The U.S. military has a fraught history with food. During the Civil War, soldiers munched on tooth-cracking hardtack and salt pork. By World War II, it was SPAM and M&Ms. During the Cold War, the military introduced the world to survival crackers, a.k.a. Doomsday Biscuits.
But there’s always been one problem with most of the items on the menu: Few tasted very good. Hardtack regularly contained worms. Soldiers liked to call SPAM “ham that failed the physical.” The Chicago Tribune once claimed that survival crackers were “better as weapons.”
The challenge facing battlefield rations—called “Meal, Ready-to-Eat,” or MREs—has always been multifaceted. The Seattle Times explains it nicely: "To qualify for MRE duty, a food item has to be able to survive years of storage in a dank ship’s hold or a sun-baked shipping container, withstand Arctic freezes and tropical monsoons, stave off assaults by insects, and remain intact through a parachute airdrop or a free fall from 100 feet.” Taste, as a result, has been woefully neglected.
I used to share a house with a guy who had access to Australian Army rations and we basically lived off the things for about six months back in the late 1980s. As a poor student I don’t recall them being all that bad. Not for free.
There were a bunch of rice-and-mystery-curry boxes that there no more inedible than a three-dollar Woolies home-brand vindaloo. The shortbread could be softened by dunking it onto a cup of coffee, or rum, for a while. And I recall the ‘emergency chocolate’ quite fondly.
This also reminds me that at the start of the pando you could buy unused airline meals for a buck or two each. I know a few people who loaded up on them and if I’d been giving by myself, honestly, I might have too.
(And yes, I am totes doing some basic link-blogging, just to get myself used to being at my keyboard again.
I've eaten a lot of MREs. Personal fave: The hamburger with mystery bread, jalapeño cheese and BBQ sauce, chased down with vanilla dairy shake and followed up with Pakistani L&M cigarettes, or fake Marlboros, depending on where in the world you happened to be. Some fools say that MREs are only good for three years under ideal storage conditions. LOL. Keep talking, buddy. Very glad I never did hard tack or "beans and motherfkrs" of WW2 and Vietnam fame. The MRE was a serious upgrade over C, K, or "scrounge rats."
I once read Meals Ready to Eat as three lies in one.
I also remember raiding the return airline food trays for unopened juice, biscuits and chocolates when working for a hotel that provided airline catering. Didn't touch warm stuff, as it had been sitting on the loading dock for 12 hours or so.
Those MRE links from Dirk and Colin are an eye opener. Shoulda guessed the internet would have rabbit holes for the topic. That SteveMRE guy seems to be the uber Masterchef Rations judge. Cracked me up. Makes me want to try one. "Let's get that out onto a tray. Nice."
I did have some favourites from the ratpacks in the early 80s. Pork and beans was pretty good and i did and still do like fake potato. But my favourite "dish" was the rice with a bunch of condensed milk and a handful of dried fruit and nuts, specifically carried for that purpose.
As part of the research for 3.1, I have been diving deep into these kind of meals and the differences between different countries. A good starter is this YouTube channel (with 1.9 mln subscribers I might add) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2I6Et1JkidnnbWgJFiMeHA/videos
If you want something extra special I would go for the Italian Module F ration btw :-)
Last time I was in the south-west of the States I picked up a few MREs from a Military surplus store. Had always wanted to try them out of a weird fascination.
They ranged from 'meh, is okay' to 'this is actually pretty good'.
The sheer engineering and science that goes into them is mind-blowing.
I too wore green suits for many years, and sampled the rat packs from Vietnam era late 70s to the early 2000's. I can say they improved over time. Now my son is an Army Cadet, so I've sampled the most recent offerings...no more cans! Funny little MRE style pouches! Still get the ever popular ration pack chocolate though.
I spent 9 years wearing a funny green uniform and as a single bloke I quite often got better fed when i went bush than when I was having to provide for myself.
I've eaten a lot of MREs. Personal fave: The hamburger with mystery bread, jalapeño cheese and BBQ sauce, chased down with vanilla dairy shake and followed up with Pakistani L&M cigarettes, or fake Marlboros, depending on where in the world you happened to be. Some fools say that MREs are only good for three years under ideal storage conditions. LOL. Keep talking, buddy. Very glad I never did hard tack or "beans and motherfkrs" of WW2 and Vietnam fame. The MRE was a serious upgrade over C, K, or "scrounge rats."
I once read Meals Ready to Eat as three lies in one.
I also remember raiding the return airline food trays for unopened juice, biscuits and chocolates when working for a hotel that provided airline catering. Didn't touch warm stuff, as it had been sitting on the loading dock for 12 hours or so.
Those MRE links from Dirk and Colin are an eye opener. Shoulda guessed the internet would have rabbit holes for the topic. That SteveMRE guy seems to be the uber Masterchef Rations judge. Cracked me up. Makes me want to try one. "Let's get that out onto a tray. Nice."
I did have some favourites from the ratpacks in the early 80s. Pork and beans was pretty good and i did and still do like fake potato. But my favourite "dish" was the rice with a bunch of condensed milk and a handful of dried fruit and nuts, specifically carried for that purpose.
As part of the research for 3.1, I have been diving deep into these kind of meals and the differences between different countries. A good starter is this YouTube channel (with 1.9 mln subscribers I might add) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2I6Et1JkidnnbWgJFiMeHA/videos
If you want something extra special I would go for the Italian Module F ration btw :-)
Last time I was in the south-west of the States I picked up a few MREs from a Military surplus store. Had always wanted to try them out of a weird fascination.
They ranged from 'meh, is okay' to 'this is actually pretty good'.
The sheer engineering and science that goes into them is mind-blowing.
I too wore green suits for many years, and sampled the rat packs from Vietnam era late 70s to the early 2000's. I can say they improved over time. Now my son is an Army Cadet, so I've sampled the most recent offerings...no more cans! Funny little MRE style pouches! Still get the ever popular ration pack chocolate though.
I spent 9 years wearing a funny green uniform and as a single bloke I quite often got better fed when i went bush than when I was having to provide for myself.
I believe the Brits invented Smarties, which were the precursor to M&M’s.