WTB C-Ration B-1 Unit candy discs.

[DixieKen13]

Hi folks,
I am a long time collector of military stuff, and consumer of MREs.

As a child, growing up in Sumter, SC, my buddy and I used to "play Army" in the woods and fields around our homes, dreaming of the day when we would be old enough to go into the services. My best friend went in and is now a "lifer" in the Army National Guard at McEntire Joint National Guard Base. Unfortunately, I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at aged 10, so that cut me out of the services. I wanted to go Airborne like my uncle was in Vietnam; but, at aged 28, they found that I also had MS, and had had it since I was a child, it just didn't cause me real issues until later in life. Hindsight tells me its good that I was kept from joining up, but I still support our troops, especially my buddy.

Anyways, when we were kids, our fathers, both stationed at Shaw AFB used to get us C-Rations from the commissary and we would take them when we played "war games". One of our favourite things in the rations were the cans of candy discs that came in the B-1 rations. I remember the chocolate and toffee ones the most. They never seemed to melt, even in the SC summer heat. They weren't too sweet, and we preferred those to the pound cake, nut rolls, etc.

My buddy received the Bronze Star on his last deployment, and is now up for a real exciting move in his career, and honestly, I couldn't be more proud of him!!!
I got this idea that I wished I could get an old C-Ration with the candy discs to surprise him with and do a Facebook video of us trying them. I know the canned meat and other foods in the ration would be way to old to eat; but the candy and crackers should still be okay to consume, so I thought I would try and find some. I did find some on a few sites that sell MREs; but they are kind of pricey for just the candy and crackers, so I thought I'd check here and see if anyone had a can of "candy discs" from a B-1 Unit they would be willing to sell me to surprise my buddy with. By the way, I am a trained chef with Food Safety certification, so I know how to determine if old food is still edible, so I believe we would be okay eating the chocolate.

So, if anyone could help me out with this, I would be greatly appreciative. I just would like to do something special for my friend who is "doing the fighting" for both of us.

Just send me a message or comment on this thread, and I will work out payment and such. I'll also post pics and video when we try it.

Take care and thanks,
Ken

[SentientTootsieRoll]

FWIW, even in 2020 (yay, I remembered not to say 2019!), a majority those chocolate toffee discs are probably still edible. I opened a few from my collection last year and was surprised at how good they tasted. As far as the chocolate fudge and coconut bars go, that's a different story in my experience. You may take a trip to a few army surplus stores in your area to see if they have any. In my area, they occasionally have a few from the 1970s in stock.

[DixieKen13]

Yeah I imagine the coconut ones could be rancid now. We had ones from the base commissary back in the early 1980s, and, having tasted rancid coconut oil and flaked, I think I would give it a pass. I never really cared for those much as a kid anyways. Toffee was a different story...for both of us. If we got one of those, we usually broke it in half and shared. Once I developed diabetes, and started taking insulin, I always kept one of the foil wrapped discs in my medical pouch on my pistol belt(btw, that pistol belt no longer fits my 48 yr old body, lol) just in case my blood sugar went low during our "war games".

I saw Steve1989 try some SCHO-KA-KOLA from a Wehrmacht ration from '43 or '44 and he said it tasted just like modern version. I think it had a little "bloom" on it; but that doesn't worry me.

Hopefully, we get a good one to try. My wife has agreed to film us opening and trying it, so I believe my buddy will really enjoy this surprise. He told me that some of his soldiers really like the MRE reviews I do on my Facebook channel, so I'm sure they will get a kick out of this one.

[DixieKen13]

I'm still looking for a B-1 or B-3 with candy.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Take care,

Ken