French 24 hour RCIR Menu 10
Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2020 5:27 pm
Back with another review, this time of a French RCIR, Ration de Combat Individuelle Rechauffable/French Individual Reheatable Combat Ration, Menu 10, Expiry of March, 2022, Manufacturing date of November 2018.
I had originally planned to hold off on trying this menu, though given they seem to be fairly abundant in the European market, I figured it wouldn't be too much of an loss to try it now; Even more so given it will free up some space to order new ones As it mentions on the package, this is a Menu 10, Duck and Italian salad, with chocolate muesli as a breakfast, if one would choose to enjoy it as such, and a starter of pork pate.
As this is a 24 hour ration, I will be updating it as I go along with each meal, this first one being the opening and general overview of the contents, along with a light "breakfast", even though it is quite late over here. I figured a late evening snack might as well substitute a breakfast, as I rarely bother with one nowadays.
All contents of this 24 hour ration laid ou, along with the main star of this first post, the Muesli with chocolate.
Quite a lovely mixture of muesli, along with bits of chocolate and what I can only assume is either powdered milk and/or sugar, as it appears on my go to spoon from a US MRE. Certainly hope it doesn't detract from the general feel of the meal
After adding a few hundred ML of boiling water, I gave it a quick stirr and let it sit for a bit to cool down. Looks like the heated water was likewise enough to melt the chocolate bits included, helping to make the "breakfast" far more sweeter and enjoyable than if it was just pure water added as is with a Latvian breakfast meal, for example. It gives it a bit more of depth and flavour. Granted, it did mainly taste of chocolate and muesli, with a fairly basic taste of both, no hidden surprises, but no full stop pulled out for the flavour, either. In the context of a army ration though, no doubt this is a great pick up in the morning, or even for lunch, as would be my preferred way of enjoying this one. It certainly beats most of the other breakfast options I have tried, perhaps falling short of achieving the flavour of what a Danish/Swedish 24 hour ration offers, though.
Now, then, one thing I will admit far and few other rations hold a candle to, is the French biscuits that come with the 24 hour rations. These are by far the best ones I have ever tried, even though I do quite enjoy the dark rye bread hard biscuits provided in, again, Danish and Swedish rations, the sheer variety of biscuits and amount in the French one far outweighs the other two, at least in my opinion. Three types of biscuits, suited for each and everyones particular taste; Cereal/Plain, Chocolate and Salted, can hardly be beat even by my own food options I cook for myself. Picture included has one of the Cereal/Plain crackers, paired quite well with the breakfast muesli, though I have little doubt the other two options would fit just like a glove, in particular the salted ones. Sweet and salty rarely goes wrong. Using the chocolate biscuit with the breakfast option might just make it a bit too sweet though, but each to his own.
Decided to mix up a drink to go along with the evening meal and the side snacks, Mango flavoured electrolyte powdered drink. 50g of powder for 500ml of water, though I do not believe I managed to quite fill up 500ml so it came out a bit more stronger than instructions said, but still felt a bit bland. Perhaps a hint of mango, but no particular sweetness nor any taste that really stood out, at least when compared to OrifO powdered drinks, or, and I hate to pull this comparison again, Danish/Swedish 500ml electrolyte/energy powder drinks. Regardless, it went down easy enough and was quite thirst quenching, perhaps a bit too much.
Finally, a little sweet pick me up to go along with the drink, a Commando bar with Fruites Rouges/Red fruits and a Pate de Fruits/Fruit pate bar. Commando bar being more of a chewy nougat and quite sweet, though lacking any real flavour of the advertised red fruits. Granted it did have a bit of sour notes, and it by was no stretch of the imagination a bad snack.
Pate de Fruits was quite sweet, quite chewy and had a consistency similiar to jello, but far more firm. Very sweet, sugar coated outer coating, unfortunately my critcism of this one would be the same as the Commando bar, it had no particular flavour besides being very sweet and having a bit of a hint of something fruity.. though the sugar far overtook any savoury taste it might have had. Granted, I can only imagine this is more a pick me up to keep the energy level up and is made to taste just like that, and not to be savoured for a long time in the middle of a march or quick stop for a snack. No doubt both of these do their jobs well enough to still be included in the ration!
And with that, I will end part one of my review for this ration. I can only hope posting a review in multiple parts, in one thread, is allowed? If not, I do apologize and will either update OP with what I find with the mains, or re-post this thread once I have gone through all contents of this box. Unfortunately imgur does still not quite agree with one in regards to picture size, so the pictures included are of varying size, yet again.
I will most likely go through the remainder of this meal tomorrow, and will post updates in regards to the other two main meals and drinks, including the beverage package in picture 2. As usual, if anyone have any particular requests for pictures, information about this one in particular or such, let me know and I will see what I can do.
I had originally planned to hold off on trying this menu, though given they seem to be fairly abundant in the European market, I figured it wouldn't be too much of an loss to try it now; Even more so given it will free up some space to order new ones As it mentions on the package, this is a Menu 10, Duck and Italian salad, with chocolate muesli as a breakfast, if one would choose to enjoy it as such, and a starter of pork pate.
As this is a 24 hour ration, I will be updating it as I go along with each meal, this first one being the opening and general overview of the contents, along with a light "breakfast", even though it is quite late over here. I figured a late evening snack might as well substitute a breakfast, as I rarely bother with one nowadays.
All contents of this 24 hour ration laid ou, along with the main star of this first post, the Muesli with chocolate.
Quite a lovely mixture of muesli, along with bits of chocolate and what I can only assume is either powdered milk and/or sugar, as it appears on my go to spoon from a US MRE. Certainly hope it doesn't detract from the general feel of the meal
After adding a few hundred ML of boiling water, I gave it a quick stirr and let it sit for a bit to cool down. Looks like the heated water was likewise enough to melt the chocolate bits included, helping to make the "breakfast" far more sweeter and enjoyable than if it was just pure water added as is with a Latvian breakfast meal, for example. It gives it a bit more of depth and flavour. Granted, it did mainly taste of chocolate and muesli, with a fairly basic taste of both, no hidden surprises, but no full stop pulled out for the flavour, either. In the context of a army ration though, no doubt this is a great pick up in the morning, or even for lunch, as would be my preferred way of enjoying this one. It certainly beats most of the other breakfast options I have tried, perhaps falling short of achieving the flavour of what a Danish/Swedish 24 hour ration offers, though.
Now, then, one thing I will admit far and few other rations hold a candle to, is the French biscuits that come with the 24 hour rations. These are by far the best ones I have ever tried, even though I do quite enjoy the dark rye bread hard biscuits provided in, again, Danish and Swedish rations, the sheer variety of biscuits and amount in the French one far outweighs the other two, at least in my opinion. Three types of biscuits, suited for each and everyones particular taste; Cereal/Plain, Chocolate and Salted, can hardly be beat even by my own food options I cook for myself. Picture included has one of the Cereal/Plain crackers, paired quite well with the breakfast muesli, though I have little doubt the other two options would fit just like a glove, in particular the salted ones. Sweet and salty rarely goes wrong. Using the chocolate biscuit with the breakfast option might just make it a bit too sweet though, but each to his own.
Decided to mix up a drink to go along with the evening meal and the side snacks, Mango flavoured electrolyte powdered drink. 50g of powder for 500ml of water, though I do not believe I managed to quite fill up 500ml so it came out a bit more stronger than instructions said, but still felt a bit bland. Perhaps a hint of mango, but no particular sweetness nor any taste that really stood out, at least when compared to OrifO powdered drinks, or, and I hate to pull this comparison again, Danish/Swedish 500ml electrolyte/energy powder drinks. Regardless, it went down easy enough and was quite thirst quenching, perhaps a bit too much.
Finally, a little sweet pick me up to go along with the drink, a Commando bar with Fruites Rouges/Red fruits and a Pate de Fruits/Fruit pate bar. Commando bar being more of a chewy nougat and quite sweet, though lacking any real flavour of the advertised red fruits. Granted it did have a bit of sour notes, and it by was no stretch of the imagination a bad snack.
Pate de Fruits was quite sweet, quite chewy and had a consistency similiar to jello, but far more firm. Very sweet, sugar coated outer coating, unfortunately my critcism of this one would be the same as the Commando bar, it had no particular flavour besides being very sweet and having a bit of a hint of something fruity.. though the sugar far overtook any savoury taste it might have had. Granted, I can only imagine this is more a pick me up to keep the energy level up and is made to taste just like that, and not to be savoured for a long time in the middle of a march or quick stop for a snack. No doubt both of these do their jobs well enough to still be included in the ration!
And with that, I will end part one of my review for this ration. I can only hope posting a review in multiple parts, in one thread, is allowed? If not, I do apologize and will either update OP with what I find with the mains, or re-post this thread once I have gone through all contents of this box. Unfortunately imgur does still not quite agree with one in regards to picture size, so the pictures included are of varying size, yet again.
I will most likely go through the remainder of this meal tomorrow, and will post updates in regards to the other two main meals and drinks, including the beverage package in picture 2. As usual, if anyone have any particular requests for pictures, information about this one in particular or such, let me know and I will see what I can do.