~2003 Norwegian FR 2000 (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner) Review

[SentientTootsieRoll]

I was at a local army surplus store a few months ago and came across these odd rations. They are Norwegian FR 2000 rations. You can read the full backstory here if you are interested: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=10222

I still don't know the year but since everything had expiration dates from 2004-2005, I'm going to assume this one is from 2003. If you don't believe that's correct, feel free to let me know. So, we'll start with the breakfast menu.

The cereal in this ration was absolutely amazing. I could tell it at least had dry milk, cinnamon, raisins, nutmeg and lots of other spices. It was incredibly tasty and I'd happily have it again. It didn't mix very well, but that didn't ruin it. I just had to add a little extra hot water and mix it around while it was on the plate.

The chocolate bar was pretty bloomed, but it still tasted good.

The hot cocoa was still good, although I think I added a bit too much water to it because it tasted a bit diluted. It had a bit of a minty flavor to it, although I couldn't find anything on the packaging to indicate that it was supposed to be mint flavored, but it was in Norwegian, which I can't speak, so maybe I missed that part. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it.

I was a little concerned about the raisin because the box they came in was pretty crushed and looked like it had seen better days, but they were actually still pretty good. Although a little stale, the flavor was still good. I could have added them to the cereal but I chose to eat them individually.

The malt blocks were really interesting. The packaging they came in didn't have much on it so I couldn't find out exactly what was in these, but they had a bit of a toffee/minor chocolate taste. They were pretty hard, but once they soaked in my mouth for a bit, they became chewy. Really interesting item, but I really liked it!

I found the vitamin to be an interesting addition. I decided to chew it a bit to see if it had any flavor. It was a bit sweet but aside from that, it didn't have much flavor.

[SentientTootsieRoll]

Now it's time for dinner. Now, this one was really tasty! The beef and potato stew was nothing like I expected. The potatoes were mashed, the beef chunks were small and pretty chewy, and it just had a lot of good flavors in it! Despite what it may look like, I think I enjoyed this entree the most!

With the fruit soup, I had some decisions to make. Based on my one and only (and probably last) experience with the RAFCO fruit soup from an old RCW, I wasn't sure if I should just add a little bit of hot water or follow the instructions and add the recommended amount. I knew it had to be hot water, because it's supposed to be a soup. And who in their right mind eats cold soup? In the end, I decided to add about 8 oz hot water and boy am I glad I did! It thickened up after a few minutes, and it tasted amazing! It had a strong peach nectar flavor along with the bits of peach in it really made this one enjoyable. This is the second time I've had fruit soup in my life and I'd love to have some more.

The biscuits were awful. They smelled terrible from the second I opened the packaging. I even took a very small bite of them and my entire mouth went numb and sour. Nope. I tossed those right in the trash because they smelled that bad. Anyone here who's had stale peanuts from a ration will know what they smelled like.

The honey was good, but since the biscuits were no good, I just ate it alone. I can tell it darkened over the years, but it just tasted like normal honey.

The sports drink was okay, nothing much to speak of there.

[SentientTootsieRoll]

Okay, I meant to post the lunch ration before this one, but mistakes happen and here we are. Maybe it's not so bad, after all, the K Rations went in order of Breakfast, Dinner and then Supper. Anyway, here is lunch!

This one was sort of "meh". The chili con carne was okay, but didn't have much to speak of in terms of flavor and I was still a bit hungry after eating it. It was mildly spicy and the rice was a bit chewy.

As with the dinner ration, the biscuits in this one were also bad. They broke apart as I opened the packaging and the smell was pretty awful.

That just left me with the gum and the jam, both of which were still good. The cocoa was tasty and a bit minty, as was the case with the breakfast ration. Luckily, I was able to finish everything up with earl grey tea which is my favorite flavor of tea.

I'd say the breakfast ration was my favorite followed by dinner and lunch was my least favorite. All in all, this was a great ration and I would buy another if I could!