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Very excited to receive TWO boxes from Canada today. I have only recently become interested in rations and MREs, other that having a few around for emergencies. And a couple of OLD, POORLY STORED ones from back in my ROTC & CA ARNG days ca. 1990.

Watching Steve1989MREInfo's videos got me interested in looking at other rations. Didn't know how interesting they could be!

Here's what arrived today


The small box had 2 Canadian IMPs that I bought on eBAy.


and the other had 4 more that I bought from a Canadian surplus store at a great price!


With the eBay purchase, I knew what I was getting, though the Beans and Weenies was supposed to be Baked Beans. The 4 from the Surplus shop were a shot in the dark. They were listed without dates or any other detail and I got 4 at random. Was very happy to see they are 2017 dates and are all interesting looking entrees! I should have ordered more but next time there are in stock I will.

Looking forward to trying them. I've only ever eaten pre-1990 MREs and not all that many of those.

Rob

Today I brought the 2014 "Beans and Wieners" menu to work to eat for breakfast and lunch.



For breakfast, I broke out the coffee, creamer, sugar, peanut butter, Wildberry Yogurt Protein Drink and Strawberry Crunchy Cereal.




First I mixed up the "Espresso roast coffee" with whitener and sugar. I didn't have a measuring cup, so guessed at the 250 ml/8 oz of hot water. I think I was a bit under. The coffee was strong, but also bitter. Drinkable, but very much obviously an instant coffee.

The Strawberry Crunchy Cereal was quite good, but I did put in a little too much water making it a little runny. I would eat this.

The Wildberry Yogurt Protein Drink was decidedly NOT tasty. It also had an odd smell (not rancid or "bad", just not appetizing). It has an odd flavor and really didn't mix very well, leaving chunks of the powder. I did manage to drink it all, but this is NOT my new favorite morning starter.

The peanut butter was last. This ration didn't have any crackers or bread that would really go with peanut butter (I'm not putting PB on corn bread!) and I needed to add a little something since I was making 1 meal into 2. I used some Stacy's Pita Chips for the PB and it was really quite good. I felt like there could be more PB in the pouch though.

Overall, a decent breakfast. I am looking forward to a second cup of coffee from the office coffee machine, though.

Will report on Lunch this afternoon.


Rob

Great review and score on those imps. Look out for the beef jerky (hard as sin) but those menus are good ones, the canadian rations are in my top ten for sure!

Lunch time!



Here at the office, we have a microwave but no stove. I did find a food storage tub large enough to fit the Beans and Wieners pouch so I filled it with hot water from the water cooler and let it sit for 8 minutes (flipping a couple of times). It did get warm, but not really hot. I should have left it longer and/or replenished the hot water after 5 minutes.

I found the B&W to be quite tasty. Gormet, no. But fully edible and about on par with a can of Van De Camps and some cut up chicken franks. In fact, the Wieners are turkey dogs. Would eat any time.

I dunked the Corn Bread bag in the hot water for a really short time but I don't think it really got above room temperature. Even so, it was good as well and paired very well with the Honey packet.

Both Lemon Lime sports drinks were consumed (one at a time). Not great, but certainly palatable. Way less "salty" tasting than classic Gatorade.

The Pear Slices were OK. I'm not a huge fan of pears and these were no exception. The texture was soft, but aren't pears always like that? There was a little bit of an odd "crunch" when chewing...almost felt like crunching sugar maybe, but there was no grittyness. Very slightly sweet. I ate them, but really only because I was pretending that's all there was for lunch (ignoring the fact that my company stocks the kitchen with tastier food). Lots of liquid, which I did NOT drink.

Condiments: The Ice Breakers were a nice touch after lunch. I did not use the Franks RedHot because I didn't think the B&W needed it. I'll use it another time. The Ketchup was the only thing in the meal that I think had "turned". The packet is totally puffy and from what I can tell, the Ketchup itself feels more like a paste than a thick liquid. I did not open it, nor did I miss it.

A word on DATES. The meal is clearly marked "14". The main course B&W had a pack date of 13073. The Pears were 13343. The spoiled Ketchup was 13331.

I hope someone enjoyed reading about my Canadian IMP score and my first IMP meal. I'll probably re-combine the breakfast and lunch into one Review and put it in the Reviews section as well.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Rob

Thanks for sharing, and glad you enjoyed the main dish! Still have yet to try an IMP, but it's on the short list!

Thanks for the review. I am curious how you mixed the protein drink? I find the flavour always a little off too, but the problem most people have with them is that they do not mix them right.

It's normal for the ketchup to be puffy. It's not unusual to be sort of thick, I think your ketchup was probably just fine.

Sorry for the late reply...just got back from a camping trip.

I mixed the protein drink in its bag by shaking. Clearly I should have shaken it more, but I had already poured it into a glass. Stirring once in the glass didn't seem to help too much.

I still have the ketchup packet at work. I should open it I guess.

Thanks for the post.

Rob