Wedding related.

gingerjim wrote:

what were oatmeal blocks ?, never had them . ginger

You kidding, right? They use(d) saltpeter to make gunpowder I think Stephen. Blow your balls off if you ate it?

never had them in compo rations, had tins of egg and bacon , a disgusting mess , but flavoured by the rust on the cans, i do believe some of our compo rations were left overs from ww1, does anyone remember the lump of chocolate we got, a funny sort of blackie brown , in colour, not too good if your teeth were blunt, ginger

Fry`s dark chocolate if i remember correctly..

Oatmeal blocks? Never heard of them, in what era did you blokes serve in the British Army?
The Crimean War, The Zulu Wars, the Boer War?

One delicacy left over from WW1, canned corned beef, still popular, quite like it myself.

I can`t believe you didn`t come across oatmeal blocks when you were an apprentice Les
We used to fight over them..

Quote :

They use(d) saltpeter to make gunpowder I think Stephen. Blow your balls off if you ate it?

I think Stephen had this in mind Teabag


http://www.snopes.com/military/saltpeter.asp

Beachley Boy wrote:

Oatmeal blocks? Never heard of them, in what era did you blokes serve in the British Army?
The Crimean War, The Zulu Wars, the Boer War?

One delicacy left over from WW1, canned corned beef, still popular, quite like it myself.

I think some of these guys may have been at Waterloo

"john boy" wrote:

Beachley Boy wrote:

Oatmeal blocks? Never heard of them, in what era did you blokes serve in the British Army?
The Crimean War, The Zulu Wars, the Boer War?

One delicacy left over from WW1, canned corned beef, still popular, quite like it myself.

I think some of these guys may have been at Waterloo

I was. Once got a train to Bournemouth from there!

fight over them or fight wiv them , it seems they would have made good unexploding grenades according to you gents, ginger

In general i thought compo was pretty darn good. as well as the oatmeal blocks, which were great, there was brilliant steak stew, a chicken dish (frikesse ?) and the pom, yum yum

Gordon. wrote:

I can`t believe you didn`t come across oatmeal blocks when you were an apprentice Les
We used to fight over them..

Gordon.I cannot recollect ye olde oat cakes, but as you say I must have had them, were they in the compo rations ? Had plenty of compo rations marching over the Brecon Becons, doing map reading etc. .

Maybe the oat meal cakes at AAS Chepstow were disguised as Hash Browns but they were not invented in the British Army - 1963 to 1966, no doubt the Yanks had them, they gave them to us.

No Bratwurst in those days either, only in the Wermacht.

Mmm..Bratwurst and sauerkraut, lubberly jubberly.

steve jones wrote:

In general i thought compo was pretty darn good. as well as the oatmeal blocks, which were great, there was brilliant steak stew, a chicken dish (frikesse ?) and the pom, yum yum

Babies Heads were my favourite. Pilchards least favourite.

Mutton scotch style was vile

Gordon. wrote:

Mutton scotch style was vile

With you on that Gordon,

"Mutton Jock", as it was known was in the "Disgusting Top Three". Also up there was Irish Stoo and Meat and Vegetables ("Emmenvee").

"Snake 'n Sid" I liked and also, was it Stewed Steak ?

You had Stewed Steak?...It was so very rare to come by.

Compo? My era ! Great stuff, better than the swill Andy Clyde's mob were given to serve up in camp. Even had some of those self heating cans with something like a detonator stuck in the top. Square sausages, bacon rolled up in greasy paper, M& V stew, Steak & kidney puds, Canadian salmon & marmalade sponge to finish up with ......... lovely !.

That was the earlier days. In the 1970's, on a four day Ex out of Hameln we had something outside my knowledge, a later issue, geared up to reflect later tastes. The cook was already in trouble when the lads came in after a night laying a minefield. As usual the eggs were fried, kept warm on a dixie lid sitting upside down on a boiling water container. Cook nudged it, eggs slid down like the launching of the Titanic. Ever had poached, fried eggs ? Better than nowt, but only just.

For the evening meal it was compo. The troop were in a barn, ACC went over the top & put the menu up on a blackboard in the entrance. Not quite sure now...... it was something like goulash out of a tin, would that be right ? Anyway, remembering the eggs, lads weren't chuffed. "Effing Wog rations!" they snarled, ready to down tools. When backs were turned, we rubbed the blackboard clean and substituted "Irish Stew". Went down well, ACC were in the good books again.

Gordon. wrote:

Quote :

They use(d) saltpeter to make gunpowder I think Stephen. Blow your balls off if you ate it?

I think Stephen had this in mind Teabag


http://www.snopes.com/military/saltpeter.asp

That's exactly what I had in mind, Gordon....thank you. So, there, Teabag !....

you must all remember the cockroaches in the cookhouse, i swear they had their own muster parades on the hotplates , they marked time far better than any guards company, ginger

gingerjim wrote:

you must all remember the cockroaches in the cookhouse, i swear they had their own muster parades on the hotplates , they marked time far better than any guards company, ginger

Cracked Black Pepper!!!!!!! say no more

"john boy" wrote:

gingerjim wrote:

you must all remember the cockroaches in the cookhouse, i swear they had their own muster parades on the hotplates , they marked time far better than any guards company, ginger

Cracked Black Pepper!!!!!!! say no more

From Royal Nuptials to cockroaches, this is meandering well !

The NAAFI in ASSAYE Bks Nienburg was a right cockroach fest.

Most of us in those days had the Ronson Variflame gas lighters. A lot of incineration used to go on in the ORs bar !

("Cracked Black Pepper" . . . wie bitte ?).

hi there,
in the 80's and 90's we got chicken curry,beef casorole and chicken supreme amongst others.
loved those sausages too !!
atb
pinky
HUSSAR

Ah, Compo sausages, I'd forgotten about them - rubbery!

They sound nice....But were they?????

Shelldrake wrote:

Ah, Compo sausages, I'd forgotten about them - rubbery!

Is that Chinese for lovely

'Tis, John Boy - as in "This Chicken's rubbery".