Unboxing & Taste Test: UK 24-Hour Military Rations - Menu #19

I'm a big fan of YouTubers like Ashens who do unboxings and taste tests of food - especially food that's a bit different from what we normally eat on a day-to-day basis. After watching a few unboxing and taste test videos of military rations, I decided I wanted to try one too.

I found tons of them for sale on eBay - despite the box being covered in warnings that it was the property of the Ministry of Defence and wasn't to be resold. Oh dear.

Anyway, I scrutinised the menus rigorously, as I didn't want one that came with baked beans - as I can't stand them. I ultimately decided on a menu #19 box and ordered it. The box was £5, and the postage was a couple of quid on top of that - so I got it for just under a tenner. Not bad, considering it was a whole day's worth of food that I did actually eat.

Here's an annotated photo of the entire contents of this ration pack:

1 - Pack of tissues
2 - Stormproof matches
3 - Water purification tablets
4 - Spork
5 - Antibacterial wipes
6 - Coffee sachets
7 - Tea bags
8 - Sugar sachets
9 - Creamer sachets
10 - Tabasco Green
11 - Caramel flavoured hot chocolate drink
12 - Dental chewing gum
13 - Grapefruit flavoured drink powder
14 - Orange flavoured drink powder
15 - Blackcurrant flavoured drink powder
16 - Apple flavoured energy drink powder
17 - Fruitful museli
18 - Chicken in yellow curry with rice
19 - Potato and leek soup
20 - Sticky toffee pudding
21 - Cookies & cream cereal bar
22 - Ginger oat biscuits
23 - Chili beef jerky
24 - Nuts cocktail
25 - Fruit pocket (apple, blackcurrant & raspberry)
26 - Melon, mango & pineapple fruit mix
27 - Squeezy peanut butter
28 - Fruit & nougat bar

So I made two videos documenting this little foray into the world of military rations; an unboxing video and a taste test video. I even ate all of the food out of a partitioned metal tray with the provided spork for added realism. Admittedly I cooked my food pouches in a pan of boiling water on a gas oven rather than an open fire - but I don't trust myself near open flames to be honest.

Unboxing Video:


Taste Test Video:


Included with my ration pack was a feedback form, which I also filled out:

Honestly, some of the stuff in there was AMAZING. I could totally live on the chicken curry, sticky toffee pudding, nougat bars, cereal bars and nuts cocktails. The oaty biscuits and peanut butter weren't bad either, and very filling. The only food I didn't really enjoy were what I predicted anyway; muesli, as I'm not a big fan of it, dried fruit, same story and beef jerky, because it tastes like salty old shoes. The drinks were a bit lacking, but then I subsist purely on fizzy pop, I'm not really familiar with powdered juice mixes.

I'm keeping an eye on the eBay listings - if I spot any other ration packs that look good and are a decent price - I will be more than happy to try them. I wouldn't mind sampling some from other countries too. :)