Portuguese Forças Armadas - 24h ration menu 1 (BB 2016)

[Delicious]

I had this ration yesterday. There are some types of Portuguese ration - also in camouflage bags/boxes. I'm not sure if it is for specialized parts of the army or just another packaging company. Mine was packed in a simple cardboard box and a transparent foil. The box size is about the German EPA, but not so tightly packed inside.

It contains also an instruction sheet in Portuguese and English. The content according to this sheet:
Breakfast:
- instant coffee (2 pcs)
- sweet cookies (3 packs)
- fruit jam (2 pcs - strawberry and plum/apple)
Lunch:
- transmontana beef stew (415g)
- liver pate (pork)
- fruit jam (2 pcs)
Dinner:
- chicken with peas (415g)
- sardines in vegetable oil

other:
- water and salt cookies (125g)
- instant drink: orange, pineapple
- isotonic drink orange
- sugar
- cereal bar with chocolate chips
- salt
- chewing gum
- hard fruit candies

accessories:
- water puryfing tablets
- matches
- portable stove (French, Esbit)
- fuel tablets (6)
- cutlery and napkins
- trash bag
- tissues
- wet napkins, lemon

breakfast:
Typical mediterrain breakfast - black coffee plus something sweet - like in the Italian. The coffee was pretty good , I used only one, no whitener. The sweet biscuits were thin and crunchy, very nice. The strawberry jam was sweet, fruity, but I couldn't taste strawberries, the plum jam, despite of strange green color (coming from certain type of plums) was better - I had no doubts about the flavor.
The pineapple drink was strange - I dissolved it in 150ml of water according to instructions - it was very sweet and the taste was fruity, but strange-- I couldn;t guess what it is.

the lunch:

I used the stove with 2 tablets for heating the lunch can - despite -6 degrees C after 8-10 minutes it was pretty warm. Main was a transmontana beef stew - very interesting dish - red beans, carrots, sausage, black pudding and pieces of soft skin - very thin. It was salty enough, maybe needed little spice. I guess that as a normal dish (not canned) this must be something special and tasty.

The liver pate was OK, little bitter, but had less taste comparing to the Eastern European/Russian version. The salty crackers are very good - not too salty, crunchy and there are a lot of them...

The muesli bar is quite decent, with a bit of chocolate. Maybe some sour fruits are missing.

The isotonic drink was a bit damaged - maybe some moist was inside, I couldn't dissolve it completely.

dinner:

The main is chicken with peas - there are also carrots inside and a sauce with lot of ingredients, but less taste. It is soupy - something between stew and soup. I heated it by even lower temperature (-8 C) and there was no problem. The cans have no paper labels and can be directed heated on the flames.

[Delicious]

The chicken meat is very tender, there is a lot of peas and the dish tastes like canned peas. A little disapointment.

The sardines are very good - high quality - this is one of Portugal's national dishes

The candies and the gum were OK - fruity, the gum reminded me flavors from my childhood.
Very good, very moist wet naps.

All in all a decent ration, but my feelings are mixed. The best items were crackers/biscuits, sardines, quite intersting beef stew - something from local cuisine. The drinks, on the other hand, had artificial or strange flavours - the same is with strawberry jam

The video you can see here:

[cavguy]

Thanks for the excellent review! Kind of reminds me of an Italian ration.

[Apocalypse]

I'm unfamiliar with this word "transmontana". Does that mean the meat came from all over Montana, USA?

[Delicious]

I don''t think so. Maybe somebody from Portugal could help us
Probably it is something like "mountain stew"

[housil]

Great review, thx for sharing!

[parafireboy]

I'm unfamiliar with this word "transmontana". Does that mean the meat came from all over Montana, USA?

I think it's a region in Portugal. Some restaurants in Lisbon also advertise Transmontana cuisine.