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I just had my first RCIR, at least some portions of it. It is menu #2: Salmon, rice, and vegetables / Lamb Tajine. It was packed on April 25, 2007.

I will do this post in two parts. First the contents and then the review of the meal.


Outside of the box


First look in the box


Full contents: From top to bottom column by column: Salmon, rice, and vegetables, Lamb Tajine, Fish soup, Carmel Milky Desert, Salmon Pate, Beverage pack, Tissues, Caramels, Biscuits (salt/sweet), Heater pack, 2 Nougats, Mint gum (very strong), Chocolate Bar, 4 Sugar cubes.


Heating Kit: Clockwise from top left: Plastic bag, can lifter (for removing from heat), folding stove, matches, water purification tables, esbit-type fuel.


Cocoa, Milk, 3 coffee, 2 sugar packets, Mint tea, 2 packets of pepper/salt.

Next post: The food...

I decided to go with the Salmon Pate for a starter:


Open can of Salmon Pate.

Of course, I had to put this on some biscuits:

6 Sweet Biscuits / 6 Salty Biscuits

The pate was very good. Not overly fishy. Tasted very good on the salty biscuits. I also sampled some of the sweet biscuits. Reminds me of a ginger cookie, but not as powerful.
There was a hint of the mint from the gum. I had previously vacuum packed the gum because it was so strong!

Next, I opened up the can of Salmon, rice, and vegetables for my meal:


Salmon, rice, and vegetables / unheated


Heated

Overall, this dish was pretty good. There was a slight hint of a metallic taste. I guess 3 years in a can might do that. The rice wasn't dry, the carrots soft, and the fish was quite flakey.
There was also a nice dash of spice to it. Couldn't quite place the taste tho.

Last, on to some desert:


Chocolate bar.

The chocolate bar was pretty good. Reminded me of the semi-sweet chocolate chips I used to eat when I was younger. The one end was a little powdery from age, but it didn't affect the taste.


Nougut

Last was the nougut. This was very good. We have a similar candy here. Little bits of fruity bits inside it.

I will post again when I try the lamb, soup, caramel desert, and some beverages.

Hi,
thanks for your comments and the pictures.

There was a hint of the menthol from the gum. I had previously vacuum packed the gum because it was so strong!

yes, that's typical of the RCIR chewing gums that give their taste to everything around. I don't know if they will change that one day

I finally got around to eating the 2nd main meal from my RCIR. I had the Lamb Tajine and the Fish Soup.



The soup smelled quite fishy. Reminded me of the smell of fish food. The taste was quite fishy, but not completely overwhelming.
It went pretty well with some of the salty biscuits. I wouldn't mind drinking this out in the woods on a chilly night.

I decided to press on with the Lamb Tajine. I wasn't quite sure when I first opened the can, but it smelled quite nice.


Unheated Lamb Tajine. Noticed a bit of grease in there.

Once I heated it up, it looked much more appetizing. Big chunks of fingerling potatoes. A couple pieces of carrots. The lamb looked a bit fatty.


Heated Lamb Tajine

Once again, it smelled really nice so I dug in. Needless to say, I completely finished this meal. The potatoes were nice and soft. The lamb very flavorful.
I didn't mind some of the fattiness of some of the pieces. I dug into the sauce with some more salted biscuits. A nice curry / Mediteranian flavor all in all.
If someone fed this to me, I wouldn't have known it came out of a can from an army ration.

Finally, it was time for dessert.


Caramel Milky Dessert

It was much like early a caramel pudding. Not sickening sweet. Quite smooth. Overall, not bad.
I finished off my last nougat bar and a few vanilla caramels.

The only things left in the box is the gum and the drinks. Not really going to get into a review of those.
I wouldn't imagine there would be anything surprising there.

So, in summary, a very great ration. This could easily sustain you for 24 hrs. Plenty of food with diverse flavors.
More than enough desserts, drinks, and snacks. While I heated my food up in a microwave, I think the heater that
comes with the ration would do the job quite nicely.

Luckily I was able to score 3 more rations off of eBay. I'll have to tuck one into my camping gear and try a day with it.

Great review, and pics I just got a couple in myself, and can't wait to try one. The nougat was a welcome sight for me, as it has been many years since I've had something similar to the Roman Nougat candy I used to get as a kid. Can't get it anywhere around here, and all it took was a French ration

MR EMAN,

Did you get the nougats in your RCIRs that you got? I saw some of your reviews...

hannonmc wrote:MR EMAN,

Did you get the nougats in your RCIRs that you got? I saw some of your reviews...

Sure did. I got 2 nougats in menu #13 from 07, and 1 nougat and 1 jelly bar in an 09 menu #9. I checked my remaining 3 RCIRs, 2 from 2007 also have 2 nougats, and 1 from 2008 has one each nougat and jelly bar. It seems around 2008 is when then changed to 1 of each.

Mr. Eman,

Did you find all of your RCIR's on ebay? If so, what word did you use in the search bar?

I had a bad experience trying to buy a RCIR from a guy over in France who was selling RCIR's for a dollar plus shipping. Suffice to say I bought one but never received it even after 7 months now. I tried to find out what was going on but the language barrier and ebay's liberal laws made it so hard to get him to do anything. In the end I lost my money, so if anybody out there has done business with some guy from Issorie, France and uses the user ID benlandmoto. Steer clear, he ripped me off and he'll take your money and never send the ration.

Treesuit wrote:Mr. Eman,

Did you find all of your RCIR's on ebay? If so, what word did you use in the search bar?...snip..

Never used ebay. Got them several months ago from another member here.

EBay Germany has a guy who sells them en masse. They´re a bit pricey, though. I paid 20 Euro for mine including shipping. But I´m not sure if he ships them to the States and how much more expensive they´ll be, then.