MRE's from around the world

[PSPS]

A Taste of Home in Foil Packets and Powder
By ASHLEY GILBERTSON

Troops from nearly 50 lands dine on combat meals in Afghanistan — each reminding them of where they’d rather be.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/09/04/weekinreview/20100905_gilbertson.html?th&emc=th

As one might expect, the Australian one includes Vegemite!

[leftstreet]

1. Those are some $weet military contracts! n/t

[The Northerner]

2. K&R

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. We were the FIRST to put Tabasco in there

in fact, it was to a point marketing during WW II.

Anyhoo... memories of walking on the damn peanut butter packet for it to be edible.

And there are more menus than that... some vets will identify with me when I say... tuna surprise... yuck... but I got tuna surprise to leave the better packets to junior people. Hell, even gave them the M&M's... oh memories...

[Brother Buzz]

13. I remember tobacco in field rations, but I had to supply my own bottle of Tabasco

Ham and Motherfuckers were almost palatable after a little doctoring with said sauce, that is if you were hungry enough.

It was always an adventure eating out of cans. MRE's were after my time.

[unhappycamper]

15. IMHO ham and motherfuckers were never palatable.

We used them for a baseball.

[Posteritatis]

25. I remember reading a book by a Vietnam vet and one part talked about the food...

He mentioned that there was someone in his unit who loved those, and none of the others trusted him because of it.

[Chulanowa]

4. I would say "Those poor Norwegians" but...

I've cooked for Norwegians and Swedes. I'll bet most of them refuse to eat what's packed in their MRE's because it's too tasty. "Raisins? Oh no, too rich for me! Say, could you hand me that clod of dirt over there?"

I could live on the Aussie package, though. Mmmm, yeast spread.

[lpbk2713]

5. I'm sorry I clicked on the Spain MRE.

It looked regurgitated.

[Aristus]

6. When I was in the Army, I had the chance to try both British and

French MRE's. They were both pretty good. I don't know what kind of variety they offer; I had just one of each. But I admit, I preferred American MRE's. Until they started including a chemical heater with each pack, you had to eat them cold if you didn't have a heat source to warm them up. And even cold they were pretty good. Any ex-service member from around the time I was in will agree that when it came to bartering, the Chocolate Nut Cake was pretty much the $100,000 bill...

[Archae]

7. I tried a few MRE's.

My sister in the Air Force gave us some.

It wasn't bad.
Not good, but not bad either.

My Dad told me horror sotries about the chow he got in the Korean War.
He couldn't look at Spam the rest of his life. :-)

[Odin2005]

8. The South Korean one doesn't look too bad.

The rest look disgusting.

[kimi]

9. Best item I ever got in an MRE

was dehydrated fruit cocktail. Oh, man, was that gooooood!! Like candy, but healthier. I'd buy that stuff by the case if it were available in Safeway or Giant.

But the Chicken a la King? Gag.

[Vickers]

12. Dang, those fruit cocktail things were AWESOME. You were supposed to

rehydrate them, but they were like fruit crackers when you ate them dry...YUMMY!!!

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. They make them and sell them

I have found them at Ralphs in the cereal aisle and I am betting they will not be as good as you remember.

I buy the dehydrated fruit when I got to fly though. Convenient, light, food.

[EFerrari]

10. I bought three cases for our emergency kit.

We tried them one night and all I can say it, I hope the Big One kills me outright. lol

[ThomasQED]

11. Seriously sad nutrition on all counts

Vegetables apparently consist of tomato paste and onion powder... very few fruits.

Interesting though. Thanks for posting.

[old mark]

14. I remember eating C Rations in the late 1960's that had been made

in 1946...before I was born!

There were such wonders as canned scrambled eggs, and the famous ham and lima beans*...and my favorites, the flammable peanut butter and the cheese spread labeled "contains edible plastic"...

The pound cake and the canned fruit was good.

mark

*only eat those if you will be outside all day...

[lpbk2713]

16. Same here with K-rats.

They were supposed to contain four cigarettes but they had always been pilfered by the time they got to us.

[old mark]

17. 22 year old cigarettes were no treat, believe me - you didn't miss anything!....nt

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

23. But, we smoked them anyway.

[old mark]

28. Sure - gave us more to complain about!......nt

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

22. I sold a can of canned peaches to a sugar freak for $2.

We also got WWII era cigarettes in the C-Rations and the totally unnecessary toilet paper seeing as how C-rations bowels turn to concrete. Beanies and wienies were my favorite.

[QC]

18. Vegemite is for the feeble and timid.

Marmite is the real deal.

[bullwinkle428]

19. Marmite is made from real marmots, so you KNOW it's good!

:)

[gkhouston]

21. You know, I can almost believe that. We used to have an Aussie on our floor

who would heat his marmite sandwiches in the microwave. My God, straight up cowshit would've smelled better.

[QC]

26. And only the very finest marmots make the cut. n/t

[Solly Mack]

24. I've tried several from different countries.

Some are better than others. That's about as far as I'll go.

[Uncle Joe]

27. When I was in the Corps, we had exercises on the coast of Turkey and we traded with

with the Italians, they had little plastic bags of Cognac in their MREs; those were quite popular.:)

Thanks for the thread, PSPS.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

29. When I was in the Crotch in Taiwan we traded them for homemade "brandy".

One of the ingredients of the stuff was kerosene. They finally gave us free beer to keep us from stealing c-rations and anything else we could lay our hands on to trade for the rotgut. And, they put armed guards on the stacks of C-rations.

[Uncle Joe]

31. I spent a few days in Taiwan on a WestPac Float.

That's where I was introduced to Mongolian Barbecue, it was the best.

We snuck Vodka on to the Kitty Hawk and the only thing we could find to mix it was grape Nehi and then we hit rough weather.:puke: I haven't had a grape Nehi since.

[KamaAina]

30. Ours have Skittles in them!

You know what that means -- we should KICK THE TALIBAN'S ASS!!! :-)

[backscatter712]

32. Meals Rejected by the Enemy...

Three lies for the price of one!

[supernova]

33. Aussie - What is Musk flavored candy?

:wtf:

Most of the other stuff in that box I would be happy with.

[backscatter712]

34. Sometimes ignorance is bliss... n/t

[supernova]

35. You make me think

I shouldn't ask.

:scared:

:D