Have Coffee with Your Meat – Beef Jerfee

Source: Journal Gazette

If you’ve ever eaten an MRE, then you know how appetizing army meals for on-the-go soldiers are. Standing for “meals ready to eat”, MREs are packaged to keep three years without refrigeration so soldiers can eat them out in the trenches. They’ve earned nicknames such as “meals rejected by everyone”, “meals refused by enemies”, “materials resembling edibles”, “meals refusing to exit” and so on. They’re the most complained about meals in the world.

Now, with so many soldiers involved in wars, the army is working hard to improve their cuisine. One of the starring and most unusual items is caffeinated meat. For real. The scientists developing foods that nourish while tasting good actually came up with this meal item that satisfies as a meat while providing needed energy. Each “jerfee” serving has the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee.

In addition to caffeine, foods are being supplemented with omega 3s, and curcumin for an anti-inflammatory boost. Maltodrextrin is injected into applesauce to provide additional energy, which has resulted in “Zapplesauce”. The meals have upgraded to gourmet, including such attractions as chicken and pesto pasta, ratatouille, salsa verde and feta cheese and tomato.

The meals even come with desserts such as strawberry-banana dairy shakes. If the soldiers can heat water, they can enjoy Irish Cream coffee – instant of course.

The military may be taking the idea of energizing jerky from the Perky Jerky products. These are flavored with guarana and also promise a surge of energy. They don’t offer a coffee jerky yet, but with all the recipes we’ve seen and tried that are enhanced by coffee, it seems the army should be actually putting coffee into the jerky, enhancing the flavor while also providing energy. Then at least the soldiers might further benefit from a few extra antioxidants with their protein, rather than just caffeine.