Cookie, Bar or survival ration?

Marketing for a treat is so important. I find it particularly important because it helps me categories the treats that I review on candycritic.org. Some treats are easy to label, some treat like this cookie/bar/war ration is a little more complicated. I do have a "unique treats" category, where I put treats that are just too hard to categories. However, with the treat I'm reviewing today, it's not that it doesn't fit into any category, it fits into several. Although I don't actually have a category for war rations... yet.

Check out the review for this odd treat.

Daily Rations - Part 5 - Chicken with Ham and Cheese Sauce

Whenever you're writing anything, the key is to end on a bang, save the best for last.  I really tried with our collection of ration pack reviews this week, but unfortunately something went horribly wrong.  I'll start by telling you why I thought this dish had potential.  First of all the chicken is one solid piece, it's not ground, or processed in any visible way.  Secondly, chicken is probably my favorite meat, so I figured it has a pretty good shot of doing well.  Thirdly there's cheese involved, I mean who doesn't like cheese?

After reading the description on the package things pretty much fell apart.  The smell that came out of this ration pack was not pleasant.  It was cheesy, but not a pleasant cheesy, it was instead the smell of cheese that's trying really hard to impress.  A cheese smell so strong, and so sharp, that even a stinky cheese connoisseur might gag a little.  I was happy to see that the chicken was in fact a sold piece, however I'm guessing for packaging reasons it had to be cooked very well done.  I took a knife to this chicken and had to use great effort to break it apart.  Even though it was soaking in this cheese goop for the last 2 years, none had penetrated the dry interior of this chicken.

The smell of the cheese was just a warning for the taste that came with it.  It was so strong and sharp that I had trouble getting down more than a couple of bites.  It says there's ham in this, and you might be able to smell it a bit, but it could have been much stronger allies with the chicken and maybe given up some of it's juice fat to moisten this dry chicken breast.

As always I'm sure if I was out in a jungle fighting to stay alive, this would be fine.  However on my kitchen table it was a struggle to get down.

This review wraps up my whole week of eating rations for lunch every day.  While I did poke fun at the taste of these meals this week, I don't want to forget what they're for.  War is not a pretty place, and the fact that somebody tries there hardest to keep our soldiers not only fed, but give them something tasty to eat is a great thing.  While these aren't home cooked meals, for some people it's a taste of home that can give them a moral and energy boost to get through a tough day that's much harder than any day I've ever had.

CC

Daily Rations - Part 4 - Macaroni and Asian Beef

Of all of the ration packs that I've reviewed so far this week, this one is the one I've feared most, even more than the cabbage rolls.  First of all, while I'm pretty sure I know what macaroni is, I wasn't really sure what Asian beef sauce was.  I imagined a cross between Chef Boyardee canned pastas, and that red "sweet and sour sauce" you get at mall Chinese food restaurants.  After opening the pack and checking it out, I was only mildly more confident.  If it was a cross between these two things, at least it seemed to lean a more towards the Chef Boyardee, instead of resting in the middle.

While the smell that came out of the package wasn't spectacular, I had hope in my heart.  After taking my first bite, I was really surprised.  I was really surprised because the mysterious "Asian" sauces wasn't that bad at all.  Stranger still was how much I disliked the macaroni.  I would have thought that the meat with a possible four year expiration date would have been much worse than the pasta.  Considering I think I might have some pasta in my cupboard that's been around for at least a year or so, and I'm sure it's fine. When it comes to meat I wouldn't trust frozen meat for more than a few months, let along a couple of years.

All around I'd say that I was pretty surprised by this meal.  I was expecting a horror show, but instead I got a slightly spiced meat sauce with some really horribly textured pasta.  It wasn't great, and if I got it at a restaurant I'd probably return it, but not bad for a quick lunch today.

CC

Daily Rations - Part 3 - Sausage and Hash Browns

Everyday this week I'm posting a review of a ration pack meal.  So far this week I've reviewed wieners and bean and cabbage rolls.  Today I'm going to look at a "yummy" breakfast ration, sausage and hash browns.  My first impression of this ration pack, when I dumped it into my bowl was confusion.  I was always under the impression that hash browns were potatoes either grated or chopped into small cubes, then cooked in a pan or on a flattop grill.  The hash browns in this ration pack seemed more like large chunks of boiled potatoes.  There was nothing grilled or fried looking about these potatoes at all.

I was also a little shocked to see the sausages already chopped up into little pieces.  I'm assuming that this is to keep everything bite sized, just in case you don't have a knife and a fork available when you’re eating this pack.  The thing is, why not then just make tiny little sausages, which you can eat in one or two bites?  It would look nicer, and might hold in the meaty flavour a little better.

As far as quality of this ration pack, it was OK.  The flavour of the sausage was the clear winning attribute to this ration pack.  The potato was just as I'd imagined, just boiled potatoes with no fried flavour at all.  Fortunately the flavour of the sausage did mix around into the potato, so it added just a little bit of extra flavour to the bland potatoes.  I'm also really happy that the sausages weren't just hot dogs, similar to the wieners and beans, that would have made this meal really disappointing.

CC

Daily Rations - Part 2 - Wieners and Beans

All this week I'm eating ration pack meals for lunch, yesterday I had some pretty horrible cabbage rolls, today it's wieners and beans.  There is one serious problem with comparing a ration pack of wieners and beans to a home cooked meal of wieners and beans, and that is, I've never tried home made wieners and beans.  This isn't the first time I've ever had wieners and beans, however every other time I've ever tried them they've come out of a can.  In general canned foods, and ration pack foods are pretty similar, so my reaction to these is exactly the same as if I was having a can of wieners and beans.

So unless you're a wieners and beans connoisseur, and you make them at home from scratch, chances are you'll probably enjoy this ration pack fine.  The wieners are pleasant enough, sliced fairly large, but small enough to be bite sized.  The beans are also tasty enough, they maybe could use a bit more of a maple or brown sugar sweetness, instead these have a general sweetness.  The ratio of beans to wieners is exceptional.  I managed to have a bit of wiener with just about every bite of bean.

If for some reason you find yourself in a situation where wieners and beans in a ration pack are on sale at your local store, go for it.  They're exactly the same as the canned version, but the portion size is better for one person (I often find that a can of wieners and beans is a two serving things).

CC

This Week In Candy

Over the last 6 months or so I've become very interested in ration packs. As it turns out I'm not the only person with such an interest.  In fact since writing the articles I've talked to several people about these random packages of food specially designed to keep soldiers fed.  I've also been offered more ration packs to write about.  So every day this week I'm going to review a different ration pack for lunch.  The thing to keep in mind about ration packs is that they're designed to last.  Most of them have a shelf life of 3 or 4 years, and can survive in very cold or very hot environments. Because they're designed to last, you never really know how tasty they'll turn out, it's always a surprise (good or bad). I'm having my first ration pack lunch today, and I'll have another tomorrow, all the way till Friday.

Some of you who have listened to our podcast Junk Fud, may know about our good friend Mark who has appeared on the podcast several times.  Mark has suggested that we update the podcast, and the two of us are looking to re-format the whole show.  We've been spending the last month brainstorming some ideas for the show, and we hope to have it online soon.  If you have any ideas you think might work, let me know, we're also looking for guests to interview about candy, snacks, or fast food.

This week on our Instagram feed called Snack Facts, we're looking at sugar.  We're looking at several kinds of sugar, and we're going to post a fun fact about the sweet stuff every day.  So check out our Instagram feed daily and find out something new about the sweet stuff.  If you don't use Instagram, you can also follow Snack Facts on our Twitter feed and our Facebook page as well.

Last week was my birthday, and I ate a lot of cake. In fact I went to a buffet for my birthday dinner so I could specifically sample as many cakes as possible at one time.  So I thought it would be appropriate to review a fun cake themed treat this week on Candy Critic.  Who would have thought of crossing Peeps and birthday cake?

CC