Dutch Ration Entree - Rice Ratatouille with Chicken
This is a review of a "Rijst Ratatouille Met Kip" (Rice Ratatouille with Chicken) entree from a Dutch military ration. The entree was produced in July 2004 and is best by November 2006. I was eating it almost 3 years past its "best by" date but it was still perfectly good. At the time this entree was produced, the Dutch used cans like these for their ration meals. Sometime after 2004, the cans were replaced by the same type of retort pouches now used in the US and British rations.
The entree itself is pretty hefty at 400 grams and 450 calories. In comparison, a typical US MRE entree is usually 227 grams and around 325 calories.
To heat the entree, I placed the whole unopened container in a pot of boiling water and let it heat it up for 15-20 minutes. I really should have let it heat for 30 minutes because when I opened it, the food was hot around the edges but only mildly warm in the middle.
Here's what it looked like opened up and then after I stirred the contents:
If you're asking (as I did), "What is Ratatouille?", here's what Wikipedia has to say on the subject:
You can definitely make out the zucchini, eggplant, and bell peppers in the entree. Personally, I'm not a big fan of bell peppers so at first, I didn't much like the entree and considered not eating it. But Mrs. Kman took a taste and said it was good - in fact, one of the better ones she's tasted - so I gave it another try and after a few more bites, the taste grew on me and I really started to like it. I eventually added some Texas Pete (hot sauce) to the entree and that really improved the taste.Wikipedia wrote:Ratatouille (rat-a-too-ee) is a traditional French stewed vegetable dish. Tomatoes are a key ingredient, with garlic, onions, zucchini (courgettes), eggplant (aubergine), bell peppers (poivron), marjoram and basil.
All gone!
This review is also listed in the main website's Review section here:
http://www.mreinfo.com/reviews/internat ... icken.html
