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This past weekend netboy541 and I ventured out, along with my brother, to my family's cabin in the backwoods of Ohio. We procured a sampling of German EPA, Norwegian Drytech REAL meals, and Canadian IMPs thanks to Treesuit (you rock man!). This was our first venture outside of US produced rations.

This is a review of a Drytech REAL Breakfast Mix w Berries.

After each eating half of the Canadian IMP, netboy541 and I were still a little hungry. To curb our mutual hunger we opted to break out the Breakfast Mix w Berries. This is a single component of a larger Norwegian Ration. It is a freeze dried meal. Per the directions you add boiling water to the fill line, stir it like mad, and let it sit for one minute. Three minutes if using cold water.

Upon opening there was an audible sound of rushing air. You could certainly tell this entree was under a vaccuum seal. Bit of oats were visible, along with small dried berries. After adding boiling water to the fill line and letting it sit for one minute, this was the end result: Now on to the Review.

BREAKFAST MIX WITH BERRIES
Portion: At first the portion size looked a little on the small side. That was because I was looking at it as American Oatmeal, which is nowhere near as filling as this.
Texture: It became obvious when spooning through the mixture that this was quite dense. The powdered milk was quite thick, to make a porridge consistency. I found it to be somewhat chewy with crunchie bits mixed in.
Taste: Netboy541 and I were in disaggreement over our satisfaction with this dish. I did not care for it as I found it chewy, and did not like the crunch of certain bits in it. The liquid though was quite good. The taste reminded me of the milk leftover after eating Captain Crunch with Crunch Berries.
I let my portion sit for a while and found it more palatable after sitting for a few minutes. It absorbed more of the liquid, and was not a rough in the mouth.

Netboy541 agreed it was better after letting it sit a little longer, but said it was enjoyable either way. Guess I am just an oatmeal or Cream of Wheat kind of guy.

I thought this was very sweet, but not overpowering. I'd gladly eat this for breakfast on a frequent basis. I gobbled my portion up and when QMGE81A was done with his half, I shoveled down what he didn't want! It's very filling, and sticks to you like concrete! I thought it reminded me alot of Fruity Pebbles cereal, as it had a fruity flavor w/ the milk and all. Good stuff, IMHO.

Norwegian freeze dried rations are great! Thx for the pics and review.

I had a:







The taste was great and I would buy it if they were available in a supermarket.
I like their filling line, makes it very easy to handle.

Housil, DryTech is quite expansive.. you can by them in outdoor stores though, in the commercial package.
They use very high tech freeze drying methods, keeping much more flavor in the meals then cheaper brands.
Also the texture in the main entrees stays a lot better.

Another thing. These rations are added for the foodfibers. It's very healthy to eat when your eating rations for a long while, keeping constipation away. That's a thing that I miss with the US MRE's.

(In the Dutch rats we have biscuits, brown from britain.. the germans have Roggenschrot.. but the Americans get constipation for free)

Yeah, the trick with the hot cereal is to use hot water and let it sit for spell. Let the water absorb into the freeze dried mix. Other than that I have had a few of these breakfast meals and found them to be extremely filling. Kind of like eat one and then debate whether you going to have lunch or not later.

I received a couple of those from Norge (porridge and with berries) so I will try them out later, and might write my own review to this. (Tastes differ from person to person, especially cross continental.)

It seems exactly the same as a Uk product, a cereal called Alpen. It is made by the Weetabix Co, one of the few (or only) foreign companies to make US ration components. They made (make?) the cornflake cereal bars in some US survival ration types. Norge has some with the Weetabix Co marked on the packets.
It comes in many flavours, including fruit/berry ones.

It has milk powrder, oats and other cereal, etc. It can be had with hot/cold milk or even water would work I think.

Its very calorific, and it bulks you up good. Its amazing how it swells as a portion when liquid is added.

The blue bag is the "healthy" version.

The red bag is the real stuff
You can see a 1 cup serving is nearly 400 cals. I dont know, maybe a cup is about 50 or so grammes less than the drytech portion, so adding 3 or so tablespoons would bring it up to the Drytech ration amount. so this would make it about 450 cals. The cal count obviously would rise if you added milk and more sugar.

They also do individual portion packets, in individual sachets, just add hot milk or cold, and you could theoritically eat them out the pouch, so I think this is a very close supermarket version.

You could also vacuum seal if you got the gadget; a 170 gramme portion with added milk powder and sugar, and you got a good DIY version.

Its great with honey or jam mixed in