3 tins of rations.

[JERSEY 34]

To be honest I am not sure if these ration tins are British, American, or Canadian or from what era they belong but I think they may be WW.2 and possibly American because of the chewing gum. One tin has been opened to revel its contents, the other two are still sealed. I will be moving them on as they are not in any of interest to me but thought they would be worth showing here to hopefully find out a bit more about them.
There are 2 blocks of oatmeal, one of malt, some biscuits, chewing gum and boiled sweets. I should not think they are rare by any means but surely of interest to some of you.
All the best,
D

[Gunny Hartmann]

RAF Special Ration Type C, Sealed, History in WW2 RAF Survival Equipment
RAF issue?....

[Trelawney]

They're really cool, saw a video on youtube from a guy called steve1989 who opens and eats old ration packs. It's worth a look to find out about the contents but also quite entertaining to see a man chomping ancient rations!

[Watchdog]

They're really cool, saw a video on youtube from a guy called steve1989 who opens and eats old ration packs. It's worth a look to find out about the contents but also quite entertaining to see a man chomping ancient rations!

Yep, Gunny is dead right but I don't know how long these remained in use. There should be some numbers on them that will translate into date info depending on the vintage.

I recall being given RAF "survival rations" like these as a kid by an ex-RAF Buccaneer pilot back in the '70s. They were only sweets and of course were devoured with relish. I wish I had kept them really.

They are not dissimilar to WWII army field rations the design of which was still being issued as late as 1999 when I retired from the colours. The famous "Compo"

As for anyone eating "old" ration packs I guess it is common sense but I wouldn't advise it. In the Army we often received instructions from the supply chain to check rations held in training stocks and remove certain items for disposal. This involved items that had been sampled by the Laboratory of the Government Scientist and were condemned as unfit. One example was chocolate fudge bars found to contain harmful fungus (it grows in concentrated sugar over long storage), they looked and smelled fine but in the bin they went. Conversely, chocolate that seems musty and has white surface deposits looks nasty but is fine. The white is just cocoa solids separating out! It is a question of taking informed advice really Just for intrest

Regards

Mark

[Warspite]

Fantastic sets, love that the chewing gum is marked 'Mackintosh's'. I am from Halifax ( West Riding not Canada) where the factory was, although it was run by Rowntrees by the 1980s. They have a huge site down near the station, now owned by Nestle.