Personally I fw MREs when I go hiking because it's easy to pack up the trash and relatively cheap to buy off taobao.
Having a hot meal ready within 15-20 minutes after a long hike that's calorie packed is absolute heaven albiet it made me shit bricks for like 2 days after I was done hiking.
Also the fact that some of the MREs I've eaten are just dense cookie-like blocks coupled with pickled vegetables and soft-canned meats sets something off in my spergy autistic little brain that gives me more dopamine than eating real food.