I've got a friend in the Royal Marines who I met up with the other night for a drink. He gave me a 24hr ration pack to try.
I was quite surprised how much was in them and what a good selection of stuff there was, although I'm sure you'd soon get bored with it. My friend says as soon as they're dished out everyone starts swapping bits and bobs with people and making a fuss they don't like tuna!
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| Ration pack |
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| Menu number 19 |
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| the list of what's in there |
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| The main meal pouches: Apple and cinnamon muesli, Tuna Pasta beans, Steak and vegetable & Chocolate brownie. |
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| All the snacks: Fruit puree pouch, caramel ceral bar, peanut butter, lemon boiled sweets, tuna light mayonnaise, fruit biscuits, tin of nuts |
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| All the drinks: 2 tea bags, 2 coffees, 4 sugars, 4 creamers, 3 powdered fruit drinks, one hot chocolate & one isotonic orange drink |
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| Sundry items: Spork, wipes, chewing gum, tissues, matches, water purification tablets & Tabasco sauce bottle. |
I was quite impressed with all this but I haven't tried much of it yet - I'll save it for a rainy day!
So the question I have for you all is what would be in your emergency 24hr ration pack?
Chocolate of course! lots of it lol
ReplyDeleteDark chocolate I think it would have to be. I guess it melts too easy - some packs have chocolate in, depends on the menu number.
DeleteChocolate and peanut butter, that's all I need!
ReplyDeleteI've got have of another box and that's got peanut butter in. I'm a big fan of peanut butter on toast.
DeleteHeinz beans and a can of Newcastle Brown ale. Where is the famous Royal Marine earthworm omelette, Kev? I am joking of course!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure he even ate one on his training! Beeen years since I had newkee brown ale!
DeleteI actually have 2 x 72 hour kits. I should check them, but I do know I am missing whistles and 2 head torches as I never got around to putting them in. What with all the flooding we get around here. apart from moving the TV upstairs we can be evacuated in a matter of minutes.
ReplyDeleteI need to get a winter kit together for the wifes car. I like the idea of having a kit with everything we need for a short period of time, but haven't put it together yet (If I use any acronyms about prepping around my wife she gets annoyed so I won't use the one for this bag we're talking about!)
Deletedon't call it prepping call it something else. My sister goes a little wild in the eyes when I talk to my BIL about it. he is an ex-Marine.
DeleteYou're probably right! Nothing wrong with being prepared though!
DeleteThey are more tasty sounding than I would have imagined.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I could better these really, although if I had to pack my own some oatcakes would be nice and some sort of long life hard cheese, I'd willingly swap some of the sweeter things out and have these instead.
It has nothing that needs refrigerating so I guess that's why cheese is out, unless you could dry it! the sweeter stuff is for energy and it would suit me down to the ground as I'm an utter sugar addict!
DeleteThey look better than the army ones , although they do have yorkie bars :) Sue theu also have brown biscuits which you can have pate or cheese spread on but they are rock hard, mostly people add hot water and make a kind of porridge
ReplyDeleteYeah I think there's all different ways of eating them. I'd be trading my coffee and tea everyday for the hot chocolate or powdered drinks.
DeleteIf you are going to eat in true style...you bung it all together and have the naval delicacy called 'pot mess'!
ReplyDeleteJane x
Sounds disgustingly good I'm sure! I'm not great at sharing food so I doubt this would be something I'd do!
DeleteMy uncle told a story about how they gave them a box of rations before going into Normandy in 1944. The guys had a feast that day as it was so good but then they found out that the ration was supposed to last them 5 days so they had to get the regular ones later. You would think they would have put something on the box saying what it was. They were either really hungry or it was actually good stuff.
ReplyDeleteMy grandfather would never eat corned beef as when he was in the desert the cans would always be too warm so they had to drink it instead of eat it!
DeleteYou'd be gutted if you'd just eaten your next five days worth of food! I think that would break me - I love my food so much!
It's also worth noting that MOD ration packs are designed for 'A marching soldier' and therefore contain a large number of calories.
ReplyDeleteIt's been a long time since I used one....they were all still in tins back then....but if you did swapsies and could end up with a tin of cheese and another of strawberry jam....you got a headrush if you ate the two together they were both so dense in calories!
Yeah and most is sugars and carbohydrates so it can be used up quickly. I'm terrible for having lots of sugar anyway so I bet I'd love to eat these packs, doubt I'd be any good at marching though!
DeleteBloody interesting
ReplyDeleteI thought it was an insight into something I know nothing about. I'm looking forward to trying some of it.
DeleteTuna and beans? That seems like an odd combination.
ReplyDeleteFor the protein I guess. My friend says there's loads of guys who hate tuna so it's normally one people are trying to swap. He says the curry ones are the best and what everyone fights for.
DeleteWot; no red wine? I'd have a job swallowing that lot without a little rouge.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant! I'd love to have you on my troop! This almost feels like a blackadder sketch in the making!
DeleteThe italian army packs did contain wine back in the 80s. Don't know these days though!
DeleteDuring my time in the Marine Corps, for the most part we ate "C Rations", the same as were used in WW2 , Korea and Viet Nam. You got a cardboard box with a can that had a main meal like beef and potatoes, spaghetti, etc. Then you got a can with some crackers and cheese, some powdered coffee, a little can of pound cake, or chocolate cake, or (widely hated) prune cake. There used to be cigarettes in them but the bureaucrats back in D.C. had those taken out. I often wondered about the mind set of a creature that would deprive troops of the simple pleasure of tobacco, alleging it was not good for them, when they were getting shot at.
ReplyDeleteThen in the early 80's, the MRE (meal ready to eat)came out, and it was very like your friends ration pack. The food was good, healthy, and if you could scrounge some other ingredients you could make a good meal.
Today in the states , it's illegal to have government MRE's because the black market around bases was so huge they were losing vast quantities. But you can buy the same meals packed commercially. 12 meals run about 60 dollars, give or take.
I buy canned food, rather than the MRE, because I can get a lot more food for 60 dollars in a Walmart than comes in the case of MRE. I don't plan on bugging out, I'm "dying in place", so the mobility aspect doesn't bother me.
The one exception is my kids. They live in a city up North. If something happens, they will have to make their way here. Consequently, we've equipped them with good bug out equipment and among the supplies are MRE, which are perfect for that contingency.
Good post, Kev. This is a big topic in the U.S. and the MRE has detractors and advocates in plenty, so you can get a good conversation going on the topic.
I knew yours would be a good reply!
DeleteThere's lots of these for sale on eBay - if anyone asks that's where I got mine from! But I very much doubt they should be sold. There are others on the market sold as camping supplies and the like. I've used them before and enjoyed them, on a cold camping trip pouring in boiling water and then putting it inside your coat while the water sofens the food and use you use it as a mini hot water bottle is pretty nice when it's snowing. The food was pretty good as well, I think it was chicken curry and it was as good as anything ready made I'd brought before, mind you I was hungry and everything tastes good when you're hungry!
But like you they're just too expensive to have any quantity of them, dried pasta and a tin of something makes a much cheaper meal, or a tin of beans. When you've got four mouths to feed MRE packs could cost you a fortune.
We'd never "bug out" through choice either, most of our stored food is in the ground or walking round! I'd quickly need to become a better shot to fill our table though as I've let my hunting slip since having the kids and I'm a little rusty. I still go but I'm not as good at it as I used to be.
What will you do about Morlocks? I know from watching the news that you folks have your share of those, as we do here. I saw a show about British preppers and they were training with cross bows and swords. Seemed like something out of a science fiction movie but I can see it, when I think about your circumstances.
DeleteMorlocks? You guys love to think that Britain is stuck in some 1970's or earlier film! But a crossbow could be handy, although we're not aloud to hunt with arrows over here either...
Deletenice
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