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I got this on a trade from Norge a while ago. I prepped and ate it, took some pictures and made notes a couple of months ago with the intent of writing a more proper review but the time just kept rolling on by and I never got around to it. So, I thought I'd just dump the pictures along with my notes and hope that suffices. Have been "overseas" for a couple of months now, we have a local contractor catering our chow hall--there are days I would much rather have an MRE than what's on offer in the DFAC. Menu fatigue hits quickly, there doesn't seem to be much variation in the daily staple of chicken and rice even though they are touted as different entrees with a different kind of sauce/seasoning. The produce is generally pretty crappy, often brown/wilted/bruised and they pretty regularly run out of lettuce for salad making. Milk is either powdered or soy, which is okay for your cereal but not for drinking IMHO--except for the Chocolate soymilk, which is more of a rich bittersweet taste than you typical c-milk and actually isn't bad. Fortunately, we do have access to a small exchange in a trailer, plus all the snacks and goodies that keep pouring in from back home, to break the monotony.

Well, back to the Norwegian chili. I'm hoping that I might be able to pick up something international while I'm here, but haven't had much interaction with the coalition partners yet.






Chili: Lots of rice, definitely not what I'm used to or would expect to see in Chili. Some beans, pretty mild flavor. Not much in the way of veggies or chilis. Just a hint of something smokey/bbq flavor. Rehydrated well, just a few dry/crunchy spots in some of the meat pieces that were way on the bottom. Small strips of meat that are pretty tender but there aren't many of them. Okay hot sauce, not enough provided for my taste--finished with Tapatio from my desk drawer.


Lemon Pepper Tuna: Good flavor, similar to Charlie's Tuna Lunch Kit in texture; lemon adds a hint of acidity, just enough pepper. The pocket bread is much better tasting than US Wheat Snack Bread; no funny taste, but a bit dry and crumbly--it was pretty much broken apart in the pagage (see picture) so I doubt it could actually be used to make a pocket sandwich with the tuna.


Cranberries: More like raisins than the US version, dried and without the nasty oil.

Energy drink: Decent flavor, fairly generic raspberry flavor. Similar to DripDrop

Chocolate: Dark-bittersweet, a little on the dry & crumbly side.

Gum: More like the tab-sized chewing gum, intense flavor and doesn't fade very quickly.

Accessories: Wet wipe good sized, high alcohol content. Would have been nice to have a napkin, which would be nice in most MREs.

Cool review and pics noderaser! Depending how old the ration is it may account for the condition of the chocolate, probly oxidation, but then no country that I know of has managed to make chocolate candy-type bars that age very well. It still looked good though, and semi-sweet/dark is my favorite kind of chocolate.

Thx for your review and sharing your pictures

Great review and the Chili looks more like a stew made in South West Asia. Was flavor sweet ?

Im with you on one point. Chili con Carne is supposed to have crackers, maybe some cheese, but until i met my wife, i had NEVER seen anyone eat rice with Chili. I dont know if its a northern/cold weather thing, but its just unnatural...

I think that eating Chili con Carne with rice may be more of a poor folks "stretch the meal" deal than anything else.
Despite being an plain old WASP from the north shore of Long Island, my momma made a pretty good chili for someone who was a product of the 1930s and 1940s, and probably never ate in a Mexican restaurant in her entire life. We always had an ice cream scoop of rice dropped in the middle of the bowl to stretch the meal out to a few more portions.