Food Packet Cold Weather

[cavguy]

I received a response to my inquiry from Ameriqual. I did not receive a definitive answer as to why a name change occurred from “Food Packet: Cold Weather” to “Meals Cold Weather” in 2004. More investigation is necessary, but what I did ascertain was, as far as their meals are concerned, is that they don’t produce “test runs” as there’s nothing for them to test. They deliver a service in the form of meals. They don’t determine the meals contents. It’s not their role to design meals, they say. [expanded interpretation].

It seems as though they could have provided a little more information. And am not confident more research will yield much more information. Was there an error in the description of the meals? One thing is for certain, it wasn’t a “test run”.

In my opinion I don't think Ameriqual is qualified to answer the question - they bid on contracts issued by a GOV authority (Military, etc.). Its going to be the GOV authority issuing the contract that determines the specifics. We need to find the contract documents and possibly contact the issuing entity in order to determine the WHY.

[norge]

page 21 to 26
https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/ ... th-edition

this has to be the reason for the food packet cold weather as i stated before. the 2004 food packet cold weather and its conection to the food packet long range.

the 2004 food packet cold weather was never a trail ration just a design project that was started early.

cheers ken

[steve1989]

Insightful thread, good on ya for starting it up Smokey.

Hey Norge, do you think perhaps since the nomenclature is "Food Packet" instead of "Individual Meal", that the scope of purpose in FPCW could fit the bill for either a restricted calorie basis or individual meal? Maybe 2 a day? (3,080 Kkcal) Instead of 3 - (only speculation here), or an Individual Meal (like MCW - 3 per day @ 4,500 Kkcal) - depending on the mission & resupply (or lack of resupply possibly)?

Or are they just Meal Cold Weathers with an improper title? Because usually the US Food Packets of any kind are prepackaged shelf stable foods specifically selected for short term OPS & scenarios. With food items specially picked for their utility, and taking up minimum space & weight. Like the LRP - use for up to 10 days in the field @ 1 per day before weight loss & weakness sets in from a lack of calories. Could the FPCW be a cold weather LRP? No relation at all to the MCW? But it COULD if need be - provide as either one. If this were the case though, perhaps it would have had two toilet papers in it instead of one.

I watched Readiness Review's first look on the FPCW. It only has 1 toilet paper (Not two like LRP). This is interesting, but still not enough to give a definitive answer.

Then Smitty's find on the MCW case with FPCW's inside. I have seen MRE cases with Meal, Flight Feeding, Individual inside. Which indeed MFFI's were different in scope to the MRE - being their menu variation was cut in half, removing any components that could cause gas/bloating in high altitudes leading to gastric discomfort and misery.

The FPCW was produced for some reason - a specific operation/mission/scenario. And as Cavguy asks the $64,000 question... "Why?"

[jfko6]

“Or are they just Meal Cold Weathers with an improper title?”

Smitty alluded to this possibility. That is possible.

Another way to put it would be, Fake News.

[Smitty]

Ugh, "fake news". Whenever I see it used down in the states about politics I just assume the person can't be bothered to counter with any useful information.

Well this post has been some awesome discussion. THIS is what I love most about the forum. Love to see the discussions on stuff most people would file as "mundane" but when the "Passion for the Ration" is strong, these are immensely interesting.

[steve1989]

“Or are they just Meal Cold Weathers with an improper title?”

Smitty alluded to this possibility. That is possible.

Another way to put it would be, Fake News.

The hunt for the answer to Food Packet Cold Weather's purpose still goes on.

Thank you jfko6 for the insight on this and your previous posts and help for seeking out the "why" on this one.

I know Smokey & I had talked about this Food Packet in the past and wondered what the heck it's deal was. We had thought maybe it was a misprint or anomaly of sorts originally.

I do have a case of 04 and 05 MCWs.. had 3 cases of the 05's at one point. Opened two and had fun with em and sent a half dozen out to reviewers. Gotta say, I think they were the best generation of MCWs - 2012-13 were decent too.


Lemme find my 04 case and see it's DoP..

I wonder if these are FPCWs inside?
Also, id love to see a case of FPCW someday, even if empty!

[steve1989]

Well this post has been some awesome discussion. THIS is what I love most about the forum.

I agree, Smitty! This has been an excellent thread. Very much akin to some old school forum conversation.. doesn't get much better really.

[Oldsmokey]

“Or are they just Meal Cold Weathers with an improper title?”

Smitty alluded to this possibility. That is possible.

Another way to put it would be, Fake News.

The hunt for the answer to Food Packet Cold Weather's purpose still goes on.

Thank you jfko6 for the insight on this and your previous posts and help for seeking out the "why" on this one.

I know Smokey & I had talked about this Food Packet in the past and wondered what the heck it's deal was. We had thought maybe it was a misprint or anomaly of sorts originally.

I do have a case of 04 and 05 MCWs.. had 3 cases of the 05's at one point. Opened two and had fun with em and sent a half dozen out to reviewers. Gotta say, I think they were the best generation of MCWs - 2012-13 were decent too.


Lemme find my 04 case and see it's DoP..

I wonder if these are FPCWs inside?
Also, id love to see a case of FPCW someday, even if empty!

I wonder if just might have fpcw inside that case of 04s you have there. I do think there are cases labeled food packet cold weather out there. I just don't think a larger number of the cases were ever made. I must say this is one of the biggest mysteries I can think of since the never seen mre menu chicken parm from 1997. Don't quote me on that menu because I can't remember if that's the one or not. But the is a mre menu listed that nobody I know of has ever seen.

My think is that even after speaking with Natick directly they couldn't find anything about the fpcw. If anyone would have info I'd think they would and the nice fella I spoke with had him and a few other people looking for info since they weren't busy and working from home. I must admit this one is kicking my butt and idk where else to look. I'm going to go ahead with the review and tell people about this thread and my conversations I think. I'll do my best to not put any miss info out there. I'll end with saying a huge thanks to everyone who's commented and also even bigger thanks to BTemple for hooking me up with this mysterious ration.

[jfko6]

As they say in business, this is still an open item. I’ll continue to look into this as I was planning. I still think Ameriqual could have been more helpful. It wasn’t that they were not not helpful. Just that there are two sides of the coin here and they were attached to the same piece of metal. And concerning those bags.

My first real summer job I worked in a print shop. Not everything was computerized though we certainly had processing equipment. We worked with the actual creation of plates. And used those plates to develop images for printing and pressing. Just weren’t allowed to create a plate of a dollar bill.

We can take some bets to see whose right. My feeling is some kind of unadmitted print error since the labeling does not coincide with previous or current rations. I’ve not been to Northern Warfare School. If that opportunity opens up, I may give it a go.

[steve1989]

Nice score here out of that case.

It is a printing error. This is my bet.. said before an improper title.. an anomaly.. that's the most likely of the story.