British Army Ration Packs

I joined the TA Royal Engineers back in late 1987, and after carrying out local recruit training within the regiment, I was, along with a few others, given a train pass and sent off to Camberley in Surrey to carry out our two week recruit training course, and it was here that I was first introduced to the delights of the British Army 24 hour ration pack. Someone with a sense of humour in the Quartermaster’s Stores must have been at play, as we were issued with dehydrated “Arctic Rations” (Chicken Supreme if I recall correctly) – and only one 1 litre water bottle of water with no “replen”. This was to teach us the valuable lesson that we should conserve our water and manage it properly, something which has stuck with me to this day. I also learned that dehydrated rations are a hit and miss affair – and cannot be eaten dry…

Later incarnations of the ration pack saw us move on to canned rations. Rations usually came in a cardboard box, marked with a target indication aid. Contents would include a breakfast, usually porridge and hot chocolate (sometimes mixed in with the porridge), lunch of meat paste or cheese and “Biscuits Brown AB”, and a main meal such as Steak and Kidney Pudding, known by the delightful nickname of “babies heids”. Fruit biscuits, dextrose tablets and fruit flake desserts also helped contribute to the 3000 or so calories within the box. Snacks would include chocolate bars and sweets, and it was a great source of amusement when a box was opened to reveal sweets which had long since been off the shelves, such as Spangles. The list of “sundries” would include the likes of tea, coffee, milk powder, sugar, chewing-gum, toilet paper, windproof matches, water purification tablets and a can-opener.

By the late 1990’s, we had started to see the use of Wayfarer boil in the bag meals, with breakfast, dinner and dessert now pre-cooked boil-in-the-bag, and lunch remaining as a biscuits and Duncan’s chocolate bars as the sweets, and with minor variations this was how they were by the time I had left in the early 2000’s. Throughout this time, cooking was done by using a folding “Hexy” stove and hexamine tablets, although many soldiers would use their own gas stoves where possible, and if I recall correctly, jet-boil stoves were beginning to be used by some, as they worked quite well with the new type ration packs. Just after leaving the TA, I went off on a multi day walk and took a few packs with me, one for each day. The weight was horrific.

I was recently given a few more recent ration packs and thought it might be worth comparing them against the older ones. I was given two packs, one 12 hour one and one 24 hour one. Cardboard has given way to plastic, both coming in a sand coloured “grab bag”. As far as I can tell the 12 hour pack is issued for shorter exercises, and contains one main meal, a snack and drinks. It comes with it’s own flameless heater, similar to that issued by the US Army, which famously would be rested against a “rock or something” while cooking. I would imagine that this pack would be used on exercises where potable water wasn’t an issue, as water purification tablets are not included.

I was given Menu 8, which weighed in at 820kg, and contained Spicy Sausage & Potato Wedges as a main meal, peanuts, fruit puree, biscuits and jam as snacks. The pack comes with one tea mix, two fruit flavoured energy drinks, one pack of chewing gum, a wet wipe and spork. With no breakfast included, it’s clearly aimed at a short day out. For the camper it’s probably not a bad starting point, but would need to be bulked out as drinks are very limited.

The 24 hour ration pack is clearly a bigger beast and is the real deal, and you would expect this to be issued operationally. I tried Menu 6, which weighs in at a whopping 1720g. Breakfast, lunch and dinner now appear to be all boil-in-the-bag, with an all day breakfast, pasta bolognese and an indonesian style rice with pork as the choices here, and dessert being a vanilla flavoured cake. Chocolate appears to have disappeared entirely. No more melted Rolos or Mars Bars. Instead ginger biscuits, cheese oat biscuits and a sesame bar make up the snack portion of the pack. Drinks are now hot chocolate, tea and coffee, with isotonic fruit drinks as the cold option. This pack includes windproof matches and putitabs, wipes and a spork.

I didn’t consume all of the packs, but will do so over time, and I’ll update this article with my thoughts on individual pouches.

You can pick these up genuine 24 hour ration packs on the Ebay market for under £20, although you should pay close attention as some sellers are marketing British Army “style” ration packs, which are a reasonable alternative. If you want to create your own “style” ration pack you can of course shop around, using the contents list as a template and creating a pack of your own, using the likes of Wayfarer meals. Buying drinks sachets and other sundries in bulk or multi-packs cuts costs, and ultimately you can create a pack more suited to your personal taste.