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modern mess hall cookbook?
Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2020 9:25 am
by Eddo36
Hi, was wondering if there are public recipes available for the food served in military cafeterias today.
Re: modern mess hall cookbook?
Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2020 10:47 am
by cavguy
Thats a tough one, I haven't seen a dining facility cookbook before (but I wasn't a cook..) - I mean when I was active duty the food in the CONUS dining facilities was pretty much like a buffet type - pass through a line and pick from a few things (meat,vegetable, etc.). Or you could get short order (omelets in the morning, sandwiches, burgers in the afternoon, etc). Holidays of course they served holiday type food. There was always ice cream and other deserts available as well.
OCONUS (war zone) was different, many of the bigger DFAC's had it all, normal buffet line, short order, carving station (roast beef, chicken, etc.), sandwich station, salad station. Fridays were steak and shrimp, or lobster!
All of these DFAC's were run by civilian contractors, you can probably Google and come up with some exact menus as to what is served. The only military personnel that were present were usually a few NCO's there to supervise. Except on holidays, when you might get a brigade commander who is serving up dinner.
Re: modern mess hall cookbook?
Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2020 11:33 am
by Rms2324
cavguy wrote: ↑Sun Aug 23, 2020 10:47 am
Thats a tough one, I haven't seen a dining facility cookbook before (but I wasn't a cook..) - I mean when I was active duty the food in the CONUS dining facilities was pretty much like a buffet type - pass through a line and pick from a few things (meat,vegetable, etc.). Or you could get short order (omelets in the morning, sandwiches, burgers in the afternoon, etc). Holidays of course they served holiday type food. There was always ice cream and other deserts available as well.
OCONUS (war zone) was different, many of the bigger DFAC's had it all, normal buffet line, short order, carving station (roast beef, chicken, etc.), sandwich station, salad station. Fridays were steak and shrimp, or lobster!
All of these DFAC's were run by civilian contractors, you can probably Google and come up with some exact menus as to what is served. The only military personnel that were present were usually a few NCO's there to supervise. Except on holidays, when you might get a brigade commander who is serving up dinner.
Hey cavguy, quick question! So what you’re saying is when not on deployment/OCONUS, the food is good enough to get by with a decent variety but nothing special but while on deployment, they hook it up with all the great food and a bunch of variety.
I’m assuming it’s for morale, you don’t want to give you soldiers shitty food especially when they’re fighting, etc.
Re: modern mess hall cookbook?
Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2020 9:50 am
by cavguy
Rms2324 wrote: ↑Sun Aug 23, 2020 11:33 am
Hey cavguy, quick question! So what you’re saying is when not on deployment/OCONUS, the food is good enough to get by with a decent variety but nothing special but while on deployment, they hook it up with all the great food and a bunch of variety.
I’m assuming it’s for morale, you don’t want to give you soldiers shitty food especially when they’re fighting, etc.
I wasn't ever OCONUS - except on a deployment to a combat zone. I would imagine the food at bases in for example, Europe, is pretty much the same as I stated for CONUS. But cant speak to that first hand. But, when deployed to a combat zone on the bigger FOB's, yes, they do hook up the DFAC's.
Note: Soldiers on the smaller combat outposts, they eat UGR's... So it really depends where you are located.
Re: modern mess hall cookbook?
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2020 4:34 am
by Eddo36
cavguy wrote: ↑Sun Aug 23, 2020 10:47 am
Thats a tough one, I haven't seen a dining facility cookbook before (but I wasn't a cook..) - I mean when I was active duty the food in the CONUS dining facilities was pretty much like a buffet type - pass through a line and pick from a few things (meat,vegetable, etc.). Or you could get short order (omelets in the morning, sandwiches, burgers in the afternoon, etc). Holidays of course they served holiday type food. There was always ice cream and other deserts available as well.
OCONUS (war zone) was different, many of the bigger DFAC's had it all, normal buffet line, short order, carving station (roast beef, chicken, etc.), sandwich station, salad station. Fridays were steak and shrimp, or lobster!
All of these DFAC's were run by civilian contractors, you can probably Google and come up with some exact menus as to what is served. The only military personnel that were present were usually a few NCO's there to supervise. Except on holidays, when you might get a brigade commander who is serving up dinner.
Thank you, do you know if those served at OCONUS are loaded with calories like MREs are? Or are they normal?
Re: modern mess hall cookbook?
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2020 4:53 am
by housil
Eddo36 wrote: ↑Sun Aug 23, 2020 9:25 am
Hi, was wondering if there are public recipes available for the food served in military cafeterias today.
There is what is called the
ARMED FORCES RECIPE SERVICE . When cooking A Rations, you can look here the recipes up.
Re: modern mess hall cookbook?
Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2020 8:54 am
by Eddo36
housil wrote: ↑Tue Aug 25, 2020 4:53 am
Eddo36 wrote: ↑Sun Aug 23, 2020 9:25 am
Hi, was wondering if there are public recipes available for the food served in military cafeterias today.
There is what is called the
ARMED FORCES RECIPE SERVICE . When cooking A Rations, you can look here the recipes up.
Very nice thanks
Re: modern mess hall cookbook?
Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2021 10:12 am
by rations_qa
Eddo36 wrote: ↑Sun Aug 23, 2020 9:25 am
Hi, was wondering if there are public recipes available for the food served in military cafeterias today.
Dining facilities are making efforts to create more healthy menus and recipes with their Go for Green program.
Current recipes
https://www.hprc-online.org/nutrition/g ... ed/recipes
Current OpRats nutritional info
https://www.hprc-online.org/nutrition/comrad#1