View Full Version : Combat rations of 20 of the worlds armies
Pretty interesting stuff.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-2945604/Peanut-butter-ravioli-freeze-dried-curry-bubblegum-combat-rations-20-armies-world-revealed.html
Till you eat them, rat packs in the 90s here in oz were disgusting, the steak and eggs in a can still make me shudder. :oops:
Stealhead
03-01-15, 08:01 PM
He has eaten plenty of MREs I have no doubt. The only thing I liked about them when they where the meal each day for weeks was making Ranger kool-aid. Actually at least in the US by the late 90's the MRE got to halfway decent. My personal favorite was the spaghetti. And the pound cake is pretty good there was either traditional or chocolate in my day.
You can also have some explosive fun with the heater packs. Not while deployed of course.
Some of those for example the Russian and the Ukrainian one do not appear that they provide the 4 to 5 thousand calaries that a military member needs to perform their duties especially not a combatant.
fender2610
03-01-15, 08:13 PM
The only thing useful in an MRE, is the spoon. The rest is useless.
And I would bet money, it is the same with any other nation's soldiers.
Keep the spoon, sh*tcan the rest.
Stealhead
03-01-15, 08:19 PM
What? Obviously you have never had to rely on them for food before or you're very very picky.
We also had a bar of chocolate not even the ants would eat, at the time we swore that it was Vietnam war leftovers.
fender2610
03-01-15, 08:30 PM
What? Obviously you have never had to rely on them for food before or you're very very picky.
If you are going through some high speed low drag school and that's all you have, you suck it up and choke it down.
In training or while on a real world mission, if you bring only MRE's, you are a NO GO.
Yes, our packs were loaded up with what we called jack rats, stuff we bought from the supermarket, the worst part was trying to go to the toilet, the scratch marks on our trees arnt from bears.
Rockstar
03-01-15, 09:43 PM
When I go back country camping I like to take Mountain House freeze dried with me. All you need is hot water and a spoon and it all tastes pretty dang good too.
Aktungbby
03-01-15, 10:12 PM
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/02/09/2564D7D300000578-2945604-Israel_Chicken_meatballs_with_rice_beef_meatballs_ with_rice_bean-a-21_1423482209626.jpg<I like the Israeli one the best...it must be kosher:up: Beats what we used to drag into the Quetico Wilderness on two week YMCA mosquito infested canoe trips. essentially the 'Duluth' food pack was a huge dehydrated MRE for twenty persons (screamin' kids) cooked over a campfire-rain permitting! And for twenty years, we kick it back to 1860: Spam in lieu of 'salt pork', cold coffee and homemade hardtack biscuits on three-day Civil War back country events...three times a day! Not bad softened- fried in bacon grease! otherwise...have good sound teeth!:D http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Army_and_Navy_hard_tack.jpg
It's interesting that some countries use military subdued packaging whereas others do not and it doesn't seem based on the size of the military either.
Always seemed strange to me that they dressed us to look like bushes but gave us nice shiny cans that you hold at chest level while you eat.
Betonov
03-02-15, 02:28 AM
Slovenia: Coffee; coffee whitener;...
Sounds about right, without coffee a Slovene will desert before lunch :)
Wolferz
03-02-15, 04:45 AM
The US MRE's were great!...
For making cannon balls.:huh:
That's all I'm going to say about that.
Von Tonner
03-02-15, 05:14 AM
Always seemed strange to me that they dressed us to look like bushes but gave us nice shiny cans that you hold at chest level while you eat.
Brilliant:har:
Von Tonner
03-02-15, 06:05 AM
We used to call them ratpacks here in SA. In 1980 in the South African Defence Force the below pic was your typical MRE.
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/jat9/ratpack_zpsncacg8pc.png (http://s44.photobucket.com/user/jat9/media/ratpack_zpsncacg8pc.png.html)
Since 1999 in the new South African National Defence Force that came into being things have changed somewhat.
Our new MRE
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/jat9/kentucky_zpshontolls.png (http://s44.photobucket.com/user/jat9/media/kentucky_zpshontolls.png.html)
Giving rise to this:
Nearly 10% of the SA Defence Force’s (SANDF’s) soldiers are overweight or obese, according to the findings of a provisional report that is being circulated among all army personnel.
Percentages in the report are based on information gathered by the SA Military Health Service (SAMHS) between April last year and March this year (2012).
The soldiers are being cautioned that they face potentially life-threatening lifestyle diseases such as diabetes and cardio-vascular issues if they don’t slim down.
In addition, “the army can simply not be battle-ready with overweight soldiers. Everyone has to know that the fight against obesity is now official,” the report states.
The soldiers are being encouraged to visit dieticians and establish a healthy eating plan and lifestyle.
All members of the SAMHS have to be weighed before Friday, and the statistics will be used in future projects aimed at encouraging army personnel to become more streamlined.
The SAMHS report uses the World Health Organisation’s definition of body mass index.
Jimbuna
03-02-15, 07:12 AM
I wonder what the Chinese have in theirs other than rice and noodles...possibly similar to that of Thailand :hmmm:
Von Tonner
03-02-15, 07:33 AM
I wonder what the Chinese have in theirs other than rice and noodles...possibly similar to that of Thailand :hmmm:
Here we go Jimbuna!
And it does not look too shabby I gotta say when you read the link giving what each packet contains.
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/jat9/chinese_zpsbj3ncgof.png (http://s44.photobucket.com/user/jat9/media/chinese_zpsbj3ncgof.png.html)
http://www.chinasmack.com/2009/pictures/what-do-chinese-soldiers-eat-on-the-battlefield.html
Jimbuna
03-02-15, 08:09 AM
Yeah, not bad, thanks for that :up:
Schroeder
03-02-15, 08:57 AM
From what I hear the German packages weren't that bad at all. I never got to eat one as all in stock in our unit had expired and the replacements hadn't arrived until after I left the force (or so I was told, sounds pretty funny to me actually...). But comrades told me that they were descend and not disgusting at all (back in 2001/2002).
danasan
03-02-15, 09:06 AM
We had those nice cookies. They were unbreakable. You could even drive over them with your Leopard tank. They were still intact after that.
We called them "Panzerplatten" Even wikipedia refers to that fact.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/85/EPA.jpg/546px-EPA.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Einmannpackung-Inhalt.jpeg
http://images.gutefrage.net/media/fragen-antworten/bilder/36151910/0_big.jpg
Aktungbby
03-02-15, 09:45 AM
Sounds about right, without coffee a Slovene will desert before lunch :)
At least the Slovenian MRE comes with a 'rubbish bag', coffee AND tea; how PC is that!:up:
Stealhead
03-02-15, 05:12 PM
At least the Slovenian MRE comes with a 'rubbish bag', coffee AND tea; how PC is that!:up:
So is the MRE if you think about it the bag the whole shebang comes in. Also not really PC but practical put it a trash bag of sorts and burn or bury it lest you supply your enemy with something useful or allow him to know what places you might choose to bivouac in.
em2nought
03-02-15, 06:59 PM
I have fond memories of box lunches from when you couldn't get up to the Simon Lake's chow hall. Baloney sandwiches, hard boiled eggs and orange juice. :up:
Back in my day we used the canned C-Rations.
http://i.imgur.com/aS4XU9u.jpg
They stopped including cigarettes just a year or so before I joined up but you could still get them occasionally.
Torplexed
03-02-15, 08:30 PM
Back in my day we used the canned C-Rations.
http://i.imgur.com/aS4XU9u.jpg
They stopped including cigarettes just a year or so before I joined up but you could still get them occasionally.
Hopefully, there was a M-1 can opener included somewhere in your TO&E. :D Don't think that plastic spoon would do it.
fender2610
03-02-15, 08:31 PM
Power bars and Copenhagen snuff. Never left "home" without them.
Hopefully, there was a M-1 can opener included somewhere in your TO&E. :D Don't think that plastic spoon would do it.
:) We called them P-38's and there were always a dozen or so tossed in the bottom of each C-rat case. Folks tended to keep them since they were such a handy tool.
http://p-38canopener.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/p38-military-can-opener.png
Looks like the ones we had except ours had a spoon built in.
Torplexed
03-02-15, 08:49 PM
:) We called them P-38's and there were always a dozen or so tossed in the bottom of each C-rat case. Folks tended to keep them since they were such a handy tool.
http://p-38canopener.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/p38-military-can-opener.png
Interesting. A very successful yet simple design. In production since 1942.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-38_can_opener
Of course, when you mention P-38 most people will think this.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Lockheed_P-38_Lightning_USAF.JPG
Well, they certainly opened the can Admiral Yamamoto was flying in. :D
Folks tended to keep them since they were such a handy tool.
Growing up, a lot of our family vacations were backpacking trips. Those things were a very common tool.
I have a few of them. There's a couple floating around with the camping gear, but I also keep one in the desk at work, just in case. I've also got one in the kitchen that I use any time I need to open a can. (I like it so much more than the wife's battery powered things that tends to cut up the label and drop it into the food. :nope:)
em2nought
03-03-15, 01:06 AM
Interesting. A very successful yet simple design. In production since 1942.
...and yet so hard to make a good copy of. My "made in Canada" copy is crap. Sorry eh.
Wolferz
03-03-15, 01:45 AM
Well, they certainly opened the can Admiral Yamamoto was flying in. :D
Opening a Zippo plane was easy. You could do it with a B B gun.:haha:
Aktungbby
03-03-15, 04:16 AM
it's still open and something of a tourist attraction on Bouganville; the left wing is at the Isoroku Yamamoto Family Museum at Nagaoka Japan.http://www.pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/g4m/2656/2001/yamamoto-wing.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/66/Yamamoto%27s_airplane_crash.jpg/1024px-Yamamoto%27s_airplane_crash.jpg
Brilliant:har:
If you thought that was good...they also issued us a black plastic raincoat like a hoody, with a bright white lace in a V from your neck pointing to the centre of your heart...nice of them.
Schroeder
03-03-15, 05:57 AM
:) We called them P-38's and there were always a dozen or so tossed in the bottom of each C-rat case. Folks tended to keep them since they were such a handy tool.
http://p-38canopener.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/p38-military-can-opener.png
My grandfather gave me one of those together wit an American WWII first aid kit that he got as a prisoner of war. The (unopened) first aid kit is here on my shelf but I really don't know where I placed that can opener.:/\\!!
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