Canadian IMP | MRE Info

The Canadian Armed Forces use a ration called the “Individual Meal Pack” or IMP.

Each meal pack comes with one main entree, a dessert, several types of beverages, a hard candy, and a package of cookies or a chocolate bar. The package may also include such accessories as instant soup mix, instant mashed potatoes or instant
rice.

A single IMP contains food for one meal — breakfast, lunch, or dinner — for one person. It is packaged in a way that makes it compact and lightweight. The main courses can be eaten cold or hot by placing the pouches in boiling
water for five minutes. U.S. Flameless Ration Heaters (not included in IMPs) can also be used to heat IMP entrees.

Introduced in 1981, the average cost of a ration pack is $7.50, and 1.5 million kits are packaged annually.

Cases of IMPs	3 Different Types of IMPs	IMP Contents

Official Individual Meal Pack (IMP) Combat Ration Info

Purpose: to sustain the nourishing needs of military personnel for one meal-day. Easy to heat, consumable
without heating, resistant to damage during transportation, not expected to be used for more than 30 consecutive days.

NATO requirement

Canadian ration

provide minimum 3200 calories and maximum appropriate to energy
expenditure of personnel undergoing continuous and strenuous physical activity
at least 10% of calories from protein, 35 – 40% from fat
vitamin and mineral content to satisfy U.S. Food and Nutrition Board
contain some ready-to-eat items that can be eaten without addition of water, heating, or mixing
should include a bread equivalent, spread for bread (cheese, jam, etc), instant beverage powder
shelf life 2 years

3 meals in one day provide approximately 3600 calories, which is adequate for most operational activities. May be supplemented with LMC as required
meets Nutrition Recommendations for Canadians except Calcium and folic acid (not significant if consumption period is less than 30 consecutive days)
meets all other requirements
NSN 8970-21-887-9548 (breakfast/lunch)
NSN 8970-21-887-9549 (lunch)
NSN 8970-21-887-9550 (supper)
shelf life 3 years from date of assembly

IMP menus

2008 IMP Menus (Click here for the full menus )

Menu #	Breakfast	Lunch	Supper
1	Ham Steak w/Mustard Sauce	Hungarian Goulash	Navarin
2	Beans with Wieners in Tomato Sauce	Pork with Herbs and Wine Sauce	Tarragon Chicken
3	Scalloped Potatoes and Ham	Macaroni w/Cheese Sauce	Chicken Breast Cacciatore
4	Sausage and Hash Browns	Turkey and Vegetable Stew	Cabbage Rolls and Tomato Sauce
5	Sausage Links	Beef Ravioli	Salisbury Steak Dinner
6	Omelette w/Salsa	Beef Chop Suey	Cheese Tortellini in Marinara Sauce

2007 IMP Menus

2006 IMP Menus

IMP Menu 2004
Meats	Fruits & Desserts	Miscellaneous
Ham Steak w/ Mustard Scalloped Potatoes & Ham Sausage & Hash browns Beans & Wieners In Tomato sauce Omelette w/ Mushroom Sauce Breakfast Sausages Thai Chicken Cheese Ravioli’ Ub Rosee Sauce Chicken Casserole w/ Rice Salmon Filet Nature Beef & Veggie Stew Shepherds Pie Beef Macaroni w/ Tomato Sauce Pot Roast w/ Mushroom Sauce Lasagna w/ Meat and Tomato Sauce Chicken Breast w/ Gravy Veal Cutlet w/ Lemon Sauce	Peaches Fruit Cocktail Pears Pineapple Raspberry Apple Sauce Spicy Apple Compote Cherries Sliced Apples Apple Sauce Baked Chocolate Dessert Blueberries	Crunchie Cereals Cinnamon Oatmeal Banana Oatmeal Instant Dressing Mix Instant Butter Garlic Rice Instant Vegetable Rice Sour Cream & Chives Mashed Potatoes Bread Assorted Cookies & Crackers Assorted Chocolate Bars Jam,Jellies, & Marmalade Condiments Butterscotch Pudding
Beverages	Soups
Coffee – AssortedTea Hot Chocolate – Assorted Herbal Tea – Assorted Lemon Drink Mango Drink Orange – Pineapple Drink Cherry Drink Strawberry Drink Passion Fruit Drink	Chicken Noodle Soup French Onion Soup Beef Vegetable Soup

IMP Menu 2002 Click here for the full menu listing.

Breakfast/Lunch

Lunch/Dinner

Supper

1 – Beans and Wieners in Tomato Sauce

2 – Scalloped Potatoes and Ham

3 – Sausage and Hash Browns

4 – Ham Steak w/ Mustard Sauce

5 – Cheese Omelette w/ Mushroom Sauce

1 – Rotini Primavera

2 – Green Pepper Beef

3 – Penne Rigati w/Meat and Tomato Sauce

4 – Shepherd’s Pie

5 – Turkey and Vegetable Stew

6 – Hungarian Goulash

1 – Lasagna with Meat in Tomato Sauce

2 – Tarragon Chicken Strips

3 – Pork Chow Mein

4 – Veal Cutlet w/Mushroom Sauce

5 – Salisbury Steak Dinner

6 – Salmon Filet Nature

IMP Menu 2001

Breakfast/Lunch

Lunch/Dinner

Supper

1 – BBQ Beans & Frankfurters

2 – Scalloped Potatoes & Ham

3 – Sausage & Hash Browns

4 – Ham Steak with Mustard Sauce

5 – Cheese Omelets with Salsa

1 – Tortellini with Alfredo Sauce

2 – Chicken Casserole with Rice

3 – Chili Con Carne

4 – Sweet & Sour Pork

5 – Beef Bourgignon

6 – Beef Ravioli

1 – Cabbage Rolls

2 – Chicken Breast Cacciatore

3 – Meatballs with Herb Sauce

4 – Pork with Herb & Wine Sauce

5 – Beef Stroganoff

6 – Salmon Filet Nature

IMP Menu 1997/1998
Meats	Fruits & Desserts	Miscellaneous
Ham Steak in Pineapple Sauce Beans and Wieners Sausage and Hash Browns Macaroni & Cheese Beef & Vegetable Stew Cabbage Rolls Shepherd’s Pie Beef Chop Suey Beef Macaroni & Tomato Sauce Salisbury Steak Lasagna Turkey and Vegetable Stew Chicken Breast and Gravy Veal Cutlet & Lemon Sauce Hungarian Goulash Meatballs in Gravy	Peaches Fruit Cocktail Pears Pineapple Tidbits Cherries Apples Apple Sauce Baked Cherry Dessert	Blueberry Apple Cereal Crunchie Cereal Maple Oatmeal Cereal Mashed Potatoes Dressing Mix Lemon Pudding Assorted Jams Bread Mini Biscuits Caramel Pudding Steak Sauce Pepper Sauce Cranberry Jelly Plain Rice
Beverages	Soups
Coffee Tea Hot Chocolate Orange Passion Fruit Grape Mixed Fruit Lemon Peach Cappuccino Coffee	Cream of Chicken Onion Vegetable Beef Cream of Mushroom Chicken Noodle Mediterranean Chicken

Various IMP Menu Entrees

Breakfast menus

ham steak w/mustard sauce
sausage and hash browns
beans and wieners
scalloped potatoes and ham
cheese omelette w/salsa

Lunch menus

chicken a la king
beef chop suey
macaroni w/cheese sauce
beef teriyaki
spaghetti w/meatballs
zesty turkey and vegetable stew

Dinner menus

cannelloni w/meat in rosee sauce
chicken breast w/brown gravy
veal cutlet w/lemon sauce
meatloaf w/onion sauce
salmon filet nature
beef steak w/brown gravy

Dessert Pack

sliced pears, cherries, apples, peaches, apple sauce, fruit cocktail,cherry
dessert or blueberries.
candy, bread, jam, honey or peanut butter, salt, pepper, sugar, coffee,
creamer, spoon, handy wipe, napkin, tooth pick, matches, cookies or a chocolate
bar
might also contain mashed potatoes or rice depending on the meal

IMP Entrees

Some IMP entrees are produced by a company called “Freddy Chef” while others are produced by the American MRE manufacturer “The Wornick Company”. Here is an example of what the Freddy Chef entrees look like:

Freddy Chef IMP with cooking instructions

The IMP entrees are a little bit bigger/heavier than the US MRE entrees:

IMP Entree	MRE Entree
8.8 oz. (250g)	8 oz. (226g)

Some people say the IMP entrees have “more food than an MRE entree” but from the IMP entrees I’ve seen/eaten, there’s a lot more water (sauce, etc.) in the IMP entrees. Substance-wise, you get about the same amount of calories per entree no matter which one you eat.