Ration Pack

[ANDYLASER]

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 So 19 years out of date I decided to open it up and investigate.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]

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:

 

[Adi007]

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]

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!!!

 

[Adi007]

Suggest you open the tin outside ... just in case!

 

[SquirrelBoy]

... I`d second that !!!

 

[ANDYLASER]

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.

 

[PC2K]

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:

 

[Kath]

Andylaser, Is there an address we should send the ambulance to if you stop posting?

And I thought I was brave opening a 4 month old jar of mint sauce...

:yikes:

 

[ANDYLASER]

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]

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.

 

[ditchfield]

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.

 

[Adi007]

Anyone heard from ANDYLASER recently? :?:

 

[Ed]

Anyone heard from ANDYLASER recently?

Best start checking the hospitals.... or the obituary page in the paper.
:biggthump
Ed

 

[ANDYLASER]

Hello I'm OK. still here.

 

[MartiniDave]

Andy,

Whats the expiry date on your imodium? :-D :-D

Dave

 

[bushwacker bob]

:yikes: :yikes: hope you didnt use the tobasco! the hole combination could be more effective than a forro rod!

 

[stonyman]

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.

 

[Adi007]

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]

Thank you for the link. I will have a look and see.