Pumpkin is a savoury food in Australia, we do not use it as a dessert. Unlike in the USA where you use it for sweet pumpkin Pie, we use it for Roast Dinners along side potatoes or we put it in soups.
Little known fact, Australia invented the first ration packs ww1. Australian ration chocolate isn't fat separation. The chocolate has a high cofa low milk so it doesn't melt but hydrates in your mouth, that gives it the white dry texture even when new and has been that way for 30+ years. The tea is traditionally Lipton's tea and the coffee was usually nescafe. The meals and other items are the same products you could buy in a can at the grocery store but are packaged under contract with the adf for rations.
The canned food is a little more calorie dense than what you buy off the supermarket shelf. And is usually made in batches complying with the Army specification. At least it was in my day...
Same with the lot. Eg. the ration pack (old A through F) butterscotch was harder + less sugar than the supermarket version. The notorious cereal bar....
The chocolate from ration packs was my favourite, after exercises dad's boys would save some of their chocolate rations for me and after a week away he would bring home 20 packets for me. He would then ration them so I didn't make myself sick.
Didn't even split it up into 3 meals, didn't even split up into a person that is patrolling or a REMF that can cook their meals, didn't even have a patrol stove to show how to warn up satuals to have a hot meal. This is why we spend so much time teach our soldiers how to use them.
Yay Aussies!!! Sweetened condensed Milk can be eaten straight from the tube but traditionally used in tea or coffee. It's lots of sugar in a milky form.
@@NewyJon7787 I have it straight out of the tube and have gained the nickname "milkman" from people in my cadet unit and our sister unit because of my addiction to sweetened condensed milk. At one point I managed to obtain 22 tubes of sweetened condensed milk
It's unfortunate that you went one on one with that pack. The bread goes with the stew and also the soup. The jam and cheese with the crackers. The biscuits you called the jammy dodgers are actually called shrewsberrys and are far superior. All the biscuits should be had with a mug of tea. Coffee with the breakfast supplies. The condensed milk is what you use for the coffee and tea to whiten it and you totally don't need sugar with it, it is already super sweet enough. If you try this stuff combined it's so much better. And by the way, the little green scotchbrite, is to clean your mess kit with. You are right, this is a 24hr kit and really will cover you for the whole day. It may look a bit weird and smell a little funky at times, but it is top notch gear and usually super tasty.
@@martinmckowen1588 like wise. Who thought of putting bread in? It all seems like a lot of mucking about. I’m sure we had half this stuff. At kapoka I can remember the rat pack had meals in cans then shortly after that in the satchel . I almost stopped watching but I thought I wanted to see if the Fred was still there😂
Come on bro, he's an American. We all know they aren't intelligent enough to look at items and work out if something goes with something else. He is obviously biased too if you have seen any of his other vids. He's an ignorant flag waving bubble dweller. Even a dumb seppo knows to eat soup or stews with bread or crackers if it's in the ration pack /MRE. He's doing it on purpose as I already said. Biased.
It’s a toss up between tea and coffee. I think most Australians prefer coffee but I know a few people that are big tea drinkers. I think everyone ‘wants’ to be a tea drinker because it sounds posh, but most would grab a coffee instead.
@@Zei33 Whenever I go for morning tea there’s heaps of people buying Cappuccinos and the likes so I don’t dispute that the majority of Australians drink coffee. Most of my patients are over the age of seventy and many need or request help to prepare their breakfast. I mostly help people out a teabag in their cup than open packets of coffee, so it could be a generational thing.
Back before instant coffee was introduced, tea was available in large quantities, and very easy to make: Just throw a handful of tea leaves in a pot of boiling water, wait 2 to 5 minutes (depending how strong you like it) and serve!
We used to put the sweetened condensed milk in our tea or coffee or spread it on the survival biscuits. Can confirm the chocolate goes white and this is normal and is because of the high chocolate and low fat content. There used to be ginger nut biscuits (aka “cookies”) in the packs. They were notoriously hard. I remember one of the guys breaking a tooth on one. In my unit they were referred to as “biscuits, anti-tank”. If you don’t like the Vegemite as a spread (thinly, not Tom Hanks style) add a little to some boiling water to make a broth or to a soup. We used to get instant noodles and it worked well in those. Scouring pad is for cleaning your mess tins or cups, canteen. They used to come with detergent on them. I can confirm the FRED aka f***ing ridiculous eating device is very useful.
The Vegemite is excellent survival food. It is loaded with salt and vitamin B. If you put a spoonful in hot water it makes a great broth. Lastly if you throw it at the enemy they tend to run away since no one but Aussies can stand the stuff.
The can opener is called a FRED (Field Ration Eating Device) but affectionately called the Fucking Ridiculous Eating Device. A good mix is to add the Pumpkin Soup to the Mashed Potato pack and rehydrate in the bag. Awesome meal on the go. Some more tips: Add the jams to your morning muesli, use the condensed milk with coffee and/or tea, Add Vegemite to boiled water for a broth, dip the bread in and eat with cheese Mix the protein drink with a coffee and the condensed milk too.
Marmites literal slogan is “you either love it or you hate it” lmao. You either like it or you hate it and it’s understandable. I love it. Citrus and cake don’t really mix?! Have you never had a lemon drizzle cake? It’s one of the most amazing cakes on earth.
with vegemite its a little pit on a buttered piece of bread or cracker or even toast. when your needing sodium especially when you have worked your butt off for long hours. it tastes better then marmite. 😅 tea would be either Lipton or Bushells
I have the F.R.E.D Spork variant in silver ... and my Grandfather who served in the British Army in Burma during WW2 always spoke of his love for condensed milk from his Military Service ... they would put the Condensed Milk in a liquid instant coffee brand called Camp Coffee. These things never get old ... good is good ... no matter what era.
Make sure you keep the FRED tool (the small gold spoon and can opener), Yanks love them😂I remember the Marines gave us their MRE’s purely just for that.
@@diggergaming7174 because they're something our old folks talk about, called a "P-38" in US parlance that used to come in the C-rats from the Vietnam era. So it's one of those neat little trinkets you probably heard you dad or uncle talking about.
The "Brillo Pad" is a scourer for cleaning your cups canteens, the lines on it is soap impregnated into it. The coffee used to be Nescafe, but it changed to Moccona and was way better
a lot of Australians use them for your pants overhang. you would put the rubber band over you boots and then put the pants over the band then fold and tuck the excess under the rubber band. keeps them clear of catching on sticks or allowing ants/spiders to crawl up your legs
Dehydrated rice, jam and condensed milk with a bit of water or milk, Mix it all up in the foil pouch and leave in your bum pack for an hour or two while you go about your business. Result is a rice pudding. can be eaten hot or cold. Was how we ate our Vietnam era Australian dehydrated rations
We take a toothbrush out field 😂 The little sponge thing is for cleaning out your cups canteen if you put food directly in it. The rubber bands are for keeping garbage together, or holding stuff together if you break up the rat pack in the morning. You normally get some hexamine with these to heat up the meals in some water if you have time.
Vegemite was a by product of the beer process.....not popular when it was first invented. In order to value add and promote it, the product was fortified with a variety of B vitamins so it's a good source of energy to keep you going In an apocalyptic situation you would be digging into the dumpster to retrieve that discarded tube. 😜🇦🇺🇬🇧🇺🇲🇳🇿
Mate, use the Sweetened Condensed Milk in your brew (tea or coffee) or mix it with your rehydrated Cereal Block (soak overnight) or muesli combined with Shortbread Biscuits as a field expedient, high energy porridge. You can throw some jam into the mix if you're feeling profligate. Another good use for the Sweetened Condensed Milk is to squirt some into your tin of fruit for a fruit-salad dessert. Not as gross as it sounds. Ideally, you want to combine your wet meals (or tinned meats) with rice, potato powder or bread to stock up on your carbs and protein at the end of the day, and save your snacks and light items for maintaining your energy reserves on the move during the day. Vegemite is definitely NOT the same as that insipid, second-rate Marmite nonsense. Vegemite is the real deal and there absolutely is no substitute. Australia kids are weaned on the stuff. Every Australian child loves the stuff, yet tough US military dudes act like sooky-la-la's when they just get a whiff of it. Bunch of soft-c@#ks. :-) Beware of imitations and spread it on the bread or the crackers. The detergent-infused Brillo Pad is for cleaning your brew kit / cooking kit. The chocolate is fine to eat as it is, but is also good to make a hot chocolate drink with. It lasts for decades because there's bugger all milk and fat content. There are half a dozen different CRP Menu's and every one is a new adventure. :-) Most Diggers use a Jet-Boil these days but the Army still issues Hexamine Stoves for field use.
This was enlightening seeing how everything has subtly changed over the years... main meals looked great and those jam biscuits are gold. Loved the cheese in the can back in the day
To review this fairly it should really be sorted and combined into breakfast, lunch, dinner and inbetween snacks. Eating individual ingredients randomly doesn't do it justice - put the condensed milk in the tea and coffee!
Can/bottle opener/weird spoon thing's known as FRED, Fuckin Ridiculous Eating Device. Everytime i move house i find another 5 or 6 Fred's in random boxes. As for Vegemite, nope, your wrong, it's Nectar from God.
@@claire111 Grew up on the stuff, i love it thick on buttered toast, also use it a lot in cooking, not above the odd teaspoon full straight from the jar every now and then, used to mix it with guarana paste as a mid night shift pick me up. but yes, beginner's need to try it with lots of butter on toast.
@Combat Arms Channel I am an Aussie and I think had it when I was like 5 and layer it on like jam and gave me really really gut wrenching negative response due to my brand new taste buds. Deep down in my psychology I just cannot touch the stuff.
Damn, missed out on the bully beef, 40% fat. The condensed milk used to come in much bigger tubes. Enough for two coffees and then we would suck the rest from the tube for a sugar hit. We also got a foldable camp stove and two firelighters. This is going back 46 years though. Also, real men eat vegimite, lol. Best vitamin B hit you will ever get.
18:45, when out bush back in 2015 with the army, we called the jam biscuits, jam drops or "f off biscuits" because if someone wanted to trade whatever for a packet of them, you most likely got told to f off because they are highly highly liked by all Aussies soldiers.
Condensed milk is basically milk and sugar in a syrup, and you should add it to your coffee or tea. It's sold in Australia in Tubes for camping, and obviously in rat packs. You dont need sugar, you will notice, its called "Sweetened Condensed Milk". Its very sweet, sickly even.
Nacho recepie: first remove the cheese from the tin and place aside. Next, in the cheese tin mix salt, pepper, tobasco sauce and if available, sweet chilli with the can opener. Spread the paste on cream crackers, topped with thin slices of cheese. A lovely, happy meal for one.
The Brillo pad was essential. It was one of the only things that removed carbon from a an SLR gas plug easily. The sweetened condensed milk was a pocket food sucked directly from the tube or used in tea.
Again it really depends where you are deployed.... if actual servicemen got to design MRES you would have ones suitable for a desert.. a jungle... a frozen hellscape etc.... sometimes you just need lots of sweets and things you can munch on... other times if you dont have copious hot drinks and some hot food you might not make it....
Rubbers bands are so once u open the ratpack can wrap it around so your stuff doesnt go everywhere.. also for your rubbish/trash too. The brillo pad is so you can clean your cups canteen ect.
Did not know, that Australia is putting Werther's in their MRE. Seems to be one of our better inventions for the world. Werther is actually a small town in more north western part of Germany, where the company Storck was founded.
One thing we do with sweet condensed milk (for example, 'Fussells') is just simmer the tin of it (still in the tin) in hot water for about 3 hours and it becomes delicious caramel. Perfect for putting in a banoffee pie or similar. It's also good as just a madly sweet addition to puddings.
Mate the Green thing is a scouring pad it has or had soap in it for cleaning your dixies and cup canteen just add a little bit of water. Cheese funnily good got a hole different taste. I use to keep a Rack Pack Spoon in my back minimi pouch for eating on the run or bludging a brew. Laugh the can opener is affectionately called a FRED stands for F*cking ridiculously eating device. The cordial mix stays in your canteen for about 2 days never had a coffee flavoured one but I would have chucked it out. Yes the coffee is shit lowest bidder. Snacks like you said good on the run. Our rack packs have come a long way I joined in 1984 and trying for 40 years. almost all 80's rack pack was in a can and same cheese but it had this thing called luncheon meat type one and two in was a bit like spam but with fat and all sort, the scrapings off the buchers floor.
Back when I was a baggy arsed digger, our rat packs where a bit more basic, no brand names. I used to make a rather nice drink with about 1/4 of the chocolate, the coffee, condensed milk, sugar and apricot jam - that combined with a Winnie blue was the worlds best breakfast 😀
The jam biscuits (f off biscuits) were the best biscuits. I’d swap meals for them. Shrewsbury Jams were what they used to be called. Was probably the best biscuit, the ginger nuts needed to soak in hot drink to soften. Sweetened condensed milk I’d straight from the tube. I’d use the powdered cordial at dinner, at least when I was in they were electrolytes and water treatment at the same time so could be handy to save, but for me was a good way to help rehydrate at night, but I’d do it in a cups canteen half full and make it super strong. This rat pack has a few differences to what I was having. Vegemite on crackers was good, or as mentioned before in your noodles or potato to add flavour. Otherwise any spread/jam. The jam was also good to add to the rice if you got rice and make a sweet rice meal for desert or middle of the night snack whilst on piquet along with a hot drink, I carried a small thermos flask and made a hot drink at dinner to pull out on piquet also. Chocolate bar was also good to melt in water for an extra hot chocolate as I didn’t drink tea/coffee. It’s more of a cooking chocolate versus dairy milk style. But was also edible by itself. The green scourer pad has cleaner impregnated on it to clean up, usually the black soot from fuel tablets. The spoon/can opener known as Fred was removed for a while with a lot of protest. It was good for eating the canned cheese. I had some say they’d melt the cheese and put the sweetened condensed milk for cheesecake. For me it was a good breakfast and dinner, usually has two meals in a pouch, then snack throughout the day.
G’day from Aus., Best way to hydrate is to put a teaspoon of salt in your water bottles, fixes any cramps, you haven’t been in the bush long enough, never throw anything out, you can always trade/swap🍻Chocolate is good for a hot brew, energy 👍🏻
@@lukphom5590 I’ve just checked and I realised a lot of our local kebab shops only do chicken and beef too. Shocked!! There is one a mile away that does lamb at least.
Ive never heard any truly bad reviews of Aussie MRE packs from any of the soldiers I know. I have barely heard any good reviews of the US or English MRE's.
The green pad has dish washing soap in it to clean your mess kit. The can opener is called a F.R.E.D (Field Ration Eating Device) or, as we called it, the F****ng Ridicules Eating Device.
A roasted leg of lamb on a Sunday dinner with a touch of mint sauce, is one of those things that makes life worth living. I wish I could send you one of mine dinners freshly made, you would love it. Roast leg of lamb, Roast potatoes in goose fat, Mashed potatoes, Mashed carrot & Swede, Boiled white cabbage, Sage & Onion stuffing, Yorkshire puddings, Smothered in home made gravy made from the juices of the leg of lamb. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
I did army cadets in aus and with the mre we had he mad hot chocolate with the mnm’s and chocolate melted into it and the condensed milk best one ive ever had
Man, Lamb is amazing. When i traveled to the US in 2017 i went to an outback steakhouse to try to get my lamb fix. Unfortunately no lamb there either. Sunday lamb roast in Australia is pretty much mandatory.
The sponge is for brushing your canteens, and in cadets we call them hungerbusters every morning on our annual field activities we are given one when were out on if were lucky we get plastic bottle of water for the energy drinks, and the mashed potato I often eat as a snack on the run, one of our gear when we first join is the Hexomine stove idk if I spelt it right, but its a pain in the ass to light.
Holy shit dude. That was just about one of the best AU rat packs. Muesli with the milk powder, instant mashed potatoes, jam fuck-off biscuits, bread, cake and the pumpkin soup. Granted the mains are bad but they all are - the sides you got are top tier though! Only thing that's missing is the packet tuna or the Mie Goreng, but then you lose other sides so it's a trade off.
my friends dad is a solder and we were talking about mres and he called them fuck-off biscuits and it caught me off guard, apparently they call it that because people ask others if they can have theirs and they say fuck-off, i hope im right lol
I remember when I was in the Australian Army Reserves I would have muesli and coffee (w condensed milk) for breakfast. Breakfast would be really quick to prepare so that you could do your morning routine quick and then be ready to move. For snacks on the go I would load my pockets with muesli bars and the strawberry Shrewsbury biscuit which you could just pull out whilst patrolling and munch it down quickly. Lunch would be one sachet or main meal and or assortment of bisquits that I had on me or was left in my ration plus a coffee/tea. Dinner would be one sachet or main meal plus M&Ms. I always bring brew kit with me everywhere I go, morale booster stuff. Note all this rations has been looked over by scientist types to maximise health and good diet. Also some of the food, cheese is designed to block you up and the chocolate is designed to release the flood gates. Blocking yourself up means you don't have to take a number two to regularly ie at inopportune times like on patrol. Due to the laxative aspect of the chocolate I never at it lol. On a side note the little green brilliant pad is used to scrub your cups canteen.
Condensed milk goes in your coffee when you got no milk. But all Aussie kids eat it for a sweet trest. BUT in an mre i think its for dipping you jam sandwich into so its like strawberry and cream flavour. Enjoy
Mate. The Condensed milk, to tea or mostly we suck on the tube for a pick me up. Or you boil it so it turns to caramel which you put with stuff or straight from the tube. The vegemite is a) on the cracker to make it salty b) mix with hot water to make a soup for a warm beefy salty pick me up. c) the cheese and the vegemite on the bread. In general you combine the items to make a meal in specific ways see the included paper slip.
The best thing to do with the sweetened condensed milk is to let it get really warm for a long time and it turns into a really soft and creamy caramel.
The jam biscuits are called f**k off biscuits because no-one is getting them, coffee is moccona, crackers are eaten with cheese &/or vegemite (yes vegemite is an acquired taste but it is good straight from the tube. The main meals aren't always heated up & are eaten cold. And keep the FREDDY & the spoon, I think the count got up to about 10- 15 of each of them in the house. Also you normally pull apart the contents that you know you will consume & get rid of the rest.
Watching this reminds me of the times i took my kids camping for weekends and just fed ourselves on leftover parts of ratpacks... and all the weekends as an Army Reservist.. Fun times... tasty
You save all the Lollies. (Candy) for when you get home from the Exercise. Call all the kids to the back yard & throw the lollies (candy) out into the yard, then step inside & slam the door shut. 🙂
put the condensed milk in your tea or coffee. the stuff is so sweet that a coffee with a whole tube can keep you going for hours.(generaly get 2-3 coffees out of a tube)
As an Ozzie born and bred, you have to be fed vegemite as a baby to be able to take it. ( Acquired taste )My whole life consisted of vegemite on toast (with Butter) for breakfast or as a fast snack, and vegemite bread rolls for lunch as a school kid was par for the course. Marmite really is New Zealand's answer to vegemite as is Promite. All of these taste distinctly different. Other Ozzies will throw stones at me for saying it, but personally I do Eat Marmite as it is tamer than vegemite with its own distinct flavour, and Promite I love on toast sometimes. These things are loaded with vitamin B and is good for your general health. Vegemite can be made into a soup with hot water, and being sick is a good gruel that satisfies hunger when you can't eat properly..tooth extractions as well. P.S. don't throw away that little metal spoon , it has an awesome can opener on the side, that can get you out of trouble in your car or whatever camping. Cheers !
Americans don't really eat lamb. There are a couple of states where it is more normal, but on the whole it really isn't a thing. Australians and, also New Zealanders do. Although lamb sales have been in decline for some time as simply put beef is cheaper to produce in volume in many areas. Less prone to diseases and predators. A pity, as lamb and also goats (very similar) can be quite delicious. A good lamb stew, or lamb shanks make for a delicious tender meat, especially with potatoes and lots of rosemary. Americans really do need to try a few more foods. Pumpkin soup is good, plum jams are delicious. Looks a real solid MRE. Btw, you use the sweetened condensed milk with the coffee. It is sugar and milk in one. You can make toffee and caramel with it too if you heat it up, but mainly just use it in your drink or eat it straight from the tube.
Mate, thanks for the review!!! I could taste it all from memory. BTW The Jam Buscuits we called F*CK OFF biscuits! Because they are damn amazing! Something pretty cool is that Australia makes New Zealand's Rations and Australia makes theirs. That way the ANZAC partnership is continued.
Pumpkin is a savoury food in Australia, we do not use it as a dessert.
Unlike in the USA where you use it for sweet pumpkin Pie, we use it for Roast Dinners along side potatoes or we put it in soups.
Roast Pumpkins and Potatos are peak
@@requiem6465ash potatoes grayve sausage veggiee SHEEEEEESH
Perfect 👌
Cream of Pumpkin soup. Yummy....i think we have that here in Canada too. Must be a Commonwealth thing.
Roast pumpkin on a lamb Sunday roast😋
Little known fact, Australia invented the first ration packs ww1. Australian ration chocolate isn't fat separation. The chocolate has a high cofa low milk so it doesn't melt but hydrates in your mouth, that gives it the white dry texture even when new and has been that way for 30+ years. The tea is traditionally Lipton's tea and the coffee was usually nescafe. The meals and other items are the same products you could buy in a can at the grocery store but are packaged under contract with the adf for rations.
The canned food is a little more calorie dense than what you buy off the supermarket shelf.
And is usually made in batches complying with the Army specification.
At least it was in my day...
Same with the lot. Eg. the ration pack (old A through F) butterscotch was harder + less sugar than the supermarket version. The notorious cereal bar....
The rat pack has got a lot bigger.
@@martinmckowen1588 when we used old army ratpacks at recruit school in the RAN they were way smaller!
The chocolate from ration packs was my favourite, after exercises dad's boys would save some of their chocolate rations for me and after a week away he would bring home 20 packets for me. He would then ration them so I didn't make myself sick.
Didn't even split it up into 3 meals, didn't even split up into a person that is patrolling or a REMF that can cook their meals, didn't even have a patrol stove to show how to warn up satuals to have a hot meal. This is why we spend so much time teach our soldiers how to use them.
Yay Aussies!!!
Sweetened condensed Milk can be eaten straight from the tube but traditionally used in tea or coffee.
It's lots of sugar in a milky form.
Or the coffee milk, used to be in the tube 🤤🤤
I put in on wheat bix, but i am weird haha.
@@NewyJon7787 I have it straight out of the tube and have gained the nickname "milkman" from people in my cadet unit and our sister unit because of my addiction to sweetened condensed milk. At one point I managed to obtain 22 tubes of sweetened condensed milk
Straight from the tube is where it's at!!!
@@bruhmoment-yt2zp true that mate
It's unfortunate that you went one on one with that pack. The bread goes with the stew and also the soup. The jam and cheese with the crackers. The biscuits you called the jammy dodgers are actually called shrewsberrys and are far superior. All the biscuits should be had with a mug of tea. Coffee with the breakfast supplies. The condensed milk is what you use for the coffee and tea to whiten it and you totally don't need sugar with it, it is already super sweet enough. If you try this stuff combined it's so much better. And by the way, the little green scotchbrite, is to clean your mess kit with. You are right, this is a 24hr kit and really will cover you for the whole day. It may look a bit weird and smell a little funky at times, but it is top notch gear and usually super tasty.
The CRP now has a lot more “snack” type items than when I served
@@martinmckowen1588 like wise. Who thought of putting bread in? It all seems like a lot of mucking about. I’m sure we had half this stuff. At kapoka I can remember the rat pack had meals in cans then shortly after that in the satchel . I almost stopped watching but I thought I wanted to see if the Fred was still there😂
plus he compared the Vegemite to Marmite lol, totally different and he didn't even try it.
Come on bro, he's an American. We all know they aren't intelligent enough to look at items and work out if something goes with something else. He is obviously biased too if you have seen any of his other vids. He's an ignorant flag waving bubble dweller. Even a dumb seppo knows to eat soup or stews with bread or crackers if it's in the ration pack /MRE. He's doing it on purpose as I already said. Biased.
As an Englishman in Australia, I’d say Australian tea is pretty good. They are traditionally also a nation of tea drinkers after all.
It’s a toss up between tea and coffee. I think most Australians prefer coffee but I know a few people that are big tea drinkers. I think everyone ‘wants’ to be a tea drinker because it sounds posh, but most would grab a coffee instead.
@@Zei33 Whenever I go for morning tea there’s heaps of people buying Cappuccinos and the likes so I don’t dispute that the majority of Australians drink coffee. Most of my patients are over the age of seventy and many need or request help to prepare their breakfast. I mostly help people out a teabag in their cup than open packets of coffee, so it could be a generational thing.
YAP
Cofee is good in the morning. Tea is better as afternoon/evening pick me up
Back before instant coffee was introduced, tea was available in large quantities, and very easy to make:
Just throw a handful of tea leaves in a pot of boiling water, wait 2 to 5 minutes (depending how strong you like it) and serve!
New title: American unboxes MRE, afraid to taste most of it, throws it out, tastes the Lollies and biscuits and a few drinks.
We used to put the sweetened condensed milk in our tea or coffee or spread it on the survival biscuits.
Can confirm the chocolate goes white and this is normal and is because of the high chocolate and low fat content.
There used to be ginger nut biscuits (aka “cookies”) in the packs. They were notoriously hard. I remember one of the guys breaking a tooth on one. In my unit they were referred to as “biscuits, anti-tank”.
If you don’t like the Vegemite as a spread (thinly, not Tom Hanks style) add a little to some boiling water to make a broth or to a soup. We used to get instant noodles and it worked well in those.
Scouring pad is for cleaning your mess tins or cups, canteen. They used to come with detergent on them.
I can confirm the FRED aka f***ing ridiculous eating device is very useful.
OMG Vegemite to make broth!
It's perfect for broth
The Vegemite is excellent survival food. It is loaded with salt and vitamin B. If you put a spoonful in hot water it makes a great broth.
Lastly if you throw it at the enemy they tend to run away since no one but Aussies can stand the stuff.
The can opener is called a FRED (Field Ration Eating Device) but affectionately called the Fucking Ridiculous Eating Device.
A good mix is to add the Pumpkin Soup to the Mashed Potato pack and rehydrate in the bag. Awesome meal on the go.
Some more tips:
Add the jams to your morning muesli,
use the condensed milk with coffee and/or tea,
Add Vegemite to boiled water for a broth, dip the bread in and eat with cheese
Mix the protein drink with a coffee and the condensed milk too.
Fucking ridiculous eating device and bring your own cutlery
That French lamb stew is the single best main meal in any ration pack
Chicken Italiano is also up there
Agreed.
Have a google of an Australian Army Major known as "Bush tucker man".
Good tucker
Used to love watching him as a lad
Was he a Major? Wow never knew.
@@chriskyle9713 Retired as a Major, did two tours of Vietnam.
Major Les Higgins his job in the Army was righting bush tucker maps and training for the Army. I think he was still in during the 1st series.
the small green scoring pad is
impregnated with dish soap and
is for cleaning your mess kit
Who else was expecting “alright, let’s get this out onto a tray” hahahahah
Marmites literal slogan is “you either love it or you hate it” lmao. You either like it or you hate it and it’s understandable. I love it. Citrus and cake don’t really mix?! Have you never had a lemon drizzle cake? It’s one of the most amazing cakes on earth.
Marmite =/= vegemite
Or orange sponge cake.
with vegemite its a little pit on a buttered piece of bread or cracker or even toast. when your needing sodium especially when you have worked your butt off for long hours. it tastes better then marmite. 😅 tea would be either Lipton or Bushells
I have the F.R.E.D Spork variant in silver ... and my Grandfather who served in the British Army in Burma during WW2 always spoke of his love for condensed milk from his Military Service ... they would put the Condensed Milk in a liquid instant coffee brand called Camp Coffee. These things never get old ... good is good ... no matter what era.
Make sure you keep the FRED tool (the small gold spoon and can opener), Yanks love them😂I remember the Marines gave us their MRE’s purely just for that.
I still have it haha
I swapped the Fred to many a us marine for so much stuff I dunno why they are so popular lol
The yanks have a similar can opener but doesn’t have the spoon on the end
FRED is actually a acronym. Fucking Ridiculous Eating Device. Haha.
@@diggergaming7174 because they're something our old folks talk about, called a "P-38" in US parlance that used to come in the C-rats from the Vietnam era. So it's one of those neat little trinkets you probably heard you dad or uncle talking about.
The "Brillo Pad" is a scourer for cleaning your cups canteens, the lines on it is soap impregnated into it.
The coffee used to be Nescafe, but it changed to Moccona and was way better
Least it's not international roast. So...so bad.
Yes mate too right
@@stevefavell2533 nothing wrong with some bogan dust mate 🤣
You threw out the vegemite Im crying.
Make tea or coffee with the condensed milk! That’s how it’s usually used over here (Malaysia)
Yes!!! And you don't need sugar at all if you use the sweetened condensed milk
The Aussies learned a LOT about warfighting from Malaysia
a lot of Australians use them for your pants overhang.
you would put the rubber band over you boots and then put the pants over the band then fold and tuck the excess under the rubber band.
keeps them clear of catching on sticks or allowing ants/spiders to crawl up your legs
Dehydrated rice, jam and condensed milk with a bit of water or milk, Mix it all up in the foil pouch and leave in your bum pack for an hour or two while you go about your business. Result is a rice pudding. can be eaten hot or cold. Was how we ate our Vietnam era Australian dehydrated rations
We take a toothbrush out field 😂 The little sponge thing is for cleaning out your cups canteen if you put food directly in it.
The rubber bands are for keeping garbage together, or holding stuff together if you break up the rat pack in the morning.
You normally get some hexamine with these to heat up the meals in some water if you have time.
Vegemite was a by product of the beer process.....not popular when it was first invented. In order to value add and promote it, the product was fortified with a variety of B vitamins so it's a good source of energy to keep you going
In an apocalyptic situation you would be digging into the dumpster to retrieve that discarded tube. 😜🇦🇺🇬🇧🇺🇲🇳🇿
The can opener is a piece of engineering magic. We used to always have them in our kit.
Mate, use the Sweetened Condensed Milk in your brew (tea or coffee) or mix it with your rehydrated Cereal Block (soak overnight) or muesli combined with Shortbread Biscuits as a field expedient, high energy porridge. You can throw some jam into the mix if you're feeling profligate. Another good use for the Sweetened Condensed Milk is to squirt some into your tin of fruit for a fruit-salad dessert. Not as gross as it sounds.
Ideally, you want to combine your wet meals (or tinned meats) with rice, potato powder or bread to stock up on your carbs and protein at the end of the day, and save your snacks and light items for maintaining your energy reserves on the move during the day. Vegemite is definitely NOT the same as that insipid, second-rate Marmite nonsense. Vegemite is the real deal and there absolutely is no substitute. Australia kids are weaned on the stuff. Every Australian child loves the stuff, yet tough US military dudes act like sooky-la-la's when they just get a whiff of it. Bunch of soft-c@#ks. :-) Beware of imitations and spread it on the bread or the crackers.
The detergent-infused Brillo Pad is for cleaning your brew kit / cooking kit.
The chocolate is fine to eat as it is, but is also good to make a hot chocolate drink with. It lasts for decades because there's bugger all milk and fat content.
There are half a dozen different CRP Menu's and every one is a new adventure. :-)
Most Diggers use a Jet-Boil these days but the Army still issues Hexamine Stoves for field use.
best reply on'ya mate
I remember the old hexamine stoves for heating.
Condensed milk, great to add into tea/coffee.
Yeah. What else would milk be for? You've gotta melt it.....so just squeeze some in your coffee and stir.
Hahaha im going to use that mate. If you cant read the date its still good hahahaha
Dude if you ever come across the chicken italiano, eat it!
Cold or hot. It’s worth 3 packs of m&ms
This was enlightening seeing how everything has subtly changed over the years... main meals looked great and those jam biscuits are gold. Loved the cheese in the can back in the day
Anything in a tube we used to just keep in our pocket and pump into our mouth as an energy hit
To review this fairly it should really be sorted and combined into breakfast, lunch, dinner and inbetween snacks. Eating individual ingredients randomly doesn't do it justice - put the condensed milk in the tea and coffee!
Can/bottle opener/weird spoon thing's known as FRED, Fuckin Ridiculous Eating Device. Everytime i move house i find another 5 or 6 Fred's in random boxes. As for Vegemite, nope, your wrong, it's Nectar from God.
🤮😅
@@claire111 Grew up on the stuff, i love it thick on buttered toast, also use it a lot in cooking, not above the odd teaspoon full straight from the jar every now and then, used to mix it with guarana paste as a mid night shift pick me up. but yes, beginner's need to try it with lots of butter on toast.
@Combat Arms Channel I am an Aussie and I think had it when I was like 5 and layer it on like jam and gave me really really gut wrenching negative response due to my brand new taste buds. Deep down in my psychology I just cannot touch the stuff.
my FRED is now 30+years old and still works a treat. yeah, go Aussie!
In the late 90s when I was in Australian Army Reserve we will told the chocolate is a laxative and the cheese make stop the runs
Damn, missed out on the bully beef, 40% fat. The condensed milk used to come in much bigger tubes. Enough for two coffees and then we would suck the rest from the tube for a sugar hit. We also got a foldable camp stove and two firelighters. This is going back 46 years though. Also, real men eat vegimite, lol. Best vitamin B hit you will ever get.
18:45, when out bush back in 2015 with the army, we called the jam biscuits, jam drops or "f off biscuits" because if someone wanted to trade whatever for a packet of them, you most likely got told to f off because they are highly highly liked by all Aussies soldiers.
Condensed milk is basically milk and sugar in a syrup, and you should add it to your coffee or tea. It's sold in Australia in Tubes for camping, and obviously in rat packs. You dont need sugar, you will notice, its called "Sweetened Condensed Milk". Its very sweet, sickly even.
Nacho recepie: first remove the cheese from the tin and place aside. Next, in the cheese tin mix salt, pepper, tobasco sauce and if available, sweet chilli with the can opener. Spread the paste on cream crackers, topped with thin slices of cheese. A lovely, happy meal for one.
Brillo pad for cleaning your cooking implements.
Little tip not out bush but cut a apple in 1/4 and cut the cheese in 1/4 and put it on the apple and eat it together.
Wait is lamb just an Aussie thing?
I’ve just grown up with it being one of the main meat groups up there with beef and chicken
Brillo pad was put in for cleaning cups canteen and when finished and dried out, rifle/GPMG cleaning that gas plug etc….
Lol, that’s the same can opener we got in ratpacks 3 decades ago!
And are great if you break your can opener at home
The Brillo pad was essential. It was one of the only things that removed carbon from a an SLR gas plug easily. The sweetened condensed milk was a pocket food sucked directly from the tube or used in tea.
Again it really depends where you are deployed.... if actual servicemen got to design MRES you would have ones suitable for a desert.. a jungle... a frozen hellscape etc.... sometimes you just need lots of sweets and things you can munch on... other times if you dont have copious hot drinks and some hot food you might not make it....
The Australia ration packs do come in varieties based on deployment location, the dessert one was my favourite when I was in cadets
Rubbers bands are so once u open the ratpack can wrap it around so your stuff doesnt go everywhere.. also for your rubbish/trash too. The brillo pad is so you can clean your cups canteen ect.
Did not know, that Australia is putting Werther's in their MRE. Seems to be one of our better inventions for the world. Werther is actually a small town in more north western part of Germany, where the company Storck was founded.
im assuming theyre good for slow-release sugar which could be handy to soldiers on the move, as you just suck on them instead of chewing/swallowing
they have done for many years
The sweeten condensed milk is used as a creamy sweetner. Ive seen it used in coffee, tea, cereal and mixed fruit.
aussie ration packs come either a b c or d and they are 24hr 48hr 72hr or 96hr
One thing we do with sweet condensed milk (for example, 'Fussells') is just simmer the tin of it (still in the tin) in hot water for about 3 hours and it becomes delicious caramel. Perfect for putting in a banoffee pie or similar. It's also good as just a madly sweet addition to puddings.
The Can/Bottle opener spoon is a FRED. Field Ration Eating Device. Good tool.
Also called the Fkn Ridiculous Eating Device
The sponge contains dish soap so you can wash up your utensils...pop it in your picnic set ;-)
The "weird spoon" is your can opener
10:39, the scrubber is for cleaning your Cups Canteen or Dixie.
Mate the Green thing is a scouring pad it has or had soap in it for cleaning your dixies and cup canteen just add a little bit of water. Cheese funnily good got a hole different taste. I use to keep a Rack Pack Spoon in my back minimi pouch for eating on the run or bludging a brew. Laugh the can opener is affectionately called a FRED stands for F*cking ridiculously eating device. The cordial mix stays in your canteen for about 2 days never had a coffee flavoured one but I would have chucked it out. Yes the coffee is shit lowest bidder. Snacks like you said good on the run. Our rack packs have come a long way I joined in 1984 and trying for 40 years. almost all 80's rack pack was in a can and same cheese but it had this thing called luncheon meat type one and two in was a bit like spam but with fat and all sort, the scrapings off the buchers floor.
Back when I was a baggy arsed digger, our rat packs where a bit more basic, no brand names. I used to make a rather nice drink with about 1/4 of the chocolate, the coffee, condensed milk, sugar and apricot jam - that combined with a Winnie blue was the worlds best breakfast 😀
The jam biscuits (f off biscuits) were the best biscuits. I’d swap meals for them. Shrewsbury Jams were what they used to be called. Was probably the best biscuit, the ginger nuts needed to soak in hot drink to soften.
Sweetened condensed milk I’d straight from the tube.
I’d use the powdered cordial at dinner, at least when I was in they were electrolytes and water treatment at the same time so could be handy to save, but for me was a good way to help rehydrate at night, but I’d do it in a cups canteen half full and make it super strong.
This rat pack has a few differences to what I was having.
Vegemite on crackers was good, or as mentioned before in your noodles or potato to add flavour. Otherwise any spread/jam. The jam was also good to add to the rice if you got rice and make a sweet rice meal for desert or middle of the night snack whilst on piquet along with a hot drink, I carried a small thermos flask and made a hot drink at dinner to pull out on piquet also.
Chocolate bar was also good to melt in water for an extra hot chocolate as I didn’t drink tea/coffee. It’s more of a cooking chocolate versus dairy milk style. But was also edible by itself.
The green scourer pad has cleaner impregnated on it to clean up, usually the black soot from fuel tablets.
The spoon/can opener known as Fred was removed for a while with a lot of protest. It was good for eating the canned cheese.
I had some say they’d melt the cheese and put the sweetened condensed milk for cheesecake.
For me it was a good breakfast and dinner, usually has two meals in a pouch, then snack throughout the day.
G’day from Aus., Best way to hydrate is to put a teaspoon of salt in your water bottles, fixes any cramps, you haven’t been in the bush long enough, never throw anything out, you can always trade/swap🍻Chocolate is good for a hot brew, energy 👍🏻
Lamb is possibly the most delicious meat you could eat. Surprising it's not well known in US. The rest of world eats a tons of lamb.
If Americans don’t eat lamb, what do they get in their kebabs?
In the vid he's not sure about the lamb, which is surprising, that's all.
That’s why I asked about kebabs. Perhaps they aren’t as popular as there are elsewhere.I guess they eat a lot of wraps instead.
@@TheMattlockyer usually beef and chicken.
@@lukphom5590 I’ve just checked and I realised a lot of our local kebab shops only do chicken and beef too. Shocked!! There is one a mile away that does lamb at least.
The scourer is for scrubbing your Cups Canteen & KFS set.
Sweetened condensed milk as a spread or in tea or coffee as normal milk etc
The Combat Ration One Man is CR1Minally underrated 🤣
Ive never heard any truly bad reviews of Aussie MRE packs from any of the soldiers I know. I have barely heard any good reviews of the US or English MRE's.
Put the Condescend Milk in your coffee. When you add it to the water it thins down and tastes great.
Honestly the 3 best ration packs of the world are usually Norwegian, Russian, and French. The Worst one is probably Chinese
I think the worst is the 2009 Israel one Steve1989 did. Was basically all tins of tuna and some olives
@@beyondbackwater4933 north korea probably has it even worse though
The green pad has dish washing soap in it to clean your mess kit. The can opener is called a F.R.E.D (Field Ration Eating Device) or, as we called it, the F****ng Ridicules Eating Device.
A roasted leg of lamb on a Sunday dinner with a touch of mint sauce, is one of those things that makes life worth living. I wish I could send you one of mine dinners freshly made, you would love it.
Roast leg of lamb,
Roast potatoes in goose fat,
Mashed potatoes,
Mashed carrot & Swede,
Boiled white cabbage,
Sage & Onion stuffing,
Yorkshire puddings,
Smothered in home made gravy made from the juices of the leg of lamb.
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
God you poms eat some horrible food.
brillo pad for washing up your plates and pans
I forget other militaries have proper cooking sets haha
@@CombatArmsChannel I thought all US servicemen had personal dishwashers? Or is that just Air Force?
@@swoop1352 just the Air Force 😂 comes with the 5* hotels 😂
Yes, don't brush your teeth with it 😁
I did army cadets in aus and with the mre we had he mad hot chocolate with the mnm’s and chocolate melted into it and the condensed milk best one ive ever had
Same here. 30 years ago had lifesavers in em :)
Man, Lamb is amazing. When i traveled to the US in 2017 i went to an outback steakhouse to try to get my lamb fix. Unfortunately no lamb there either. Sunday lamb roast in Australia is pretty much mandatory.
Every Sunday arvo at my nans when I was kid growing up. Baked lamb roast n vegies, loved it.
The sponge is for brushing your canteens, and in cadets we call them hungerbusters every morning on our annual field activities we are given one when were out on if were lucky we get plastic bottle of water for the energy drinks, and the mashed potato I often eat as a snack on the run, one of our gear when we first join is the Hexomine stove idk if I spelt it right, but its a pain in the ass to light.
And the rubber bands are for breaking down the packs and keeping it tight.
As you can imagine, three of those are quite heavy in your pack
I swear those jack links steak bars were literal currency on Bivoac and btw the rubber bands are for blousing your boots
the condensed milk is used in tea and coffee it takes the place of milk and sugar cheers from down under
Holy shit dude. That was just about one of the best AU rat packs. Muesli with the milk powder, instant mashed potatoes, jam fuck-off biscuits, bread, cake and the pumpkin soup. Granted the mains are bad but they all are - the sides you got are top tier though! Only thing that's missing is the packet tuna or the Mie Goreng, but then you lose other sides so it's a trade off.
my friends dad is a solder and we were talking about mres and he called them fuck-off biscuits and it caught me off guard, apparently they call it that because people ask others if they can have theirs and they say fuck-off, i hope im right lol
I remember when I was in the Australian Army Reserves I would have muesli and coffee (w condensed milk) for breakfast. Breakfast would be really quick to prepare so that you could do your morning routine quick and then be ready to move. For snacks on the go I would load my pockets with muesli bars and the strawberry Shrewsbury biscuit which you could just pull out whilst patrolling and munch it down quickly. Lunch would be one sachet or main meal and or assortment of bisquits that I had on me or was left in my ration plus a coffee/tea.
Dinner would be one sachet or main meal plus M&Ms. I always bring brew kit with me everywhere I go, morale booster stuff. Note all this rations has been looked over by scientist types to maximise health and good diet. Also some of the food, cheese is designed to block you up and the chocolate is designed to release the flood gates.
Blocking yourself up means you don't have to take a number two to regularly ie at inopportune times like on patrol. Due to the laxative aspect of the chocolate I never at it lol. On a side note the little green brilliant pad is used to scrub your cups canteen.
Condensed milk goes in your coffee when you got no milk. But all Aussie kids eat it for a sweet trest.
BUT in an mre i think its for dipping you jam sandwich into so its like strawberry and cream flavour.
Enjoy
the brillo pad is for cleaning your Dixie trays and field mug.
10:20 we use that to clean the stuff that we eat with, cups canteen, utensils, etc.
The little green thing is a scouring pad for your mess tins.
Not sure I can live with the jamie dodger slander. Like damn haha
🙈
Mate. The Condensed milk, to tea or mostly we suck on the tube for a pick me up. Or you boil it so it turns to caramel which you put with stuff or straight from the tube. The vegemite is a) on the cracker to make it salty b) mix with hot water to make a soup for a warm beefy salty pick me up. c) the cheese and the vegemite on the bread. In general you combine the items to make a meal in specific ways see the included paper slip.
Sweetened condensed milk goes in your tea or coffee usually in the scenario
The best thing to do with the sweetened condensed milk is to let it get really warm for a long time and it turns into a really soft and creamy caramel.
The green scrubber is for cleaning kit eg cups canteen
The jam biscuits are called f**k off biscuits because no-one is getting them, coffee is moccona, crackers are eaten with cheese &/or vegemite (yes vegemite is an acquired taste but it is good straight from the tube. The main meals aren't always heated up & are eaten cold. And keep the FREDDY & the spoon, I think the count got up to about 10- 15 of each of them in the house. Also you normally pull apart the contents that you know you will consume & get rid of the rest.
The sponge is to help clean your utensils and other items that you don’t necessarily throw away
Watching this reminds me of the times i took my kids camping for weekends and just fed ourselves on leftover parts of ratpacks... and all the weekends as an Army Reservist..
Fun times... tasty
A little weird combo that I love is the mash potato with just a regular powdered soup like cream of mushroom.
You save all the Lollies. (Candy) for when you get home from the Exercise. Call all the kids to the back yard & throw the lollies (candy) out into the yard, then step inside & slam the door shut. 🙂
As with other videos I'm commenting as I watch lol the green thing is a wash pad, and pumpkin soup is pretty big in Australia
Best before 2020
“You’ll be fine!”
😂
Hey, if you get M&Ms that are less than 5 years out of date, you are on a winner!!
put the condensed milk in your tea or coffee.
the stuff is so sweet that a coffee with a whole tube can keep you going for hours.(generaly get 2-3 coffees out of a tube)
'Citrus and doesn't mix well' lemon cake 🤣
As an Ozzie born and bred, you have to be fed vegemite as a baby to be able to take it. ( Acquired taste )My whole life consisted of vegemite on toast (with Butter) for breakfast or as a fast snack, and vegemite bread rolls for lunch as a school kid was par for the course. Marmite really is New Zealand's answer to vegemite as is Promite. All of these taste distinctly different. Other Ozzies will throw stones at me for saying it, but personally I do Eat Marmite as it is tamer than vegemite with its own distinct flavour, and Promite I love on toast sometimes. These things are loaded with vitamin B and is good for your general health. Vegemite can be made into a soup with hot water, and being sick is a good gruel that satisfies hunger when you can't eat properly..tooth extractions as well. P.S. don't throw away that little metal spoon , it has an awesome can opener on the side, that can get you out of trouble in your car or whatever camping. Cheers !
Brillo pad for cleaning plates and utensils forks knives and spoons plates etc
Americans don't really eat lamb. There are a couple of states where it is more normal, but on the whole it really isn't a thing.
Australians and, also New Zealanders do. Although lamb sales have been in decline for some time as simply put beef is cheaper to produce in volume in many areas. Less prone to diseases and predators.
A pity, as lamb and also goats (very similar) can be quite delicious. A good lamb stew, or lamb shanks make for a delicious tender meat, especially with potatoes and lots of rosemary.
Americans really do need to try a few more foods. Pumpkin soup is good, plum jams are delicious.
Looks a real solid MRE.
Btw, you use the sweetened condensed milk with the coffee. It is sugar and milk in one. You can make toffee and caramel with it too if you heat it up, but mainly just use it in your drink or eat it straight from the tube.
Mate, thanks for the review!!! I could taste it all from memory. BTW The Jam Buscuits we called F*CK OFF biscuits! Because they are damn amazing! Something pretty cool is that Australia makes New Zealand's Rations and Australia makes theirs. That way the ANZAC partnership is continued.