Most MREs that I've looked at are a bit more elaborate than your average canned product.

But the idea is the same, yes. It's more interesting than your typical canned meal, and it's more expensive, but the quality of the food, if you can call it that, is not dissimilar.

MREs usually are a more "complete" meal with a variety of components, while canned meals are just a volume of a single component.

For me it's mainly that it adds variety.

And sure, there's MREs that are like, stew, or soup, that you would probably be better off just grabbing a can of ready to eat Campbell's or something.... But there's way interesting options than that too.

I once saw a "taco" MRE. It was little more than some "beef" (that you had to heat up) and "cheese" and some other fairly sad toppings on a small tortilla... But I would still take that over a can of chunky beef soup any day.

The nice thing is that MREs are shelf stable for a really long time, so you can get a box of them and shove them in your trunk, or into a desk drawer and then you don't have to worry about lunch for a month. Longer if you occasionally go out for lunch with coworkers to local food places near your workplace.

Presently, I don't work in an office (my job is 100% work from home), so I don't really need it. I can get the same variety from a frozen meal, which is arguably easier, and it's definitely cheaper than MREs.

I also have considered buying a few boxes as emergency food and throwing them in the trunk of my car. I live in Canada, and getting stranded in a blizzard isn't impossible. I have access to my trunk from the cabin of my car, so I shouldn't need to get out to get them and I could stay nourished while waiting for rescue. MREs are supposed to be paired with heating/cooking packs, which would help the car warm up when I'm having one, and with a decently sized container of drinking water, I could wait weeks for rescue, as long as I have adequate protection from the elements (jackets, blankets, etc), and some way to dispose of my bodily waste without contaminating my "living" area. I almost always travel with a radio (I'm a certified amateur operator, aka, ham radio), and a battery bank for my cellphone.

For a couple hundred dollars (maybe? Maybe more? IDK what the prices are for MREs right now), myself and a passenger could survive for a while being stranded in the white wasteland of Canada, without really having to do anything.... Just waiting for rescue.

With global warming, last year we barely got snow where I am, and I don't travel much, so the whole thing is on the back burner at best. The idea was to have it, and if I don't need it, a few months before everything expires, the MREs become my lunch, and I buy a fresh box for my vehicle.