HELP! Australian CR1M 2011-2012 - Safe to eat?

[MikeRE]

Hey guys,

Hopefully you all can help me out. I'm trying to get in the ration game probably quicker than i should have and bought 6 CR1Ms... unfortunately the picture I was sent did not turn out to be the goods I received but as I made the "purchase" over an local online buy sell trade board I have absolutely no recourse to get my money back in full or in part.

To my dismay the rations were already cut open, many components were missing or so poorly stored they are inedible (the rubber bands around the accessories melted for example, the soups are so hard you can knock on them like a front door). One of the rations had to go straight in the bin as there were insects in the accessories, the pears had exploded, the mains were bloated and smelled foul when opened.

Long story short? I now need a recipe for lemonade. These lemons need a lot of work.

So any help with the following would be appreciated.

1) Are the muesli packs vacuum sealed or are they spoiled if they seem airtight and have no air in the packet?
2) How can I tell if a main is no good, other than the smell?
3) Are the soups safe to consume if, by some miracle, they reconstitute?
4) Are the high energy sports drinks safe to consume if the packs are airtight but the goods have changed texture and appearance?
5) Do the tubes of sweetened condensed milk get bloated if they're spoiled? Or is this just extra air in them from the filling process?

Answers to the above and any stories or shared experiences would be appreciated. I watched some ration videos but other than Ol Mate Dropbears warning about his salmonella US MRE, but everyone seems to have a far better quality ration than I have received. I bought a ration from the same group, a CR1M from 2013-2014 and it was FANTASTIC, so I am not put off by the experience. I just need some guidance as to what is still safe to consume so I can try salvage SOMETHING from this potentially total disaster.

Thanks everyone, MikeRE the BFG.

[elandil]

Hey guys,

Hopefully you all can help me out. I'm trying to get in the ration game probably quicker than i should have and bought 6 CR1Ms... unfortunately the picture I was sent did not turn out to be the goods I received but as I made the "purchase" over an local online buy sell trade board I have absolutely no recourse to get my money back in full or in part.

To my dismay the rations were already cut open, many components were missing or so poorly stored they are inedible (the rubber bands around the accessories melted for example, the soups are so hard you can knock on them like a front door). One of the rations had to go straight in the bin as there were insects in the accessories, the pears had exploded, the mains were bloated and smelled foul when opened.

Long story short? I now need a recipe for lemonade. These lemons need a lot of work.

So any help with the following would be appreciated.

1) Are the muesli packs vacuum sealed or are they spoiled if they seem airtight and have no air in the packet?
2) How can I tell if a main is no good, other than the smell?
3) Are the soups safe to consume if, by some miracle, they reconstitute?
4) Are the high energy sports drinks safe to consume if the packs are airtight but the goods have changed texture and appearance?
5) Do the tubes of sweetened condensed milk get bloated if they're spoiled? Or is this just extra air in them from the filling process?

Answers to the above and any stories or shared experiences would be appreciated. I watched some ration videos but other than Ol Mate Dropbears warning about his salmonella US MRE, but everyone seems to have a far better quality ration than I have received. I bought a ration from the same group, a CR1M from 2013-2014 and it was FANTASTIC, so I am not put off by the experience. I just need some guidance as to what is still safe to consume so I can try salvage SOMETHING from this potentially total disaster.

Thanks everyone, MikeRE the BFG.

if the museli had dried/powdered milk, it can go real bad without any signs and you won't know until it's too late. Better not to risk it.
as for the main...smell, bloating, and look are the 3 main things I look for. Use your best judgement.
Dried items like soups and beverage powders can harden and still be good. Again, use your best judgement.
I've never known condensed milk to go bad, but i've also never seen one bloat. Normally they will just darken over time.

[MikeRE]

if the museli had dried/powdered milk, it can go real bad without any signs and you won't know until it's too late. Better not to risk it.
as for the main...smell, bloating, and look are the 3 main things I look for. Use your best judgement.
Dried items like soups and beverage powders can harden and still be good. Again, use your best judgement.
I've never known condensed milk to go bad, but i've also never seen one bloat. Normally they will just darken over time.

Thank you for your reply Elandil yeah I decided to bite the bullet and opened a muesli, it seemed ok to me appearance wise until I realised the brown powder wasn't aged oats, it was the skim milk or whey powder that had gone bad. Bleh.

And that's good to know about the soups and beverage powders. I am drinking one of the orange powders now and it is very tasty. Love the US made high energy drink powder grape and now i can safely say the orange too.

And yeah can anyone else comment on the milk? The info sheet says it will always be safe to eat, but IDK if it's bloated or just airy... and I definitely don't want to have spoiled milk haha thanks again Elandil!

[Mattm199]

Old CR1M packs don’t keep well, not nearly as well as MREs for example. The temperatures they are kept at are likely a factor, but the packaging used is not nearly as durable as the American packs. I guess we didn’t have a space program to boost our packaging industries!
The tinned fruit usually corrodes, bulges and leaks. The dry powdered ingredients usually clump and go hard and the chocolate really doesn’t age well. The biscuits often smell and taste like old paint. Often the main souvenirs from old packs are the matches, spoon and FRED, as often seen on eBay.

[MikeRE]

Old CR1M packs don’t keep well, not nearly as well as MREs for example. The temperatures they are kept at are likely a factor, but the packaging used is not nearly as durable as the American packs. I guess we didn’t have a space program to boost our packaging industries!
The tinned fruit usually corrodes, bulges and leaks. The dry powdered ingredients usually clump and go hard and the chocolate really doesn’t age well. The biscuits often smell and taste like old paint. Often the main souvenirs from old packs are the matches, spoon and FRED, as often seen on eBay.

It's a shame, these rations would have been a dream find were it not for their storage conditions. I mean these people vacuum sealed them in packs with exploded goop all over them. The goop left a mildew smell in the bags. The mildew penetrated the teas, coffees sugar and salts. Chocolate beverages are good, high energy drinks seem ok but yeah everything else seems just unfit for consumption. It's a really big shame for me. If they'd just been stored correctly i wouldn't have cared if some bits were missing. But to have stuff missing and have what's left be inedible, it's a real slap in the face. Because they just have no value to anyone. Nothing to consume. Nothing to restore for historical purposes. Just a couple of vacuum sealed bags of rubbish.

[DonJa]

What is the name of the seller ?

[MikeRE]

What is the name of the seller ?

No one on mreinfo or ebay. Was bought through a facebook group, Perth locals.

[carlosflar]

I ate a 2010 CR1M short ago, pretty much everything was safe to eat scept the various bisuits, the powdered milk and condensed milk, the fruit can and something else maybe, but the mains where ok and other things too
Just trust your nose and palate

[carlosflar]

2) How can I tell if a main is no good, other than the smell?
3) Are the soups safe to consume if, by some miracle, they reconstitute?
4) Are the high energy sports drinks safe to consume if the packs are airtight but the goods have changed texture and appearance?
5) Do the tubes of sweetened condensed milk get bloated if they're spoiled? Or is this just extra air in them from the filling process?

2: if there is a tear, toss it, but if the taste if good, go for it, i didnt have problems with mine
3: completely safe, totally
4: completely safe too, but dilute them in hot water, will be much easier, a bit of boiling water and then cold water up to 1 litter
5: they dont get bloated nor they smell bad but they will turn brown or ocre and trust me they will taste ok at first but then it will taste like shit, so dont make the same mistake i made XD i tried a bit first, didnt taste bad, then tasted more and it tasted like shit XD

[MikeRE]

2) How can I tell if a main is no good, other than the smell?
3) Are the soups safe to consume if, by some miracle, they reconstitute?
4) Are the high energy sports drinks safe to consume if the packs are airtight but the goods have changed texture and appearance?
5) Do the tubes of sweetened condensed milk get bloated if they're spoiled? Or is this just extra air in them from the filling process?

2: if there is a tear, toss it, but if the taste if good, go for it, i didnt have problems with mine
3: completely safe, totally
4: completely safe too, but dilute them in hot water, will be much easier, a bit of boiling water and then cold water up to 1 litter
5: they dont get bloated nor they smell bad but they will turn brown or ocre and trust me they will taste ok at first but then it will taste like shit, so dont make the same mistake i made XD i tried a bit first, didnt taste bad, then tasted more and it tasted like shit XD

Thanks Carlos. Yeah I ended up with like 12 mains haha, two have been inedible the rest have been good. The soups were disgusting hahahahaha would not drink but yeah no ill effects. And yes, with the high energy drink that is certainly my current method for their reconstitution. They are my favourite part of the ration (well mixed berry was flavourless but grape and orange are lit) and worth their weight in gold. And of the 7 tubes of condensed milk 2 tasted absolutely gross and 3 have been delicious in their various applications haha so it seems a pot luck with them as to just how much they have "matured" hahaha thanks for the reply my man.

Kind regards, MikeRE the BFG