In all honesty, I've never been a fan of the MRE's anyway. (I actually marveled that they could actually come up with something that made C-rations look good.) The best substitute I could come up with is a can of Dinty Moore beef stew, a can of generic fruit or fruit salad, and some peanut butter crackers wrapped in cellophane. Tastes good, quite filling, you don't have to add water, and they don't tie my insides into knots like MRE's do.

Onward and upward,
airforce