View Full Version : Ration Pack
ANDYLASER
28-03-2004, 18:57
I've just found an old "Survival Aids" ration pack, 24 hour type. It has Best Before 1985 on it! So 19 years out of date I decided to open it up and investigate.
Apart from one pack of biscuits going mouldy and rust on the tin of spag boll, all seems pretty good. I am eating the mars bar as I type. It has gone very hard, like toffee but still tastes quite good.
The other pack of wheat biscuits are fine, as is the jam and pate. The butter has died. I'm going to make a brew with the drinks pack and try the pate and biscuits.
Back soon.....
SquirrelBoy
28-03-2004, 19:11
I done the same thing a while back with a German 24hr rat pack. It was of 1992 vintage so not quite so old.
The only thing I could bring myself to eat was the hard biscuits and chewing gum.
I had beef burgers in mine and there was NO WAY I was gonna touch those :shock:
Back soon.....
Hope so!
Have you eaten the spag bog yet?
Shows us that sell by dates are not fixed ... although I'm constantly horrified by meat that seems to go bad a day after the use by!
Do you have a complete listing of what was in the kit and what survived and what didn't?
ANDYLASER
28-03-2004, 19:41
Well i'm back. the tea tasted slightly bitter, but that is probably because it took over 10 minutes to chew through the mars bar. So far the only things I have binned are the butter portions and one of the biscuit packs (green spots). maybe it wasnt sealed as well as the other one. The pate looks and smells fine I am going to try it with the other biscuits. The jam looks a bit dark, but smells like jam. I never did like apricot!
CONTENTS
Meal1
Spaghetti bollognaise (tin)
wheat biscuits
butter & jam
fruit drink powder
Meal2
wheat biscuits
butter & pate
oxo drink
mars bar
Meal3
bacon & tomato soup with croutons (dried packet)
beef stew with dumplings & gravy ( ready to eat in foil tray)
choccy bar
Drinks Pack
3 teabags
2 coffee sachets
1 hot chocolate
3 milk powder
3 sugar
Sundries
salt
pepper
matches
tin opener
salt/dextrose tablets
tissues
I havnt opened the tin yet!!!
Suggest you open the tin outside ... just in case!
SquirrelBoy
28-03-2004, 19:45
... I`d second that !!! :lol:
ANDYLASER
28-03-2004, 20:47
I have decided NOT to open the tin. There is a slight bulge on the top lid indicating a pressure build up!! So I binned it. Second pack of biccies fine pate gooood. I am gonna try the stew for dinner tonight.
i had one of those 1984 german rationpacks, with those thick alluminium foil packed meals. Everything looked ok, but wasn't really thrilled of eating stuff which was older than me ! so i didn't. :roll:
Andylaser, Is there an address we should send the ambulance to if you stop posting? :wink:
And I thought I was brave opening a 4 month old jar of mint sauce...
:yikes:
ANDYLASER
28-03-2004, 21:52
I have just returned from the chip shop! I did not eat the 20 year old stew. It did not smell as if it had gone off, it just didnt look very appetising.
I suppose if one was in a "situation" as tha Americans would say, then I probably would have given it a go.
Conclusion: most of the food has lasted pretty well and is still edible. If that was all you had to survive on, it would probably taste pretty good.
I shall buy more. I shall eat sooner.
bushwacker bob
31-03-2004, 08:50
I seem to remember on my last visit to the imperial war museum,they had a tin of carrots from the Scott antartic expedition,which they opened and were perfectly edible.But you guys are either braver or hungryer than me. :lol:
ditchfield
31-03-2004, 21:30
In the beams of a Iron age reconstruction round house at the Peat Moors Visitors Centre, there is a pig hanging. It has been there for about 10 years. About a year ago some of it was eaten and it was fine! The power of smoke.
Anyone heard from ANDYLASER recently? :?:
:lol: :lol: :lol:
Anyone heard from ANDYLASER recently?
Best start checking the hospitals.... or the obituary page in the paper.
:biggthump
Ed
ANDYLASER
01-04-2004, 19:49
Hello :-) I'm OK. still here.
MartiniDave
02-04-2004, 08:36
Andy,
Whats the expiry date on your imodium? :-D :-D
Dave
bushwacker bob
03-04-2004, 00:41
:yikes: :yikes: hope you didnt use the tobasco! the hole combination could be more effective than a forro rod! :oops:
stonyman
20-04-2004, 12:27
I am sorry to go a bit off track, does anyone know where to buy ration packs from? I used to use them all the time when I was in the Air Cadets and use to spend most of my weekends on Dartmoor.
I am sorry to go a bit off track, does anyone know where to buy ration packs from? I used to use them all the time when I was in the Air Cadets and use to spend most of my weekends on Dartmoor.
Usually some here:
http://www.strikeforcesupplies.co.uk
stonyman
20-04-2004, 12:35
Thank you for the link. I will have a look and see.
I think they are about a fiver each ... not bad when you look at how much grub you get for that!
Strikeforce only does the american rations but as pointed out these are about £5.
Even american troops dont like these and used to swap them with us every chance they got.
Another thing to remember is that each rat pack is meant to be one meal so in thoery you need 3 rat packs a day (not sure if this is still the case but the last us rations I got where the same)
As a ACF member you would have had British rations - in these you get a wholes days food and brew kit - the food is better and the drinks more varied.
These cost around £10 each when you can find them and I think Springfield supples are currently the only source in uk.
Anybody know any others suppliers of brit rat packs?
MartiniDave
20-04-2004, 16:06
They are listed on -
www.allthingsmilitary.co.uk
Dave
Strikeforce only does the american rations but as pointed out these are about £5.
Jasper at Strikeforce does have them ... I've bought a lot from him over the years. And if he doesn't have them, he'll get some in.
As a ACF member you would have had British rations
ACF....ACF!!!!! :shock: The man said Air Cadets- ATC thank you very much! :-P
Yeh we use brit rat packs whenever we go on weekend camps n such.. in my opinion theyre much better than the american ones. The US are now a full 24 hour one and include 3 meals i believe..but the only thing we use em for when do get our hands on them is mini bottles of tabasco sauce. They seem more caring.. you get peanut butter and they come with chemical heaters fot the meals(add small amount of water and slow chemical reaction heats up the MRE(meal-ready to eat..or meal rejected by everyone :roll: )) and you get more varied drinks..like apple cider drink and such(non alcohollic :-( ) But the brit ones just seem better..the meals are much nicer and you seem to get more..
plus, you cant beat brit rat pack hot chocolate..with 2 sahets of sugar :-P
Cheers,
Lawrence(2473 sqn. ATC!!!!!)
Yeah, that hot chocolate is wonderful! :-)
The General
19-06-2004, 02:22
Are the Wayfarer Food packs any good?
Are the Wayfarer Food packs any good?
If you mean the packs that contain a ration pack meal and an MRE heater, yes, they are superb. They're not made for the civi market, instead use military products that are of a high quality.
Another advantage of them is that they contain a small, ready measured sachet of water for the heater.
bushblade
20-06-2004, 17:51
Are the Wayfarer Food packs any good?
If you mean the packs that contain a ration pack meal and an MRE heater, yes, they are superb. They're not made for the civi market, instead use military products that are of a high quality.
Another advantage of them is that they contain a small, ready measured sachet of water for the heater.
The Wayfayrer http://www.wayfayrer.co.uk/ foods are very good, they are the same meals that are put in the british ration packs. They cost arround £3 each, I use them a lot, but then, staff discounts are a wonderfull thing 8-)