Thread: Living on rations - on the Beeb website

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/magazine/7472887.stm

Biscuits brown are as popular as ever it would seem!

However, "biscuits brown" promised nothing they couldn't deliver. Quite how they made the flavour and even the texture so brown remains a mystery.

I'm not sure we want to know the answer to that question!

It's Goodbye Biscuits Brown.

This is from the press release:

Examples of items which have been replaced are:

* Chocolate bars removed and replaced with flapjack/energy bars.

* Biscuits Brown, Biscuits Fruit & Pate Replaced with Pasta pouches
which can be eaten cold.

* A reduction in the hot drinks which has been replaced with energy
drinks and fruit flavourings for water to encourage hydration.

* 20 New Main Meals to encourage soldiers to eat.

* Cold breakfasts such as muesli's to get extra carbohydrate and
fibre and to add variety from a baked bean based breakfast.

* Fruit Puree drinks and fruit cocktail desserts added to replace hot
custard based desserts.

When are these rat packs coming into general circulation then?

Out with the old 'Mike Tyson' bog paper as well ( Rough, tough, and takes no Sh!t ) :D
No mention of the 'blocking' effect either
Processed cheese and marmalade bickies weren't too bad smeared with a drop of OMD75, OEP 220 or other oily condiment ( Tankies diet )

i actually like the biscuit fruits

Bring back rolled oats mix !!!

The old ones may have been heavy but they went down a treat when you threw it into an 'all in'in the depths of a German mid Winter Taceval, the new stuff looks to have been designed by a nutritionist and then the bean counters stripped the flavours out as part of a cost cutting exercise...I have to admit to quite liking MRE's as a change when we got our hands on them...sad Muppet.

Ration packs enhance morale by providing a reminder of what you'd get at home.

Consider the staples in the Cookhouse in any barracks - beans for breakfast, beans for lunch, beans for evening meal.

I suppose that, at home, you have the option of omitting the beans a couple of times a day whereas with an all-in-one compo meal you don't.

If compo were to reflect current barracks dining (in the wake of PAYD), would the new rations comprise little more than Pot Noodles and cornflakes?

Ah biscuits AB (Army Book?), we shall never see your like again...I was convinced they were called AB like all Army stationery because they were made of cardboard!

Did any sick individual actually like fruit dumplings in butterscotch sauce?

If they are cutting down on the brew selection in the new packs is it not worth sticking some Mre heaters in ( or some sort of equivalent )

The full release.

MoD tests fresh range of hot weather menus for troops on operations

Troops are to get new food rations on operations as a range of new
menu trials get under way with soldiers.

The Multi Climate Ration (MCR) trial sees the introduction of 20 new
trial menus for general use on the front line in hot weather
environments plus six new menus for halal, vegetarian and Sikh/Hindu
variants.

The design of the trial MCR packs has been heavily influenced by
feedback from personnel in all three Services including direct input
from troops who have experienced eating Operational Ration Packs for
long periods on operational deployments in severe and demanding
conditions. Food selection panels were conducted in May 2008 to
select products for the new MCR.

The Multi Climate Menu trials aim to address the forces' concerns for
the long term and will provide a number of varied and nutrional food
items to meet the needs of troops in the harsh Afghanistan and Iraq
environments.

Launching the Multi Climate Rations trials, Lt Gen Dick Applegate,
Chief of Materiel Land said:

"Food is vitally important to the morale of our Armed Forces,
especially whilst deployed on operations. One of the most important
requirements is to provide increased variety to troops operating for
long periods on rations which will help reduce menu fatigue. These
new menus have been developed to meet the needs of service personnel
operating in the extreme climates of Afghanistan and Iraq, providing
them with a range of nutritionally balanced meals."

Defence Food Services project leader, Captain Paul Cunningham said:

"The food served to our soldiers, sailors and airmen is
well-balanced, nutritious and plentiful and, in the main camps, the
majority of our troops eat freshly prepared hot and cold meals,
cooked by professional skilled chefs, using a wide range of
commercial rations including fresh fruit and vegetables. However, in
the remote areas in Afghanistan and Iraq, away from the main camps,
it is not always possible to provide meals cooked by chefs from raw
ingredients. Under these circumstances we currently provide a range
of ten general purpose (or 5 vegetarian, halal, Sikh Hindu) ration
packs that are issued with supplements to reflect the weather.

"The new Multi Climate Ration trial will double the amount of
available menus and remove the need for supplements. We have lots of
new items in the rations and I am convinced these will be very
popular with our troops."

The new range of menus will be sent to Iraq and Afghanistan for
summer 2009. The Multi Climate trial will help inform the long term
future of menus for ration packs in hot climates for summer 2010 and
beyond.

Notes to editors:

1. The MCR trial will run from May 2009-October 2009.

2. In 2007 DFS IPT purchased 135,000 Hot Climate Supplements (HCS)
which were sent forward into theatre. Throughout the summer months (1
May - 31 Oct) every soldier issued with a box of 24 hr Operational
Ration Pack was also issued with a bag of five supplements comprising
energy bars, pretzels, drink flavouring and a pasta meal which could
be eaten cold. We have also been issuing winter supplements in recent
years.

3. On average 1.5 million 24 hour packs are eaten every year with
variable contents.

4. It is recommended soldiers consume 4000Kcals in hot weather and
3600Kcals in more temperate environments.

5. Ten-man rations are used when fresh ingredients cannot be supplied
due to operational factors but when chefs are available to feed
Service Personnel in groups in the field. 24hr packs are issued to
individuals when it is not possible for chefs to cook meals.

6. Examples of items which have been replaced are:

* Chocolate bars removed and replaced with flapjack/energy bars.

* Biscuits Brown, Biscuits Fruit & Pate Replaced with Pasta pouches
which can be eaten cold.

* A reduction in the hot drinks which has been replaced with energy
drinks and fruit flavourings for water to encourage hydration.

* 20 New Main Meals to encourage soldiers to eat.

* Cold breakfasts such as muesli's to get extra carbohydrate and
fibre and to add variety from a baked bean based breakfast.

* Fruit Puree drinks and fruit cocktail desserts added to replace hot
custard based desserts.

Originally Posted by mintymcginty

It's Goodbye Biscuits Brown.

This is from the press release:

Examples of items which have been replaced are:



* A reduction in the hot drinks which has been replaced with energy
drinks and fruit flavourings for water to encourage hydration.

.

Now what do we get the young Subbies to do? Can it be true that the days of the "brew-bitch" are numbered ?

I liked the bloke in the comments who started going on about his own soldiering days and whinging about what happened to the British Soldier? Yes mate, becaue Active Edge was SOOOOO much worse then Telic/Herrick wasn't it?

Call me a freak (pause two, three - Freak!!) but I like Biscuits Brown :(