MCW Beef Stroganoff

[Name_not_found]

NIce follow up

Haha yeah its black licorice flavor, cola isnt too common in candy here.

Kinda like musk candy in Australia that flavor is more for the later generation, not many of the younger ones like black licorice.

Although i do like the chew actual licorice roots the candy flavor is a bit different

[cavguy]

Is MSG listed as an ingredient on the main meal? I know its in some of the older RCW's.

[rationtin440]

I agree with you housil the Mountain House food is very good, but I find it to be a bit high in sodium. These guys seem to like it as well, a friend of mine who worked for them told me that they had several cases on hand for "a rainy day."http://coldwar-c4i.net/ATT_Project/WMDQ0010/index.html Although I doubt that these guys would have an issue with the sodium content if they had to live on them for a few weeks.

[rationtin440]

Sorry about that, the link is http://coldwar-c4i.net/ATT_Project/HGTW ... index.html

[Bypah]

Ollie,
All of those main meals of the RCW's and MCW's are made by Oregon Freeze Co. the makers of Mountain House.
that's is why the taste is familiar and the texture.

[dirtbag]

Yep, and most are noodle/Ramen based to boot...
Plus, you need some kind of a stove and lots of water.

[rationtin440]

The real issue that I had with the older, two-pouches-taped-together for each menu, cold weather rations was that they needed alot of water to re-constitute if you intended to consume the entire ration. That and the debate-able fact that you'd get your maximum weekly recommended sodium intake from just one or two of them. They were delicious as I recall, but the water issue was similar to what was encountered in Vietnam with the LURP rations, according to many veterans' accounts. As I was on an ambulance crew, we did not have the same issue with regard to carrying water as we always had two 5 gallon water cans aboard, but for the guys we were supporting, how much water can you carry on your gear?

[rationtin440]

And yes, unless you had some way to heat the water, other than the usually expired/before the era of heater pouches, fuel tablets that smelled horrible and took forever to work, then the older cold weather rations were not real useful. I recall guys trying to eat them "as is" and within a couple days they were asking us for something to help clean them out.

[cavguy]

I know a few warriors that were young soldiers around 1990 (now are MSG and 1SG!) that once told me they consumed those freeze dried rations as is without water, just gnawing on the bars, and said that their stomach blew up like a balloon causing stomach pain and one even said they used to have contests with those freeze dried fruit mix which would result in a trip to the medics.... But hey I didn't see it myself so who knows, given the MRE cracker eating contest I saw anything is possible!

The only thing that kills me about those older RCW meals is the MSG....

[rationtin440]

Sounds very familiar cavguy! As for that freeze-dried fruit, we jokingly referred to it as "pucker factor" because after consuming more that one, it was like the only way you could eat anything else was to puree it and suck it thru a straw! Just imagine the dry-est, most arid place on earth; it would be a flood-plain during a monsoon compared to the inside of your mouth! I don't recall ever having treated victims of the freeze-dried fruit mix, but I have heard plenty about it. One issue that we had with guys when we still had the MCIs was occasionally a troop would get an MCI that he really liked but it gave him the runs, so he'd trade for all the crackers and peanut butter he could get and eat them. Sure enough, he'd be asking us for something to help him go. Once or twice was understandable, but some guys saw it as a weight loss plan to be experimented with!