This was an interesting ration. I sourced it from Amazon. It is sometimes an unexpected source for international rations. I would recommend reading the full review before ordering your own.
The packaging is solid. Decently thick plastic and it’s relatively light for a single meal ration.
Mains:
Can of chicken luncheon meat
Can of pork meat spread
Tube of Sweetened Condensed Milk
Four crackers
Accessory Pack:
Powdered drink mix, orange flavored
Vitamin C hard candy
Two packs of freeze dried coffee
Plastic bag
Book of matches
Tissues
Stick of gum
Mains
Crackers – We’ll start here as the crackers are unfortunately the most distinctive part of the ration. They are harder than any cracker I’ve ever had. I am not sure why any government would issue these to soldiers in the field. Even being dipped in coffee for 10 or so seconds failed to soften it significantly as in addition to being hard they are also incredibly dense. On the plus side they did have a decent flavor with a touch of sesame seeds. Ultimately, in order to eat them I broke them apart to eat as I didn’t feel like an emergency dental visit.
Chicken luncheon loaf – The chicken luncheon loaf was acceptable. The consistency was a bit finer and sturdier than spam. Taste was a bit odd to my palate as I’ve had spam before but never a “chicken spam”. Not quite spreadable but broke apart with a spoon easily enough.
Pork pate – This was the better of the two meats. Spread easily on cracker pieces after I broke them apart. Very balanced flavor without the iron taste some pates have.
Sweetened condensed milk – This was delicious in the sense that a heavily sweetened dairy product is tasty. However, it is a bit of an odd “main” in this ration. I suppose it’s a way to get a large number of calories in the ration at a good calorie:weight ratio. This tasted wonderful on the crackers like a soft frosting. Of course, the flavor was offset by the overly hard crackers. It’s also a nice addition to the coffee.
Accessories
Instant coffee – Solid medium roast coffee. Drinkable by itself without any additions. Added both packets to about 10 ounces of hot water.
Sugar packets – Strangely large amount of sugar relative to the amount of coffee provided especially since there is already plenty of sweetened condensed milk.
Vitamin C candy – Tasty orange flavored hard candy with a soft center.
Plastic bag – I suppose you could put your drink mix in here. You could also use it for trash but the bag the MRE comes in is significantly sturdier. In a survival situation it could be used to hold water but again, the bag is a bit flimsy.
Orange drink mix – Sub-par. Did not mix well and was a very mild flavor even when mixed with less than the instructed amount of water. On the plus side, it did not have a strong artificial flavor and did not seem to have a large amount of artificial coloring.
Matches – Matchsticks seemed interesting as they were wood instead of cardboard and looked sturdy. Tested a few. They were far less sturdy than they appeared and the sulfur tips were prone to falling off.
Tissues – Pretty standard. Scored so they can be used as toilet paper.
Stick of Gum – Most rations that have gum have it contained in a small container that is sealed and can be torn open. This single stick of gum appears to have been taken out of a pack and thrown into the accessory bag. Flavor was vaguely minty but faded very quickly.
Overall
I would not recommend this ration. The crackers are a core component of the ration and are almost inedible. Very little balance. No vegetables or fruit. There definitely seems to be a strong desire to save weight and space but a retort pouch with a combination dish that contains a meat and vegetables would have been a good substitute for one of the meats.
In my opinion eating these for any length of time would get old very quickly especially since the other menus contain different cans of meat but not much more variety.
Thanks for reading this far! Go ahead and leave a comment to know and let me know if you’d like to see anything different or have any thoughts. Also, if you have ever been issued this ration and have any tips for conquering the crackers I would love to hear them.
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