1977 Spaghetti with Meat Sauce Food Packet Long Range Patrol Review

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

1977 Spaghetti with Meat Sauce Food Packet Long Range Patrol Review

Post by SentientTootsieRoll » Sat Oct 17, 2020 4:48 pm

I'd been looking forward to trying another one of these LRPs from a case of 1977 rations I recently acquired. I had kind of a weird hankering for a Mountain House Spaghetti so I decided to try this one for breakfast. Surely, many normal and perfectly sane folks have some old LRPs laying around to consume for breakfast, right?
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Here's what it looked like inside of the packaging prior to removing the contents. Notice how the main entrée is wrapped in a cardboard sleeve. I've heard this was done to prevent holes from being poked in it.
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A look at the contents and accessory packet items laid out.
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The accessory packet contains 2 chocolate buttercrunch candies, toilet paper, 2 coffee instant type II packets, creamer, sugar, stim-u-dent interdental stimulator, and matches.

Here's a look at the spaghetti with meat sauce prior to adding water.
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It smelled a lot like old cardboard so I was pretty skeptical but these all seem to smell pretty weird whether they are spoiled or not. I took a few small bites of it dehydrated and it tasted okay so I decided to add boiling water to it and let it set for about 5 minutes. In the meantime, I prepared the coffee with sugar. Unforutunely, the creamer was clumped up so I couldn't use it.
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The 1977 version of this meal has nothing on the current production Oregon Freeze Dry Spaghetti with Meat Sauce. The beef was too chunky and I could really taste the salt in it. I think meatballs would have been better. It had a very cheap tomato sauce/paste flavor in comparison and the meat was pretty low quality because I think it had bits of bone in it. Overall, it was still edible but not the taste I was hoping for. I'm glad they've really improved these meals over the years. The two chocolate candies were no longer good. I took a small bite of both of them and they were pretty sour. The coffee was a good way to finish it off, I just wish this ration had cocoa included so I could make a mocha. Actually, I believe all rations should come with cocoa. ;)

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Smitty
Posts: 630
Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2019 8:25 pm
Location: AB, Canada

Re: 1977 Spaghetti with Meat Sauce Food Packet Long Range Patrol Review

Post by Smitty » Sat Oct 17, 2020 6:58 pm

Totally agree with you on cocoa. The older Canadian IMP breakfasts all had Hot Chocolate but they decided to just ruin a good thing.
All the best, Gents.

- I'm also making videos mainly for my own enjoyment, but hey, maybe you might want to check them out: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4-9gp ... C1dSyPX0w/

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Tedster
Posts: 165
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2015 8:18 pm

Re: 1977 Spaghetti with Meat Sauce Food Packet Long Range Patrol Review

Post by Tedster » Sun Oct 25, 2020 5:14 pm

"If it's good, they'll stop making it."

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