What is THIS???

[John Smith]

You know, I ate a lot of C-rats, never saw any green scrambled eggs.

[Blair]

The worst were the infamous Powdered Eggs! I only remember getting these in Boot Camp where we called them Green Square Eggs.
The powder was mixed with hot water. This batter was poured into large shallow cooking sheet and baked in the ovens.
When they came out of the oven the eggs were cut into squares and served like sheet cake but it was split pea green in color.

When I got out to the Fleet (and everybody knows the Navy eats well) we got better food. Feeding 4,500 men 4 meals a day meant quantity not quality.
Daily things, with pet names like; Roast Beast with Science Fiction Gravy (the gravy gave the "Beast" flavor, with a luminescent quality to it), Mystery Meat (country fried Boondocker sole), Red Death (anything with tomato sauce in it), Snow Flake or Dehydrated Potatoes (chipped floor tile), Instant Mashed Potatoes (these could also be turned into French Fries ?), Dehydrated Apple Sauce (which wasn't bad if it had time to cool), Dehydrated Cottage Cheese (think "Styrofoam packing peanuts"), Bug Juice (sort of like cool aid) and Powdered or Dehydrated Milk.

[Forty Rod]

In the mid-60s we had some dehydrated rations that we called lrrps, perhaps the fore runner to MREs.  They came in plastic bags, you just added water, hot if you had it, let them soak for a while and eat them with the plastic spoon we each carried.  My favorite was little fish in rice with hot peppers.

LRRP (Long Range Recon Patrol) rations were the early MREs and were fair if you were hungry enough.  MREs are the best of a bad lot of military field rats, though.

Smokes aren't part of the kit anymore, are they?

[Advertising]

[pony express]

You know, I've always wondered how the federal government got out of liability  for providing cigarettes (sometimes to minors) in those C rations.  Any lawyers out there that want a good lawsuit?

Remember, those were the days when they still had cigarette machines, anyone with the correct change could buy them.

[The Trinity Kid]

Okay, now I'm really having reservations about joining the military.  Then again, Air Force has good food......

[1961MJS]

Okay, now I'm really having reservations about joining the military.  Then again, Air Force has good food......

Yep, even the old USAAC (Air Corps) did pretty well.  Dad was on Waliis Island in WW2 and ate as many meals as possible in a French restaurant.  He had Home Made Ravioli.  Beats the K-rations all to heck.

Later Y'all

[The Trinity Kid]

My dad was in the AF in '83-'87 and said the chow was pretty good.  He told me a story once when the Marines and Army came to his base.  They all were telling his senior officer how they liked the STEAK and Potatoes.  If you get steak twice a month, you aren't all that bad off.....

--TK

[GunClick Rick]

What was that stuff called on a slice of toast with hamburger meat gravy


I think i'll open a resteruant with all the talk here be good advertisement   I'll call it THE MRE,dec it out in camo,olive green,desert brown and collectable and vintage military arms covering the walls  

I'll menu:
Wham Bam Spam
Granade Goulash
Bivwack Hard tack (pb&j)

For drinks i'll start with

Ole Blood and Guts
The Ike Spike
The ALAMOnie
Son of Morning Star (tequila sunrise)

Welcome to The MRE,where the healthy people eat~

[John Smith]

Well, some people called hamburger and gravy  over toast "SOS".  But real SOS was creamed chipped beef over toast.

[WaddWatsonEllis]

The C-Rats brought back memories of my youth ... then they were 'replaced' by MREs (Meals, Ready to Eat). Which Uncle Sam's Misguided Children promptly called Meals Rejected by Ethopians .... sigh ... not as funny now ...

[warbucks16]

Forty Rod:

Just read your post about the LLRP Meals and it brought back memories, but not so found of NAM , as I recall most were pretty good overall, but no matter hot  the water or how long you waited the Beans in the chili were never soft but cruncy and the sphegetti(excuse the spelling) was the same. The chicken and rice and beef stew was pretty good. Ah, yes memories. Usally on the last night on a firebase we mix all the left overs in an ammo box over and open fire an call it ammo box stew. Not to bad. Will be long remembered.

Warbucks16

[GunClick Rick]

Ya know it's funny how GOD lets a feller exsperience small parts of others lives so you at least have some understanding
of what they may have gone through,it has happend more than a few times in mine.I fought moutain fires for the local dept. when i was 17,the first fire i was on was huge! 2 am in the mornin all i could see was orange smokey sky I believe that's when i took prayin seroiusly! We were on it for a few days,chop line,mop up,five gallon tanks of water on our backs and MREs at night,i will tell you i don't remember what they tasted like,by the time i got "em i was hungry,i know we had a camp fire (funny huh) and i wolfed them puppies down,climbed up on a water tanker and that's where i woke up spread eagle  come mornin.

I know one thing,i remember what that steak,ice cold milk and chilie beans tasted like in that meadow when the prison crew came in with kitchen and i mean big steaks,i woke up in heaven later on, I feel asleep in the meadow

So yoou that served~ I SALUTE YOU!

[The Trinity Kid]

What fire was that?

[GunClick Rick]

I think they called it Red Mountain.Woodlake rodeo grounds were across from it if i remember right,mostly oaks..

[The Trinity Kid]

What state?  We have a lot of fires here, in nor cal.  This year we had two major fires, the Del Loma and Stafford, both were big.

[GunClick Rick]

Well i worked out of Visalia,Ca.Tulare county fire,the fire was in Woodlake,across the street from the Woodlake rodeo grounds.I go by there now and it still seems as big but not as treacherous,at 2am at 17 drivin up them hills in a tanker,i was thinkin i died and did go to hell and they woke me up to make sure i got there!! At one point i forgot my gloves and i had blisters all over my hands,but i still ate them MREs.

It burned again about 3 years ago from the other side and someone had just built a ranch there,and they had borate planes on that one,got right to the back of thier barn.I happend to be up there that day and saw it start,saw minor smoke,then get bigger but they were right on that one at least two planes and a ground crew,i was headed up to check out a gold panning site for my buddies kids.I can see the sequoia mountains from here and i am always looking up that way for smoke,called in a couple.Once ya learn your always alert of it.

[The Trinity Kid]

I have family in Tulare.  And you are correct about learning the fires.  I always am looking for smoke, and I ain't even old enough to drive yet    I've had some MRE's from my best friends dad, who is a Forest Service fire crew captain, and they weren't great, but not bad either.

--TK

[GunClick Rick]

I know a few folks from Tulare,mostly Visalia,we had Son's Beacon gas station and Son's lawnmower,most folks i know from buissness with them.

[GunClick Rick]

I have family in Tulare.  And you are correct about learning the fires.  I always am looking for smoke, and I ain't even old enough to drive yet    I've had some MRE's from my best friends dad, who is a Forest Service fire crew captain, and they weren't great, but not bad either.

--TK

Ya know ya have to be 18 to be on here

[The Trinity Kid]

uhhhh..... * voice deepens*  Really?