In Star Trek, the crew of the starship Enterprise could instantly acquire any meal by ordering up their preference on the food-producing “replicator.” Now that was a Meal-Ready-to-Eat. Such technology may seem like a pipe dream of the far future , but it provided inspiration for scientists developing high-tech food ideas for Army troops. In a newly released scientific report commissioned by the Army, scientists suggest, among other ideas, that soldiers could one day carry specially engineered seeds that would sprout from the ground in a matter of days, instead of weeks.