Military Ration Information

[Homer]

A couple of observations on rations and what happens after…

1. MRE’s (the little brown bag of joy kind) are really soft cans. Considering commercial products there’s an incredible amount of protein (spam, sardines, corned beef)in cans. Throw that in with some three bean salad, canned beans, pasta, and fruit and you’ve got a surrogate C-ration.

2. There’s a lot of inadvertent packaging suitable for rations coming online in the 80s and 90s. Top shelf entrees (retort), boil in the bag rice (dehydrated), instant soup (freeze dried/dehydrated), kool aid/tang powder, even astronaut ice cream (freeze dried). Easy to keep as iron rations or issue as supplements in ersatz MREs.

3. A dehydrator/oven setup can be used to prepare dehydrated rations that will keep for at least 90 days (a campaign). Stews, pastas, etc can all be made with care taken to ingredients, and dehydrated, and packaged. Somewhat edible dry, and can be rehydrated in the bag with water (hot or cold).

[Brit]

So for larger groups a return to this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_kitchen

Perhaps staffed by civilians?

[Homer]

For US forces there would be a heavier reliance on the existing Mobile Kitchen Trailer (MKT)/Modular Tent Kitchen (MTK) and the Kitchen, Company Level, Field Feeding (KCLFF).

Mech/infantry battalions are MTOEd three MKTs, tank/FA battalions have two. Rachel is above brigade my have MTKs in addition to or in lieu of MKTs. (Mobility is the greatest difference). Separate companies/troops/batteries and combat support battalions are the most likely places to find KCLFFs, although ground cavalry troops in DIV CAV also had them.

The MKT/MTK handles all classes of rations, and can be readily used to prepare non-standard fresh foods. KCLFFs are optimized for tray pack rations and limited fresh options. However, since the KCLFF is essentially a large hot water heater, with a range and pot boiler, it can still be used to turn out stews, etc and make high volumes of soup and coffee. KCLFFs are humvee mobile, and are pushed forward to more austere environments than the MKT (a company sized outpost may have a KCLFF for day to day use with troops receiving hit A’s when rotated back or by mermite).

In the T2K environment, the MKT/MTK gas burners can be easily converted to alcohol (jp8/multi fuel burners came on line in the late 90s). The KCLFF runs on batteries, so needs a generator or vehicle (the company’s 5k generator that powers the radios, lights, and battery chargers can easily handle the load). Both kitchen styles have two important secondary functions in an austere environment. First, they produce large quantities of boiling water, ideal for purification, field hygiene and decontamination purposes (when in travel configuration all are protected against nbc contamination by easily decontaminated covers or cases). Second, the kitchens produce heat in quantity, making them useful for extemporaneous rewarming during winter operations.