About

Steve1989MREInfo, whose real name is Steven Andrew Thomas, is a YouTuber that specializes in trying out and tasting vintage MREs (Meal, Ready-to-Eat). He regularly frequents the forums on MREInfo.com to chat with other MRE enthusiasts and to purchase rations for future videos. His YouTube channel has over 1.8 million subscribers as of April 2021, and he's well-known for his soothing voice and has jokingly been stated as being "The Bob Ross of MREs." While being a huge fan of MREs, Steve has never served in the military, and instead works as a landscaper in Florida.

History

Steve's first introduction to MREs was in his youth. In 1997 he was given a case of 1993 US MREs that his uncle, who is also a war veteran, had purchased from a military surplus store. Steve tried his first MRE cold as he didn't know how to use the included heating element at the time, but he still loved the experience just the same. He would eventually discover more enjoyers of MREs as an adult on the MREInfo.com forums, where he would do MRE reviews with photos before he started making video reviews on his YouTube^[1] channel. One day he encountered a bad batch of less than year-old Ukrainian rations,^[2] which gave him an E.Coli infection so severe that he had to be hospitalized. The hospital bill cost him $15,531 due to not being insured at the time. A couple of months later, Steve finally made his decision to start making MRE video reviews and started his YouTube channel.

MRE Reviews

Steve posted his first YouTube video on November 27th, 2015, and made a post on MREInfo.com^[3] announcing that he would be making MRE review videos on his channel. His first YouTube MRE review was for a small survival ration from the Vietnam War era that mostly contained candy (seen below).

Over the years, he's had rations from numerous countries and time periods. The oldest ration he's tried was a piece of hardtack from the American Civil War era.^[4] He tries out most food items he finds in rations that are still somewhat edible, but there are some exceptions. He tends to avoid items that use dry milk powder as they're usually already spoiled. While he will usually try out the cigarettes he finds in MREs, he never tries any of the drugs that are sometimes found in them, such as benzedrine sulfate tablets (also known as "bennies") found in some survival rations.^[5]

Facebook Group

On September 22nd, 2017, the Facebook group Steve1989 Mreposting^[6] was created for fans of Steve's videos. The group is run by Steve himself, and is a place where fans can show off their own MRE tasting videos, as well as discuss and trade MREs. The group currently has over 10,000 members.

Related Memes

Catchphrases

Steve is well-known for the signature catchphrases he uses in his reviews, many of which are referenced online.

"Alright, Let's Get This Out Onto A Tray" & "Nice!"

Once steve gets all of the items out of the MRE's container, he usually says "Alright, let's get this out onto a tray!" followed by "Nice!" as the items are shown neatly presented on the tray.

"Nice Hiss!"

Steve will say "Nice hiss!" whenever opening a can that still has a good seal, which produces a short hissing sound. A "No hiss!" is usually a bad sign of things to come as it tends to mean the item has lost its seal sometime during storage, and that the items contained inside are very likely to be already spoiled.

"I'll Be Coming Back at Ya with Something New … or Old"

Steve always ends his videos with this phrase just before the closing logo and statements appear on the screen.

Image Macros

Steve has become quite popular amongst the users of 4chan, namely the /k/ and /ck/ boards. The users there have made several image macros with various phrases (examples seen below).

Search Interest

External References