army ration packs

[Tex]

Hi all,

I know that we should all be catching and skining our food, but does any one have any info on decent army meals. I have lived quite happily on the boil in the bag types that the British use not so keen on the arctic type. I fail to see what is so supreme about the chicken supreme yuck.

 

[spoony]

cornbeef hash are nice but hard to find (boil in the bag type)

 

[mercury]

There are 3 types of army rations

Boil in the bag
Dehydrated

and tinned

Tinned come in large boxes, called 10 man ration packs, the contents vary and are really only any use if you have 10 men to feed

The dehydrated ones are what we now call "Training Rations" These actually hav esome of the better food in them, rolled oats, apple flakes, chick supreme, chilli and choccy pud. But of course they need water to rehydrate them, hence the "training"

Boil in the bags are what are usually sold on evil bay, called 24 hour ration packs the contain more than enough calories for you if you are just out walking or camping, making spoons etc.

Boilies have 3 meals, brekky dinner and tea, or breakfast lunch and dinner depending where you were bought up.

Breakfast is cornbeef hash, sossy and dayglo beans or burger and beans, dinner is biscuitsbrown, meat pate, and odds and sods from the condiments pack

Tea is chicken in herb sauce ( nice ) chicken and pasta ( dont eat it cold )

There is also as i said a condiments pack which is really brew kit plus choccy and chewing gum. For some reason you get enough sugar to power a playgroup.

There are new 24 hour ration packs out now that have yorkie bars ( theyr'e not for civvies ) hot tabasco type sauce and nice tandoori chicken

don't eat the hexi blocks

Compared to US MRE's the rats are good, there are about 30 different menus including veggi, kosher, halal and etc.

24 Rats used to ( a long time ago when I joined up ) come in tins but i have not seen them for years , you used to have to dent the tin and stick it in your messtin to boil

Hope this helps

 

[Batfink]

There's an interesting (no, seriously, it is interesting!) pamphlet from the MOD's Defence Logistics Organisation about ORP's here - http://www.mod.uk/linked_files/dlo/defence_equipment/EPAF_%20Brochure.pdf

 

[Tex]

thanks mercury,

did any one ever like the biscuit brown. Stacked high with corn beef hash or steak and potatoes i thought they were triff. Very heavy to carry a lot of them even if you pard the packs down.

 

[Tex]

There's an interesting (not seriously, it is interesting!) pamphlet from the MOD's Defence Logistics Organisation about ORP's here - http://www.mod.uk/linked_files/dlo/defence_equipment/EPAF_%20Brochure.pdf

Interesting.

 

[Tex]

During the Ray Mears programme. The Heros of Telemark. He made refrence to the Norweign rations. They looked light weight and once prepared very substantial. Has any one tried them?

 

[leon-1]

Tex, I have no problems with buiscuits brown, I used to quite like them, but they come from years of developement.

Before buiscuits brown there were buiscuits white which were about as palatable as a fossilised piece of cardboard with the same density (this was back in the days of spangles and tinned rations).

Mercury, you forgot the arctic rations which are also dehydrated and taste like cardboard after a while, best used with spices, they also contain more than double the calorific value of a normal ration pack.

Have they done away with the old four man ration packs as well???

Are servicemen finally looking at the end of "Cheese Possessed"

If I recall correctly when doing cheese on toast with chees possessed it went something like this, take slice of bread slap onto heat resistant surface, carve slices of cheese (sharpening knife after each slice) till you have enough to cover the surface area of the bread.

Take one times MAP burner and light it, direct at cheese, the bread will be blackened at the edges and totally toasted through by the time a corner of the cheese melts

 

[Tex]

i've not heard the name of that sweet mentioned for eons, think we both showing are age.

 

[scanker]

Is "cheese processed" the one that's in a tin about 5" in diameter, 2" deep?

 

[Tex]

sounds like the one. I think it may have also packed in a primula box and prior to that a sausage shape with red packaging. I think it should have read cheese projectile not cheese processed.

 

[Batfink]

Is "cheese processed" the one that's in a tin about 5" in diameter, 2" deep?

No - they reduced it to a 3" x 1" tin in the late 90's. Then all the tins exploded, so they recalled all ORP's of the appropriate letter, unpacked them, cleaned them up, substituted the cheese for tuna/chicken pate, repackaged them and slapped "CHEESE REMOVED" hazard tape all over them!!!

The 4 manners are still around. There's a note in our Routine Orders at the moment saying that "due to operational commitments" 4 man ORPs may only be withdrawn for the foreseeable future. It's mentioned in the MOD/DLO document I posted earlier.

 

[NickBristol]

I prefer the Patrol pack deydrated stuff in a lot of ways. Some of the boil in the bag food was a little greasy... tho beans and sausages is always a classic.

You actually ate cheese processed? How? We used to shove in our body armour in place of the ceramic plates.... rounds used to just bounce off

 

[Tex]

No - they reduced it to a 3" x 1" tin in the late 90's. Then all the tins exploded, so they recalled all ORP's of the appropriate letter, unpacked them, cleaned them up, substituted the cheese for tuna/chicken pate, repackaged them and slapped "CHEESE REMOVED" hazard tape all over them!!!

Thats the explanation for the cheese removed. I bought some rats with these stickers on. I had visions of the training areas or battle fields strewn with these small tins that no one ate, A very uneasy feeling if your out for a stoll on Dartmoor. Coming across a small tins looking for all the world like an anti personel mine.

 

[leon-1]

Thats the explanation for the cheese removed. I bought some rats with these stickers on. I had visions of the training areas or battle fields strewn with these small tins that no one ate, A very uneasy feeling if your out for a stoll on Dartmoor. Coming across a small tins looking for all the world like an anti personel mine.

I would say that the potential damge that a mine field could cause is bearable in comparison to the potetial damage that this many tins of Cheese Possessed are capable of.

Nick, yes I have eaten it, however since then I have had a lot of dental work done.

A friend of mine had a theory that it was included in ration packs so that if you ever got captured by the enemy you would get the sympathy vote or once they had tried eating it they would run screaming in sheer terror of you

To be honest I used to quite like the stuff, but as people will have gathered it was pretty much like yellow chobham armour tasting of cheese.

batfink good to hear that they haven't got rid of them totally, thanks for the info

 

[mercury]

Strangly enough I find the cheese possesed rather nice BUT it is a bugger to melt, once tried to melt some by turning my gas stove upside down whilst lit, nearly burned my truck down. I think the cheese in the new 10 man rations comes in 5" diameter tins. I recall removing tinned pilchards from rations and burying them during my tour in the Hebs , there's a hill called Clettraval on N Uist with a cache of them , fortunatly they were all holed before disposal. Not very enviromental mind you

The dehydrated rations I was thinking of were the artic ones I think

happy constipated days

 

[shadow57]

Hello....Do any of the ex forces lads remember the suet covered steak and kidney type (meat loaf for Americans) roll that was referred by us RAF type as "Babies Heads".?
Does anyone know where you can get it?

Ta John

 

[peds8045]

I do remember them but we also called them Snake and Pigmy, or Jake and Sidney. The army does not use that sort of 'Tinned' compo anymore. As far as i'm aware they tend to use boil in the bag stuff now. The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan would also use up the rations as soon as they are manufactured.

I have seen individual Jake and Sid puddings in sainsburys and other supermarkets, i think they are made by Goblin...not sure though.

 

[Batfink]

Can't you still find the Babies Heads in the 10manners?

Interestingly - and along these lines - their was a "cook off" competition not long ago, the results of were published in an article in the MoD news...

AA Gill praises commitment of Service chefs

Notoriously acerbic food critic and Times columnist AA Gill was genuinely impressed by the efforts of young military chefs competing in the Combined Services Culinary Challenge (CSCC) at Sandown Park in Surrey this week.

He was particularly impressed by those competing in the unique, weather beaten environment of the military Field Kitchen. Their mission was to compile a menu, prepare, cook and present a two course meal for 20 personnel, outside in a tent, using just Operational Ration Packs and a few additional basic items which must cost no more than £5 in total.

Gill was astonished by the complexity and inventiveness of the menus they produced - and he was fascinated to hear that their talents had been honed and market tested on the frontline in Iraq earlier this year while deployed on Operation Telic 4 and 5.

The menu produced by Team 1 from 40 Commando Royal Marines comprised:

• Creamy chicken and sweetcorn risotto topped with tomato and pepper
  concasse and stir-fry vegetables.
• Beef Balti Pasty served with sweet onion chutney and oven roasted potato
  wedges.
• Chocolate and apple flapjack with a fruit coulis.
• Bread and Butter pudding flooded with chocolate and vanilla sauce.

Corporal Bernard Broadhurst, Royal Marines, was thrilled his menu impressed not only the judges but arguably Britain's most feared food critic.

"In this job you get used to people criticising your work, especially out on operations when people are working so hard and missing the comforts of home. Then getting it right becomes doubly important. But I couldn’t believe it when Mr Gill got so excited about my Beef Balti Pasties!"

Teams from the RAF and Army matched the Navy for presentational artistry and culinary originality. Their results would have happily graced a sophisticated dinner party table.

It was Mr Gill's first visit to the Combined Services Catering Showcase but he said he hoped to make it an annual event:

"I've been so impressed with the incredible levels of commitment, the talent, the hard work and the amazing inventiveness of the service personnel competing here today, particularly those in the Field Kitchen competition.

"I think it's so important that people in the wider service industry get to see what our servicemen can do, particularly in arduous situations when they've got very limited ingredients and they are catering for such vast numbers. Their dedication is amazing and they are incredibly self motivated. If I were running a hospital, school or large scale industrial catering organisation I'd be crying out for some of these guys to come and work for me."

Now in its ninth year, the Combined Services Catering Challenge sees the finest chefs of the British Armed Forces competing against each other in a variety of live classes reflecting the diversity of modern Armed Forces Catering. Butchers and Bakers, many having returned recently from operational tours, demonstrate their skills. The primary aims of the Challenge are to develop culinary skills, nurture pride in professional achievement and build team spirit.

http://www.news.mod.uk/news_headline_story2.asp?newsItem_id=3718

 

[Phil562]

Babies Heads, Peas and Pom, now thats a meal that sticks to your ribs