less calories. Versus the official ones that have over 2000 calories, last 10 years, and are better quality.

간만에 돌아온 군대 전투식량 먹어보기 시리즈군요 매우 좋습니다 Long-time-no-see army ration series. Great.

Is Ollie okay after this? He loved that cheese and that cheese is known for making you constipated lmao

In 1964 I was stationed in Northern Greenland (north of Thule AFB) with the U.S. Army 46th Engineers. One day were were snowed in our huts and ate "C" rations (I never did find out what the "C" stood for) and they were delicious. They were packaged in the early 1940's. They weren't as good as the food served to us in Greenland, but far better than we had in the states. I remember a ham and egg combo that came out of a can, like a wide soup can, but don't recall if we were able to heat it.

I swear Olly was an American soldier in a previous life. His can do attitude about shoving everything into the heater was spot on! And yes the cheese spread goes on literally everything in the MRE haha (except maybe the coffee) haha more edits, the coffee is better just downing the grounds without making it and also MREs don't go out of date they are apocalypse meals (like canned goods)

Yes!! Back to the ration packs

@ Jolly On today's episode Josh and Olli eat outdated food while remembering the bit from the Pound Cake scene in British soldiers eat Korean MRE's. "It's sucked all the moisture from my toenails to my brain" while eating a cookie. ROFL guys.

0:49 when josh hits the table it’s the same rhythm as the background music. This cracked me up for no reason

These guys bring amazing energy. Keep up the great work!

At this point, I'm sorta waiting for Oli to come up with his own Jollybee ration pack.

Yaaay something good to watch on lunch break😂💕💕💕

I just started my break at work, perfect timing! Thank you🙌🏼

I'm Air Force veteran and in basic training 1983 we got C rations. The can of apricots stamp date was 1967. They were good.

I love these MRE videos you guys do! And that bad coffee stank face! lmfao. Time to rejoin and become a full jollybean again. ^^

The MRE was definitely out of date. It was made in 2015, and they last 3 to 5 years depending on what temp they were stored.

Been tired and stressed from studying today. And you posting at the right time 😭❤️.

Fun fact, Water rations or supplies are usually very limited so a good substitute to activate the reaction is to pee in the bag, atleast that's what UK warfighters are taught

I have a feeling major Charles would love this meal kit after watching him with the British ones while in Korea lol

Hell yeah! MORE JOLLY!!!

Thank you for getting me through the day 🙌

My favorite MRE was the chicken fajita with the jalapeno cheese sauce and peanut butter MnMs. Good stuff

I wonder if Josh and Ollie can interview a former SAS like Ant middleton. Would that be possible or... Dangerous ?? 🤣

I am always so concerned for Ollie’s stomach 😂

I’ve been in the US Air Force for 4 years I have never tried the cheese on the meatballs I can’t wait for MREs now! Thank you for that!

Army Veteran here! The cookies are always dry they go good with a hot cup of coffee!!

Make your own Korean toast rations for people who live overseas or can't visit the restaurant.

Oh nice! Hoping for more International Army ration episodes.

Love the shots/angles from above👁👁🦅

0:33 "Out of all the soldier" oh ollie 😂Man kind of struggled a bit with that 😂 you could just say military branch to state or call out all kinds of military branch there are.

Still so many more rations from other countries to try! Also, you guys really need to perhaps start getting MREs that are not expired....

Navy SEAL… Army rations. I sense a slight contradiction there.

There are mixtures that work really well together. The pound cake, peanut butter and spiced apples are my favorite. A simple jalapeño cheese and vegetable crackers are my next favorite. Basically have to know which packages they are in and hope you can get the combos 😂

Former USCG aviator here. We always had MREs around when needed, but our C-130s had ovens and coffee pots in them. We made our own lunch boxes filled with mini-pizzas, uncrustables, and various things you might eat while traveling. We broke out the MREs for the entertainment value. My impression was that they were far better than they had any right to be given the room temperature storage requirements.

Can we have Armand and Max as a Guest on Jolly 😊👍🏼

“it’s like a carnivorous twizzler” 😭

The jalapeño spread is best enjoyed after a day of marching with it in a front pocket. It gets warm and massaged. Makes it infinitely more spreadable. That stuff was as good as cash in the field.

My uncle use to bring home rations from the marine reserves and us cousins will try them out!! The snacks were our favorites!!

We need an update on what happened later 🤣

Would love to see you try Swedish army rations!

The meatball MRE was the first one I when I joined the Air Force back in 1987. Looks the same, we just didn't have chemical heaters back then. It is one of the better ones just FYI! lol We had little bottles of Tabasco in every MRE too... I used it in every one!!

I was lucky enough in Desert Storm to be in a unit that had its own generators as we had to provide electricity for communications and other functions. We placed the MRE packets on the hot manifold and they turned out pretty good. We had a tent , sort of like, to get out of the heat and just take a breather and there was a table where any uneaten MRE items were put there so you could have a snack if you wanted to. Worked out pretty well. I also ate a lot of C-Rations in 'Nam and it would take too long to compare them to MREs but suffice it to say both are very different in their own sort of way.

Petetion for Jolly to start KOREAN LESSONS with Ollie again'!!! Pwlease 🥺❤️❤️

You must heat the Mash Potatoes and maybe add a slight bit of water to reactivate the texture. Cold garlic in anything doesn't taste too good, but heated up is a whole different experience. You have to allow the Meatballs at least 10 to 15 minutes in the heating bag and it's best if it's heated along this way the heat distributes better and faster. The eating bag would be placed upright so the water doesn't cover the entire bag. Your food won't heat well at all. Lean it against something to keep the water at the bottom so it will create steam. Soldiers in the field often carry a cooking kit with them but if they don't these heating bags are essential and you might want to heat the water before making the coffee. These meal rations are still good because they are sealed airtight so air can't get in to spoil the food. They teach this is basic science... oxygen causes food to decompose (re; rot) because of the bacteria the food is exposed to and what natural bacteria that's already in the food products themselves. Depriving this bacteria of air kills it off the food is left unspoiled until it's exposed to air again where bacteria can get back into the food or reanimate within to food. So unless the seals are broken the food remains fresh and ready to eat.

New video and a lunar new year!! ❣️

My husband is a 101st Airborne veteran & the meatball ration was one of his faves 🤣

I'm glad you kinda liked US MRE. Because, except for the French one, you gave out an impression that Korean MREs are the best and most 'technologically' advanced in the world. While the US military have been using a chemical heating system for decades now. (Koreans got it only a couple of years ago). So go USA! Well done.

Josh and Ollie would be doing a great job as Masterchef judges

3:18 At a distance that Italian bread stick looks like shortbread biscuits. (The cheaper ones are sometimes plastic wrapped biscuit blocks.)

MREs can last a couple of generations. You can even use them with blocks of SPAM to build a shelter and eventually you can eat your way out if the door gets stuck