Russian ration entree review 1

[Norton]

Steve 1989 was kind enough to send me a entire Blue Bag EREMCOM Civil Defense IRP for test purpose.

bagged

I cannot tell what is different in the way of content between the combat ration and this, except it is lavish in the amount of items.

filled to the brim

We planned to use these for a winter camping trip but could not wait to try them. So while my son was working in our wood shop, I asked him if he wanted lunch
He said yes so I prepared a old fashion outdoor Man's Meal.

cooking

I must back track first. We had to get a Russian Alphabet keyboard and copy the labels on each item. Then like CIA from 1949 translate one at a time. i.e. coffee, tea. porridge, beef, Chocolate.
Some items would translate into phonic spelling.. Such as Shocalad (Chocolate). So armed with this we started cooking
I wanted to try the entree with the label of a lady with a what looked like a dairy cow. I was not sure how this item would taste as it said Porridge.

porrige

In the USA and Canada if the label is represents a beef product, then the a Black Angus or Red/White Hereford bull will be shown. Never a animal we associate with dairy.
Such as Holstein or Jersey. This is Strictly a bit of trivia as I have seen other canned beef from central Europe with a face of a cow not a bull on the label.
So back to review.. We cooked this and a tin marked a Beef with other word that would not translate into standard English.

Beef

Also their hard Army Loaves and Chocolate bar
We made both Coffee and tea for our drinks and used the Cream and sugar.

drinks

I figured this would be a fine meal since it was windy and brisk outside . Entrees were cooked in a Russian Airborne kettle and Swedish stove via Trangia alcohol heaters
We drank out of Russian and Swedish cups and used the spoons provided by Mother Russia.


When he oped the tin marked porridge with likeness of lady with cow, we were pleasantly surprised. My son commented immediately ''It looks like Hormel Corned Beef Hash''

beef hash?

He took a bite and said ' taste like U.S.A. Corned beef but better flavor. There are large pieces of either buckwheat or super fat rice' Either way it worked
The flavor was straight up hearty and meaty. Salty but not overdone. the juice or grease gave it a fine body. This would have been fantastic with scrambled eggs

The next tin we opened was marked Beef and it was sections of cut up beef swimming in a light amber broth. I am sure this is the white grease people see when the entree
is eaten cold. I drank some of the juice right out of the tin and it had a nice taste.
Again not overly salty, much like roast beef juice.

roast beef

The meat tasted like American Hormel canned Roast beef (That is a complement) Texture somewhat like that of Dinty Moore Beef Stew beef.
My son suggested we mix them together and share. This was the correct decision. It was delicious. I was refreshing to eat beef without a bunch of spices, just in it's own juice or brine. After we finished we still had a tin of liquid beef juice so the Russian Army hard loaves were broken up and eaten with the grease.

hard loaves with grease

Their crackers are very dense and have a Rye flavor. I liked them and my 15 year old son also thought they were far more filling than US MRE crackers.
He said this ' MRE Crackers are like a snack The Russian Cracker is like a Hard roll it fills your stomach up faster"

eating the last bits

My son tried their Instant coffee with one packet of Cream and half a packet of sugar. I drank the tea with only sugar.
He said it tasted pleasant and I took a drink and felt it tasted like Folgers instant. A easy mild taste, not nutty or stale. The tea smelled like generic Black tea.
My cup tasted about like American Lipton

The chocolate bar was marked ARMY CHOCOLATE. This was Black and Dense. The flavor was very strong of cocoa flavor. We both liked it but ate only half as we wanted it for later..

The Russian Gum had a super strong mint flavor and we felt this was to act to clean you teeth and mouth after a meal. We gave it the thumbs up, far better than American brown bag Chiclets . It was similar to the English issue gum ( V7?)

My overall impression is if you like meat, this is a good 24 hour meal. Lots of calories, we ate at 3.00 pm and were not hungry the rest of the evening.
The down side is I think these entrees must be heated to taste as they should. I would not want to eat the roast beef cold, The porridge could be eaten cold, but belive me when heated it brings out the flavor.
I will review the other items on the river very soon

Thanks again Steve1989

[[ex-Member1]]

Opening this tins is pain in the @ss most of the time. I hope you didn't had any problems. Nice father/son review.

[parafireboy]

Nice review and pics Norton! I was impressed with the one Russian IRP that I've tried. Was the gum "Dirol" or another brand? I liked the Dirol gum that came with mine. It was a mint / lime combination that was very nice. Thanks for taking the time to share!

[Ruleryak]

Nice detailed part 1 - can't wait for the rest. Great pictures!

[housil]

Thank you for the pictures and the detailed review!

[rabidwolf]

According to Onepamop, the difference between the EREMCOM and the Army ration. Is the menu selection. The EREMECOM only comes in one menu.

[steve1989]

Thanks so much for sharing you and your son's great experiences to far with this Russian Ration - so glad you guys were able to enjoy it and share it together. Very cool stuff!