IMP review- Pork Chow Mein

[beazle00]

I just recieved my case of IMP's todays so of course I had to sample one. I haven't had an IMP since the early 1990's and that one was ham and egg (very gross). Things still look pretty much the same except the absence of the toothpaste tube of peanut butter and the bread has changed to a mini loaf sort of( it used to look just like a slice of wonderbread 'cept a bit denser) and entree and side are made by wornick and not freddychef. Anyways this was an 06 meal and the contents are as follows
Pork Chow mein entree
Cherries in syrup side
instant rice side
bread
chocolate bar- coffee crisp triple mocha
hard candy- baskin robins chocolate mint
lemon drink mix
peanut butter
raspberry jam
tea
coffee
whitener
sugar
salt
pepper
soy sauce
moist towlette
toothpick
long white spoon
large napkin/toilette paper?

Sadly IMP's lack an FRH and I was too lazy/impatient to boil my packet so I ate it cold.Pork chow mein is rather misleading as that there is no chow mein noodles. I was amazed at the amount of pork in the entree a few pieces in every spoonful there were lots of water chestnut pieces and bits of pepper and other assorted vegetables. all in all an great tasting entree even if it was cold. The cherries in syrup was good too . The instant rice was also good however there is a downside of pouring boiling hot water into the paper foil packet. I burned my hand pouring water in and then it was pretty damn hard to hold 8mins later while trying to eat it. Lemon drink was well lemon drink no complaints. I didn't bother boiling the bread packet either to heat the bread. I thought about toasting it but decide to slice it in half and apply the jam and peanut butter yummy. click fo larger pictures

[beazle00]

I forgot to mention, also inside of the package was a card for rating all componnents of the meal to be sent back to the Combat Ration Food Programme. Not sure if they've always been in them or if it was included because it's an '06 or a new menu configuration etc. Either way they can't pay too much attention to them as that the egg entrees still persist. Out of curiousity how does the current MRE egg omelette taste? I'm still waiting on my case A so i haven't had a chance to try it yet.

[kman]

Thanks for the review and the pics, beazle00. It was interesting that they included the instant rice where you needed to use boiling water to rehydrate it. Seems like that would be an extra pain-in-the-ass step in the field. I wonder if you just mixed it in with pork entree if there's be enough water to rehydrate it at all.

Ah...a 2006 case of IMPs. I'm envious. I think the last case I picked up was from three years ago. It's high time I get some more but I just haven't seen too many auctions on ebay for them. At least...not too many auctions that weren't asking US$80 per case.

As for that egg omlet MRE, I have one sitting in the garage but I just haven't worked up the courage to give it a try. Ah heck...I just need to bite the bullet and try that one and the Omelet w/ Ham MRE from 1992 that's been staring at me from my storage room for the past few years. I'm even more scared of that one.

[Richard w.]

Great report. Thanks.

I have trouble understanding why the Canadians (or the Brits) don't include ration heaters in the IMP's. It's a minor expense relative to its effect on troop morale.

The guys out on "the pointy end of the spear" don't always have the opportunity to boil up a pot of water.

[kman]

Richard w, the only (good) reason I can think of is that they don't want to go through all the hassle of dealing with the hazardous chemicals in the heaters. I know they're not *too* hazardous but they do involve special handling instructions, disposal instructions, etc. And who knows...if the IMPs and British rations aren't designed to keep out moisture, maybe that would mean they'd have to redesign new bags, etc.

[beazle00]

Kman, feel free to use any of your pics for the site I don't mind. or if you have mre/imp pic requests let me know

[kman]

Sure thing, beazle00. In fact, I'll take any pictures you can take of the new IMPs - I don't have anything later than 2004 pics. If you can take the biggest pictures you can, I can resize them for posting on the web site. I'd be especially interested in any pictures of the actual food - like the ones you posted above - that's one place where I'm lacking in pics. Thanks!

[beazle00]

How would you want them sent to you post on the forum? email?. Is there apticular size you're looking for? The reason I ask is that my camera spits out 3mb file which I resize in photoshop to 4x6 or 5x7 at 90dpi which makes about a ~250kb size picture. let know you're size requirements and I will do

[kman]

After cropping the images, I usually resize them to 1024x768 for the big versions and whateverX150 for the smaller versions. I can setup an FTP dropbox if you don't mind uploading the bigger versions.

[beazle00]

sounds great can do