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This is the last component of the the British 24 hour meal Steve1989 sent me for Virginia Test laboratory use.
I thought the Tomato Pasta Salad would make a nice field lunch. So I took some recommended British P&G tea and British condiments a American Tortellini MRE for comparison
Also something called a Lara Bar for desert

Took my brand new(to me) Russian Airborne Mess kit (obtained from Prado67) with Russian mini stove.
This design mixes the traditional European kettle as used by Germany, but has a canteen nested inside to save space. Very similar to Yugoslavia, but lighter
The plus side is the entire canteen could be placed in the fire to boil water if needed
Swedish Stove as back up


Headed to the mountains and started hiking on a very windy day.


Mountains Boiled up some P&G tea with the Russian mini stove, this is like a throw away Esbit. The kit comes with three cylinders of Russia's version of fuel. These fuel tabs have a striker attached to the side to allow it be lit without matches. I could not get it lit with this method
The tiny stove has to be bent to the correct shape. This is made to heat up small cans, but it worked to heat the soup bowl portion of the Russian mess kit.
They made a popping noise as they fired up, One tab brought on a boil. The stove is very difficult to use unless the pot is set perfectly . For heating a small can it would work perfect, for making tea or coffee it can do it in a pinch. I cooked both the English and American pastas at the time time I opened the English meal and smelled the tomato immediately, they had less sauce than US products of a similar nature. Took a bite and was surprised.
Much less of a sugary flavor, nor was it like paste. The macaroni was firm and the overall taste and smell of sauce was basil and garden herb. I could see chunks of actual tomatoes and green specks of herbs.
This meal would be fine eaten cold. Great Britain you have done a fine job The US Tortellini on the other hand had a sauce similar to tomato paste, very gooey and a hint of garic. The pasta was like mush. I did not taste any cheese flavor at all.
I would not like to eat this meal cold. Nor draw it in the field. The English meal was a superior product The Lara bar said No dairy , No Gulten No GMO no anything, so I thought well, with all that.. NO it wont be that good. Wrong It tasted good and was a nice desert to go with the Made in England P&G tea Close up By the way the tea was outstanding

The last photo is the mess kit assembled ready for transport. You can see how compact it is. Paired with a Alcohol stove you have a nearly all purpose set. I am going to continue working on combining this with the Swedish windscreen

US and British pasta said by side
as you can see the US meal has very dark red paste like sauce. It is supposed to be Marinara. I am not Italian but something tells me , it not authentic
Box and bag Russian mini stove, great accessory would work for any sort of small can Tabs with striker Stove assembled Lit Making tea

1. Agreed on the tortellini. Not a fan. The british entree looks much better.

2. Very interesting kit. The stove reminds me of the spanish ration stove. Small but does the job.

3. Love the lara bars. Key lime pie is my fav. Its nothing but fruits and nuts, but its sooooo good.

Great review.

Awesome report, Norton!

I have had good luck with the Russian mini stove the several times I used them. Actually, I used one this past week on my camping trip and I can relate on the tabs being difficult to light with just the match - I held a lighter on it for like 20 seconds and then it finally lit and did it's thing.

I love your adventurous reviews and providing ya with some neat UK meals is a real blast. Makes me want to find something else do we can all get another cool Norton Camping Review!

Great looking sidearm - you gotta have that out on a hike, I ran into a large Wild Boar on my past camping trip and am glad I carry. A real piece of mind. Luckily, the mooma boar took off with her 2 young ones and there was a medium sized boar too - so essentially a pack of boars. Was exciting!

The UK and Russian mess kits look great! It was really cool that prado67 provided you with that Russian mess kit - very nice!


I think the verdict is the UK Tomato Pasta Salad entree wins over the MRE Tortellini in Marinara Sauce! hehe


Cool stuff, love your reviews, as always Norton! Keep em' up!

Great review and nice pictures as usually! Do you get snow?
I like the idea of the Russian mess kit!
I´m "OK" with the MRE tortellinis.

Why is the dish called a "salad"? To me, a salad is that green garden stuff. The Frenchs also have dishes called "a salad".

[quote="housil" Why is the dish called a "salad"? To me, a salad is that green garden stuff. The Frenchs also have dishes called "a salad".[/quote]

Hi Housil,

The only reason I can think of is that there is no meat content.

I have a "Pasta Salad" manufactured by Prepared Foods Processing, New Zealand, in one of my "Brit" rat packs, 33% tomatoes, so will be the same as reviewed.

Had one earlier in the year, very tasty.

I agree with you and everyone else, our friend Norton has once again given an excellent and informative review.

Regards, Norman.

Vlaanderen wrote:

housil wrote: Why is the dish called a "salad"? To me, a salad is that green garden stuff. The Frenchs also have dishes called "a salad".

Hi Housil,

The only reason I can think of is that there is no meat content.

Gotta disagree. RCIR Menu 10 has an Italian Salad, and it definately had large lardons of pork in it.

From a culinary standpoint, a salad is a mixture of items in a fat based sauce, or "dressing" normally intended to be eaten cold or at room temp. Chicken salad, pasta salad, Egg salad, Cobb Salad...only one has leafy greens, 3 have meat, but all are served cold with a fat based dressing.

Using the Italian salad above, for example, the pasta and olives were the main component, and the sauce was a very heavy tomato base, but there was also a noticeable fat component of olive oil in the sauce.

Just a little something to consider.

Hi Elandil,

Many thanks for your info.

I was going by the description titles and packet contents on my Brit rat packs.

If meat is contained, it is always stated in the title on the packet/pouch, i.e., Tomato Pasta Salad, Chicken/Ham Salad etc.

Regards, Norman.

Kudos on another great "field" review.

Despite the drawing, I think I'd be inclined to turn that stove over and stick the prongs into the ground for stability. One could use it as shown on a firm, flat surface - but how many of those do you find afield? Clever of the Russkies to have a "match head" built into the fuel tab. If it worked better, that would be ideal. Either the striker strip or a sparker could be used to to light the tablet.

The mess kit is interesting, but except for the canteen it seems not much better than a Swedish stove kit. In fact, since the Swedish kit holds the stove and fuel inside itself, that seems superior to me.

Another nice review Norton.
I think I have that same ss mug, or one really close. I don't use it much anymore because of its weight, and lighter alternatives... like drinking straight from my small/tall cookpot.

Has anyone shared the trick of slipping one of those "whatever cause" wrist-bands around the lip of a metal pot/cup to give a sip-safe lip? They are a strong, stretchy silicone, and will really do the deal. The wrist-bands are not going to work with a mil-spec canteen, but there might be similar alternatives