Gifts from non Secret Santas
 

from the zippah:

This is awesome. We got beef stew, chicken fajita, veggie manicotti, and veggie burger. Spencer has chosen the veggie burger and the girl wants the manicotti, for dinner tonight.

I've eaten me a whole mess of that stuff. iz good. Lil Lookout and I are planning a camping trip up north somewhere for Christmas break and he has asked if we could take MRE's. yippee. I always liked the spaghetti personally.

MRE's are a significant improvement from the past. I like most of the newer ones, they are edible and a few are pretty good.

I always liked the Extreme cold weather ones (the ones in white bags).

The oatmeal was a tasty, fulling breakfast and the calorie count goes up a bit over the regular ones. MRE's are expensive things though. I get mine from Fort Bliss and a friendly quartermaster.

I keep a case on my truck for emergency rations at all times.

My last case was eaten by a student on the sly so I never noticed until I unpacked the truck and found the now-empty box.

Those were the best, but you got two white bags for each meal issue because you needed more calories, I think they had 3400c if you ate the two bags.

I never thought about it before... would severe allergies make someone unfit for service?

Maybe not unfit for service but it may limit deployment opportunities.

Glad you guys Like them J&J , Give them a taste and Let me know what you think ,

Any body remember Scrambled eggs in a can from the Old C ration days ???

EWWWWWWWWWW!

SO... how was it?

Omg zip, the kids had so much fun with these. The wanted to go outside and find a "rock or something" to prop them up on even.... got totally into the spirit of the situation.

Ripley said the manicotti was fine... fine to eat... but she won't eat it again. She loved everything else, especially the hot chocolate and the peanut butter and crackers.
The boy loved the veggie burger, said he wouldn't even have guessed it was veggie (I guess that means it doesn't taste like a Garden Burger brand). He also got a chocolate banana muffin top and fruit punch.

Srsly, they were like kids at christmas opening and enjoying these things. Thanks so much Zip. I'll let you know how round 2 goes with the beef stew and chicken fajita... stay tuned.

Cool , glad they liked them . did you taste any of it ??

I didn't, I'm sorry. I thought I would but was just too picky/weird about food when push came to shove.
I might try the beef stew.
I can't promise I'll try, but I'll try to try... [/bart]

No more gorilla cookies?

So where did you get them, Zip? It says commercial resale is prohibited.

Left over from last years Ice storm , they Last for YEARS !!!!

I love this part, from Wikipedia. So the government doesn't like civilians buying MRE's, but can't prove that it's illegal.

Darn, a hot MRE would have been cheaper and tastier than airline food.

Demand .... supply ... margin ... profit ... business.

YTF not? :confused:

It's not like they are classified material or anything, right?

Hello? [tap tap] America? Are you on?

Because it's materiel that gives people on the move a tactical advantage, and they would rather not let the bad guys have that.

mmmm, I suppose ...

Oh lord. They're going to confiscate my jerky!

The only way you can get the cases of MRE's from the military is to steal them, hence the ones that go to the government are marked accordingly. As you can see there is a huge market for these on the civilian side and they want to discourage soldiers from stealing them to resell them. The ones you can buy are similar, but not the same.

I don't steal mine. I either trade or buy them from a quartermaster who issues them to troops. They go out on maneuvers with them. They order pizzas and return the unused MREs which are no longer in the computer. Since they officially don't exist, he can legally dispose of them as he sees fit. I get a case now and then.

You know what I mean, I was not pointing fingers, just pointing out why the military marks them differently. I have a closet full of MRE's that I was issued but just never used. Including one Artic ration. :D

We've already got agents working on this. those of you that are in possession of illegal MREs should contact our office immediately. (703) 482-0623


It will go easier on you.

great thread because I know of another non-secret-santa gift that was mistaken for the secret santa one.... now there's a thread for it.

Merc , we and our Neighbor were given these Mres by the National Guard when we got Ice Stormed out Last year , not stollen , our Neighbors didn't like them and gave them to us ,
Jinx and I were discussing them one nite in chat ,
She had Never had one so I sent her some to try .

A Box arrived from Jim and Jinx today Full of Goodys !!!!!!
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2610/...9bbeea08_b.jpg
some Soup
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2797/...12d12d42e1.jpg
OMG BACON Salad Dressing !!!!
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4007/...e28a914c69.jpg
Some HOT Horse Raddish
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2763/...7f4fa93168.jpg
Some Pickled Goodys
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2655/...3248e5a5ba.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2657/...1911fe78a4.jpg
Some Hot sauce
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2803/...973df821a0.jpg
and some Sweet goodys
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2703/...3a3ae1d477.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2671/...1edb2f709e.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2497/...e315069db6.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2647/...9fccb08c18.jpg

Thanks Guys , we WILL Enjoy these Goodys !!!!!

that's some might fine snackin' there zippy.

I'm thinking you got the better end of the deal, there, zippy! :lol:

I aint complaining !!!!!

The amish stuff is fun to buy (I put back the pickled eggs and the chow chow), and nobody bakes a cake as tasty as a tastykake.
:D

The Jake and Amos stuff looks awesome! Hot pickled cauliflower and fungus? That's some decadent stuff, there. And the Ingelhoffer's cream style horseradish is to die for. Used to be able to get that here, but haven't seen it for years.

holy shit. we sent a bag of groceries as a Christmas present!

What's your next trick?
Gonna send ice cubes to Alaska?

A friend, who's a Jersey native living in Dallas, was ecstatic to find he could buy them online. :D

Like I said, I am not accusing anyone of anything. I was just commenting on how and why the government packages them the way they do. To try to cut down on theft by the soldiers looking to make a few extra bucks. Hell if you want some that I got from when I was on Active Duty, let me know and I will send you some more. :)

Don't take 'em Zippyt, they're stolen. :lol:

But they last for years! :)

Yes, well past the statute of limitations.:haha:

:lol:

Is that like the statute of liberty?

I received a non-Secret Santa gift last Saturday.
At first I honestly believed it to be from my Secret Santa. In a way it was - he's not secret, but he is like Santa. He creeps in during the night and leaves you feeling warm and happy. Oh wait, that was my fantasy :yum:

I'll list my lovely gifts and let you see if you can guess who sent them.

In the top picture below, from left to right
Back row - drinks holder, Anti-Monkey Butt powder, card accompanying the goodies
Middle row - a lovely sparkly scrubber (like me) and my Russian dolls (see blow)
Front row - bacon scented air freshener which is now up in the kitchen

The Russian dolls are actually a set of measuring cups, so that I no longer have to have translations when I read American recipes, or get American packet mixes. My bro already wants to borrow them.

The air freshener is in the kitchen because it really does smell of bacon. I tried it on my door handle, and when I walked into the room I pushed a cloud of bacon scent in front of me. Not good for me or Diz.

All beautiful, all well chosen, and the dolls will be in use for years to come, especially as they take up such little space - a marvel of design.

I know who that's from!!!! :)

Excellent gift ideas!!!

Yeh - thats really uh well yeh thats great. Very thoughtful too. :yelsick:

:thumb:

How lucky am I?
Two non-Secret Santa gifts arrived for me today.

One in the morning, one in the afternoon.

The first one was there waiting for me when I got up.
I was excited as always, but by the time I got downstairs I had more or less convinced myself it was an item from eBay that I ordered on Mum's behalf (a novelty gift for my neice on Boxing Day - I'll post about it elsewhere when it arrives).

But.... but... It came in a Zazzle box. So I had an inkling it might be Cellar related. I checked the postcode, and it was one I recognised from writing out my Christmas cards.

On opening I found a Christmas cracker!
Yay! More than that, it was wrapped in glorious cat paper!

Inside were a pair of glorious long, pink, hand-knitted, fingerless mittens! Really my kinda thing. It confirmed my non-secret santa (and as she says, not intended to be secret either) was. I know a mad knitter from Scotland you see, so all the clues were in place.

Funnily enough, the Diz cat was madly curious about them. He had a good old sniff (before I knocked him off the table) and tried to bite my wrist when I had them on. This is out of character for him - I've come home before when cats have been sat on my lap, or dogs have been all over me and he hasn't batted an eyelid. Perhaps it's something to do with the yarn? Anyway, he enjoys them too.

Many thanks to the talented not secret not santa.

Glad you like them SG!

Good haul SG !!

Pretty. And a perfect color for you, SG.

strawberry mittens for the Strawberry (co) Queen!!!

very nice limey! I agree. They are so SG.

Everyone's presents were so fun to see. :santa:
thanks for sharing the joy

My box from J&J was similar to Limey's but NON Secret Santa in my case.

I'd just like to point out that everything in my box will be used and appreciated. EVERYTHING!

The box itself is being used by Dad - he's taken all our odd glasses out of the cupboards for Christmas. This means only matching sets remain, and they are all easier to get to because there is more space. J&J's box is currently in the shed being used for this purpose.

The Walmart carrier bags partially used as packing went round to Grandad, who uses that size in his kitchen bin. His carers empty it every day for him, so it's not economical for him to buy binliners. Anyway, the most that's ever in there is a toilet roll tube and maybe some scrapings of leftover porridge!

The newspaper/ magazines/ coupon sheets have all been pored over by me & Mum. Mum is now sold on the idea of a holiday in OBX. It's unlikely to become a reality, but as she says, "I can dream!" We're both big seafood fans, and were drooling over the location and menus (and prices!) of the restaurants and take-aways.

The tissue paper is going to be reused to wrap the token gifts my family are getting this year.

My haul was:
2 types pancake mix
Real maple syrup
Hot Sauce
Chocolate pretzels (that I had to eat myself because the 'rents found the sweet/ savoury overlap too odd)
Soup mix
Personalised post-its
A Cherry Hill Nissan t-shirt (which confuses MUm because she thinks it's personalised)
And lots of interesting reading as packaging.

We have already started on the pancakes and maple syrup.
They made a very filling lunch, and tomorrow we are having them again. Once more, this time with bacon.

Thanks guys, you're amazing.

Merry Xmas SG! I had as much fun with the packaging as with the stuff inside just because I knew you'd check it all out. I wish I'd remembered the local take out menus I'd been saving up...

let's have a pic of you in that Tshirt, please!

and Merry Merry!

Good Haul SG !!!!

I had Limey's gloves on too, but it blew my tiny brain trying to get me, my boob AND my hand in the same shot!

fix'd that for you...


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