School Children Test 'Heater Meals' for American Red Cross

Chris Howell NewsOn6.com

TULSA---Children with the Park Elementary Red Cross School Club volunteered this week to help The American Red Cross in its 2009 Heater Meal Taste Test Challenge.

Members of the American Red Cross were at Park Elementary and other local schools teaching the kids about MREs or Meals-ready-to-eat, also known as Heater Meals so that they will know how the Red Cross uses them during times of disaster.

‘They don't require any refrigeration or any microwaving,' said Red Cross Community Education Coordinator Devone Chezem, ‘it's a self-heating meal, you take it out, dump some saltwater in a little package, put your food in there and you've got a hot meal ready to go. They're very high in calories, protein and carbohydrates so it basically acts as your meal for the day.'

The kids tried several of the meals with generally positive reviews, the highest grade going to the beef stew.

‘It was better than I thought it would be,' said a surprised Samantha Sac, ‘when I first saw the little box I thought it would be all mushy, gushy and stuff,

‘We recommend people to put them in their disaster supplies kits for your home so that in case you lose electricity you've got some food ready to go right there,' said Chezem.

The children were also given a tour of a Red Cross emergency response vehicle and a cup of hot chocolate to get a taste of disaster relief.