u/Greedy_Grape_3652

Hell yeah! Got my hands on this thing at last, thanks to u/sirG2020

The mains were fantastic, they were things I've never had before. Kabsa Chicken and a Mediterranean Tuna Salad. Both? Phenomenal. I was weary about both, because the Kabsa had stewed almonds in it, and raisins? Still, it was great. Nutmeg flavor was strong. The Tuna salad I had hot, and it featured some strange ingredients as well, I would have never made something like that, personally, but I'm glad I had it.

The dessert for the desert rat was a chocolate cake, and it was the same as the vestey foods cakes, dry and thirst provoking, but delicious in its own right. I should have saved some coffee to have with it.

The sides in general is where this ration falls short. You get beaucoup biscuits, but they're fairly basic and by the end of the day, you don't want any more of them. The spreads are good, if they don't end up smelling/tasting like dirty feet.

For breakfast, which I should have started with first here, you get a very nice and pleasing sachet of dates, which were as exceptional as they are sticky.

The drinks? Tea, fantastic as always, normal black tea. Isotonic was lemon flavor, and had a very strong chemical aftertaste which was just plain miserable. Tried everything I could to make it pallatable, to no avail. I ended up only having half of the lemon drinks provided in the pack.

Overall? Super worth checking out. SirG is sold out of these as of now, but they will come back around, and when they do, make sure you get one!

Cheers guys and gals! Thanks!

This pack is a big deal to revisit for me personally.

10 years ago, this menu was the one I opened that began my insatiable appetite for international rations. The Lithuanian 8hr pack, featuring beef and buckwheat. Just unreal.

This menu doesn't have too many frills about it- its got a chicken stock, the main, some chocolate, a jam and cherry drink.

The chicken stock was actually phenomenal in its own right, being very herbaceous and salty, but very tasty.

The Jam was essentially a no-go in this pack, it was really tough to eat, or to even scoop with a spoon.

The panzer waffles were great if eaten properly, like usual.

The cherry drink wasn't very strong or sweet, but with the added sugar it was really pleasing and hydrating.

The main? My god, you need to try it yourself. Its so hearty and fantastic in every way. The beef and grains go so well together, and are married through the beef fat. There's simply nothing like it.

Chocolate was great as well. Probably a 65% or thereabouts, nice and sweet after the initial bitterness of dark chocolate.

I need to get a couple dozen more of these things.

Cracking into an RCIR was redemption time! Previously I had cracked into a 2018, which ended up getting me a bit sick... Not this time!

The mains in this guy were unreal! The French really know how to party in the field, that's for sure.

Everything was super good, except the breakfast muesli, which had gone awful, really, really awful. What was supposed to be a mixed fruit yogurt muesli was brown, and, well, I shouldn't have tasted it.

Beyond that; the other mains were a chicken couscous which featured some lightly spiced sausages, and a salmon with rice and veg. Those were to die for; the salmon was perfect textured, nice and fatty and super tasty, and the chicken was sensational.

Also featured were your normal bars (including a banana bar that was great), a nougat that was still soft and explosive with dried fruit and vanilla flavor, a very bloomed out 65% chocolate bar, and a wonderful chevre cheese fondue.

Super great.

Drinks? two tears, some coffee, a strawberry mint isotonic (gross), and a very nice hot chocolate, which was masterfully done.

Huge love for the RCIR. If anyone wants to send me a pallet of these, I wouldn't hate you.

love ya'll! Cheers!

Today I cracked into a 2012 German EPA Type 2.

My first German ration! I was surprised to find that most of the contents, despite being 14+ years old, were all pretty good! You know, minus the ones that have dairy, and the bread...

At anyrate, the big surprises here were the absolute lackluster sausages. I thought the Germans were known for sausage! It was the WURST.

At any rate, everything was tasty as heck. The cranberry cereal bar? probably the most surprising of all. It was moist, soft and chewy, and very flavorful. Better than some made last year!

Cheers guys and gals! Hope ya'll are doing well!

This is the first AFR I've put my hands on, and I was not prepared

I've seen a lot of people talking about or showing off their "Real Field Meals" freeze dried kit, and I gotta say; I completely understand the hype at this point.

The main was a Chicken Curry, sides were 2 protein bars; one cranberry, one chocolate, and a bridgford cinnamon bun. Isotonic and a coffee as well, with a pack of gum.

Immediately upon opening the pack, everything smelled strongly of menthol from the gum; although the gum didn't smell like it at all. Strange.

The sides; cranberry bar's flavor kept going back and forth from the crispy rice to the cranberries which was interesting and delicious. Very nice, sweet cranberry flavor. The choco bar was not very good; it had hardened over time and was an absolute chore to eat. If you needed the protein, you could get through it. It was a darker chocolate flavor that had adopted the mint from the gum.

The curry was absolutely to die for; although the chicken had bits that didn't rehydrate super well, it was very tasty and well rounded. Just the right amount of spice to hang in the back of the throat.

Coffee was great black, there are no creamers or sugars in the pack. Not acidic, good earthy notes.

Isotonic was nothing special, but it was refreshing.

New filming set up, please let me know what you think!

Cheers!

I've been really wanting to crack into a Japanese pack for a long, long time.

This one features Mackerel in tomato and soybean stew, white rice, a dry curry, and a sachet of plum shiso seasoning.

God bless; that seasoning. I'll tell you what- its got a wonderfully citrusy flavor to it, and slightly tangy. It is so dang good, I'm already on amazon looking at how to get some in my cupboards.

As far as the fish- it was amazingly moist, and flavorful. I'm a huge fan of mackerel to begin with, and the flavors in here were just to die for, especially with the seasoning pack.

The Dry Curry was a normal curried rice dish, to be eaten separately from the white rice and mackerel dish. It was complex enough, with a little bit of heat. It appears more dry than it tastes. When adding the mackerel to the curry, wonderful things happened.

Verdict? A very strong 8/10, with -points for just how lacking overall it is, with no drinks or meaningful sides, but it does supply you with a tray and spork.

Cheers!

Cracked into a 1968 Acc Pack and B-1A unit today, courtesy of our own SirG!

Included cigs were marlboros, as I know that's a main question here. Did I smoke them? One so far; and it was fantastically smooth and enjoyable.

The gum was a Wrigley's wintergreen that was stunningly minty and sweet. Very enjoyable.

The cream substitute gave me a run for my money; it looked like it was fine, but chunked up as soon as water hit it, ruining the "Coffee, Instant"

Pretty rad seeing Coffee, Instant without a type.

Speaking of types; the included candy in the B-1A was a Chocolate Disk, Sweet Milk and Almond Type XII, Style 2.

Type TWELVE. crazy work. What are the other 11 variants?

Cheers!

This pack was pretty well stocked. Its a strange package that doesn't lend itself well to being thrown in a pack unless UNpacked first, but I digress

The breakfast was a bit much- with a porridge being unsweetened and THICC. After adding some fruit gummy type stuff, and a jelly, it was super tasty and gave me energy throughout my morning.

The lunch being essentially a choco-hazelnut and jelly sandwich and some odds and ends was enough to keep my energy going through the day, but as I was finishing a few hours of fishing today, I was really ready for dinner.

Dinner was the mexican stew, which had fantastic seasoning and spice. It was a vegetarian stew, which is strange when paired with two pork pates and two tins of fish as well. Normally you don't see vegetarian mains unless its in a dedicated vegetarian menu. At any rate, it was very good and filling.

The cake was a big surprise. It was not as dry as you'd expect, and was actually really decent. Every bite of it was very delectable, and sweet.

No coffee though, so big point loss on that regard.

Thoroughly enjoyed!

Cheers!

I attacked the latvians this week, and dove headfirst into their pea porridge with pork.

THREE COFFEES for an 8hr ration. Those latvians are crazy, and I'm all there to support them in this.

If you ever have this ration; please either stay well away from that Rye bread, or at least throw it into the FRH and heat it up.

The pea porridge, although looking terrible, was very smooth and delicious. Almost a clean plate club today.

Thanks a bunch! Cheers!

This might be a cry for help at this point.

Here we have a review of two different eras of the Four Fingers of Death MRE. 1986, and 1996. Head to head, baby.

Key differences; 1986 side component is beans with tomato sauce. Think can of beans without the lovely brown sugar molasses sauce but ketchup. Eeek. 1996 main side component is potato sticks. Remember those from when we were kids? They haven't changed. Literally time traveled from the 90s to right now, and they're still awesome.

Sugar kick sides, in the 1986 acc pacc, there was a vanilla fudge. I'm sure in its day it was fantastic, but it has aged as poorly as some of the rest of us, and it made my mouth completely numb after a few seconds of cautious optimism while chewing. Dastardly deceptive. The sugar side in the 96 was a wetpack of pineapple, which also did not make it. It was dead, Jim. The smell; awful. The sight: awful. The implication? nothing good.

the 86 version had a Coffee type 1 which you don't see much of, which was enjoyable even in the 90+ degree heat we've all been having, as well as a cocoa bev that was a veritable ceiling tile and inedible. The 96 version had a grape drink and an ice tea which was fantastic.

Now for the cream filling; how were the weiners?

They were surprisingly delightful. Well, the 90s ones were. The older dogs were incredibly soft and wickedly salty. The sodium count for the four of them was probably north of 1300mg. I'd honestly eat the 90s ones again though, which were more palatable, less salty, and actually tasted like pork franks.

Enjoy! Cheers! Happy Fourth to my American friends, and to everyone else!

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!