British two-man ration, 1980s

Discussions about rations from other countries - IMPs, EPAs, RCIRs, etc.
Baldy
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British two-man ration, 1980s

Post by Baldy »

I found this photo in a magazine from 1987 and thought it might be of interest:

Image

Looks like mostly commercial items, and several packages have what I think are Chinese characters on the labels. Was this packed in Hong Kong when the British maintained a garrison there? Anyway, I've never heard of a two-man ration pack before or since.
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dirtbag
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Post by dirtbag »

Hmmm
All civvie except two tubes of... jam and Vegamite ???
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Baldy
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Post by Baldy »

No, definitely British. The original magazine article was about British rations, the box is unmistakably British, and surely only the Brits have 'bacon grill' in their packs! Based on what I've read elsewhere, I think the tubes are sweetened condensed milk, which was replaced by powdered milk.
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housil
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Post by housil »

Commercial items in brit. rations are nothing unusual.

I have three 10-man-boxes:

Image

They have lots of:

Image

Image
norge
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Post by norge »

british it is,had a few when i was yunger in the begining of the 80s
the same picture is also in one of my books from the mod uk
about survival.
chers from norge 8)
Baldy
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Post by Baldy »

I've since remembered reading that it was once common for British ration packs to contain chocolate labelled in Arabic, made in Britain but originally intended for export. Therefore I may be way off track with my earlier hypothesis.
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Post by Garron »

Mars bar chocolate had arabic writing at one point,

I know a few squadies who served in the 1980's and they loved the tubes of sweetened condensed milk, said it made a good sandwich filler :shock: .... dunno about that myself.

though the oat meal blocks we get haven't changed in ooo about 50 years, My grandfather served in the 60's and used to save the blocks from when he was on training or out on manouvers (cold war exercises as he was stationed in Germany on Honest John rockets) and give them to my mother when she was young, she says they taste the same.

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Baldy
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Post by Baldy »

though the oat meal blocks we get haven't changed in ooo about 50 years
We used to have something called a 'cereal block' that was normally eaten cold, like a biscuit (cookie). Tasted like shortcake. Probably much the same thing.
cold war exercises as he was stationed in Germany on Honest John rockets
I find that very interesting. Two of my personal interests are the history of the Cold War in Europe and missile systems.
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housil
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Post by housil »

Baldy wrote:
Two of my personal interests are the history of the Cold War in Europe (...)
Don´t hesitate to ask if you want first hand information :wink:
We grew up with the iron curtain just in front of us (one hour far)

See this:
viewtopic.php?t=1087&highlight=iron+curtain
Baldy
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Post by Baldy »

Thanks for the offer, Housil. You can start by translating this site for me:
http://www.lostplaces.de/cms/content/view/135/33/
... only joking of course! :wink:
From what I can understand, it's about 'preparations to cut off German highways' in the event of war. While it's interesting, it's also pretty scary. (Apologies to Kman for going OT.)
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