For those that say "you cannot make home-made MREs last that long" I just grabbed 2 of mine and decided to look at the dates, here is what I found. I made 10 of these in April 2010, they are the oldest ones I have, based on my notes and what I normally do, I made about 10, and have these 2 left. I have some I made in November of 2010 too, but those are only 4 months old so not a great example. I figure these from 4/2010 which are now about a year old are a good example.
"MRE" #1
-Two 2.5 oz foil packets of Bumble Bee Premium Tuna, Expiration Best by 2/2014
-Four small boxes of Rasins, best buy date 12/2013
-Drink mix packet (use by 1/2013) but I have used these 2 years past best buy dates with no issues
-3 ounces dry rice with dehydrated peas/corn, mylar sealed (by me) should be good 4 years easy
2 packets instant oatmeal with strawberries, best buy 1/2014
Condiments, salt, peppar, chicken broth cubes, sugar packets, and instant tea.
total cost to make MRE#1 (based on prices at Safeway store this morning) less than $5.00
MRE #2
-2 foil packets Pink bonless skinless Salmon, best buy 1/23/2014
-6 oz peanuts best buy 12/2013
-Lipton chicken noodle soup mix, best buy 10/2013 (eaten this over 1 year past that, no problems)
-4 oz dry pasta heat sealed by me (cut spagetti by the feel of it) dated 5/2013 by me (probably from the original package, but heat/vacuum sealed should be longer).
-2 packets of Quaker instant oatmeal w/brown sugar, best buy 2/2014
-2 instant lemonade drink mixes, best by 1/2013 (same as above in MRE#1)
condiments, similar to MRE #1
Total price for MRE#2 based on Safeway prices this morning, about $6.50 (however I could probably feed 1 adult/1 kid with this one if needed).
As designed each MRE had at least 30g of protein if not more, and at least 2000 calories.
Now I have friends that can get fresh MRE cases through the BX/PX for about $65/case, which is roughly $5-6 per meal (same as me above), yes they last longer, however:
1) I don't like all the meals, I have no control over the "extras" candy, fruit, etc that comes with them,
2) I have no ability to pack based on season, or location etc where I am going.
3) From a "parent" stand point, they are harder to convince a kid to eat, lets face it, they often look bad, smell bad, and don't taste great, getting a 4 year old to eat normally isn't easy, some of those meals forget it. I would be hard pressed to eat "chipped beef in cream sauce" even if I was hungry. My kids know what Quaker oatmeal should look and taste like, they know what to expect when I open a foil packet of Tuna, etc.
Also I can build these MREs at my own pace on my budget when I want to, how I want to and it is easy to rotate stuff back into our normal diet when due dates are approaching. Are they going to last for 10 years, nope, they aren't, both MREs I built should be good easily for 44 months from the day I made them ( 4/2010-12/2013) since I don't worry about the drink mix in either and I know in MRE 2 the noodles would be good for atleast another 8 months vacuum and heat sealed. So my home made MREs were good for 3.75 years.
If I wanted to go "budget" on my meals I could get them even lower, the foil fish packets I usually pick up for $1.25-$1.50 depending on sales, and type of fish, 5 ounce cans I pick up for $0.44, that would cust easily a dollar off each meal from what I made, but increase the weight a bit so it just depends on your goals/purpose. I take mine camping/finishing so I like minimal trash so the foil packs fit my purpose better.