British Army Ration Packs

[Rich83]

Hello chaps.

I always use ration pack food when I do hiking because they last for years and can be eaten hot or cold... I'm not a forager!

They are really expensive and I get a few here and there of eBay but I messaged the last chap I brought from and he told me he will sell me 10x 10 ration packs (that's 100 individual 24 boxes) for £650. Which is a lot of money. More than I have, and more than I need but that works out at £65 for ten which is pretty good.

Now I can manage two or even three, but I need more people to come in with me.

That means that there are seven x10 boxes of rations. I invite people interested to collect from me but I am in Selsey which is a bit of a back water and not near anywhere exciting... But I just checked and Yodel offer a 24 hour postal service for about £10 which includes vat and insurance for the main land and it will sadly be about £25 postage to NI or the highlands (http://www.parcel2go.com/quotes?dest=214&col=214&p=^25|105|45|25).

Anyone interested?

 

[BillyBlade]

Yeah, I'd be in on that. Two conditions though - they have to have time left on them and they have to be legally sourced with disposal certificate to prove.

That satisfied, I'd be in.

 

[Man of Tanith]

Question-it aint all the same menu is it?

 

[Rich83]

I doubt they have a disposal certificate - they aren't disposed by the MOD are they?

And no, from what the chap said there are ten diff menu's in each case. Also they will be out of date - I've never had an in date one. Never had a problem either. If they were in date they would probably be useful to those who need them most. The out of date ones are normally given away to cadets or soldiers take them home. I've known loads of single squaddies who keep them and cook them in the electric kettle like ready meals lol.

 

[Gray]

I doubt they have a disposal certificate - they aren't disposed by the MOD are they?

And no, from what the chap said there are ten diff menu's in each case. Also they will be out of date - I've never had an in date one. Never had a problem either. If they were in date they would probably be useful to those who need them most. The out of date ones are normally given away to cadets or soldiers take them home. I've known loads of single squaddies who keep them and cook them in the electric kettle like ready meals lol.

i recently spoke to an old QM mate of mine who said all the rat packs in date are issued to squaddies, all the ones out of date are issued to cadet forces. ( and some find there way to the civvy market) He said that rat packs now have a best before date on them because of EU rules but they are not USE BY dates which is anything between 6 and 8 years after the production date.

For £6.50 a box, there a steal.

 

[BillyBlade]

You can get them with a disposal certificate. They tend to come up for disposal very short dated though, but that's fine, they last well beyond the BBE dates.

If they come manufacturer direct, then they are long dated obviously.

I thought '100 of' meant it likely they were manufacturer direct or disposal. If they are neither then that's sounding very dodgy indeed. There is a big difference between one or two given away to the lads than there is wholesale theft of a 100 block out of stores. Not that I am saying these are thieved, but 100 ration packs don't just wash up lost somewhere either do they?

When I was in, I hated going to stores looking for kit I was entitled to and needed, only to find there was none in stock with no due date for delivery. However, I could walk out of stores and get it on a certain auction site. Not cool and not funny.

 

[BillyBlade]

i recently spoke to an old QM mate of mine who said all the rat packs in date are issued to squaddies, all the ones out of date are issued to cadet forces. ( and some find there way to the civvy market) He said that rat packs now have a best before date on them because of EU rules but they are not USE BY dates which is anything between 6 and 8 years after the production date.

For £6.50 a box, there a steal.

Freudian indeed

 

[Rich83]

OK so you think this is a bad idea? Should we not pursue this?

 

[Gray]

OK so you think this is a bad idea? Should we not pursue this?

He'll probably end up selling em to a shop who will then sell em to you for £12 a box

 

[BillyBlade]

OK so you think this is a bad idea? Should we not pursue this?

Two things to look at. One is your own personal moral code. Who is the guy your getting them off for instance, blanket stacker on the rob or legit milsurp businessman.

The other is do you want a 6am knock at the door? ModPlod is very hot on property theft right now, and has been for about two years, with a special task force dealing in it. Hence why multicam was military only for a long time and none bled out to the civvie market. That was one of their stated objectives when it was first introduced. They actually had guys scouring ebay looking for it being sold

The other thing they are awfully keen on is ration pack theft, because they are a high unit cost item that's small and easily disposed of. If you dig through some of my posts from last year, you'll see I commented back then about someone I know who DID get the 6am knock for exactly that. He is a civvie btw.

Up to you though. Not moralising or trying to preach, and I apologise wholeheartedly if it seems that way, but just letting you know the facts and the bigger picture. Do what you want to do.

 

[Rich83]

Ah perhaps a bad idea then. Never mind, was worth a punt. I normally end up pay £12 a box which is a sucker.

 

[Midnitehound]

Ah perhaps a bad idea then. Never mind, was worth a punt. I normally end up pay £12 a box which is a sucker.

Check out the seller and see what they say. If they have a legitimate reason/source then fine. If you smell a rat then stay clear, simples.

 

[Midnitehound]

Update.

PLEASE SEE THE SEPARATE THREAD I HAVE STARTED.

OK, I got carried away, struck whilst the iron was hot and bulk bought 20 varied MENUS from my surplus guy.

They are at cost at £8.00 for delivery to the Moot. Any spares will be sold on the Moot stall for £9.00. These are normally £12 each or more. Oh, and they are in date! The nuts are BBE out in September but all the rest has 9-12 months left on it which means years! These come in at a similar price as originally offered if taking postage into account.

If you want to pre-order at the cheaper price then shout now. I could do with money by BACS because I kind of just over extended myself by £160!

I just randomly opened menu 16 and it has:

Vegetarian All Day Breakfast
Tuna Chilli Pasta
Yellow Chicken Curry and Rice
Fruit Cake
Green Tabasco
Tuna with Lime and Pepper
Fruit Puree Mango/Banana/Apple
Fruit and Oat Snack Bar
Fruit and Nut Mix
Mixed Fruit Sweets
Isotonic Drink Powder Cherry
Orange Drink
Apple Drink
Tropical Drink
Hot Chocolate Regular
Re-usable Poly Bag
Tea Bagsx2
Wet Wipesx2
Beverage Whitenerx4
Instant Coffeex2
Sugarx4
Matches
Tissues
Water Purification Tablets
Spoon
Menthol, Spearmint and Peppermint Dental Chewing Gum

These look like they are a bargain and yummy. The other menus look good too.

Lots of other choices for main meal such as Beef Goulash, Chicken Massaman and Potato, Lamb Curry, Beef Stroganoff, Chicken Sweet and Sour, Spanish Meat Balls etc., many with separate rice.

Someone please say they want some of these at the Moot now I have them and I will split some with Countryman for transporting hopefully.

Sorry to thread jack there Rich 83 but it looked like it was dying out anyway and I could get them in a smaller amount specifically for the Moot.

PLEASE SEE THE SEPARATE THREAD I HAVE STARTED.

 

[wingstoo]

Wasn't there a total ban on selling these a few years ago due to a massive theft of ration packs?

Some bloke who claimed he worked for the MODs supplier of rations wrote this on another forum...

Hi guys, read this thread with great interest and have to agree that it appears that £100 for 19 x 24 Hour ration packs is a great deal. However, I want to add a different angle if I may please:

I work for the company that currently holds the supply contract to the UK Armed Forces for their Operational Rations and we are the SOLE worldwide license holder to sell the rations commercially.

Each and every ration we sell donates a £% back to the Armed Forces for their use in other areas. Therefore, any unauthorised sales actually cost the MOD money, and I am constantly reading that the soldiers don’t have enough money for protective clothing during operations - so who gets the rough deal in this transaction?

The goods you have purchased are stolen - fact. You might have guessed this when you received them and saw 'MOD Property' 'Not for re-sale' on them. Therefore, the fact that you managed to get stolen goods at a discount price, and then thought it was prudent to advertise the fact, greatly concerns me.

The rations you have bought were made many years ago and I can assure you that the maximum shelf life is only 3 years - you will not get wet rations with a longer shelf life. Therefore your supplier has scant care for your health and subsequently, you have scant care either, if you willing to sell on 'just a few'

http://www.uk-preppers.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=5811&hilit=ration+packs&start=10#p77580

There are a few places to buy direct from though.

http://www.rationpacks2go.co.uk/store/c/56-1-Man-Ration-Packs.html

 

[Midnitehound]

And the next comment on the thread went thus:

Interesting post,

I have packs that I acquired legally via a friend in the cadet forces, they get to buy them for their weekend outings but if he doesn't like a particular item he passes it on to me, I have stuff a lot older than three years and it is still OK to eat. Even the manufacturers of similar meals admit they are good for many years past the so called use-by dates. A former neighbour was given a pack many years ago, (20 odd) that had been across the international dateline twice so were not allowed to be issued, that was excellent for many years. And they were certainly not stolen goods.

There are of course MOD disposal sites that legitimately (apparently) buy an awful lot of surplus to requirement lots at auctions, I have no doubt that the odd packs come up at these auctions.

There was a case a few years back where a couple of container loads went missing and this resulted with allration packs being withdrawn from sale, even legitimate ones.

Don't forget that if they don't use it they lose it next year, so stuff gets released for sale on a regular basis.

​Following posts seem to be in a similar vain!

 

[wingstoo]

Yes I know, I wrote that follow up post...

 

[Midnitehound]

Yes I know, I wrote that follow up post...

Oh, and so you did!

 

[wingstoo]

I'm sure pseudonym/Martink9 will confirm I was 12MP82 on UKPreppers.

 

[Midnitehound]

I'm sure pseudonym/Martink9 will confirm I was 12MP82 on UKPreppers.

Thought I saw wingstoo there too. Not questioning.

 

[wingstoo]

Nah, I was never wingstoo on there...Can't use the same name on two different sites