A culinary question to all who have served...

[VolvicCH]

My question is relatively simple........What do the meals consist of in todays modern navies? WHat is breakfast like, do you have fresh eggs or are they powdered......Are sandwiches the way to go for lunch and are dinners somewhat similar to MRE or do you get proper food? I ask because i never served in the army/navy myself and i always wondered, especially since it seems so important for morale in the book "Das Boot" :)





Have a nice day :)

[Foghladh_mhara]

Well I never served in the navy but I was a fully fledged member of the FCA Which in Irish is Forsa Cosanta Aituil or the Irish Volunteer Army Reserve. Or more vernacularly known as the Fairy Cake Army, Free Clothing Association etc etc. This was back in the day before the Irish military actually had money. First day at camp and I got a breakfast of sausages, eggs, bacon, toast and tea. Second and following days I got a boiled egg. With toast. And tea. I drink coffee.

I left that camp 1 stone lighter than I went in and given that I was only 10 stone going in that says something. Granted I was pissed every night and had the best time ever. Fired off about 500 rounds from a FN semi automatic at 500 metres :up: and got a black eye from not holding the damn thing properly

Went home and told my dad that I was Irelands last line of defence. He looked at me and said he hoped it would never come to that.

I thought at the time that he meant that he didn't want his son to be in a position where he would have to fight, I now know that he didn't want to be in a position where I was his last line of defence.

Cheers dad :up:

[Captain_Stabbing]

In the Canadian navy, we have alot of meals. We get a 330 am breakfast (for the night guys) which is bacon/sausage, eggs to order, beans, and tomatoes, along with some kind of hash brown/potatoes. 0700 breakfast is in essense the same thing, but theres also the choice of pancakes of french toast (freedom toast for the yanks in here ;) ) depending on the day (it alternates daily).
Lunch (1115-1130 or 1200-1300) is either sandwiches, or one of 2 hot choices, al;ong with potatoes/rice and a choice of veg.
Supper (1630-1645, 1700-1800) is one of usually 3 hot choices, and again veg and potatoes.
And at midnight, they put out the left over food for the guys just coming on watch, as kind of a make-it-yourself midnight meal.
We also always have bread and peanut butter and jam and whatnot, along with ritz and veggie thins, fresh fruit etc. out 24 hours a day.
Maybe thats why theres so many big guys in the Canadian navy......
Oh yeah.... the beer machine too! :D

[VolvicCH]

In the Canadian navy, we have alot of meals. We get a 330 am breakfast (for the night guys) which is bacon/sausage, eggs to order, beans, and tomatoes, along with some kind of hash brown/potatoes. 0700 breakfast is in essense the same thing, but theres also the choice of pancakes of french toast (freedom toast for the yanks in here ;) ) depending on the day (it alternates daily).
Lunch (1115-1130 or 1200-1300) is either sandwiches, or one of 2 hot choices, al;ong with potatoes/rice and a choice of veg.
Supper (1630-1645, 1700-1800) is one of usually 3 hot choices, and again veg and potatoes.
And at midnight, they put out the left over food for the guys just coming on watch, as kind of a make-it-yourself midnight meal.
We also always have bread and peanut butter and jam and whatnot, along with ritz and veggie thins, fresh fruit etc. out 24 hours a day.
Maybe thats why theres so many big guys in the Canadian navy......
Oh yeah.... the beer machine too! :D

*DROOL*


hmmmm.....beer machine on u-49.....not a bad idea that :)


Have a nice day :)

[Brag]

On my last trip on a sail boat going from San Francisco to Cabo; the best meal started like this:

"hey I got one."
Withing minutes, we quartered the Yellow fin Tuna, mixed some wasabi with soya sauce and dug in.

[madmike81]

15 1/2 year vet from the US navy here.

I found that the food greatly depended on what size command you were on. And yes it does affect morale when your out to sea. Sailors complain as it is...but when the food blows it just makes everyone malcontent. Good food will distract people more than you realize.

For instance i was on the USS Yorktown CG-48 for 5 years. Great food, especially breakfast. You could get your eggs done however...or just go through the speed line for some pancakes and such.

But I also did some time on the USS Grapple. That food sucked all around. We actually ran out of ketchup once...was horrible. It was so bad that in port when i had duty on the weekend i would send the cooks home and we would just cook out on the fantail...lol.

Shore duty food from the galley was easy resturant quality.

[Spruence M]

MOD: With deck officer swiveling in a chair on the beermaker rather than standing vigalent.:|\\

[FIREWALL]

I'm serveing Turkey Grunt . I'll ****... You Gobble :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:


Only meant for laught .. not meanest :D

[JScones]

Australian (field use) rat-pack contents are largely unchanged since before the Vietnam War.

Current contents (give or take) can be seen here... http://www.militarypeople.com.au/images/Australian_Ration_Pack_Contents.pdf

When I was in the service (late 1980's), I used to have a particular liking for D Rations. The Tortolleni was quite nice. I see the D Ration still has it! My how things change...not (although we had more menus to choose from)! :rotfl:

Piccy here... http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-food/oz-rat-pack-current.htm

Sometimes we were "lucky" and got "hot boxes" in the field, but not too often. I say lucky because I remember when I was real young watching the cook at Dad's unit make up some hot boxes for the unit in the field. That image remained with me throughout my own military career and tbh, I never really enjoyed hot boxes. To to avoid incrimination, I'll say no more. ;)

Of course, meals in base were quite different. I found RAAF meals to be quite nice, regardless of whether it be Officer, OR or Sgt's mess.

[IrischKapitan]

Well I never served in the navy but I was a fully fledged member of the FCA Which in Irish is Forsa Cosanta Aituil or the Irish Volunteer Army Reserve. Or more vernacularly known as the Fairy Cake Army, Free Clothing Association etc etc. This was back in the day before the Irish military actually had money. First day at camp and I got a breakfast of sausages, eggs, bacon, toast and tea. Second and following days I got a boiled egg. With toast. And tea. I drink coffee.

I left that camp 1 stone lighter than I went in and given that I was only 10 stone going in that says something. Granted I was pissed every night and had the best time ever. Fired off about 500 rounds from a FN semi automatic at 500 metres :up: and got a black eye from not holding the damn thing properly

Went home and told my dad that I was Irelands last line of defence. He looked at me and said he hoped it would never come to that.

I thought at the time that he meant that he didn't want his son to be in a position where he would have to fight, I now know that he didn't want to be in a position where I was his last line of defence.

Cheers dad :up:

My Grandad was not in the FCA (fools carring arms) but he gaurded the border from them pesky brits during the emergency (for ye non irish folks WW2) at that time the irish army had german style helmets which caused the brits to mistake there was an invasion going on (or so me granda says). They ate whatever they were given small ration biscutes ''tack buiscuits'' and irish stew (veggies meat boiled into a pot delicious). He also broke a finger from firing a Vickers .30 calibre machine gun from firing it wrong........

Hes an endless source of interesting stories :yep:
And I'd too like to thank him

[Jimbuna]

Well I never served in the navy but I was a fully fledged member of the FCA Which in Irish is Forsa Cosanta Aituil or the Irish Volunteer Army Reserve. Or more vernacularly known as the Fairy Cake Army, Free Clothing Association etc etc. This was back in the day before the Irish military actually had money. First day at camp and I got a breakfast of sausages, eggs, bacon, toast and tea. Second and following days I got a boiled egg. With toast. And tea. I drink coffee.

I left that camp 1 stone lighter than I went in and given that I was only 10 stone going in that says something. Granted I was pissed every night and had the best time ever. Fired off about 500 rounds from a FN semi automatic at 500 metres :up: and got a black eye from not holding the damn thing properly

Went home and told my dad that I was Irelands last line of defence. He looked at me and said he hoped it would never come to that.

I thought at the time that he meant that he didn't want his son to be in a position where he would have to fight, I now know that he didn't want to be in a position where I was his last line of defence.

Cheers dad :up:

LMAO :rotfl:

[Curval]

Soused Ox Face with Hard Tack & Weevil.

Puts hair on your chest.

[danurve]

USN 80-84 DD-990
For the most part the cooks did good. Who can forget the trusty slider for lunch?
Underway for months at a time fresh Milk was at a premium. When it was out we had this boxed jazz, from what I remember it wasn't horrible but no comparison to the real McCoy. On one WestPac I remember a working party to toss all the coke cans in storage overboard, pallets of coke started to eat through cans.
They destroyed roast Beef, might as well serve rubber chickens.
I have the same dislike for seeing a pan of Ziti now as I did for a pan of Rice back then.

[VolvicCH]

USN 80-84 DD-990
For the most part the cooks did good. Who can forget the trusty slider for lunch?
Underway for months at a time fresh Milk was at a premium. When it was out we had this boxed jazz, from what I remember it wasn't horrible but no comparison to the real McCoy. On one WestPac I remember a working party to toss all the coke cans in storage overboard, pallets of coke started to eat through cans.
They destroyed roast Beef, might as well serve rubber chickens.
I have the same dislike for seeing a pan of Ziti now as I did for a pan of Rice back then.

What is a slider??

I remember my friends bringing me C-rations after they got off maneuvers. Classic stuff.....rye bread, pate, smoked cod eggs (seriously, im not kidding), powdered coffee and tea, butter, jam, powdered soups and satchels of ketchup, mustard and mayo.......effing awesome :)



Have a nice day :)

[dmlavan]

A "slider" is a hamburger/cheeseburger. Standard US Navy fare at least weekly on almost any ship (not sure about them submarines, though).

16 1/2 yrs in the Navy and I think the menu has now come close to resembling anything you would expect to have at home. It's been a long time since I've had to have canned milk, although now we have "UHT Milk" which is milk that has been irradiated and lasts for quite some time without refrigeration.