2006 British 24 Hour Operational Ration pack Menu #2 Review
Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 12:28 pm
A little about my background before we begin; I am a Army combat veteran who has served in primarily light infantry units. However most of my combat experience is as a mounted crew member of a light wheeled vehicle. So in other words I have an iron stomach and can eat just about anything and I know a little about Military rations.
So today for review we have a 2006 British 24 Hour ORP this is menu #2. Everything seems to be packed in 2006 according to the date codes.
This ration includes the following items I have broken down as Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner according to my personal Preference.
Ration Contents Picture
Accessory Pack
Contents: Black tea X 4, Sugar X 4, Water purification tablets, Whitener X 6, Coffee X 2, Gum and Matches.
For Breakfast I ate; Bacon Omelette and Beans, Hot cocoa and a Oatmeal block
My thoughts; The main meal was very delicious it does however taste different than what we usually eat for breakfast in the USA kind of like a mix between beanie weenies with the older MRE omelette with ham. The hot cocoa is also very rich and sugary much better than the MRE counterpart. The oatmeal block is also very good and very sweet it reminds me of a standard oatmeal cookie. This breakfast left me very full!
For Lunch I ate; Cream Of Tomato Soup (This had MSG added), 3ea Brown Biscuits, 3ea Fruit Biscuits, Chicken & Herb Pate, Black Tea and Berry Combo Fruit Grains.
My thoughts; The soup was good definitely nothing special here kind of salty as it has MSG added for flavor. The 3 biscuits brown I also enjoyed they kind of taste like cardboard if you eat them plain with no spread, I always use the pate when I eat them. The 3 biscuits fruits are very tasty I eat them plain and they taste to me like fruity graham crackers. The chicken and herb pate is also good it taste's like standard chicken liver pate I however cannot taste the “herb” part! The black tea is the instant freeze dried type not strong at all and I drink my tea plain. The berry combo grains are like sugary pieces of dried fruit again very tasty. Lunch was definitely lighter than breakfast as I was still full from breakfast.
For Dinner I ate; Chicken Tikka Masala, Cooked Rice, Black Tea X 2, 3ea Brown Biscuits, 3ea Fruit Biscuits, Leftover Chicken & Herb Pate, 1 X Yorkie Bar.
My thoughts; I combined the chicken tikka masala and cooked rice, the rice tasted like perfectly boiled lightly seasoned rice and for those that do not know Chicken Tikka Masala is a Indian dish and I love Indian food, this dish tasted of slight curry in a tomato based sauce with very small pieces of chicken chunks it tasted great although I think it needs bigger chunks of chicken and more curry flavor! The tea tasted good. The Yorkie bars are EXCELLENT a big hunk of plain milk chocolate can't beat that! Again VERY filling I am overly full.
For Late Night Snack I ate; Black tea X 1, Chocolate Pudding in Chocolate Sauce, 1 X Yorkie Bar, Pack Of Fruit Flavored Sweets.
My thoughts; The chocolate pudding is very unusual to me more like a hunk of cake with cocoa flavored sauce and I am not sure if this thing is supposed to be heated or eaten cold, it was good though. (I ate at room temp). Again the Yorkie bars are EXCELLENT a big hunk of plain milk chocolate! The fruit flavored sweets are also good basically artificially fruit flavored hunks of sugar good for a quick pickup.
What I did not eat/drink; Vegemite paste, Lucozade carbo drink mix, Coffee, Gum, Sugar, Creamer.
Conclusion; The British have the BEST rations I have tasted so far IF you have time to consume the entire ration. The ingredients of some of the ration items seem to have less additives than our MRE's. The taste is also superior to me. This ration along with about a gallon of water was the ONLY food/drink I consumed for an entire 24 hour period. I was lightly active walking a few miles and hitting the gym for a light workout. My hunger was more than satisfied by this ration. While writing this now in a civilian situation, I can think back and remember during combat and I think this ration would satisfy me during operations (figure PT in the morning then a 6-8 hour patrol then around 3 hours of guard duty). Now I do need to be critical about a few things I am NOT a fan of the soup and anything that requires prepping and the drinks too. I personally would not ever take the time in combat to prepare anything, if it is in a pouch it is getting eaten cold, if it is a drink or requires preparation it is getting thrown out. During training exercises there is no way I would boil these meal packs in water to heat either they would either get eaten cold or if I had extra time get stuck in a hot exhaust pipe and heated for 5 minutes or so then eaten. I love the chocolate a BIG plus although if I had it on my body armor it would be mush/melted in seconds so the actual use of this is not too practical this is where the flavored sweets step up though. Also the weight of the ration pack would require some thought (METTC) on how to break it all down and carry it on your personal kit I could imagine throwing a lot out.
So today for review we have a 2006 British 24 Hour ORP this is menu #2. Everything seems to be packed in 2006 according to the date codes.
This ration includes the following items I have broken down as Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner according to my personal Preference.
Ration Contents Picture
Accessory Pack
Contents: Black tea X 4, Sugar X 4, Water purification tablets, Whitener X 6, Coffee X 2, Gum and Matches.
For Breakfast I ate; Bacon Omelette and Beans, Hot cocoa and a Oatmeal block
My thoughts; The main meal was very delicious it does however taste different than what we usually eat for breakfast in the USA kind of like a mix between beanie weenies with the older MRE omelette with ham. The hot cocoa is also very rich and sugary much better than the MRE counterpart. The oatmeal block is also very good and very sweet it reminds me of a standard oatmeal cookie. This breakfast left me very full!
For Lunch I ate; Cream Of Tomato Soup (This had MSG added), 3ea Brown Biscuits, 3ea Fruit Biscuits, Chicken & Herb Pate, Black Tea and Berry Combo Fruit Grains.
My thoughts; The soup was good definitely nothing special here kind of salty as it has MSG added for flavor. The 3 biscuits brown I also enjoyed they kind of taste like cardboard if you eat them plain with no spread, I always use the pate when I eat them. The 3 biscuits fruits are very tasty I eat them plain and they taste to me like fruity graham crackers. The chicken and herb pate is also good it taste's like standard chicken liver pate I however cannot taste the “herb” part! The black tea is the instant freeze dried type not strong at all and I drink my tea plain. The berry combo grains are like sugary pieces of dried fruit again very tasty. Lunch was definitely lighter than breakfast as I was still full from breakfast.
For Dinner I ate; Chicken Tikka Masala, Cooked Rice, Black Tea X 2, 3ea Brown Biscuits, 3ea Fruit Biscuits, Leftover Chicken & Herb Pate, 1 X Yorkie Bar.
My thoughts; I combined the chicken tikka masala and cooked rice, the rice tasted like perfectly boiled lightly seasoned rice and for those that do not know Chicken Tikka Masala is a Indian dish and I love Indian food, this dish tasted of slight curry in a tomato based sauce with very small pieces of chicken chunks it tasted great although I think it needs bigger chunks of chicken and more curry flavor! The tea tasted good. The Yorkie bars are EXCELLENT a big hunk of plain milk chocolate can't beat that! Again VERY filling I am overly full.
For Late Night Snack I ate; Black tea X 1, Chocolate Pudding in Chocolate Sauce, 1 X Yorkie Bar, Pack Of Fruit Flavored Sweets.
My thoughts; The chocolate pudding is very unusual to me more like a hunk of cake with cocoa flavored sauce and I am not sure if this thing is supposed to be heated or eaten cold, it was good though. (I ate at room temp). Again the Yorkie bars are EXCELLENT a big hunk of plain milk chocolate! The fruit flavored sweets are also good basically artificially fruit flavored hunks of sugar good for a quick pickup.
What I did not eat/drink; Vegemite paste, Lucozade carbo drink mix, Coffee, Gum, Sugar, Creamer.
Conclusion; The British have the BEST rations I have tasted so far IF you have time to consume the entire ration. The ingredients of some of the ration items seem to have less additives than our MRE's. The taste is also superior to me. This ration along with about a gallon of water was the ONLY food/drink I consumed for an entire 24 hour period. I was lightly active walking a few miles and hitting the gym for a light workout. My hunger was more than satisfied by this ration. While writing this now in a civilian situation, I can think back and remember during combat and I think this ration would satisfy me during operations (figure PT in the morning then a 6-8 hour patrol then around 3 hours of guard duty). Now I do need to be critical about a few things I am NOT a fan of the soup and anything that requires prepping and the drinks too. I personally would not ever take the time in combat to prepare anything, if it is in a pouch it is getting eaten cold, if it is a drink or requires preparation it is getting thrown out. During training exercises there is no way I would boil these meal packs in water to heat either they would either get eaten cold or if I had extra time get stuck in a hot exhaust pipe and heated for 5 minutes or so then eaten. I love the chocolate a BIG plus although if I had it on my body armor it would be mush/melted in seconds so the actual use of this is not too practical this is where the flavored sweets step up though. Also the weight of the ration pack would require some thought (METTC) on how to break it all down and carry it on your personal kit I could imagine throwing a lot out.
thats a few thousand kals :oops:i have a few of these left and i have a weekend in the hills starting on friday(with an american air force friend)and im going to see what i can get thru 
