Army Rations

[allenko]

I would have stuck this post under luvly grub but it just aint.

Friend of mine sourced about ten boxes of British Army Rations, and I must say they are the foulest substitutes for meals I've ever tasted.

About the best item in them is the hot chocolate :-P

Are the civilian alternatives better tasting before I invest?

I picked up an American version and they weren't too bad!

Do you guys just make up your own?

[TheViking]

The Norwegian one should be good they say. But very expensive. £15 per ration or so. :shock: You know what they say about the american: MRE - Meals Rejected by Ethiopians.

[Kath]

I don't think they're too bad.

The chocolate pudding is ace! And the hot chocolate is awesome!! (Great comfort food when you're cold and tired! :biggthump)

[tomtom]

how old were they.. they are supposed to have improved a lot in the last few years.. the last one i had was totaly acceptable!

[Gary]

I dont know what rations your friend souced but I personally think Brit rations to be the best in the world - far superior to American ones. In fact in every field of operations I have ever been in foriegn troops always want to swap our rations for theirs.

[allenko]

Tomtom

You know I'm not sure,

The chocolate bar is white and the chewing gum seems like its got damp.

Maybe I'm too fussy but I had the Lancashire hotpot and an instant white tea and they didn't do it for me.

Definately not as good as Kath's fresh baked bread :wink:

[RAPPLEBY2000]

you have to remember, although said to be ther best rations available they do cut corners, they have to because of the massive production costs.

last time i bought a an army ration it was foul, not the way i remember them at all(tinned version).

it's easy to (as i have) buy the "box of delights" almost excited with anticipation of the tasty contents, there is nothing better to have instant food packaged neatly ready to eat, but after many years of trying different ideas.

my conclusion has to be this.

they are not that great.

a ten minute down the super market will get you a far more healthy, filling, and tasty ration with your own preferances!

next problem is how to fit your delicious food it in your bag......but that's another story!

a worthwhile excersize is to use an army ration box as a space template for 24 hours worth of food, the object to have loads of space left over, otherwise you simply won't be able to carry more than a few days food!

i kept a box (new UK foil pack version)it's :

4" x 8" x 7.5".


as i say before spending your money, take a look around for a cheaper, tastier, lighter, and heathier option. :biggthump

[philaw]

Army rations sound really over priced at £10 for a one day supply. If you go to a shop that sells loose dried foods you could get something almost as convenient, but healthier and way cheaper. Zip lock bags of dried onions, mushrooms, nuts and things mixed with cous cous or noodles will make food as instant as a pot noodle, and light to carry!

[leon-1]

I dont know what rations your friend souced but I personally think Brit rations to be the best in the world - far superior to American ones. In fact in every field of operations I have ever been in foriegn troops always want to swap our rations for theirs.

As Gary knows the british army ration pack changed in or around the year 1988, the boil in the bag rations that we were using from then through to 1999 were superb, as Kath mentioned they have a reasonable amount of comfort food.

In a normal ration pack there are a number of boil in the bags (which if bought seperately cost about £5 each) so the cost is actually very good when you take into account the sundries pack and buiscuits :-)

[ChrisKavanaugh]

I have never understood the attraction for MREs and a goodly number of the civilian freeze dried efforts. Bushcrafting should be a sensuous experience rivaling a visit to the L'Hermitage Museum or smelling incense and hearing prayer in some unintelligable, but musical language with light streaming down through stained glass windows or multi coloured prayer flags.If I was scaling Annapurna in a blizzard a MRE makes sense. If I am in my home ( nature) trying to unknot my soul from all the sillyness under a basha with the stars above then food should be equally special. There are to many very grim looking ultralightwieght hikers or people with some SCHEDULE or AGENDA out there. GOOD food can be put together with minimum effort and oftentimes a lot less packaging to deal with. Somebody pass the champagne :chill:

[Gary]

As Gary knows the british army ration pack changed in or around the year 1988, the boil in the bag rations that we were using from then through to 1999 were superb, as Kath mentioned they have a reasonable amount of comfort food.

In a normal ration pack there are a number of boil in the bags (which if bought seperately cost about £5 each) so the cost is actually very good when you take into account the sundries pack and buiscuits :-)

Totally agree Mate!!

£10 for a ration pack is actually quite a good price, IMO, as Leon says you get three biol in a bag meals and a excellent beverage pack (I agree the new instant white tea isnt the most exciting of things but try the German tea substitute and you'll think it ok) - Having said that some of the old tinned compo was lovely, steak and kidney pudding.........words defy me.

[Brian]

allenko,

Not sure which rations you got mate but I've never had white chocolate unless it's got too hot and gone 'funny', I've been eating them for 13 years on and off and they have improved a lot. The beverage pack is pretty good apart from the instant tea which is pretty mingin, my favorite is the meat balls with pasta, an unofficial currency on exercise.

Brian

[chris]

I agree with Gary, The British 24 hour Rat pack is still regarded as the best in the business, I personally think they are excellant value for money and when I'm out spending a weekend in the mountains they last me more or less the full outing. They are also used by a lot of civilian companies on expeditions and the like all over the world.

Bacon/Beans, Lancashire hot pot and Treacle pud are my favs and I also like the Tea, saying that, theres nothing in them I don't like.

Chris

[MagiKelly]

I like them. The hankies, matches etc are handy and the boil in the bag meals as good as the commercial alternatives. I also have to confess that I like the white tea, however, the jury is still out on the biscuits, brown.

[Gary]

I like them. The hankies, matches etc are handy and the boil in the bag meals as good as the commercial alternatives. I also have to confess that I like the white tea, however, the jury is still out on the biscuits, brown.

John, try licking (yes licking) the surface of a biscuit brown and sprinkling it with beef stock - makes a beef flavoured crisp bread type thing - lovely!

[MagiKelly]

John, try licking (yes licking) the surface of a biscuit brown and sprinkling it with beef stock - makes a beef flavoured crisp bread type thing - lovely!

I see where you are coming from but could the same not be said for the cardboard the box is made of?

[Squidders]

So, everything comes in individual bags (foil) that you just boil up etc...

Isn't that a little wasteful on the environment, I have used the US ones and thought they were great, very tasty... these were 6 months old so I don't know if they had changed from the grim ones you all mention. but Still, loads of plastic and foil covered bags for everything, I swear, half the weight of the MRE was plastic.

I now stick to the wayfearer foods or fresh foods if i'm out and about, I don't care much for deserts or starters or dodgy coffee/tea/chocolate or biscuts and I get rid of 1 layer of bag before I take them outside.

[Gary]

I see where you are coming from but could the same not be said for the cardboard the box is made of?

Possibly, indeed it might even have the same side effect too - Biscuits AB are also known as Biscuits Anal Blocking by squaddies - still it saves on the loo roll, roll colts foot leaves or whatever .................

[Moonraker]

Possibly, indeed it might even have the same side effect too - Biscuits AB are also known as Biscuits Anal Blocking by squaddies - still it saves on the loo roll, roll colts foot leaves or whatever .................

You can make your own Biscuits Brown :wink: here is a nice recipe I found on the wonderfully names web site:

www.biscuitsbrown.com

Just to give you nightmares a nice photo of what they actually are. So appetising ):

And now for a Batch of Biscuits Brown


Prep and cook time:None, just rip the packet open before the next 'Stand To'
Serves:to constipate you for at least four days.

Ingredients
500g bromide
300g cement
250g sand
grated rind of 1 pineapple
1 small pebble, polished
3 x 15ml spoons diazipan
few drops pastey brown colouring
15ml spoon gun powder
5ml spoon 'decomposition' essence
a little airfix glue
125g melted masonry drill bits.

Method
Sift the sand into a bowl and rub in the cement until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the bromide, pineapple rind and airfix glue and mix to a soft dough.

Add the essence of decomposition and the 125g of melted masonry drill bits to the remaining dough and knead lightly until completely inedible.

Roll out the dough on a floured surface to a 5mm thickness. Cut out 6 biscuits with a 5cm square fluted cutter.

Colour the dough with the pastey brown colouring until completely un-appetising. Using 3 x 15ml spoonfuls of diazipan, carefully place the drug evenly into the biscuits, so as to not be noticeable to the troops. Finally, carefully position the small polished pebble somewhere in a biscuit in the hope of breaking some poor sods tooth.

Place the biscuits on greased baking sheets and bake in a preheated oven, 190°C, 375°F, Gas Mark 5, for 15-20 minutes. Five minutes before the end of the cooking time, remove from the oven.

Leave the biscuits to cool for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To freeze: Place the biscuits in a green foil wrapper, and then send a load of unwitting individuals out into the countryside with only your biscuits to live on. N.B. To freeze completely, send the same people out again in the bloody winter!

source: http://www.biscuitsbrown.com/biscuit...own_recipe.php

): ):

[steven andrews]

I thought the boil-in-the-bag rations were great. Much better than the older tinned compo.
If you think the new rations are bad, you should try eating in an Infantry Battalion's cookhouse....

[Great Pebble]

I miss the old chicken curry and "instant" rice. Apart from that I've always found the retort packed stuff excellent. I even like biscuits, brown.
I note some people mentioned Wayfairer, Westlers, who have the B.A. contract make those too...

I also quite like some of the Yank stuff, but am a tad worried about exactly what they "fortify" some of the items with.

German stuff is crap, with the exception of the pork rolls in rice.

Irish stuff is good (they have a curry and a sweet & sour and little tins of fruit)

Belgian...Don't go there, except for the real Nestle chocolate.

I've had odd items from other nations, usually confined to "sundries" nothing else is particularly outstanding. The only other "prepackaged" thing I've had which was particularly worth of note was the old British Telecom ration. Yes, British Telecom. They were good they were.

[Adi]

AB Brown aint that bad but I would always precede it with copious amounts of water and an AB fruit.

Pilchards were a different matter I hate pilchards and had an exercise were every rat pack we had was pilchards. But, the thing that really got me on some exercises you would get your rat packs and there would be a sticker that said so-and-so was condemned do not eat but you would not get anything to replace it with.

The artic rat pack was great when you had enough water, we did a job in somewhere in Africa and were expected to use artic rat packs

[simonsays]

I also quite like some of the Yank stuff, but am a tad worried about exactly what they "fortify" some of the items with.

German stuff is crap, with the exception of the pork rolls in rice.

Irish stuff is good (they have a curry and a sweet & sour and little tins of fruit)

Belgian...Don't go there, except for the real Nestle chocolate.





Canadian rations are quite nice, the instructions are in French though.....

simon

[Gary]

Simon what rations do the irish get issued? I was on a course with a Irish soldier last year and he told me they didnt get issued rations. According to him they generally brought food from home as they didnt go 'that far' on peace keeping duties they used British.

Also have the Canadians got new rations? Last time I worked with them they all used US rations and again wanted to swap it for British stuff.

French rations are interesting as they are issued mini bottles of wine in some menus.

[arctic hobo]

I now stick to the wayfearer foods or fresh foods if i'm out and about, I don't care much for deserts or starters or dodgy coffee/tea/chocolate or biscuts and I get rid of 1 layer of bag before I take them outside.

I'd avoid the wayfarers if I were you... they have loads of fat, cost a blemmin' fortune and have nowhere near enough to sustain you. I was stupid enough to rely on them in the mountains and ended up eating a week's supply in a day and trekking to the nearest town to buy real food. Even at Norwegian prices it was cheaper

[Celtic Dragon]

****** me, a website to biscuit browns!!!! I used to have a backlog of unopened 1's as I was the only 1 in my deteachmet that would eat them! I loved the packs I got in the mid 90's. I wouldn't like to live off em for more than a couple of days, but they did contain coffee

But yes, every non british soldier does try to get their hands on our ratpacks, my mates got an atic stuffed full of gear he's swapped for good old ratpacks.

[simonsays]

Simon what rations do the irish get issued? I was on a course with a Irish soldier last year and he told me they didnt get issued rations. According to him they generally brought food from home as they didnt go 'that far' on peace keeping duties they used British.

Also have the Canadians got new rations? Last time I worked with them they all used US rations and again wanted to swap it for British stuff.

French rations are interesting as they are issued mini bottles of wine in some menus.

Hi Gary, the first part of my post was a quote from 'Great Pebbles' earlier post so I cant help you with the origin of the Irish rations. The Canadian ones are pretty tasty though. The variety is excellent see http://www.mreinfo.com/imps.html for a full range of menu choices (And lots of other MRE information)

The downside of the canadian packs is the calorific content, ISTR that it is about 1000cals down on the British packs. not really a problem unless you're *really* hungry. Thai chicken and garlic rice..... Lurverly. Not too badly priced either, got them from ebay at £50 for a ten pack including delivery from the States.

Cheers,
simon

[Gary]

Cool, cheers Simon, same MRE's just packed for the Canuks! Well almost, they do look a different, probably better!

[Kath]

Thanks for the biscuits brown/beef stock tip Gary. :super: (I'll give that try that next time I'm stuck out somewhere and the tin of pate smells a bit too suss.)

I've noticed that some of the food items in the British ration packs don't seem to work out doors very well. A lot of people find the treacle pudding unpalatable (or at least they do after a spoonful or two!). Cooking in a crusader over hexy just doesn't seem to do the trick ... so I tend to keep those until I'm at home - they're brilliant done in the microwave!! ):

Maybe I'm too fussy but I had the Lancashire hotpot and an instant white tea and they didn't do it for me.

Definately not as good as Kath's fresh baked bread :wink:

:biggthump

The secret was in kneading the dough on the bonnet of the Landy! :wink:

[Gary]

Your welcome Kath, I have spent many a long stag laying in a Bush munch AB's in such a manor.

One thing to remember with ration packs is that most squaddies i know usually discard half the contents as having to carry them all on your back certainly makes your a good judge of necessity!