Known as K-Rations and Meals Ready to Eat (MREs), the military surplus dinners have become hot collector’s items, selling on eBay for anywhere from $5 to more than $100, depending on their vintage.

The K-ration did not live long after World War II. While Keys is credited with the design of the first K-rations, his food science life didn’t stop there.

Ancel Keys, a University of Minnesota public health scientist who invented the K rations consumed by millions of soldiers in World War II, discovered that saturated fat was a major cause of heart ...

The K ration was born. During World War II he also served as a special assistant to the secretary of war. Afterward, Keys conducted one of his most famous studies, the Minnesota Starvation Experiment.

The K ration, named for him, was originally made up of items from a Minneapolis grocery store -- hard biscuits, dry sausage, hard candy and chocolate.

He remembers the old K-rations. He says the MREs are better than the food he had during his service in the war. "I don't think troops are very lucky at all when they have to go [to war]," says Cutler.

Religion has been added to the U.S. Army's K rations. Around a million packages of vitamin-rich food (32 oz., 3,726 calories) for men going into battle, the Army last week wrapped leaflets ...