1982 Food Packet, Survival, General Purpose Review

Reviews of other US rations - MCW, LRP, MCI, FSR, etc.
Post Reply
SentientTootsieRoll
Posts: 463
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2016 2:26 pm
Location: US

1982 Food Packet, Survival, General Purpose Review

Post by SentientTootsieRoll » Fri Dec 24, 2021 4:28 pm

I went to an Army Surplus store one afternoon and found this laying on the shelf for $20. It's a Food Packet, Survival, General Purpose that appears to have been manufactured in September 1982 based on the "9 82" stamp on the case (I'm not certain if that's the production date or inspection date, but my best guess suggests it's the former.) Let's take a look!
20211224_193218260_iOS.jpg
On the top, it had a P38 can opener taped to it.
20211224_193225980_iOS.jpg
But oddly enough, it also had another type of can opener (I'm not actually sure what it's called but I've seen it included with other rations) that you could use to pry open the container with. It's hard to notice, but on the first picture, you'll see metal piece sticking out on the right side of the container and that's where you can open it. I opted to open it from the top using the P38 can opener because I wanted to do minimal damage to it, and because I was fortunate enough to have glasses available for the coffee and the soup.
20211224_193241386_iOS.jpg
Here's a look at the labeling on the back of the P38 can opener followed by the P38 itself.
20211224_193323588_iOS.jpg
20211224_193430563_iOS.jpg
Upon opening it from the top, we are presented with a type IV granola cereal bar. There are two of them.
20211224_193617430_iOS.jpg
Following the two granola cereal bars, there were two type I corn flake bars and the coffee neatly tucked on the side of the container.
20211224_193756290_iOS.jpg
Below the two corn flake bars were the chicken flavored soup/gravy base and the sugar, respectively.
20211224_193849523_iOS.jpg
20211224_193913603_iOS.jpg
Here is everything presented on the tray.
20211224_193940638_iOS.jpg
A closeup of the bars.
20211224_194014653_iOS.jpg
Here is the chicken soup prior to adding water.
20211224_194208822_iOS.jpg
Last edited by SentientTootsieRoll on Fri Dec 24, 2021 4:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

SentientTootsieRoll
Posts: 463
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2016 2:26 pm
Location: US

Re: 1982 Food Packet, Survival, General Purpose Review

Post by SentientTootsieRoll » Fri Dec 24, 2021 4:29 pm

And finally, here's the entire...um, meal? Anyway, it's ready to eat and that's what matters!
20211224_194625281_iOS.jpg
I decided to leave the other two cereal bars intact for the collection since I don't feel a need to open two of the same thing. Here's a closeup of the granola cereal and corn flake bars.
20211224_194629593_iOS.jpg
And I decided to break them half to give you an idea what they look like from that perspective.
20211224_194710395_iOS.jpg
So what do I think, you may be asking. At the end of the day, I'd prefer an MRE since it was be more satisfying but for purpose, I'm sure these would do the job. It's far more exciting that those Datrex bars you usually find at a sports store. The corn flake bars did in fact taste a lot like corn flake cereal, but it certainly had a stronger hint of wheat flavor and was a bit sweeter. I actually enjoyed eating it. It was perfectly firm, similar to a chocolate bar.

The granola cereal bar was starting to go bad since it left a strong sour/bitter aftertaste in my mouth. But it did taste very similar, if not identical to the ones found in the older MREs from the approx. late 80s - 90s. (shown here: http://up.picr.de/5957909.jpg) Although, it was a lot less thicker in the sense that it broke apart very easily, much like a Datrex bar.

The coffee/sugar and chicken soup were still edible and were pretty tasty, although neither are my cup of tea personally. The coffee tastes similar to typical instant coffee, but is quite a bit stronger and acidic. Mixed with cocoa, it is perfect, however that obviously wasn't included. The chicken soup tasted like chicken stock. It's was very salty and didn't have much in the way of flavor, but I'd be happy with in a desperate situation.

Post Reply