Military Ration Packs of the World

[Fishtigua]

This is an interesting look at what each Army gives the lads on the ground to eat in their MRE packs.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/feb/1...

[Melman Giraffe]

Interesting.


The Spanish, French and Norwegian packs seem to be a bit on the light (mean) side. Does anyone know what these things taste like?

[redtwin]

I have tried a US pack. It wasn't horrible, but I imagine it would have tasted much better if I was really hungry. It was a sort of beef stew mush that needed all the contents of the mini Tabasco bottle.

This was many years ago and there was no heating pouch as in the article. I have seen video of an egg being boiled in that pouch so it must do a decent job heating the meal.

My cousin was in the Army during the Desert Storm operation in 1990-91 and he said troops from various nations over there would regularly trade MREs. He said that there was always an abundance of French "Curried Fish" packs on offer, sometimes two on offer for one US pack, so I can't say I would have liked to try that one.

[JonRB]

When I was in the cadets at school (circa 1984) we did our DofE on Dartmoor with proper army 24-hour ration packs. Best chocolate ever; it was something like triple the density of normal chocolate. Those went the quickest. The "Beef stock drink" was usually the last to go.

I also remember being in Stores when we were clearing out some 20 year-old ration packs that were time-expired. The chocolate still tasted good even at that age.

But I digress.

[soad]

Good find, enjoyed reading the article.

[The Nur]

soad said:

Good find, enjoyed reading the article.

+1 I read it on the bog earlier. Seemed strangely fitting.

[kowalski655]

From the title I thought this was the announcement of a fortnightly part work offering samples, like the military watches magazine.

[calibrax]

Of course, a proper army doesn't need ration packs, they feast on the blood of their enemies

[Hoofy]

kowalski655 said:

From the title I thought this was the announcement of a fortnightly part work offering samples, like the military watches magazine.

"In issue 1, you can sample the Belgian army's rations from 1960-1966. You will receive a free gift of a spork complete with fake NSN and a branded tupperware box to store the 20 issues in the series. All for £1.99. Usual price £3.99. Available at all good newsagents."

Edited by Hoofy on Tuesday 25th February 13:24

[Hoofy]

calibrax said:

Of course, a proper army doesn't need ration packs, they feast on the blood of their enemies

I think that'd go beyond "I've just broken the Geneva Convention". But whilst you're there, you might as well cut off some thigh muscle as there's a lot of lean meat for the taking.

[calibrax]

When I was a kid, my dad (who was in the army) used to come home sometimes with a box full of "compo" tin rejects. Tins were usually printed with the contents, but sometimes they came out blank, and these were all rejected, as nobody knew what was in them until they were opened!

So, it was mystery fun time. Sometimes it would be some kind of unidentifiable meat or veg. But sometimes you hit the jackpot, and the tin contained boiled sweets, or a couple of bars of chocolate. Using a can opener to get chocolate or sweets was kind of a cool too!

[fiatpower]

I was in the otc whilst at uni so got to sample the british ration packs alot. I have to say they are quite nice, the curries and pastas are particulary tasty. The deserts aren't very good though, the chocolate pudding is vile and the biscuit browns are also pretty nasty and just clog you up!

[Type R Tom]

I've not been in the army but took 2 x 24 hour ration packs to the Isle of Wight festival in 2012, the weather was horrendous and we spent 4 days up to our knees in mud. I really enjoyed them, each morning I woke up cold and damp but the breakfasts sorted me out along with chocolate puddings in the evening when getting back to the tent again cold and wet. Probably consumed way too many calories but they saved me fortune in expensive festival food.