PPRuNe Forums - Field Rations

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A couple of friends and I, where passing the time at work (smoke break)
just chatting, One an American, 1st gulf war vet, Myself ex-RAF early 60's to Late 70's, we ended up talking about field rations, what was your favourite, ect. When I was in we had Compo rations. If you where lucky now and again the tin of cigarettes, would come your way, My question is, are they still included in todays rations, or have the PC brigade decided that smoking is far more dangerous to your health than war.

ps. The Irish stew and rice pudding mixed together was not that bad,
done in the dark in the miiddle of the Brecon beacons.

Baby's Heads*!!! No doubt about it.

(*Tinned Steak and Kidney Pudding, just to avoid confusing non UKMIL mates).

Any of the Ghurka rat packs - goat never tasted so good :ok:

I seem to remember some self heating cans of bully. If you didn't pierce them they could explode. Anyone else remember these?

We used to be issued with 300 fags a month. Pussers Blue Liner (Because they had a blue line running down the length of the ciggy).

There was a strange ritual where we were issued 6 stamps per month (3 stamps if you were in UK waters and 6 if you were outside UK waters). You would then go down to the NAAFI and exchange your stamps for cigs. Why they couldn't just give you the baccy I don't know.

Baby's heads were fantastic but I understand that they were withdrawn from service a few years ago as the content of them wasn't particularly healthy

of course they withdrew them - babies brains are never healthy for you. :E

I just loved the powdered orange or lemon drink. try sniffing a line of it!

The dreaded lemon drink better known as "screech", one of the only non alcoholic drinks that can turn your face inside out and leave you thirstier than before you drank it.

Slight thread drift. All praise and glory to the MCSU; what they could do with standard rat packs defied belief. From a bag/tin of 'something' to an absolute banquet fit for a king was something they could do in their sleep. Awesome:ok:

No tabs any longer Arthur, I joined in 90 and I've never seen them in rations... not sure when the practice died out.
The new rations are pretty good, 3 heatable foil pouches per day, lucozade sport to replace the screech, we even get tabasco and a marmite lookalike. I was eating rations only yesterday... the pork sausages with beans and omelette are surprisingly nice. I suppose it all depends on how cold and hungry you are.
My pick of the old lot was probably the bacon burgers.

When in the TA about 1960, recollect eating tinned jam rolly poly (Sp?) which had been canned in 1939. I could understand why, even in the depths of WW2, no one wanted to eat it however, as an 18yo on an exercise, one scoffed the lot :ok:

Can't remember much about RAF survival rations but on CSRO course etc. never came across that farmhouse, much loved by cartoonists, with a freshly baked pie cooling on the window sill. :p

Never having been in the military, I wouldn't normally have know about such things, but I had to spend a week in Kuwait City about a month after GW1. I was trying to fix a CT Scanner that had 'blown its brains out' on a generator, the day the Iraqi's left and blew up the power station. I flew to Bahrain on Gulf Air and thence to Kuwait on Fat Albert via Jebail Naval Air Station, courtesy of the Foriegn Office!

There was no food in the shops or cafes and I was 'dossing down', with an ex-pat who had been a prisoner of the Iraqi's, in someone elses villa! Very bizzare. Anyway, we had to beg ratpacks off British and American troops still manning road blocks in the area.

My favourite - I found it strangely exciting - was Barbeque Pork and Beans. :) Probably an American one then? Mind you, the Hershey chocolate was 'orrible. :eek:

Roger.

To a little water in a mess tin add the contents of the sachet of Drink, Beef. Heat then add the chopped contents of a tin of Bacon Burger plus one other tin (Irish Stew, Babies Heads - it matters not) and a tin of beans. Smash the contents of a pack of Biscuits, AB (brown or white) whilst still in the pack and then add the crumbs to the mess tin. Heat the contents through and serve.

Rock Stew. Probably named because a rock invented it but more probably because of its effect on your daily constitution. :}

In Borneo in the Sixties the rations included a tin of processed cheese. It was the best fishing bait ever invented. You could look down through the water and guide it towards the fish you wanted to catch out of the crowd of them fighting for it.

Does anyone remember those tins of mystery meat in the silver tins? It looked like pate and smelt like cat food, disappeared out of the rat packs if I remember and the genetically modified cheese that also disappeared. I do remember some stories of people amusing themselves by making MRA bombs.

ISTR jungle survival packs containing a packet of condoms. Nothing to do with wearing them if 'offered' the Headman's daughter but to prevent leeches crawling into your willy.

Thanks Laarbruch, just confirmed what I thought, Fareastdriver, those tins of cheese (processed I think), they where good to eat as well, but the best had to be the tinned sausages. Sometimes served in the mess as well, you could always tell, only triangular sausages I have ever seen.
Basil, no such thing as use by dates then, Most of the old compo rations came from the WW2 to the late 50's, didn't liike the jam rolly poly..

Quote:

We got an " 'Arfur Daley" of a cook. We had roast lamb, bratties and beer. The local farmers seemed to like Compo.

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Rock Stew. Probably named because a rock invented it but more probably because of its effect on your daily constitution.

Siseman, that recipe was clinically proven to make your hair fall out. :p

I have posted this before.....but it is a gem that bears reading.

Quote:

MRE dinner date, The following is a true story....told from the point
of view of a Marine ...

I had a date the other night at my place. On the phone the day before,
the girl asked me to "Cook her something she's never had before" for
dinner. After many minutes of scratching my head over what to make, I
finally settled on something she has DEFINITELY never eaten.

I got out my trusty case of MRE's. Meal, Ready-to-Eat. Field rations
that when eaten in their entirety contain 3000+ calories. Here's what I
made:

I took three of the Ham Slices out of their plastic packets, took out
three of the Pork Chops, three packets of Chicken-a-la-King, and eight
packets of dehydrated butter noodles and some dehydrated/rehydrated
rice. I cooked the Ham Slices and Pork Chops in one pan, sauteed in shaved
garlic and olive oil.

In another pot, I blended the Chicken a-la-king, noodles, and rice
together to make a sort of mush that looked suspiciously like succotash. I
added some spices, and blended everything together in a glass pan that
I then cooked in the oven for about 35 minutes at 450 degrees.

When I took it out, it looked like, well, ham slices, pork chops, and
a bed of yellow poop. I covered the tops of the meat in the MRE cheese
(kinda like velveeta) and added some green sprinkly thingys from one of
my spice cans (hey, if it's got green sprinkly thingys on it, it looks
fancy right?)

For dessert, I took four MRE Pound Cakes, mashed 'em up, added five
packets of cocoa powder, powdered coffee cream, and some water. I heated
it up and stirred it until it looked like a sort of chunky gelatinous
organism, and I sprinkled powdered sugar on top of it. Voila--Ranger
Pudding.

For alcoholic drinks, I took the rest of my bottle of Military Special
Vodka (yes, they DO make a type of liquor named "Military Special"--it
sells for $4.35 per fifth at the Class Six ) and mixed in four packets
of "Electrolytes - 1 each - Cherry flavored" (I swear, the packet says
that). It looked like an eerie kool-aid with sparkles in it (that was
the electrolytes I guess... could've been leftover sand from Egypt).

I lit two candles, put a vase of wildflowers in the middle, and set
the table with my best set of Ralph Lauren Academy-series China (that
**** is EXPENSIVE... my set of 8 place settings cost me over $600 on sale
at the Lejeune PX ), and put the alcoholic drink in a crystal wine
decanter.

She came over, and I had some appetizers already made, of MRE
spaghetti-with-meatballs, set in small cups. She saw the dinner, saw the food,
and said "This looks INCREDIBLE!!!"

We dug in, and she was loving the food. Throughout the meal, she kept
asking me how long it took me to make it, and kept remarking that I
obviously knew a thing or two about cooking fine meals. She kind of balked
at the makeshift "wine" I had set out, but after she tried it I guess
she liked it because she drank four glasses during dinner.

At the end of the main course, when I served the dessert, she squealed
with delight at the "Chocolate mousse" I had made. Huh? Chocolate what?
Okay... yeah... it's Chocolate Moose. Took me HOURS to make... yup.

Later on, as we were watching a movie, she excused herself to use my
restroom. While she was in there, I heard her say softly to herself "uh
oh" and a resounding but petite fart punctuated her utterance of
dismay.

Let the games begin.

She sprayed about half a can of air freshener (Air Freshener, 1 each,
Orange scent. Yup. The military even makes smellgood) and
returned to the couch, this time with an obvious pained look.

After 10 more minutes she excused herself again, and retreated to the
bathroom for the second time I could hear her say "What the hell is
WRONG with me???," as she again send flatulent shockwaves into the
porcelain bowl. This time, they sounded kinda wet, and I heard the toilet
paper roll being employed, and again, LOTS more air freshener.

Back to the couch. She smiles meekly as she decides to sit on the
chair instead of next to me. She sits on my chair, knees pulled up to her
chest, kind of rocking back and forth slightly. Suddenly, without a
word, she ROCKETED up and FLEW to the bathroom, slammed the door, and
didn't come out for 30 minutes.

I turned the movie up because I didn't want her to hear me laughing so
hard that tears were streaming down my cheeks.

She came out with a slightly gray palor to her face, and said "I am
SOOOOOO sorry. I have NO idea what is wrong with me. I am so embarrassed,
I can't believe I keep running to your bathroom!!" I gave her an
Immodium AD, and she finally settled down and relaxed.

Later on, she asked me again what I had made for dinner, because she
had enjoyed it so much. I calmly took her into the kitchen and showed
her all the used MRE bags and packets in the trash can.

After explaining to her that she had eaten roughly 9,000 calories of
"Marine Corps Field Rations" she turned stark white, looked at me
incredulously, and said "I ate 9,000 calories or dehydrated food that was
made 3 years ago?" After I concurred, she grabbed her coat and keys, and
took off without a word.

She called me yesterday. Seems she couldn't s___ for 5 days, and when
she finally did, the smell was so bad, her roommate could smell it from
down the hall. She also told me she had been working out nonstop to
combat the high caloric intake, and that she never wanted me to cook
dinner for her again, unless she was PERSONALLY there to inspect the food
beforehand.

It was a fun date. She laughed about it eventually, and said that that
was the first time she'd ever crapped in a guy's house on a date. She'd
been so upset by it she was in tears in the bathroom while I had been
in tears on the couch.

I know, I'm an a__hole, but it was still a funny night.:=

Back in the mid eighties seem to remember the best items where lemon dextrose tablets, rolos and yorkies (always had chinese writing on the wrappers for some reason). There where 4 different menus back then labelled A,B,C and D menu A had Chicken curry and apple flakes but on one ex we got two weeks worth of the same one (D) which had minced beef :yuk:

Bacon roll and Garibaldis were also much prizes as well, I still have a couple of old hexi stoves hanging about.

Ahhh, compo...only time I have ever seen greengage jam; in toothpaste tubes! And the tinned "Cheese, posessed" used to get served up in the Officers' Mess when the extra messing funds ran out....