Matching meals to menus - international rations, British ORPs

[Kris-42]

Hi -
in my research on an active training estate in the UK I've come across a fair bit of rubbish from field rations and am looking to match items to menus (I'm doing a phd on archaeological resource management). The forums here have been a huge help. I'm looking for more advice (I haven't finished reading all the menus shared here so apologies if I've missed something!)

Has anyone here come across any of these products and know which MRE menus they are on?

1. Empty “Nut Walker” brand “Peanut BBQ” foil sachet. Packed for Orifo ApS Denmark.
2. Empty “Nut Walker” brand “Peanuts Roasted and Salted” foil sachet. Product of Thailand. Importer: unknown. Packed for Orifo ApS Denmark.
3. Empty green “Fruit Pocket” squeezable spouted pouch. No lid. Originally contained apple-kiwi-passionfruit-flavoured fruit puree. Produced in Belguim for Orifo ApS.
4. Empty blue “Meal Bar Caramel” wrapper. Weight not visible on label – est. about 40g. Very perished and faded. EXP 19-06-2017 L4170 11:46. Produced for Orifo ApS.
5. Empty purple 50g “Beyond the Beaten Track” brand “Fruitie Oatie Biscuits” wrapper. BBE MAR 2018 Batch No: 052507:37 S2. UK product.
6. Empty beige 45g “Flavoured beverage powder: Grapefruit” sachet. Produced in EU for Vestey Foods UK Ltd. Batch number: 03 2018 L406876.
7. Empty 90g “Beyond the Beaten Track” brand “Fruit Explosion” squeezable spouted pouch. Green lid in place. Originally contained mixed fruit puree – green lid indicates Apple-Kiwi-Passionfruit flavour. BBE Nov 2017. Produced in Belgium for Vestey Foods Ltd.
8. Empty silver 400g sachet of “Chicken & Vegetable Biryani”. BBE June 2017 1416A22:49. Produced in the UK for Vestey Foods.
9. Back half of empty “Sesame Snack” wrapper showing nutritional information. Produced for Vestey Foods UK.
10. Empty 300g silver MRE sachet of “Bean & Pasta Salad”. Produced in the UK for Vestey Foods. BBE March 2018.
11. Empty dark green “Beyond the Beaten Track” brand MRE packet with most of front missing. Possibly a clear plastic panel has been removed. Visible label reads MADE 2008 BBE 2017. Food type not visible.
12. Empty folded “Beyond the Beaten Track” brand “Ginger Oat Biscuits” foil wrapper. Faded orange colour. Produced for Vestey Foods UK.
13. Empty pale blue round aluminium food tin “Fines Tartines” brand “Fromage Fondu”. 78g. No lid present. Crushed into an oval shape with sides folded down towards base. Produit En Bretagne (France).
14. Paloma tissues packet. (personal hygiene item included in some ration packs?)
15. Empty silver foil “Tex Mex Soup” MRE wrapper with top torn off (top not present). Produced in the UK for Vestey foods. BBE MARCH 2018 15077A 07-54.
16. Empty silver foil “Beyond the Beaten Track” brand “Caramel flavoured instant hot chocolate drink with sugars and sweeteners” wrapper.
17. Empty folded metal “Daniel et Denise – Joseph Viola – Meilier Ouvrier de France” 300g “Porc Salade” tin with lid tucked into the container which was then folded round it. Batch info: T0402 2018-12855-110R. Product of France.
18. Several very rusted ring-pull food cans. No labels visible. Measures 7.5cm diameter 3.6cm H. They resemble containers I've seen in ration pack unboxing videos and contents photos.
19. Empty silver foil 300g “Pork Sausages & Beans in Tomato Sauce” MRE Wrapper. BBE information not visible.
20. Empty clear plastic “MOD CHICKEN SAUSAGES AND BEANS IN TOMATO SAUCE” 300g MRE wrapper. Clear crinkly plastic wrapper with white text. This is the only instance of Chicken sausages I saw - possibly a halal or kosher meal option (though this was not written on the packet) ??.
21. Silver “Fra Angelico Ltd” brand “Fruit Flavoured Sweets” wrapper measuring 10cm x 8cm. FraAngelico supplies items to Defence Catering for the MoD.
22. Salysol Nut Cocktail metal food can (blue) with clear flexible plastic cap/lid and Salysol Cashews metal food can (pink). Spanish product.
23. Tiny bottles of red and green Tabasco sauce.

ETA: Also found...
24. MRE Wrapper Bridgford Cinnamon bun Made in USA BBE Feb 2018. - an American field ration?
25. MRE silver beans bacon and potato in tomato sauce wrapper. Product code 1851 REV 1 Vestey Foods

From what I've read Orifo products, they are provided to the Danish army so I thought they were Danish, but pictures of British ORPs show Orifo products too. Beyond the Beaten Track products are in British packs. Vestey also sounds British. The french items seem to be from French ration packs. I thought the Salysol nuts would be in Spanish ration packs but I contacted the manufacturer and their sales rep said they did provide them to the British army. Any advice on what menus these are found in would be great! I'm particularly interested in the Salysol items because I haven't seen them in any photos while looking thru ration pack images online, so I'm curious if they're only found in older rations.

Thanks - Kris.

[LaSwede]

I have seen the nut walker peanuts in swedish rations, so number 1 and 2 could be swedish as well! The swedish ration contains a few different orifo products I can check in which current 4-course menus the 2 different peanuts are in of you want..!

[Kris-42]

I have seen the nut walker peanuts in swedish rations, so number 1 and 2 could be swedish as well! The swedish ration contains a few different orifo products I can check in which current 4-course menus the 2 different peanuts are in of you want..!

Hey - that would be great, thanks!

[LaSwede]

I have seen the nut walker peanuts in swedish rations, so number 1 and 2 could be swedish as well! The swedish ration contains a few different orifo products I can check in which current 4-course menus the 2 different peanuts are in of you want..!

Hey - that would be great, thanks!

The eight 4 course ration menus got theese different peaunuts with them:

Menu 1: Roasted & Salted, BBQ Roasted

Menu 2: Honey Roasted, BBQ Roasted

Menu 3: Roasted & Salted, Honey Roasted

Menu 4: BBQ Roasted, Honey Roasted

Menu 5: Roasted & Salted

Menu 6: BBQ Roasted

Menu 7: Roasted & Salted, Honey Roasted

Menu 8: Roasted & Salted, Honey Roasted

This is info from 2017 rations, the older versions might have a different composition, afraid i don't the list for those..

Hope this help in some way

[Synthpeter]

I bet all of the Vestey Foods items you'll find if you go to youtube and look at a lot of British ORP reviews.
I recognize a few of them but can't say from the top of my head which menu and exact item.
The ORPs also have Orifo products, but so do many north European rations.
The Bridgford breads are also found in ORPs (as well as US MREs, but considering your location, ORPs are more likely).
I'd say basically everything in your list is from British ORPs.
The menus change regularly so it's impossible to give you precise answers.

The french Porc Salade might be from a French RCIR though.

I advise you to go to youtube and watch as many British ORP reviews as you can, and maybe French RCIR.
The beginning basically always has some kind of unboxing where you see all the items so you don't need to spend hours and hours. (in particular if you're watching my vids, hehe ).

[Rahere]

One fascinating feature of multinational operations was the way rations would be swapped around, most nations were horrified at the UKSFs' practice of dandyfunking it, everything goes into the same pot and come out as the most exotic porridge you've ever had. Chocolate curried rice pudding with a crust in it, tasting of coffee. Everything tastes of coffee. Apart from the coffee. It could be your site was a UKAR unit on the way home from a multinational exercise, too.

[sodjer]

hey ,kris-42 ,can you give the context of your find ,and possibly the trg area ,
were they buried ? on the surface?
the French are training regularly with uk forces ,mainly their airborne element ,
the cans you speak of at 18,sounds like the old beef/chicken/cheese spread from older packs ,
but the rest is younger than five years old