Food & Compo

unclevanya wrote:

 
The strong, stewed tea with condensed milk was like nectar, especially on a cold day....... Oh heavens, the nectar of the gods....... all a long time ago, so I wonder if one can buy similar fare in the supermarkets or Aldis or Lidls to remind one of those far off days when we were all a tad young..?   

Well you can still get Condensed Milk, even in a tube! My local Morrisons sell it


Internet Image

If you look around many of the old compo favourites can still be found. But not Biscuits Brown!

Not in tea. Coffee, yes!

Ah a subject close to my heart.Hi guys I am back after my sojourn to London for the past 4 wks the good lady wife has been in hospital so I have been on field rations for the duration ( Sainsbury ready meals...not that bad actually) I need to catch up on the gossip so toodle pip nice to be back  

Memories... Oatmeal block.I have yet to find a biscuit to equal them   

john boy wrote:

Ah a subject close to my heart.Hi guys I am back after my sojourn to London for the past 4 wks the good lady wife has been in hospital so I have been on field rations for the duration ( Sainsbury ready meals...not that bad actually) I need to catch up on the gossip so toodle pip nice to be back  

Absent again -
you're an absolute shower !

john boy wrote:

Memories... Oatmeal block.I have yet to find a biscuit to equal them   

And when the ACC got there hands on that lot it became:-

Cheese and Oatmeal Mixed Fruit Jam Stew.   

  

acc porrige, a couple of sacks of hardtack biscuits , mashed up . put in a tub of boiling water for 5 minutes then dished up to poor unsuspecting squaddies before the greasy bacon and beans , ginger

Oatmeal Blocks made a reasonable Porridge Jim. 'Hardtack' was still issued as a bread substitute when I first joined in 1968

Hardtack or 'Hard Bread' in U.S. Army Terms was issued in tins to suppliment rations when Bread was not available, but RAOCor local  Bread was issued on almost every BAOR scheme I was on

'Biscuits Brown' replaced 'Hardtack' in the early 70's which were not as hard



and 'Biscuits Fruit' as a snack!



Both packed in 24hrs rations, not in 7 or 10 Man Packs.

gingerjim wrote:

acc porrige, a couple of sacks of hardtack biscuits , mashed up . put in a tub of boiling water for 5 minutes then dished up  to poor unsuspecting squaddies before the greasy bacon and beans , ginger

Was it not up to your standards old boy...If you were a Rupert you could of had kippers and coffee minus the Bromide followed by toast and marmalade   

Mike_2817 wrote:

Oatmeal Blocks made a reasonable Porridge Jim. 'Hardtack' was still issued as a bread substitute when I first joined in 1968

Hardtack or 'Hard Bread' in U.S. Army Terms was issued in tins to suppliment rations when Bread was not available, but RAOCor local  Bread was issued on almost every BAOR scheme I was on

(quote)

What a blessing that RAOC-baked bread was.
Apart from allways being fresh, if you found yourself away from your own position and without your Noshing Rods and mess tins, it was usually possible to cadge a meal and slices of bread enabled you to make a "sarny" of anything that was going.

'Biscuits Brown' replaced 'Hardtack' in the early 70's which were not as hard



and 'Biscuits Fruit' as a snack!



Both packed in 24hrs rations, not in 7 or 10 Man Packs.

I never encountered 70s "Biscuits Brown/Fruit. Perhaps they hadn't got around to issuing them to the peasantry.

Ops meant late 70's, early 80's

P.S. Before 'Biscuits Brown' they were known as Biscuits AB [meaning Alternative Bread]

'Hardtack' being a nickname from navy days when they never got bread!

Thought this might help the uninitiated ...

Len (Ciphers)

Anybody remember the self heating soups. Can't say I tasted any in BAOR but certainly had some whilst in Korea. Remember a NS Schooly Sgt being covered in tomato soup, after an explosion 'cause he forgot to pierce the tin.

Jimsigs

ciphers wrote:

Thought this might help the uninitiated  ...

Len (Ciphers)

That was a reason why we were known as the Aldershot Concrete Company   

John boy,
Had the Middle East School of Cookery in our camp during the Cyprus troubles (1955). The greatest character was WO2 Jack Tattersall. Don't suppose you might have come across him during your time
Jimsigs

That would make John Boy about 121 by my reckoning.

Len (Ciphers)

john boy , i feel sure our slop jockeys made hard tack porrige to disguise the taste of the bacon and beans which was our normal breakfast fare ,i mean really how can you bugger up streaky bacon and watered down beans , ginger

Gingerjim,

Talking about porridge, the Germans certainly got their own back by dishing up their version of the breakfast stuff, and the Aldershot Concrete Company let them do it. The German version was hard with lumps and made with water. That was in Herford 1952.
Jimsigs

Scottish traditionalists allow only oats, water and salt to make porridge.
Adding milk allows for a more creamy mixture!

I have had compo porridge made from Oatmeal Blocks which was not to bad!

I agree Mike,
Just add a little carnation milk to ease it down. I remember a riot in the bottom cookhouse at AAS Harrogate in 1950 when an apprentice when beserk. Within five minutes everyone was throwing their breakfast dishes around containing the Harrogate porridge. One slice of porridge actually hit someone and drew blood and it wasn't the plate !!!!

jimsigs1 wrote:

I agree Mike,
I remember a riot in the bottom cookhouse at AAS Harrogate in 1950 when an apprentice when beserk. Within five minutes everyone was throwing their breakfast dishes around containing the Harrogate porridge. One slice of porridge actually hit someone and drew blood and it wasn't the plate !!!!

That was probably Gordon when he found his soft boiled egg overdone.  

Way before my time Shelldrake. 9 years to be exact...Never touched an egg at Harrogate.One look was enough.As for the porridge...Yuk!!! full of sugar.

Can't remember there being too many eggs around in my time at Harrogate or indeed BAOR - soft boiled or any other way of dealing with them.
But I do remember another type of egg as a lad growing up during the war :




My late Mum did wonders with these. Wonder how the Army Concrete Company would have dealt with these. !!

Jimsigs

i loved the powdered egg during the war a sort of ommalette in a hot pan , but for me it had to be burnt , lovelyjubbly , as for real eggs in the 50s it was one egg per man per week , usually for breakfast on sundays , always cooked about 4am so you could drill it on the hot plate , fried egg , wait for it , as you were , fried egg shunnnn , on the hotplater mark time , ginger