RAF Dinners Campaign
 

Just finished a fantastic Air Warfare, Ethos and Leadership Training Day here at RAF Lo$$iemouth. It really was great fun.
There is one thing I'm unsure about though: Given that Jamie Oliver and his mate Tony have been sorting out school dinners for, erm, schools, do you think that they could sort us out with an alternative to the Ginsters pastie, Champion crisps, Blue Ribband, Jammie Dodgers, apple and Rola Cola lunch combo? Not only was it totally rank, it was devoid of any nutritional value at all. On the positive side, I'm sure it was quite cheap.
Luckily, we only had one day of junk food ridden, unsuitable for schoolchildren snack boxes - the poor rock apes have much more often. I think that we need to start lobbying the Prime Minister...

Clearly you have never experienced the horrors of the infamous 'S1 box' - complete with 'Robirch' pork pie. A pie which rattled if you shook it - for it contained one congealed lump of minced tail/trotter/tit and squeal inside its hard pastry cylinder.... Rather like a dice in a cup.

Or those sweaty cheese sandwiches which would probably explode if left next to a 100% oxygen source such as a mask knocked on to safety pressure by mistake.

Lunch, dear boy.
Dinner is 7.30 for 8
Or was it so bad that you ate it later as an alternative to starvation?


Sven

I am sure Mrs. Ex air ranking spouse Champion wouldn't agree with your opinion of her crisps, nor would any other ex busy-body now cast away from coffee mornings and thrift shop gossip. Always wondered why we got dodgy brand "stuff" in lunch boxes and the sudden need to change No 1 uniform styles/badeges with monotonous regularity, particularly when the big coffers are wanting.

Once flew as SLF on Albert to Hurlburt Field, FL. We had the issue Meal, Packed, ex Lyneham as described by Beags and the good Flt Lt. The Catering Section had been reading up carefully in the British Rail manual of food provision, and reckoned they could go several steps further towards total inedibilty.

I'm fairly sure that 98% of the contents ended up in the black bin bags so carefully provided by the Loadie just before landing at Gander.

The next morning leaving Gander, the food Fairies left the results of their overnight labours. Out of the box came club sandwiches with ham, salad, pickles and mayo, with decent chips/crisps, a quality drink, a pack of real cookies and a real peice of fruit.

Just what was needed after a night on the p!ss. :ok:

I concur. The standard of military Gobbly Boxes is indeed ****e.

I practically lived on Baby Sick sandwiches from Lye In-Flight in the mid to late nineties and my body is still pushing the poison out.

I never used to leave home without a bottle of tabasco in my smock pocket which used to go in everything from the sandwiches to the crisps.

I am proud to say that not once did I ever let one of the infamous sausage rolls touch my lips.

Great idea to get Oliver on the case! :D:ok:

CC

Yes - I'd forgotten about those b£oody awful rat's coffins misnamed 'sausage rolls'. Otherwise known as 'turd in a tube'..... Or the vile baby-sick baguettes churned out by Shirk-o.

Even back in the '70s, the USAF flight kitchens were capable of vastly better 'lunch boxes' than the loathsome 'S1 box'....

Once took a single-seat FJ across the pond behind a Funbus and had a "packed" lunch from the Caterers who DID know the lunches where for a trail. Opened up the bag and found a boiled egg (still in it's shell!) and an unpeeled orange! It did however pass the time! :rolleyes:

Spry you sad tw*t
The Ethos and Leadership training lecture must have left you wanting for oxygen, food, thought, inspiration - anything - even your wife/ boyfriend surely?
Should have gone to Charlie Chans in the town between 12 and 2 - all you can eat Chinese Buffet for £4.95 - 15 starters, 15 main courses, all freshly cooked
Excellent!:D

After a few Royal Malaysian Air Force packed lunches of cold boiled rice, salted fish and cucumber, one was glad of a standard RAF issue Cheese & Tomato Sarnie, packet of plain crisps, boiled egg (in its shell) and an apple.

The Horror Box Guide:uhoh:
http://www.choxnpinz.com/141starlift...sties/box.html

Actually, some of those look quite reasonable.

Reading this thread after reading the uniform thread has made me chuckle as PPRUNE can do. Seeing the 'yin and yang' of BEagle across both gives me a laugh - banging on about 'how great things used to be' and 'how bad they are now' balanced by 'wasn't the food terrible' and 'any other Trade/Branch never looked after us properly'. It keeps on turning.

Perhaps a few photos of selected Kipper & AT fleet crew could be passed on to Jamie as examples of the dangers of eating such junk food for prolonged periods.... :}

Now, now people... I think that we're doing the catering guys a disservice here. They have a packed lunch strategy that works on the 'Dwarf Bread' principle (if you don't read Terry Pratchett then you won't get this).

Whenever you start feeling hungry, just open the issue packed lunch and you'll suddenly lose your appetite! Not hungry any more and no calories to burn off in the gym later - genius!

:}

Hmm, think I'll pass on the "Otis Spunkmeyer" muffin if you don't mind!

Ah - good old Otis!

Staple diet for early starts at Diego G - cup of coffee and a shopette Spunkmuffin....

I won't hear a word against the Lyneham/AT caterers - they are way ahead of Jamie Oliver and have been trying to wean aircrew off cholesterol and salt for many years!

Why, don't you appreciate the dietary excellence of 'HF' boxes????

Apparently, HF stands for 'high fibre' .............but there is more fibre in the carboard packaging than in the contents of the box!

If it wasn't so sad, it would be laughable!!!!!

Flip

On the other hand, the L13 and ACC/ACB are passable attempts at curries - shame they have shrunk over the years!

Also, I quite liked a hot sausage roll, livened up with chilli sauce - am I sad?? (I'll get my coat)

(BTW its not all roses out in the civvy world, as the airline food I eat currently is still in need of a drop or 2 of haberero sauce. Its a great shame that the nanny state has stopped me carrying this liquid 'explosive' - come to think of it, that desciption is not very far from the truth!)

Waddington In-Flight
 

In defence of the caterers, Waddington has for several years provided an excellent in-flight catering service. A new menu is produced every 6 months or so, the sandwiches always come with a choice of fillings and salad, and there are healthy options too. OK, we still put up with Champion crisps, but they are optionai.

Currently I would highly recommend the Black Forest Gateaux (with cream), an excellent choice for the under-weight amongst us.

Y_G

Flip,

You did chose to work for a distinctly secondary modern outfit so I don't thnk you can complain about the quality of your food. Here at the grammar school end of the market we insist upon club meals, fresh linen napkins served by beautiful, deferential and willing maidens - all right, maybe not that last bit.

One's infantry background has made one all but bulletproof in the grub stakes. Only proviso is that everything is slathered in Tabasco sauce. Some of the lunch boxes provided by the NGOs in the Sud were dire, though. The mere whiff of a three day old unrefrigerated boiled egg in 40 deg heat caused most of the lunch pack to be ejected into the #1 engine while trundling around in the weeds in the Mighty Twotter.

Upgrading to C130s meant hot meals and I have to say the loadies did us proud. Crew requests and/or funds handed in, pizza, pies, roast dinners, salads, cakes delivered in perfect condition. Plenty of crew cooperation in the planning and fetching made it a pleasure.

Still slathered everything in Tabasco, though. Old habits die hard....