my first French R.I.E.

Reviews of rations from abroad - British ration packs, EPA, IMP, RCIR, etc.
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Stef
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my first French R.I.E.

Post by Stef » Tue Nov 24, 2009 8:19 am

Hi,
I've just received a small lot of French packs so I've decited to try the RIE for lunch.
RIE - Ration Individuelle d'Exercice is the French cousin of the US TOTM: it countains 1 meal + snacks but no "bivouac" items (matches, heater, water purification pills...). All the components are the same as the RCIR ones.
RIE-closed.JPG
RIE box
RIE-open.JPG
the open RIE pack
RIE-content.JPG
the contents: entrée, pâté, dessert, 6 biscuits: 3 plain, 3 sweet, 1 fruit bar, 1 chocolat bar, 1 pack tissues
RIE-pate.JPG
the venison pâté. Quite good, no strong game tasting. It's much much better on French bread but OK on a biscuit.
RIE-entree1.JPG
The entrée: pork "salad", note it's made by the same compagny as the Dutch entrees.
RIE-entree2.JPG
The entree itself, very good with big chunks of pork meat (not spam like) some beans and vegetables. As there's no Caesar dressing or other strong sauce, it's as good cold as warm. No preservative aftertaste as in the old RCIR meals.
RIE-dessert.JPG
The dessert "semolina pudding with raisins" very close to the German EPA Grießspeise but ...more French ;)
RIE-fruit-bar.JPG
The fruit bar, this one is pineapple flavored, not bad for those who like the French traditionnal "pâtes de fruits"
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housil
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Re: my first French R.I.E.

Post by housil » Tue Nov 24, 2009 6:50 pm

Stef wrote: It's much much better on French bread
If they will put a baguette in a ration, they had to deliver them in a Panzerfaust-container :mrgreen:


Thx for the review :D

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Stef
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Re: my first French R.I.E.

Post by Stef » Wed Nov 25, 2009 4:48 am

Hi,
we sometimes had a baguette bread supplied before we go for a field exercise. So bad I didn't take a pictures of the line of soldiers, all carrying a baguette stuck in the backpack just like a radiotelephone antenna :D
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saladp
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Re: my first French R.I.E.

Post by saladp » Wed Jan 20, 2010 6:31 am

in the exercises in the Spanish army were a loaf of bread, known as "chusco" to accompany the ration, at least a few years ago it (about 20 years). one fact: the corporals and sergeants call rehired "chusqueros" ( corporal chusquero, seargent chusquero) by the large number of loaves of bread which they ate in a long time of military service (the "chusco" also occurred in the barracks food diarial :wink:

and if the loaf of bread had a sausage in it was called "chusco preñado " (pregnant bread) :mrgreen:

beautiful photos of your ration, stef :D

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Stef
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Re: my first French R.I.E.

Post by Stef » Wed Jan 20, 2010 8:32 am

Hola Saladp!
muchas gracias por sus comentarios y por la información!
We sometimes had some similar little breads, sometimes a baguette bread for 2 guys and sometimes (the worst case!) a pack of HARD HARD HARD crackers called pain de guerre, even worst than the German "panzer sheets" :lol:

We didn't give the little bread a special name and there was no kind of military folklore attached to them :(
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saladp
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Re: my first French R.I.E.

Post by saladp » Fri Jan 22, 2010 4:36 am

thank you for listening to my stupid comments :wink:

Here in Spain is very common to change names to things for everyone laugh with irony :roll:

another military example: a Spanish combat rations are called "brick" (ladrillo) because of its size and weight as :wink:

greetings, stef!! :D

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Stef
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Re: my first French R.I.E.

Post by Stef » Fri Jan 22, 2010 9:04 am

Hola,
rations are called "rasquettes" in French army slang. It means nothing, just a little funny name. The corned beef is traditionally called "singe" in French: monkey. The veterans used to tell the kids that the original WWI corned beef was made from monkey meat but it's obviously a joke :mrgreen:
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saladp
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Re: my first French R.I.E.

Post by saladp » Sat Jan 23, 2010 11:15 am

I am now grateful for the anecdote :D

and your being good for not eating monkey! :mrgreen:
greetings

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Stef
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Re: my first French R.I.E.

Post by Stef » Sat Jan 23, 2010 11:53 am

Don't worry, I would not have eaten that poor old Copito de Nieve :cry:
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Re: my first French R.I.E.

Post by biscuits brown » Sat Jan 23, 2010 4:24 pm

The monkey- meat rumour was probably not helped by this label ..
123394-1565.jpg
Madagascar brand corned beef part of French WW1 iron ration - courtesy of 17div/tripod.com

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