Where can I get British army ration packs?

[Gray]

Can't see them on military mart.

i was in the shop today, defo got some £12 each

 

[Dave]

Most of the ratpacks on surplus websites are out of date, yet still good to eat. I wonder why its ok for surplus to sell out of date food, yet illegal for supermarkets...

 

[Norton]

They aren't sold as food, they are military surplus.

 

[Goatboy]

Did a wee thread the other week where I was eating MRE's up to about seven years out of BBE date, I was fine... In fact the curries were better tasting if anything.

 

[rik_uk3]

this si the only place they can Legally be got Vesty dont have any resellers all others are back door from the military (stolen) and ebay sellers do get investigated etc

My mate was offered to be an official reseller as he needed a couple of pallets for part of a supply job but the discount they gave wasn't worth it to resell on a standalone basis

No they are not. The army for whatever reasons often just write off and scrap all sorts of kit including ration packs. I have had ration packs that were literally straight from a skip and heading for a landfill after the army decided to dump them. Mine came from a friend in the army who holds a good rank and trust me, he's a 'lifer' and would not risk his career and pension by the theft of ration packs or out of date glow sticks.

A fairly local army cadets unit back around 2005 cleared a room of rat packs straight into a skip because they wanted the room for four PC's so cadets could go online.

 

[wingstoo]

Be aware many of the packs sold online are not real mod ones. A quick and easy way is to check the calorie count. Real mod rat packs clock in at 4000 calories for 24 hours, many of the ones sold online come in a 2400 calories.

If you just want rat pack style food for camping they are fine, but if your intention is for serious physical exertion they lower count packs will leave you with a deficit and energy problems.

There were a few different types of ration packs though... Operational and training are two that I know about, operational do have higher end calorie counts than the training packs, not sure if they do both types these days.

I am going to give this a try when I need too.

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/3482590...tion-Pack-Designing-your-own-24hr-ration-pack

 

[Midnitehound]

Most of the ratpacks on surplus websites are out of date, yet still good to eat. I wonder why its ok for surplus to sell out of date food, yet illegal for supermarkets...

Retailers are not allowed to sell food past its Use By date but they can sell food past its Best Before date. I often see food past its BBD being sold in shops at discounted prices and there are whole web based retailers that specialise in post BBD food.

 

[Bluffer]

The date written on MOD rat-packs (note MOD, not Army. There is no such thing as an Army rat-pack) is the date it was packed, not BB or Use By.

Each item within the pack has its own Use By date, so the pack is usually used within 2 years from the date it was packed. However, this 'storage period' varies depending on storage temperature/conditions.

If packs have been written off, it generally means that the confidence in the contents has waned (it may have been in a shipping container at high temperature for a few months - so it may have been written off to surplus even though the packing date looks recent).

If you buy from beyondthebeatentrack (as in Woody's post above) then you know that you are buying a pack straight from the firm who package them for MOD and have none of that to worry about.

The current issue rat-packs come in a massive variety of menus and 12-hour and 24-hour versions, all as sold on that website.