OT (somewhat):Soviet/Russian rations...has anyone tried this stuff???

[Schone23666]

The first three pics are of an older Russian (or Soviet?) style ration, the last two are a newer version that I THINK (could be wrong) they are now issuing to some troops. Supposedly the quality and variety has been improved with the newer version, but I dunno. I got them from here: http://www.mreinfo.com/

There is a company that's selling a commercial version of the Russian military rations, supposedly the rations themselves are cheap but the shipping and importation price is ungodly.

My question is, has ANYONE tried this stuff? And if I were to purchase any, how quickly should I check into the nearest hospital for botulism after I tried one?

[HorseSoldier]

Hmmmm. On those open containers, I will check with my wife's cats. It's possible they've been eating Soviet military rations daily for years now.

There's a company called Reprorations that mostly does stuff for the WW2/WW1 reenactor crowd but they also have a repro of the Soviet Afghanistan mountain ration with some discussion of its evolution from the wholly inadequate Soviet equivalent of the C Ration to something less likely to cause malnutrition and scurvy with extended use.

One definite upshot of their state of the art is that even before the wheels come off post-nuke, expect any Soviet/WP units in a region to be at least unofficially reliant on scrounging and scavenging from the local populace to a degree unseen in Western armies for decades.

[ArmySGT.]

Originally Posted by HorseSoldier

One definite upshot of their state of the art is that even before the wheels come off post-nuke, expect any Soviet/WP units in a region to be at least unofficially reliant on scrounging and scavenging from the local populace to a degree unseen in Western armies for decades.

Soviet / Russian units still practice this. The farm on their installations, fields, greenhouses, dairy, and bake their hard black bread daily.

There is a scale on the chow line, so in theory every comrade gets his share.

In the actual brutal pecking order of soviet conscription? .......

[ArmySGT.]

[Graebarde]

Originally Posted by ArmySGT

RussiaWW2fieldkitchen-
RussiaWW2fieldkitchen-towedbyaGAZ69Jeep

Had to reply to find out what they acually were other than a field kitchen. Something that I think has gone by the wayside in the US inventory for the most part with the advent of T-Rations. FB

[Schone23666]

As an aside, all that white crap you see in the opened tins? Yes, indeed it's fat. One reviewer said it was advertised to be around 20 to 30 percent but it looked more like 40 to 50 percent. I guess when you heat it it turns liquid, so you're supposed to drink it.

And most of the rations now come with a "vitamin tablet" which you ingest once a day, I guess that's to help combat scurvy, and any other vitamin deficiencies found in the rations.

As for the Russian cantonments and their field kitchens...it seems they really haven't changed much since WWII, though I read even during WWII many conscripts didn't even have tinned food, it was typically packed loose in bags and/or scrounged from whatever was available.

[Legbreaker]

A high fat diet is necessary for operating in very cold weather. Take Pemmican for example.
http://www.natureskills.com/wild-foods/recipe-pemmican/

[WallShadow]

ArmySGT--I want one!
It's a Soviet version of a gulasche-kanone, right?

Although the WW2 German model is truly an engineering beauty--

I got to see one at a Battle of the Bulge reenactment at Ft Indiantown Gap, where a Wehrmacht soldier was doing a live demonstration making soup for his unit out of a large joint of meat, potatoes, and cabbage. He gave me the tour of the cooker, and showed me all the little extras it had--nicely designed and everything fits together well with little wasted space.

It has a firebox that not only heats a double-walled garbage can-sized pressure cooker (glycerine between the walls to evenly distribute the heat, lid held down by large wing-nuts), but also has several cubbyholes in the body serve as warming cabinets, and heats an internal tank/reservoir with a tap for ready hot water to boot!

[Schone23666]

Originally Posted by WallShadow

ArmySGT--I want one!
It's a Soviet version of a gulasche-kanone, right?

Although the WW2 German model is truly an engineering beauty--

I got to see one at a Battle of the Bulge reenactment at Ft Indiantown Gap, where a Wehrmacht soldier was doing a live demonstration making soup for his unit out of a large joint of meat, potatoes, and cabbage. He gave me the tour of the cooker, and showed me all the little extras it had--nicely designed and everything fits together well with little wasted space.

It has a firebox that not only heats a double-walled garbage can-sized pressure cooker (glycerine between the walls to evenly distribute the heat, lid held down by large wing-nuts), but also has several cubbyholes in the body serve as warming cabinets, and heats an internal tank/reservoir with a tap for ready hot water to boot!

Sheesh, even when it came to designing portable field kitchens the German Wehrmacht didn't mess around.

[ArmySGT.]

Originally Posted by WallShadow

ArmySGT--I want one!
It's a Soviet version of a gulasche-kanone, right?

Although the WW2 German model is truly an engineering beauty--

I got to see one at a Battle of the Bulge reenactment at Ft Indiantown Gap, where a Wehrmacht soldier was doing a live demonstration making soup for his unit out of a large joint of meat, potatoes, and cabbage. He gave me the tour of the cooker, and showed me all the little extras it had--nicely designed and everything fits together well with little wasted space.

It has a firebox that not only heats a double-walled garbage can-sized pressure cooker (glycerine between the walls to evenly distribute the heat, lid held down by large wing-nuts), but also has several cubbyholes in the body serve as warming cabinets, and heats an internal tank/reservoir with a tap for ready hot water to boot!

This is exactly what it is. A point of fact. These cookers all work on the move. So after breakfast the cooks would do clean up of the porridge from one pot while starting soup or stew in another. This would cook that meal while being towed. Rest halts and other stops the cook would stoke the fire or brew tea from the hot water in the reservoir adding hot water to keep the reservoir full.