u/Greedy_Grape_3652

This thing was pretty sweet to get to open, and on camera nonetheless. Thanks to our resident Brit Amelie for handing this one off- thanks girl!

Anyway; The mains in here were super different from what you'd expect from an Irish ration. There was no bacon and cabbage, very very limited potato, no chinese takeaway with curry sauce, and weirdly enough, no Guinness.

The mains were all very surprisingly tasty; they tasted way better than they looked, which is a repeating thing in the world of rations outside of, say, France.

The most surprising thing that stood out for me was the sheer amount of drinks in this bad boy. FOUR cold drinks(500ml each), two teas, two coffees, and a hot chocolate (which was 400ml!) Outstanding hydration.

On the note of drinks, I also took out TWENTY tabs of water purification tabs, which apparently might have been a double-packing, but still- way more than the normal paltry one tablet in a ration.

I'm going to have a lay down after this pack today, with all the curry, and the korma, and spicy peanuts and such...

Cheers!

I revisited the CR1M, this time sourced by our very own MKR, big thanks to Mike for that!

The mains, Muesli, Bolognaise, and a Lamb Stew; all fantastic. The meat in the bolognaise was a bit more minced than I'm used to as an American, but it was phenomenal. The lamb stew was sensational. The muesli was absolutely well engineered to be a key starter for a busy day, with tons of sustainable energy.

Tons of desserts in this pack, from a weird Musk flavored hard candy that tastes like perfume, to M&Ms, chocolate, sweetened condensed milk, jammie dodgers, and a citrus cake. All were excellent, except the chocolate ration- which had me guessing if it was supposed to be created to be like the Hershey's Tropical bar from decades past.

The sides were all very enjoyable except the tuna. Don't ever eat the tuna. Never the tuna.

Also, never try the protein drink from a 2020 CR1M. They do not hold up, and every time now, i've been hopeful, and it's just not worth trying. I'll probably try it again the next time, though, because I'm dumb.

I re-attacked the vegemite, and this time I did it right. I gotta say, I was super surprised and am probably now addicted to vegemite. Beware, if you do it the right way, its going to be an expensive condiment if you're in the US.

I know, I know, I'm borderline spamming here this week. Two in as many days? Well; its my days off so you'll have to bear with me.

Ahem-

This was a 1984 US MRE brown bag edition. Featuring Beef with gravy, Beans in Tomato Sauce, Crackers, Cheese spread, and a Brownie, Chocolate Covered.

I was very excited indeed to see the brownie, as I've seen them be exquisite. I was not so lucky. I learned very quickly upon biting in, that it contains walnuts. Walnuts, if you don't know, go rancid very quickly and when they do, they produce lovely chemicals that taste exactly like vomit, and make your mouth go into that rancid, all encompassing numby-awful-terrible feeling. That was utterly and completely terrible.

Moving on to the crackers; I was stunned when opening to reveal the wonderful world of pre-jacked-up-crackers, the salted cracker. The crackers were completely perfect and had a wonderful barley taste and saltiness to them that was just all around fulfilling. Perfect crunch.

On to the main.......

The meat tricked me into thinking that it was quality beef by how it fell apart with the spoon, and looked like it was coated with collagen from the gravy production. I was wrong- it was stringy and lacked any real authentic beef flavor, owing all of its flavor profile to the gravy it sat in; which wasn't anything to write on about I can assure that.

The beans? Plainly; they tasted like blood. They tasted like a mushy mound of old pennies that were collected out of a puddle of rancid ketchup beneath the stairwell at your nearest subway. Not the train subway, but the sandwich place that hasn't had visitors for the last ten years.

All in all; Great experience. 10/10 would eat rotten food again.

Thanks to u/waffels_61465 for helping me score this bag!

This guy was fantastic all around.

The breakfast porridge was a bit wet, but it tasted like an apple pie, and the ratio of apples to oats was insane. Coffee? amazing as well. I tasted some strong oak-notes to it, which is super different compared to usual freeze dried coffees. Protein bar was a chewy version of a Mounds candy bar, and I was in love. I wish I had a few more of these kicking around.

Lunch was ...well, let's just say, the next time I'm out to eat and see Chicken Korma on the menu, I know what I'm getting. It's amazingly coconut-y, and the notes of ginger are superb. Huge fan. Huuuge fan. The pineapple drink with it was fantastic, bringing together a mix that was borderline tropical, which is exactly what I think when I think Sweden.

Dinner was alright- the main wasn't my favorite but it wasn't terrible either. I've just never been a fan of spicy vegetarian pasta dishes; its not my thing. The pâté tasted great and wasn't overly liver-ish; it didn't have that grit and irony quality, so it was great. Didn't expect it to pair so well with the cheddar biscuits.

I ended up on a rant about the word biscuit, and to my better judgement, I avoided that whole business. The short version is; don't argue about dialect and semantics, it's not worth the breath and time.

AT ANY RATE. I hope you enjoy even a fraction of the amount I did; Thank you all for everything, much love to you all.

Cheers!

Man, These things are HARD to get your hands on for some reason!

Even the Canadian websites that sell these are out of stock, or just selling like half-crates of the breakfasts. I know I've seen some discussion here and there about people looking, trying to find, etc, but here we go; this one fell into my possession from a good buddy you all know and love; u/waffels_61465.

What can I say about it? The entire ration was incredibly well put together; except the addition of a blackberry jam and peanut butter with nowhere to go! It could have done well to include a bread to make a sandwich with those guys, but nonetheless we persevered.

The chili was phenomenal, it was better than USMRE chili, and included the awesome cornbread we all know and love. It had a light paprika type spice, and good flavor/fat balance. It also came with some pears in juice in a retort to enable heating and supply you with a bit of fiber to keep things moving, which paired super well with that jam, and was a fantastic meal finisher after the chili.

and a ration including a Snickers bar? Cmon now. They're just cheating and padding the score at this point!

Have you had an IMP? Let me know what you think!

Cheers, and thank you all for your support and love!

This is a Czech PP-D, a supplemental ration meant to be included in a 24 hour spread for the Czech military. Included is a can of tuna, crispbread FITNESS!, chocolate, and an absolutely fantastic drink.

The downside? Probably the wooden spoon; they're cool and all, but they taste like wood. Go figure.

Cheers!

Man. This thing put up a fight.

I was pleasantly surprised by a few of the items in this MCI. This was my first MCI I've opened, and it was definitely one for the books. I THOROUGHLY enjoyed opening this thing up and documenting what was in it, what was edible and what wasn't, and the overall state.

I cleaned up the cans and remnants as best I could for display purposes in my own collection.

If you're interested, hit up u/highrevs21 as he may have more for grabs, and he's super worth checking out!

Alright thanks!

Just don't. Run away. The price isn't low because you found a good deal.

This was such a disappointment, and to boot, I almost died eating it because it was so bad. Not because of food poisoning, or anything fun; but because the menu was put together by people who apparently have never actually eaten any of this stuff.

SO.

I bought this ration, thinking it was going to be like the old favorite from the 80s or 90s, BBQ Pork with Rice; and I was mistaken. No. It isn't. Not even a little. What greeted me was a menagerie of failed HDR components, and a terrible, disgusting, dry and burnt tasting main and equally burnt (out) FRH.

There was not a single win in this bag, except maybe the sunflower butter which I always love (by itself, strictly by itself.)

So if one of these ever shows up on your doorstep, looking for a nice place to stay the night, or wants to take you out to dinner; Tell it to hit the road and save your soul. She ain't worth it.

Cheers. And seriously. Run away from these.