What Soldiers Eat, By Country
nytimes.com
What Soldiers Eat, By Country
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Re: What Soldiers Eat, By Country
#2the accompanying article is much better, "A Taste of Home in Foil Packets and Powder" ~ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/weekinreview/05gilbertson....
The bit that caught my eye, "Australians get a dark-brown spreadable yeast-paste treat called Vegemite, for example". I have a picture of the item being described here ~ http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/4961948487/ which came from a PR1M (Patrol Ration One Man) which I used earlier this year marching 240km for a lost bet on house prices ~ http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/collections/7215762379...
Re: What Soldiers Eat, By Country
#3I've spent a fair bit of time on an MRE "diet". I can say from first hand experience that MREs, with their water activated heating pouch (so you can get a hot meal and some hot coffee) are a miracle of modern science.
Some of them aren't so good (the bbq pork ribs in the article kinda suck), but some of them are outright amazing. I'd eat the Spicy Penne Pasta any day of the week over most modern frozen dinners. (And the cheese spread in some of the meals is worth fighting over).
The biggest problem is always trying to get enough fiber to make sure the 'ol plumbing doesn't get jammed up.
Re: What Soldiers Eat, By Country
#4From the article: “Combat espresso,” on the other hand, is brutal. The creamer, instant coffee and sugar are poured directly into one’s mouth and then washed down with water.
Re: What Soldiers Eat, By Country
#5the accompanying article is much better, "A Taste of Home in Foil Packets and Powder" ~ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/weekinreview/05gilbertson.... The bit that caught my eye, "Australians get a dark-brown spreadable yeast-paste treat called Vegemite, for example" . I have a picture of the item being described here ~ http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/4961948487/ which came from a PR1M (Patrol Ration One Man)…
Vegemite is similar to Marmite that's common in Britain and former colonies. It's loaded with vitamins that can be hard to get in certain situations (like when meat is short).
It tastes like a combination of steak, Guinness and soy sauce.
Re: What Soldiers Eat, By Country
#6I've spent a fair bit of time on an MRE "diet". I can say from first hand experience that MREs, with their water activated heating pouch (so you can get a hot meal and some hot coffee) are a miracle of modern science. Some of them aren't so good (the bbq pork ribs in the article kinda suck), but some of them are outright amazing. I'd eat the Spicy Penne Pasta any day of the week over most modern frozen dinners. (And…
How are those ingredients organized inside the main plastic bag?
Re: What Soldiers Eat, By Country
#7the accompanying article is much better, "A Taste of Home in Foil Packets and Powder" ~ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/weekinreview/05gilbertson.... The bit that caught my eye, "Australians get a dark-brown spreadable yeast-paste treat called Vegemite, for example" . I have a picture of the item being described here ~ http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/4961948487/ which came from a PR1M (Patrol Ration One Man)…
I have two giant jars (910 g/2 lb each!) of Vegemite, one of which is approaching 2/3 empty. It's lovely stuff, though I can understand people hating it - it's concentrated and has an intense flavor, and people who don't know better probably use waaay too much.
It tastes kind of like yeasty soy sauce that has been boiled down to a salty, thick black spread (or very dark, mushroomy miso). It's great scratched on buttery toast or grilled cheese, or as part of a soup stock. It's made from beer yeast dregs, and is loaded with umami and B vitamins. I highly recommend adding some to soup stock, especially vegetarian soups. It adds a lot of depth. I haven't ever tried marmite (as elblanco mentions), but everything I've read has made them sound similar.
(I'm not Australian. I'm from Michigan, actually...)
Re: What Soldiers Eat, By Country
#8I've spent a fair bit of time on an MRE "diet". I can say from first hand experience that MREs, with their water activated heating pouch (so you can get a hot meal and some hot coffee) are a miracle of modern science. Some of them aren't so good (the bbq pork ribs in the article kinda suck), but some of them are outright amazing. I'd eat the Spicy Penne Pasta any day of the week over most modern frozen dinners. (And…
How are those ingredients organized inside the main plastic bag?
This has a good layout.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meal,_Ready-to-Eat
And the changing menus http://www.mreinfo.com/us/mre/mre-menus.html
The whole thing comes in thick plastic bag. When you cut it open you get several plastic bags and small cardboard boxes. The flameless heater is just another empty looking plastic bag (lower left in the picture). Inside the boxes are the main parts of the meal inside of sealed tin lined bags (think of them like a flexible can) -- I think the food is pasteurized for long shelf-life.
To heat up the food, you put a little water in the heater bag and close it up. You then put one of the courses and the heater bag together into one of the cardboard boxes and the reaction will kick in in a sec and make the heater bag really hot. You wait a couple minutes while it heats up the food and then you can take it out and eat a hot meal. If there are two courses you can then repeat (the heater bag will stay hot for quite a while). Or you can try and heat up some water for instant coffee.
Most of the meals also come with a little salt/pepper and Tabasco sauce so you can season to taste (which really helps with the omelet meal which I think they got rid of).
Most everything else is designed not to need heating, it's like crackers and peanut butter or something else. There's usually a sports/electrolyte drink or some kind of drink mix fortified with vitamins and such.
One thing that the military is really proud of is that these things have like a 3 year shelf life without the use of preservatives.
You can actually buy civilian versions (without the heater) http://www.mreinfo.com/civilian/mre/civilian-mres.html
Re: What Soldiers Eat, By Country
#9I've spent a fair bit of time on an MRE "diet". I can say from first hand experience that MREs, with their water activated heating pouch (so you can get a hot meal and some hot coffee) are a miracle of modern science. Some of them aren't so good (the bbq pork ribs in the article kinda suck), but some of them are outright amazing. I'd eat the Spicy Penne Pasta any day of the week over most modern frozen dinners. (And…
I really loved the BBQ pork ribs. They also gave you soft bread in that pack, and I think it also came with mint pound cake.
The article neglected to mention the tabasco being used in your eyes to keep you awake while on guard duty.
I agree, the cheese spread (especially jalapeno) was the best. I would usually not eat the meat-like product in MREs.
Re: What Soldiers Eat, By Country
#10I've spent a fair bit of time on an MRE "diet". I can say from first hand experience that MREs, with their water activated heating pouch (so you can get a hot meal and some hot coffee) are a miracle of modern science. Some of them aren't so good (the bbq pork ribs in the article kinda suck), but some of them are outright amazing. I'd eat the Spicy Penne Pasta any day of the week over most modern frozen dinners. (And…
I heard constipation was a problem for soldiers. One other country supplied fiber pills. Did soldiers take Metamucil or something to help move things along?