Curious about the diet onboard a WW2 U-Boat!

[TigerShark808]

Hello All

I understand that the VII's had no refrigeration onboard correct? So I was wondering about the movie Das Boot and in one scence where it shows the crew packing eggs along with other food stuff onboard the u-boat.

So how did the crew keep the food from spoiling while on such long patrols?

And would anyone know of a web site that might show the information (food) that was actually carried aboard these boats? I know it seems like a wierd? question but I love this useless type of information


Thanks !

[GoldenRivet]

did you see actual eggs or a box which said "eggs"

powdered eggs can last up to 5 years if stored properly

[d@rk51d3]

All the fresh stuff got eaten first, hopefully before it spoiled too much.

Then came the dried, canned, pickled and preserved goods.

[Paul Riley]

Apparently the meals were of quite a high standard onboard UBoats,one of the few luxuries amidst the otherwise terrible living conditions.I hear 'soup in the lap' was one of the favourites :rotfl:
Oh,and don't forget to give the meat a shave after a long patrol...harhar

[Jimbuna]

A typical stores inventory for a IXC:

494 lbs. fresh and cooked meats
238 lbs. sausages
4,808 lbs. preserved/tinned meats
334 lbs. preserved fish
3,858 lbs. potatoes
397 lbs. dried potatoes
3,428 lbs. other vegetables
1,226 lbs. bread dough
2,058 lbs. preserved breads
463 lbs. rice and noodles
595 lbs. fresh eggs
917 lbs. fresh lemons
2,365 lbs. other fruits
551 lbs. butter and margarine
611 lbs. soup ingredients
408 lbs. marmalade and honey
309 lbs. fresh and preserved cheese
1,728 lbs. milk
441 lbs. fruits juices
154 lbs. coffee
205 lbs. other drinks
441 lbs. sugar
132 lbs. salt
108 lbs. chocolates

http://uboat.net/men/foodstuffs.htm

[TigerShark808]

Originally Posted by GoldenRivet

did you see actual eggs or a box which said "eggs"

powdered eggs can last up to 5 years if stored properly

No im very sure they were actual eggs . The scene in the movie was right after they stopped @ Bessel. When the reporter was returning the stack of letters to the crew member who was in-love with a French chick I believe. The reporter passes a couple of crew members gently placing eggs(shell and all) in a wooden box that looked to be filled with straw. Anyways... In a real u-boat Im sure the eggs would probably then be eaten first.

[TigerShark808]

Thanks jimbuna



595 lbs. fresh eggs <--Thats alot of eggs!

[GoldenRivet]

Originally Posted by TigerShark808

595 lbs. fresh eggs <--Thats alot of eggs!

it is indeed.

if my calculations are correct... about 4700 eggs

considering an average chicken egg weighs about 2.0 ounces, 8 or 9 chicken eggs would equate to one pound (considering slightly variable sizes). thus it would take about 4,700 eggs to add up to the 595 lbs aboard Jims U-boat upon departure from lorient.

according to my research... eggs stored in an unrefrigerated "cool room" should be consumed before the passage of 10-12 days depending on how cool the room is kept. (we can assume a uboat in the north atlantic would be a cool place)

so, Jims flatulent crew would have to eat an enormous amount of eggs during the first 10-12 (approx) days of their cruise.

56 crewmen (approx for an IX boat) would have to eat 83 eggs each over a period of 12 days.

not quite 7 eggs per day.

assuming you served each man 3 scrambled eggs or fried eggs for breakfast for 12 days running you would burn through nearly 2,000 eggs leaving you with about 2,700 eggs remaining.

assuming that an additional 2 eggs per crewman were hard boiled for snacking or as a lunch side etc - you could quickly burn through another 1,300 eggs leaving you with about 1,400 eggs remaining.

if you account for various recipes calling for eggs as part of the ingredients (cakes, crepes, french toast etc), its feasible that you could burn up the remaining 1,400 eggs fairly quickly.

EDIT: its known that fresh items had to be consumed pretty early on in the patrol... i would guess that these U-boat men would eat meals similar to what "mama" would make at home - at least for the first week or two.

[Paul Riley]

Interesting read.

However,the stench after all those consumed eggs on board must have been unbearable,I mean,after 2 eggs for my breakfast each morning my farts are noxious to say the least,from all the albumen content

[Jimbuna]

Is it true that eggs helped prepare the lookouts vision for a night watch?

[TarJak]

Originally Posted by Paul Riley

Interesting read.

However,the stench after all those consumed eggs on board must have been unbearable,I mean,after 2 eggs for my breakfast each morning my farts are noxious to say the least,from all the albumen content

They boiled the eggs to help bind them up before they ate the long life stores. 47 men with one toilet for a 200 day patrol? You do the math

On the IX's there were two toilets however one was almost always used as extra storage space so until the stores were consumed one lave was it!

[Ford Prefect]

All this talk of eggs remind's me of spike milligan's war memoirs, he mentions how the army diet in the north african desert lead from bouts of diarrhoea to being bound up completely, the latter usually being caused by eggs. A Uboat full of constipated sailors couldn't have been a happy place.....

[Paul Riley]

Right then,lets do some calculations shall we?
The average man I would say has about 2 s##ts a day,give or take.47 men s##t###g eggy s##ts at that rate gives us 94 eggy s##ts.For a 200 day patrol that gives us 18.800 eggy s##ts! This is for your 6 mth patrol
The average UBoat stays on patrol for i'd say,between 4-8 wks.
2x47x56 (using the 8wk option) =5264 eggy s##ts.
As most of the journey is spent in conditions that doesnt have exactly the best air quality you can imagine the smell inside that toilet! :rotfl:

Don't forget to wear your escape gear when in that toilet! , and be mindful of skin burns and uncontrollable acute vomiting!

[Laufen zum Ziel]

Originally Posted by Paul Riley

Right then,lets do some calculations shall we?
The average man I would say has about 2 s##ts a day,give or take.47 men s##t###g eggy s##ts at that rate gives us 94 eggy s##ts.For a 200 day patrol that gives us 18.800 eggy s##ts! This is for your 6 mth patrol
The average UBoat stays on patrol for i'd say,between 4-8 wks.
2x47x56 (using the 8wk option) =5264 eggy s##ts.
As most of the journey is spent in conditions that doesnt have exactly the best air quality you can imagine the smell inside that toilet! :rotfl:

Don't forget to wear your escape gear when in that toilet! , and be mindful of skin burns and uncontrollable acute vomiting!

Way more then I needed to know:rotfl:

[Bent Periscope]

I wonder if they had Beano? If not, they would need clothes pins or get that snorkel working quickly.