British Guys Taste Test Spanish MRE (Meal Ready to Eat) ft

I've got hold of a Spanish MRE (meal ready to eat) package. Unfortunately there was no paella or sangria inside, but perhaps some interesting squid and green been thing that despite the scent, may have been particularly delicious, especially if you are in the middle of nowhere!
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#barrylewis #MRE #ashens

[@mrbarrylewis]

The Canadian MRE taste test kzbin.info/www/bejne/amTCgaqDnd-cfdE More Taste Test Videos on this playlist kzbin.info/www/bejne/m2ipd4OVes6lsK8&pp=gAQBiAQB Stuart's channel kzbin.info/door/xt9Pvye-9x_AIcb1UtmF1Q

[@DreamRJ]

These kinda fun videos to watch but I prefer your cooking ones Barry :P - I hope you do that Omurice video soon that I suggested to you :) 1 last thing, I really really hope you reach 1mil subs soon, I am still shocked you have not reached that milestone yet, you seem to have been stuck at 980K subs for months now. You should ask viewers to sub more often I think and also maybe do more social media posts for more exposure perhaps. Anyway you are great and so is your family and I have watched your channel for many many years now. I would be a Patreon but times are rough and I can not afford to atm. I can not wait for your next videos keep up the great work bud :)

[@cw6082]

Love the ashens colab 😂 I actually met you through ashens 😂 so I always love the colabs

[@mrbarrylewis]

@@DreamRJ hey no worries, the bulk are cooking ones. I was stuck on 960k for agggggeeeees, but it's creeping towards it now. I really don't worry about stuff like that though, I just love what I do, that's why i'm still here, it's fun mixing it up

[@mrbarrylewis]

@@cw6082 awesome

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

​@@mrbarrylewisyour collabs are always great ❤❤❤

[@BucketOfFail]

Years ago when Ashens tried the Estonian MRE he said he was going to try more countries. Thanks to Barry we are finally getting those videos almost 10 years later!

[@mrbarrylewis]

ah was it Estonia? Yes he mentioned that and thought it was Finland

[@dominicharvey6048]

​@mrbarrylewis yes, it was Estonia. I have watched the video a few times now.

[@thedennismillerratio]

Barshens gets things done!

[@mattymerr701]

​@@mrbarrylewisnot far off, Finland and Estonia are closely related. The languages are in their own group together and the people emigrated from the same areas a long time ago iirc. Need a bit of a fact check on that part

[@antster1983]

@@thedennismillerratio Gannon would have gagged at the calamari, he has a seafood allergy.

[@Howlrunner82]

Barry : You eaten worse haven't you? Ashens (full of pride) : YES 😂😂😂

[@YaaLFH]

So I checked and found this: "Interesting facts about Spanish Field Rations and Military Procedure is that, according to commenters from the Spanish Armed Forces, troops are issued with a hard-tack biscuit / cracker ration at the beginning of the day. This ration is kept aside and ONLY used IF there is no fresh bread supplied from a field kitchen, according to them, the supply of Fresh Bread is a high priority for troops in the field and deployment hence why the rations lack packed crackers / biscuits such as those in French and Eastern European rations." So you should have used bread for the pate. BTW it looks fairly normal for a Spanish dinner.

[@CragScrambler]

Yeah I was going to say they are issued fresh bread and crackers when these are in use. Quite a few countries do that.

[@yetanother9127]

The Spanish get fresh bread right at the front, the British get their tea served from a dedicated kettle in every armored vehicle, the Finns build a sauna in every base, and the Americans have the world's only air-mobile Burger King (seriously, Google it). Gives you some idea of each nation's priorities with regards to troop morale.

[@mistywolf312]

Ok ty, that now makes a hell of a lot more sense to the rat pack, most of those dishes could/should be used with bread or crackers.

[@AMPProf]

haa lol

[@TamarLitvot]

I wonder if it's the same plan for Canadian MREs -- I doubt they meant the peanut butter and jelly to be eaten on the tortilla!

[@CragScrambler]

The Squid always gets everybody 😂 Tbh they are well prepared, they gut and clean the squid, take off the 'head and beak' then they take the ink and boil it down to make the ink sauce, douse the tentacles in the ink sauce and then put those back inside the body. So basically all that's inside is the natural ink and tentacles, nothing nasty so to speak. But yeah, just don't look at them lol

[@brianartillery]

@@CragScrambler - After seeing Steve1989 enjoy the set, that was the component I was most looking forward to trying - and I wasn't disappointed. I ate all of it, and loved it. If you presented it on a nice dish as tapas, I doubt many people would be any the wiser.

[@TamarLitvot]

I used to love calmari. Then I started learning about how brilliant octopuses are -- and apparently the same is true of squid. I just can't eat either anymore.

[@metadata4255]

@@TamarLitvot I would eat a human

[@deanc8458]

Had something similar on holiday to Spain. Thought it was nice but it needed a touch more flavour other than squid imho

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Yeah, I totally expected some seafood. It's a big part of spanish cusine. Now I wonder what the exchange rate for a can of spanish squid is during deployment.

[@vwluis]

Tbh, i love how this mre resembles me, a Spanish guy going on a drinking binge, you order a soup at a restaurant, have some canapes with pate while it arrives, continue drinking, forget about the rest, go to a bar order a can of squid, order another tapa of judías con jamón, wipe yourself off with the worlds worst napkins, continue drinking, go home, drink the absolutely horrendous Spanish tap water, raid the cupboard, find some peaches in almíbar, eat them, go to sleep, maybe help the UN in the middle east.

[@sveinbjrnv7291]

I love the chemistry between the two and how it's never diminished over the years. Must say when together there's always chaos 😂

[@mathboy1066]

Great to see Ashens on some videos again!

[@deborahparrott3733]

1:30 my 6 year old brain went directly to "Green Eggs and Ham"

[@anndownsouth5070]

So did I. It was the first English book I read on my own. (I grew up Afrikaans.) I must have been about 8 years old.

[@miapark9748]

It's only logical lol

[@DaLilVivi96]

Brilliant! 🤣

[@ExUSSailor]

The Swedish & British one are 24 hour rations. They contain enough for 1 man for 1 entire day. The Canadian & Spanish ones are single meal.

[@Hudson316]

The Australian 24hr ones are pretty decent size too so when I saw the size of the British one I kind of assumed it would be a 24hr one since that Canadian one had been so small

[@MrGrimsmith]

Couldn't remember if the Swedish one was also 24 hour but yes, there's a hell of a lot in the British one! They should check out a German one as well of the more readily available 24 hour variety :)

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Ashens and barry make amazing collabs! Always great seeing you work together

[@jacobjones9071]

I've been begging for Ashen's Rations to be a series for a long time!

[@Kelnef]

Tinned fish or Conservas is a big industry in Spain and Portugal. Squid tins are great for easy dinners! If its in oil you can just pour it into a pan, fry with some garlic and lemon and stir through pasta.

[@jerit7529]

I think part of the reason this MRE was less calorie-dense is related to weather. Canada is much colder than Spain, and being in cold weather burns calories like crazy. If you want to see something wild, look up what the scientists in Antartica eat. It's usually around 10k calories a day!

[@YaaLFH]

It was a single meal not a whole day pack, and it would be supplemented with fresh bread or crackers/hard biscuits when fresh bread is not available.

[@iamdb1990]

Stuart is so oddly cheerful talking about food that doesn't seem nice or edible lol

[@ThatOneToucan]

Yeah he does about most of the food videos that he does! xD

[@antster1983]

Have you seen his channel? 😅

[@DaLilVivi96]

It's just good old British humor...

[@EliTheCraziest]

During the whole episode I was thinking, why did they not heat up the tins in a pan with hot water, hmmm. Haha!

[@mrbarrylewis]

It was a very rustic setup lol

[@andrewwright1896]

What i have learned from watching so much steve1989 is that some MRE are packaged as a single meal and sone as a 24 hours so they look larger because is the food for the entire day and some are 3 separate

[@charlottetooth1457]

I suspect that the stuff in the middle of the squid is stuffing, not it's guts - squid have a hard central piece of cartilage that is inedible, when you remove that all the guts come out.

[@CricketEngland]

Good to see Ashens is game to eat anything as always

[@MedallionDave]

Didn't the squid say rellenas? Rellenas translates to stuffed. Wasn't squid guts 🤣🤣🤣

[@Baron-Ortega]

That's what I thought 😂

[@djashley2002]

Agreed, it certainly looks like stuffed squid to me.

[@robertschnobert9090]

You're supposed to eat the guts though. It would be horrible to just throw it away. ​@@djashley2002

[@CamPopplestone]

Theres a chance that the big MREs you were showing at the start when talking about how compact this one is were actually 24 hour kits with 3 meals, those ones are always larger

[@lobke666]

The food is great enough for a soldier. You should try the Dutch one, you would be surprised. And the food that needs to warm up just put it in boiling water that is good to .

[@Wemius61]

I love the Spanish Armed Forces Soup in a Cup jingle! Not at all sure about the squid though...

[@mrbarrylewis]

Coming soon to Spotify

[@Wemius61]

@mrbarrylewis I shall listen out for it - I'll put it on my playlist somewhere between Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps Please and Bohemian Rhapsody.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

The trick with instant soup powder is that you first need to learn what the perfect mixture is. Same with the isotonic drinks. But the good thing is, you can add more or less water to get to that right ratio.

[@MarioSumDShow]

I can confirm that the bread comes outside of the boxes, as a separate item!

[@charleston7717]

Every day we get closer to the SteveMREInfo, Barry Lewis & Ashens collab. 🤞🤞

[@Brusselpicker]

French MRE are the best in my humble opinion. Top quality food that always made my mates jealous when we were fishing.

[@mrbarrylewis]

Next video ;) already filmed

[@Joy.Elizabeth]

awesome! loving these ☺

[@TamarLitvot]

@@mrbarrylewis Emmymade did a video of this and her French MRE was truly gourmet!

[@DaLilVivi96]

Plz do more of these lads! 🤣👍

[@GreatSageSunWukong]

We need a Barshens Steve1989frommreinfo collaboration, that would be nice.

[@Simonwies]

Surströmming is Supposed to be opened under fresh water. Like in a bowl or bucket of water, It takes away the smell and it takes the brine away From the Fish. Then you have no smelly brine, and some of the salt removed From the fish. then eat it on like melba toast with some herbs & seasoning tasty

[@meowcula]

I mean let's face it, we're all waiting for the Barry "disgust" face, which is so perfect.

[@GamingDamage]

Always love a video with Barry and Ashens! also an MRE! WOO!

[@Tairygreen]

I never knew how much I needed these videos. Thanks fellas

[@lifeisraph]

So amazing to see this series being continued! :)

[@ludditzthrell2061]

Ah, Barry, love seeing you and Stu hanging out! Long live Barshens!

[@Dee_Just_Dee]

Barry and Ashens collabs are always great - the man who'll cook just about anything at least once, and the man who'll eat just about anything at least once. The venn diagram overlaps nicely. ^_^

[@joeyisidor]

Excellent! Been waiting for part 2. 😁 Also, hallo ashens!

[@alh2116]

you two need to do more video together 😂you two are funny!! 😂😂😂

[@BrittanyYoungxDuckie]

Yay, more MREs!!

[@sHellzBellz]

omg im so happy to see you two together again :)

[@KlyeKlyeKlye]

It's really interesting to see what a countries military thinks a soldier would like to eat in the field, squid was definitely not on my list of things to eat and I'm not sure it was on Barry's either 🤣 I wonder if they have different selections for dietary concerns or if the soldiers are able to give their input on what they'd like to have in MREs 🤔

[@YaaLFH]

Squid is a very normal thing to eat for Spanish people.

[@brettevans5158]

Im just geeking over the OCP cup

[@KublaKhan1797]

Nice hiss!

[@libinspace]

Beat me to it!

[@anumeon]

In the words of Count Dooku (Starwars, sorry Barry) I have been looking forward to this..

[@sweetpepino1907]

Wow this was uploaded while I was watching the Canadian one!

[@mrbarrylewis]

Spooky! lol We have a French one filmed too, i'll put that up in a couple of weeks

[@sweetpepino1907]

@@mrbarrylewis Can't wait!

[@JohnHi6]

You need to try the Norfolk OAP MRE (Dads army approved) Beans on toasted rye bread, Bovril drink mix, Werthers original X 2, Rice pudding, Sanatogen energy drink and a sachet of Polygrip denture fixative in lieu of toothpaste the napkins are replaced with Tena.

[@xXCrazyNicNakXx]

Love these vids!

[@tarry_ny]

Ashens: something green with ham me: eggs?

[@teddyinjapan]

Yes! More Ashens colab. I miss this

[@carlconstantdeflon2373]

The boys are back together!

[@orthodoxblue7252]

You guys together is comedy gold. Thanks lads

[@bunnyneet]

im pretty sure that the squid doesnt have "guts" but instead is filled with the tentacles of the squid!

[@Fridelain]

With Spanish rations, you get a side of bread (fresh or shelf stable ) or a bread analog like crackers. No ration reviewer accounts for this, despite the information being available with a cursory search. Likewise each soldier has a personal set of camping style steel cutlery.

[@NRNMYGUY]

I love the content keep it up!! ❤❤🎉

[@vogonpoet5860]

the water purification tablet was meant for 1lt of water not a mug full.

[@robertschnobert9090]

That water was at least 300% purified 🌈

[@Zorbeltuss]

Wasn't there another MRE or two coming after this? My gf wants to see the one about the swedish MRE you mentioned you had in the first one (I'm from sweden and she's exited about our food culture from any angle)

[@rationalbacon5872]

I managed to choose this vid to watch whilst I ate my paté and crackers for lunch. 😂

[@CMWinter]

Really good thumbnail. Something about that vibe fits the channel well.

[@Dee_Just_Dee]

8:25 About pâté: Yeah, it can be pretty much any meat... pretty much anything. The word "pâté" comes French and is related to the English word "paste" and kinda just describes the consistency of the thing. 10:00 Oooh, I think I would gobble that squid right up. Years and years ago, there was a basic family buffet style restaurant in my area, and one of my favourite things was some pickled squid they had at the salad bar. Mind you, their squid was just the rings and tentacles like they use in fried squid, but pickled instead. No guts. So this would still be a bit of an adventure for me.

[@scottcowan7343]

"Cyanide" ah yes to give the soldiers a way out.

[@riggles]

THE CLASSIC BARSHENS DUO!

[@luisb7107]

The swedish and British one is a 24 h ration the Spanish one is just one meal of 3 for a day

[@YaaLFH]

@@luisb7107 Plus fresh bread

[@neilfound3506]

Same with the Canadian MRE, they tested, they get 3 of those a day

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

@@YaaLFH I love that the spanish of all get fresh bread, while german MREs have to do with canned sourdough rye bread.

[@YaaLFH]

@@HappyBeezerStudios To be honest that's a completely different type of bread, both are good.

[@luisb7107]

@@HappyBeezerStudios I've heard that there is only fresh bread if available. If not available you get a package of crackers. But as I'm not in the Spanish military I'm not sure. Another thing is that the kinds of bread that are commonly eaten in Spain and Germany are quite different. As far as I know the most common bread eaten in Spain is a fluffy white bread (similar to baguette but bigger and using olive oil) while a lot of Germans prefer a more dense grainy bread similar to the one in the German ration. And as for all rations they are mostly only eaten if it's not possible to use a field kitchen, so I'm sure in a lot of cases there is fresh bread in most militaries...

[@Level1Hera]

I laughed the whole way through this 😂😂😂😂 thanks guys

[@brianartillery]

They usually come in three parts - Breakfast, Lunch, and Supper. You have the lunch/dinner component. There will be biscuits, chocolate, and sweetened condensed milk plus a toothbrush in the breakfast part. I got one after seeing Steve1989 enjoying a set on his video. Fantastic quality food in it. A true joy. Mine had the squid in ink, and that was really good. It didn't smell unpleasant at all, just seafoody. And I ate it cold, all of it, like you eat whitebait - it made me think of tapas, actually.

[@YaaLFH]

I think it's dinner actually. But the main problem here is that they're supposed to have fresh bread with it.

[@TamarLitvot]

@@YaaLFH They should bring crackers or bread for their next tasting

[@Ghost_Of_SAS]

Barry: "How much overlap can there be between my audience and Steve1989mreinfo's? Better to spell out what MRE means..." Ashens: "I like hats!"

[@DukeNauticus]

I love me some canned calamari on toast, so it's hilarious watching you recoil from the mere smell of it. x> Either way, love watching videos you do with Stuart. Probably my favorite duo on KZbin.

[@memejeff]

Great stuff. Those heaters dont make flames. They react metals with water but they do make explosive hydrogen gas.

[@chris_is_here_oh_no]

Awesome video, always love a MRE review!

[@_Piers_]

"It looks a lot worse than it tastes" should be the marketing slogan for all non-fish seafood.

[@AdLockhorst-bf8pz]

Ooh, the squid (40%) - surimi (30% - mock crab) thingies - available in a number of varieties with different levels of spiciness - are quite nice really. Do you know that Turkish brand of roast chestnuts? I like *nice Turkish TITIZ* ... 🤢

[@dankart4924]

10:22 Stuart released his inner serial killer for a moment there!

[@johannaverplank4858]

I imagine most of the items would taste better heated up. Idk about the squid tho. I LOVE calamari but that looks rank. You guys crack me up. Thanks!

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Wow, MREs lead me back here. And only because I watched some random MRE video recently. And spanish? That obviously means quite the amount of seafood. But the spanish one being so small means most likely lots of tins and just for one meal. The big bags tend to be a full day, so three meals.

[@akantiia]

I love these videos

[@doninis1354]

We had the german cokies ( Bundeswehrzwieback) in a huge bunge when I was young and I loved them. Haven had them in more than 30 years. I don't know what actualy is on a german survival package, but I bet there is Pumpernickel in it.

[@samaritaDeath]

You should try South Korean. I just saw a video of some guys trying it and they loved it

[@TamarLitvot]

I bet that's good!

[@wullcandlish9181]

Hi from Scotland hope you're all safe and well my friends 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿👍😉✌️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@TamarLitvot]

Sorry about your SNP but congrats on ousting the conservatives

[@shinjisan2015]

as former Australian military, any of these ration pack items that smell terrible when you open them absolutely MUST be heated to actually be enjoyed. Yes you can eat them cold, but they don't taste good until they're hot.

[@benllewelyn98]

Love the Barshens crossovers ❤

[@Hampsteri42]

1 episode was nice surprise, second episode was unexpected bonus. But now you tease us with 2 more episodes!

[@134StormShadow]

Stuart: ooh look, there's all it guts Barry: has a mini episode 😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@DB___496]

Gives me throwbacks to the spanish taste testing video! shame there wasn't no edible stones in this one though, or orange slabs of mass with poems written on the inside...

[@jeanlongsden1696]

the serviettes are not for wiping your hands, they are for wiping your butt when in the field. the British MRE packs have Kleenex tissues in them for the same purpose.

[@Elesthor]

As a southern European the squid looks yummy to me. Heating it would be a good idea though.

[@GTArajgaming]

MRE ration videos are pretty good. big clive has done a "scottish" MRE ration video and it was hilarious, I recommend that.

[@suzz1776]

Dude, when yall cut the squid into pieces it looked like a male appendage that was pickled. Lol.

[@mrbarrylewis]

LOL

[@alexdavis5766]

I fly to Spain tomorrow, hopefully this won’t be the all inclusive food at my hotel 😂

[@YaaLFH]

@@alexdavis5766 It won't be all tapas either.

[@alexdavis5766]

@@YaaLFH I’ll be happy as long as it’s edible and not an MRE! Though I’ve scoped all the local restaurants out too, we won’t stay at the hotel 24/7

[@YaaLFH]

@@alexdavis5766 That MRE was perfectly edible, just missing its fresh bread that is normally provided with it. If you want to experience authentic Spanish food, order el menú del día in the restaurants.

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Hey Barry! Love your content! What is your favorite MRE?

[@KirbyMario12345_939]

Some good ol' Stuart and Barry! Though at around 9:59 the captions are labeled [Barry] when Stuart is the one saying "This is just gonna be some heated squid."

[@Nails_By_Kimberlee]

Lol thought of Barry the other day after watching a Reel with some dude opening a can of surströmming in his *car* of all places 😅😅. Except the can was kind of puffed out (obviously expired/ gone bad) and when he popped the top off, the stuff sprayed everywhere 😂😂😂 Heck of a way to destroy a whole vehicle! 🤦‍♀️

[@Dengar_YT]

Name a more iconic duo. Expect Batman and Robin, of course. Mario and Luigi I guess as well... Actually Rhett and Link are pretty up there. Penn and Teller... Point being, I'm glad to have a mini slice or Barshens!

[@MrIrondog55]

I can see the product tagline for fishy beauty products... "Traw-Loreal... be cod you're worth it!"

[@karleedu]

You two are hilarious! I'm glad you are tasting and not me!

[@susie2shoes]

Ha ha I haven’t laughed and gagged about anything for so long 😂😬😛

[@Robeight]

stuffed with its own tentacles

[@dianacfleming]

It would be interesting to try making your own MREs. Dehydrated or freeze dried food and a vacuum sealer.

[@ItsMeTJC]

It would be an interesting video to see you make this MRE gourmet. Hopefully that way you’d enjoy each of the meals more 😅

[@brianj9262]

As Roy from the it crowd would say, that's a damp squid

[@THENAMEISQUICKMAN]

This seems okay, but I would definitely prefer both the Canadian one and the Estonian one Ashens tried like ten years ago. This seems like the most bog standard one so far... minus the calamari. I did NOT expect to get THAT in a ration pack!

[@woodchuck94og]

Probably one of the best mre

[@onejohnfitzall7154]

Barshens lives once again!

[@mrbarrylewis]

haha yep we have some reunion episodes soon for Stuart's crowdfund

[@kjh789az]

MREs give us the essence of national nosh, but unattractively presented. Serious hunger is essential to fully appreciate the genius of whole tinned squid. Thanks, guys.

[@YaaLFH]

It's not whole squid.

[@smeghead1]

I think you guys should do a Japanese one or a Korean one next