Military Rations of the World, Part 6 - Britain!

Time for another military ration extravaganza! This post takes us over to Britain to explore the British Army 24 hour ration. During World War 2, and for many years after, the British people - military and civilian alike - were subject to strict rationing. Foreign food was the stuff of fantasy, as even travel to nearby France was beyond the means of most Britons.

Today, Britain's rich love of food and ethnic diversity is reflected in their military rations. J.R.R Tolkien would be pleased by the wide assortment of items that would satisfy a hobbit's desire for multiple meals throughout the day.

The 24-hour ration comes plainly packed in a sturdy cardboard box, with a proud Union Jack on the side.

The items are a combination of military and civilian-origin, most of which are sourced from the 'Beyond the Beaten Track' company. The accessories are helpfully contained within a large, sturdy ziploc back which can be reused for trash or storage of extras.

Breakfast items include:

-Blueberry turnover
-Smooth peanut butter spread
-Biscuits brown
-Just nuts. (How plain and sensibly British)

Several mains and snacks for your many hobbit-sized meals:

-Vegetarian Pasta with Beans in Tomato Sauce
-Lamb and Chickpea Tagine
-Chicken Sausages and Beans in Tomato Sauce
-Cookies and Cream Cereal Bar
-Tuna in Light Mayonnaise
-Chewing gum

Enough drink options to make no less than nine cuppas throughout the day!

-Apple flavored Energy Drink
-Orange flavored beverage powder
-Orange-flavored hot chocolate beverage powder
-Tutti Frutti flavored beverage powder-Cola flavored beverage powder
-Two packets of coffee (wisely sourced outside of Britain)
-Two packets of tea (breakfast and English, of course)

Accessory pack includes the following:

-Four packets of powdered creamer
-Five packets of sugar
-Four water purification tablets
-Five windproof matches and striker
-Two alcohol-free anti-bacterial wipes
-Spork*
-Hot Diggity Dog pepper sauce
-Packet of napkins
-14 grapefruit flavored boiled sweets

*The spork in the British MRE is made of good, sturdy plastic with relatively sharp tines, perfect for digging through ration pouches and trenches alike.

There are currently 15 different menus, and each comes with a helpful feedback survey for the Ministry of Defense. You could win an iPod Touch!

On to breakfast! Here we have some brown biscuits with peanut butter (which was creamy and smooth to the point of being runny), the cookies and cream bar (nicely crunchy, like a mix between crushed oreos and a rice krispie bar), a blueberry turnover, and of course, a nice cuppa Breakfast Tea (smooth and light, for a nice wake-me-up.)

The blueberry turnover is best served warm, and is surprisingly thick and fluffy - just like it came fresh out of the oven. And it's practically bursting with blueberry filling!

What's that, Pippin? We've already had breakfast.

Second breakfast! More peanut butter crackers, just nuts, boiled sweets, tuna on crackers, and a hot, fresh cuppa joe.

The nuts really are... just nuts. Could have used a bit of salt, very bland. The tuna had just the right amount of mayo in it, not too dry or too overwhelmed by the mayo.

You're now noticing that the coffee is smiling at you.

Now onto Elevensies! Vegetarian pasta with cola drink and boiled sweets.

The pasta dish was surprisingly flavorful, and with a texture I'd almost call meaty (sorry, vegetarians). You could really taste the tomato in the sauce.

I was really curious about the powdered cola drink. As it turned out, the flavor was closer to a strong iced tea, with a faint hint of lemon.

For lunch, lamb tagine with chickpeas, and apple energy drink.

The energy drink was, happily, not as acidic as I expected. It had a strong flavor of fresh apple juice, which I didn't expect from a beverage powder.

The lamb dish had plenty of meat in it, made up of compressed meat medallions, but they were a bit bland. The sauce, on the other hand, was rich and creamy, like a light curry. I really wished there was some rice to go along with this dish.

Last, for dinner was the chicken sausage and beans, hot chocolate with orange flavor, and the tutti frutti drink.

The sausages were tender and didn't have much flavor, while the beans in tomato sauce tasted just like you'd get out of a can. Adding some of the pepper sauce to this greatly improved the flavor.

The hot chocolate orange makes for a nice dessert drink at the end of a long day in the field. The orange flavor is subtle, mostly an aftertaste that mixes nicely with the rich chocolate.

Hot Diggidy Dog tax!

Cute pupper on the label, and seriously, this is a very good hot sauce. Slightly sweet with a hint of caramel, but also a nice medium spicy heat with a slow burn at the back of the tongue without irritating the throat. I'll be looking for more of this online.

Hope you enjoyed this review! I wanted to do Canada next, but it hasn't arrived just yet, so Part 7 will take us to... the Netherlands!

http://imgur.com/gallery/Rj2O6 - Part 1 - China
http://imgur.com/gallery/Yo3ng - Part 2 - Germany
http://imgur.com/gallery/Z16Ib - Part 3 - Poland
http://imgur.com/gallery/sMZSV - Part 4 - France
http://imgur.com/gallery/qGb4K - Part 5 - USA
http://imgur.com/gallery/c39uV - Part 6 - Britain
http://imgur.com/gallery/KmiwG - Part 7 - The Netherlands
http://imgur.com/gallery/GSxfv - Part 8 - Spain
http://imgur.com/gallery/6xw4S - Part 9 - Canada
http://imgur.com/gallery/IcEr6 - Part 10 - Lithuania
http://imgur.com/gallery/aIP60 - Part 11 - Russia
http://imgur.com/gallery/K0Tws - Part 12 - Italy
http://imgur.com/gallery/nt7WB - Part 13 - Sweden
http://imgur.com/gallery/yKbax - Part 14 - Denmark
http://imgur.com/gallery/r1ZUL - Part 15 - Australia
http://imgur.com/gallery/VPTSk - Part 16 - Latvia
http://imgur.com/gallery/IXemh - Part 17 - Norway
http://imgur.com/gallery/9klVU - Part 18 - Ukraine
http://imgur.com/gallery/kmPSY - Part 19 - Japan
http://imgur.com/gallery/JocOT - Part 20 - Croatia.

http://imgur.com/gallery/4AGTJ - Humanitarian Daily Ration