It's Saturday night and I'm a guy in his 20s examining 40+ year old military rations. I'm sure that's only excusable during the COVID lockdown so that's okay with me. I decided to dig into my ration collection again and pulled out this 1978 Beef Slices and Potatoes w/ gravy produced in 1978 by Con Pac, Inc. I purchased these at an Army surplus store and the rations came from an open box, so it's possible that some of the components in this ration are assorted from other rations. My guess is that it wasn't tampered with but I don't know that to be sure. I feel bad about opening these old rations since I feel like I'm ruining the history but on the other hand, it's better to do it sooner than later since this stuff will only get worse over time. Let's take a look!
Here are the contents of the ration laid out on the tray.
It includes a B-2 unit, chocolate nut roll, grape jam, beef slices and potatoes with gravy and the accessory packet.
A quick look at the components of the accessory packet.
Here are the canned items opened up.
The B-2 unit included cocoa beverage powder. You'll never hear me complaining about that!
Since the creamer had become a solid block over time, I decided to mix the coffee and sugar with the cocoa to make a mocha.
And here's the full meal prepared and ready to eat!
Well, maybe not.
I knew first hand that the beef slices were bad since I could hear it rattling around in the can. This must have been what it was like in the early stages of the K-rations going bad. I guess it's a good assumption that at least by the 1980s, some if not most of the K-rations started becoming inedible like this. I'd read an anecdote in a YouTube comments section of someone saying they ate them regularly in the 1950s and they were still good.
Anyway, I can tell they were sliced pieces of beef but I can't tell much more than that. The chocolate nut roll smelled pretty good but the white spots on the top made me a bit nervous. When opening the can it was in, there was an audible "hiss" noise and the can looked to be in good condition inside and out. I took a few small bites of it and I could taste the chocolate but it made my mouth feel dry (like I was eating cotton balls) and the texture was very brittlely and the cake broke apart pretty easily. I decided to pass on it.
Out of the three salted crackers, only one had a weird metallic taste. The jam tasted and smelled great but I was still cautious about eating all of it. I can't tell if the dark appearance of the grape jam is natural or if that happened over time. The mocha was tasty as always. In this case, it was just missing the creamer but that's okay. By the way, if anyone has a Dutch Bros coffee stand in their area, be sure to try their mocha. It's the only coffee stand I can find that makes a mocha that actually tastes similar to the kind of mocha you can make in these old rations. I usually get one weekly and it's the only way I can recreate the old ration mocha experience! I'd be interested to hear if others concur with me.
1978 Beef Slices & Potatoes with Gravy Meal, Combat, Individual Review
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