What's in a Ration Pack?

Ever wondered what soldiers eat in the field while on exercise or operation? The Army gives soldiers ration packs, which have enough food to last 24 hours. These packs even come in vegetarian, halal, or dietary requirements, and provide food and other items to keep soldiers fuelled and ready for action.

Let's take a look inside an Army ration pack and how to cook it.

The Army’s 24 hour ration packs are available when you are on operations and exercise. The importance of rations is to keep your energy up so that you are ready for the task ahead. The pack includes a few drinks, as an Army soldier it is important to keep hydrated so you can think clearly and always operate at your best.

What’s in the ration pack?

• Breakfast

• Snacks

• Lunch

• Main meal

• Drink options

• Spork/utensil

• Water purification tablets

• Windproof/waterproof matches

• Alcohol free moist wipes

• Tissues

• Chewing gums

• Re-useable polybag

Each ration pack includes a different menu option. There are a variety of menus as well as vegetarian, halal, and other dietary options available to suit your needs.

What’s on the menu?

Here’s an example of one of the menus:

• Fruitful muesli with milk

• Sweet and sour chicken with rice

• Pasta Bolognese

• Chocolate Pudding in Chocolate Sauce.

• Fortified energy drink powder - apple flavour

• Drink powders: grapefruit flavour, cola flavour drink, pear flavour, pineapple flavour

• Hot chocolate flavour drink powder

• Biscuits

• Cookies and cream flavour bar

• Salted peanuts

• Cheese flavour spread

• Hot/chilli sauce

• Brew kit: instant coffee, tea bags, sugar, beverage whitener

All of these things can be eaten hot or cold, so if you have the time to get your burner out you can have it hot or cold when you're on the move. Everything in the pack is ‘boil in the bag’. This means if your downtime gets cut short you can take the bag out of the mess tin, get rid of the water, put the bag in your pocket and have it later.

To cook any of these meals what you need is a stove cooker, which you should have with you in your kit bag. The stove is metal, so it's reusable, and inside you get solid fuel which is enough for your 24 hr rations.

How to cook a meal?

What you’ll need:

• The stove

• Matches

• Mess tin

• Water

And the meal pack you want to cook

Step 1 - Setting up the stove

You’ll want to set up the stove first. Take it out of the packaging and open the ends so they are pointing up. From the fuel pack take the cubes and place them in the centre of the stove. As a good soldier, everything you’re not using is put away, especially the Hexi fuel as these are extremely flammable. Use the matches and light the block.

Step 2 – Prepare the ingredients.

Add water to your mess tin, you can always add water before you set the stove it is totally up to you. Add the pack, still sealed, into the water so it's just about covered.  With the fuel lit, place the mess tin on top right over the flame. The tin will sit comfortably on the sides opened earlier.

Step 3 - While you wait for it to cook

This is the perfect time to be doing your personal admin. This is things like getting your weapon cleaned or organising your pack so that you are ready to go when you need to leave.

Step 4 - When the bag is cooked

Boiling the meal bag shouldn’t take long, but when it's ready you’ll want to remove it from the mess tin and put it to one side to cool slightly. While you wait and still have the stove lit, you can make yourself a hot drink by using the water you just used to boil the bag. From the ration pack take the drink you want, add all the dry ingredients to your mug and add the boiling water.

Step 5 – Serving up your meal

When everything is ready, and the bag has cooled slightly, it's time to serve up the meal. Open the meal bag, there are some notches to help with easy tearing and be careful of any steam. Using your trusty spork eat straight out of the bag. It’s hot, nutritious and hits the spot.

An important thing to remember is that every good soldier takes all of their rubbish away with them and cleans their mess tins so they are ready to use next time.

And that’s a quick introduction to how the Army cooks in the field. And it's better than you think.