Military Rations of the World, Part 11: Russia!

Рад тебя видеть! Today we travel to Russia to find out what big, square-jawed Slav soldiers eat in the field. The Russian Armed Forces reportedly number approximately 1 . 9 million active duty soldiers as of this year, and continue to be leaders in the development and production of military hardware used throughout the world.

The Individualnovo Ratsiona Pitanee, or "Individual Ration Pack", comes primarily in a 24-hour pack. There are several variants for the outer packaging, depending on whom the ration is for, but the contents are generally the same. Most come packed in a cardboard box inside of a hard plastic pouch.

My Russian is not so good, I believe this is showing the contents of the two current menus and weight of items.

Lots of goodies packed in there! Especially crackers - no less than four packs!

The main entrees and spreads come in aluminum foil packaging, sealed with peelable foil lids.

From top to bottom:
- Processed cheese
- "Aubergine Caviar", a kind of vegetable spread
- Vegetable ragout with beef
- Stewed Beef
- Liver Pate
- Rice Porridge with Beef

Drink options and accessories include:

- 3 big packets of sugar
- 1 packet of beverage powder
- 1 processed fruit bar (prunes)
- 1 packet of salt
- 1 packet of pepper
- 1 packet of apple jam
- 2 bags of black tea
- 1 packet of instant coffee

More accessories!

- 3 packets of disinfectant wipes *
- 3 spoons **
- 2 water purification tablets
- 1 set of windproof matches
- 1 miniature field stove

* Each packet of wipes has two different types. One is meant for wiping your hands/mouth with, the other is for disinfecting your utensils and field kit.

** These are good, hard plastic spoons. Better than most you will find in military rations.

Out of all the miniature field stoves I've tried, the Russian version is the most awkward. It's hard to tell which end is supposed to be up or down, and either way it ends up being tricky to balance.

Here is the breakfast portion of the ration: Rice porridge with beef, plum fruit bar, crackers with vegetable spread and apple jam.

Despite the way it looks, I actually ended up liking the porridge. It thickens up quite a bit while it cooks, and it's very filling. The closest thing I can compare it to in North American dishes is corned beef hash.

The vegetable spread, which is made from roasted eggplant, isn't too bad once you get used to it. The flavor and texture is close to that of a very mild tomato sauce. The real winner is the apple jam, I enjoyed it the most.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of two of the meals after they were cooked, but it's probably for the best. The stewed beef was, by far, the worst thing I've ever eaten from a military ration. The cut of meat is extremely poor quality, more fat and gristle than actual meat, completely unappetizing. On top of that, the liver pate was a taste that I have never acquired.

So to make up for the lost pictures, I ordered an additional single meal ration!

It comes in the same packaging, but is much smaller.

Even though it's for a single meal, it still has a decent assortment of items.

This one included:

- Two packs of crackers
- Apple jam
- Miniature field stove
- Spoon
- Vegetable spread
- Beef and potatoes

Accessories include:

- Sugar
- Salt
- Pepper
- Water purification tablets
- Sanitizing wipes
- Black Tea
- Napkin

Used my Italian field stove for this one. It's not so good for the Italian ration (come back tomorrow to find out why), but works quite well for the Russian entrees!

For a single meal, it turned out quite... nice! The black tea is bold and refreshing, and you have lots of crackers for spreading your apple jam and aubergine on.

Like most Russian entrees, the beef and potatoes is a simple, hearty dish that will fill you up. Unfortunately, something about the way they prepare it for packaging leaves a thick, fatty wax that coats the inside of your mouth after just a few bites, and there were far more potatoes than beef in this dish.

Hope you enjoyed! Come back tomorrow for the last installment in the series, where I'll be reviewing a very special ration - the much sought after Menu F from Italy... the only military ration in the world with alcohol!

http://imgur.com/gallery/Rj2O6 - Part 1 - China
http://imgur.com/gallery/Yo3ng - Part 2 - Germany
http://imgur.com/gallery/Z16Ib - Part 3 - Poland
http://imgur.com/gallery/sMZSV - Part 4 - France
http://imgur.com/gallery/qGb4K - Part 5 - USA
http://imgur.com/gallery/c39uV - Part 6 - Britain
http://imgur.com/gallery/KmiwG - Part 7 - The Netherlands
http://imgur.com/gallery/GSxfv - Part 8 - Spain
http://imgur.com/gallery/6xw4S - Part 9 - Canada
http://imgur.com/gallery/IcEr6 - Part 10 - Lithuania
http://imgur.com/gallery/aIP60 - Part 11 - Russia
http://imgur.com/gallery/K0Tws - Part 12 - Italy
http://imgur.com/gallery/nt7WB - Part 13 - Sweden
http://imgur.com/gallery/yKbax - Part 14 - Denmark
http://imgur.com/gallery/r1ZUL - Part 15 - Australia
http://imgur.com/gallery/VPTSk - Part 16 - Latvia
http://imgur.com/gallery/IXemh - Part 17 - Norway
http://imgur.com/gallery/9klVU - Part 18 - Ukraine
http://imgur.com/gallery/kmPSY - Part 19 - Japan
http://imgur.com/gallery/JocOT - Part 20 - Croatia.

http://imgur.com/gallery/4AGTJ - Humanitarian Daily Ration