How out of date can you eat a ration pack?

[Countryman]

The MOD Rat Pack has changed a lot over recent years. It used to have a Packed Date and I know I have happily eaten them with no visible determination or I'll effects for up to 10 years after that.

I wondered if anyone had ventured into more than a decade old rations?

Not sure the newer variety ones, with more commercial content will keep so long from various comments made. They certainly now show best before.


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[BillyBlade]

I've eaten the new ones a year over date, no ill effects. They had been cold stored however, perhaps that aided them.

Quite a lottery with wet rations though.

 

[TarHeelBrit]

A lot depends on the temperature they were stored at. Stored at lower temps they will last well past the date. I've eaten MRE Chili that was stored at lower temps and was about 2 years past date. I wouldn't trust any stored at higher temps though.

 

[Bishop]

According to reports from the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust much of the food stored at the huts at Cape Evans on Ross Island from the ill fated Terra Nova expedition of 1912 is still edible. Of course it's a tad chilly down there.

 

[ozzy1977]

I would imagine that heat wojld aid the breakdown of the food so you would end up with a mush but still edible, if the packed hasnt blown that is.

 

[RE8ELD0G]

I have opened and eaten the old WW2 ration tins. They were loverly.......
And they did cakes in tins from the 60s and they were as moist as they day they were made.

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[sandbender]

"...I have opened and eaten the old WW2 ration tins. They were loverly.......
And they did cakes in tins from the 60s and they were as moist as they day they were made..."

mmmmm. So have I, tins of from the forties, cake in a tin, plum jam in a toothpaste tube, lovely.

 

[John Fenna]

If the packet/tin is not blown then the grub should be fine to eat - though not always as tasty as intended

 

[JonathanD]

I've eaten stuff that was over ten years old.

 

[rancid badger]

As far as the boil in the bag rations go, as long as they are still intact as far as seals go and are indeed not "blown", in other words showing any sign of air or gas turning the pouch into a "pillow" they should in theory be okay to eat.

You may well find sugar, coffee, sweets etc are a bit sticky but the main meals in pouches are usually good for years and years.

Years ago now, when I was instructing with the cadet force, we were given several full cartons of rat packs ( 30 odd 24hr pack iirc) by a local T.A. unit, (that were apparently due to be skipped) which were 5 years out of date. We used most of them within about 2 years with nothing at all iffy noticed and I also stashed half a dozen for recruit training use, which weren't used for another 5 or more years, again with no obvious sign of deterioration or ill effects.

 

[presterjohn]

Generally speaking they should last decades as nothing inside the tins or packets rots as such. What does happen though is over time the chemistry in them will change and breakdown which will change the taste and texture and probably not for the better. It wouldn't kill you though. Someone ate a tinned cook chicken recently that was given to him as a wedding present just after the war. It did not do him any harm but the chicken had darkened in colour and that was about it.

 

[rik_uk3]

I'm moving house now and should finish within a week (Please, please, let it be a week) and found a pack of 'Biscuit Fruit and Duncans milk chocolate of the same vintage in a cupboard from '02'...I'll make a brew in the next day or so and have a dunk with these fine biscuits and eat the fine chocolate. If you don't hear from me in the next few days (after posting pictures) its perhaps safe to say that 12 year old Biscuits Fruit and Duncans chocolate of the same age should be avoided.

 

[rik_uk3]

double post

 

[bigbear]

If in doubt, smell it is a pretty good rule, if it smells off its most likely is, and vice versa.
had a bottle of 74 rioja last night that was astonishingly good, acquired in a mixed lot at an auction.
you never can tell !

 

[wingstoo]

"Ration packs to go" sent me this a while back...(January 2013)

http://www.rationpacks2go.co.uk/

Of course, the packs have a best before of around 3 years from production, but they are fine to eat after 6, 7, 8 + years!Kind regards,
Adam

 

[Hedgecrafter]

I had a pineapple in syrup that was a year out of date and I couldn't eat it. Just tasted awful.

Plus it was brown

 

[ged]

I had a pineapple in syrup that was a year out of date and I couldn't eat it. Just tasted awful.

Plus it was brown

It was almost certainly a damaged pack, or never properly sealed at manufacture (which is very rare).

Like JonathanD I've eaten old rations well over a decade past their use-by date with no ill efects, and the food was good too.

 

[Bluffer]

If you think of all the items and menu/content changes in the last ten years alone, that is an awful lot of different food groups, processing and packaging techniques, countries of origin and suppliers.

Therefore an impossible question to answer accurately?

I'd eat the biscuits from a ten year old pack but nothing else over five years old.

Also note the difference between 'off' and 'unsafe'

The food may be 'off' but safe to eat.

Conversely, the food may be in-date and look/smell fine, but may kill you (botulinum anyone?)

If it's 'good enough for government' don't trust it is all I'm saying ...