1990 Cinpac RCW - Chicken Ala King

[steve1989]

What can I say, this was a rare Cinpac 1990 Rafco that was so fresh, that I consumed every calorie of it. A true prize for me, I scored this one from a woman in Anchorage Alaska. This photo set was taken around February 2014 & just before I got some military cafeteria (display) trays from Treesuit. Still came out looking okay - still good resolution pics for your close-up viewing pleasure.

Chicken Ala King in freeze-dried form is not horrible like his thermo-stabilized brother: Chicken Ala Thing from our old-school MRE's.
But alas, Freeze Dried King was discontinued as far as I know after RCW's switched to Food Packet cold Weather and the now (and about 10 years or more now) Meal Cold Weather MCW.

As for the rest of the menu components, the Oatmeal Cookie bars were a block of mild cinnamon mixed with sweet hydrogenated crunchy heaven. A true classic.
The Granola bar was also a hefty cinnamon & more oaty less sweet fiber grain bar of goodness. These can sometimes go stale but it takes bad storage conditions mixed with many years. In other words, they hold up well.

The Orange drink was fresh - tasting like a concoction of artificial & maybe a little natural orange flavor, sugar, pydridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin b-6), and ascorbic acid. I enjoyed it considering these can spoil alot of times and this one was still fresh as ever.

The Tea always holds up in RCW's - it's like lipton sweet tea w/ lemon. Nothing unusual they are always great.

The chocolate covered cookie looks oxidized a little, but it still tastes absolutely perfect. And we all know how good those darn things are!!

The Chocolate W/ Toffee tastes so good, the caramel wasn't too hard - and this is a rare treat that I do not get the privilege of enjoying too often.

The Chicken Ala King had a nice mild cafeteria food sortof taste. Not amazing, but certainly not bad! A little bland but pleasant.

Enjoy the long string of pictures of this relic of a ration!

-Steve

[steve1989]

!

[steve1989]

More pics!

[steve1989]

!!!

[norge]

another cool review

i still have 2 full cases of those rcw in my Collection
and have a plan to save one and eat one case
when i turn 50

Cheers ken,norway

[housil]

Thx for the pictures and review. I really love RCW and back in MCI days, I also was a big fan of "Chicken A La King". We still cook it at home, like today

[Bypah]

Nice review. I have one of those in my collection of RCW's/MCW's.
I like those oatmeal bars and the chocolate bars.

[Ruleryak]

The deserts all look so good in this RCW. Thanks for the awesome review and pictures!

[steve1989]

thanks so much for the feedback guys! It's always inspiring & it keeps me going on making new reviews.

I love RCW's, they are my favorite ration of all time.

If anyone has Rafco Freeze Dried RCW's or any RCW's in general, PM me.. some folks know that I will give more than just about anyone else for them.

I have another RCW review coming up soon - 1990 Chicken Stew.. another fantastic set of photos for an amazing ration.

Thankyou again, folks!

[steve1989]

To Norge: Thankyou for your response! You inspired me on so much in my ration adventures, Norge. You are a ration pioneer! Man you lucky guy..! 2 cases of RCW's?? I would remove the tip of my left pinky finger for that..!! Literally!

To Housil: Thankyou for your response too! I never ate an MCI.. I figure none are still edible by this point but who knows? I HAVE eaten some chocolate from 1957 recently! You make Chicken Ala King? I'll bet it's really good! Wish I could go to Frankfurt & try yours & compare to this Cinpac RCW.. I'll bet yours is better.

To Bypah: Thankyou! Don't ever sell your RCW to me because you know I'll end up eating it..! I love the Oatmeal Cookie Bars.. aren't they just awesome? Quite the rare treat! The chocolate bars are ALWAYS good! What are the shelf life on these.. 100 years..?

To Ruleryak: Thanks man! Yessir, those desserts not only looked good, they tasted fantastic & fresh as the day they were packed (well I assume the day packed as they tasted very fresh). I think the desserts are the reason why there aren't many RCW's left... we ate them all!!!

Thankyou folks for the kind words & support, as always.

Your friend & ration guinea pig,

-Steve