milspec MREs last about two to three years. That's basically the same shelf life of canned goods. you can probably get five to six years shelf life out of canned goods if you store them in a cool temperature stable place.
Mountain House has a guaranteed shelf life of decades, and has a proven track record. Also, try and transport 90 meals worth of canned food. as far as canned food is concerned, what are we talking about, peas, creamed corn, chicken noodle soup, Vienna sausages? Those aren't meals. You could probably survive on 20 cans of asparagus for a while, I guess, but why do that when you could be eating beef stroganoff, chicken fried rice or chili mac?
Ramen! Are you kidding me? I think that shit actually removes nutrients from the body.
Canned food is not a bad plan, but it's a boring one with a limited shelf life and is not easily transported. Lets say we are not talking about survival. Let's say we are going camping for a week. Would you want to lug seven days of canned meals in your backpack?
With Mt House, you can buy and forget, that is, until you need it. With canned goods it's continually rotating stock and wondering if that 5 year old can of cream of mushroom soup will kill you.