Living History UK Reproduction WWII 24 Hour Ration Part II (& Hexi Stove)

Part II of the review of Living History UK's reproduction of the British WWII 24 hour ration.
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[@RiflemanMoore]

Living History UK 24 Hr Ration - www.livinghistoryuk.co.uk/product-page/the-24-hour-ration-british-ww2 24 Hour Ration Guide - www.dropbox.com/s/6q4ayjwkki65z92/The%2024%20HOUR%20RATION%20Guide%20March%202019.pdf

[@longrider42]

Yep, recipes there, for every thing But the Biscuits :)

[@Panbaneesha]

A czech outdoor company makes round fuel tablets: "Yate Trockenbrennstoff / Yate dry fuel" (Amazon/ebay). I believe they're quite a bit smaller than the original (25mm diameter, 15mm thickness), but maybe they'd still work. Coghlan's has round ones too, but they're even smaller (22,3mm x 12,7mm).

[@guerrillashadowman]

Managed to pick one of these up recently and I’m looking forward to trying it soon. Great review thanks

[@frankcioffi5122]

Rifleman Moore, love this video and part one of course.... you are great and you should definitely have more subscribers. I hope your channel blows up soon.

[@XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX981]

Excellent video, much appreciated. We have made the oatmeal block at home, via Ramsey's instructions. We already make a biscuit called Alaskan pilot bread and the similarity was very evident to the service biscuit in terms of ingredients. Both use hydrogenated coconut oil. Unfortunately we do not have a dehydrating machine so cannot make the meat block at this time. Regards from London.

[@bushcraftbasics2036]

What temperature and how long did you bake the oatmeal for? My son and tried guessing and it did not work out. You can dehydrate using your oven on its lowest setting and the door propped slightly open.

[@XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX981]

@@bushcraftbasics2036 I will need to ask my partner. We will get back to you. I can also get the biscuit recipe. Rifleman Moore may be interested in passing it to Ramsay for experimentation. I need to confirm if she uses butter and coconut, or just dehydrogenated coconut oil, but I can say sugar is in the original. Ramsay confirms this. It makes a very palatable and calorie dense biscuit with excellent keeping qualities.

[@bushcraftbasics2036]

@@XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX981Thank you. We were going 180 or 190 probably around 25 minutes and that is what probably overdid it. Very much appreciated and greetings from snowy Canada.

[@highonimmi]

To use used only one fuel tab put your water in the other tin and place it on top of the food one (or vice versa.

[@TimStamper89]

Have to say I was curious to see how that was going to cone out. An interesting invite into what the chaps were upto in the quiet parts of an action. Not something we typically see in TV or film.

[@nathansaunders2576]

There's a guy now making the correct hexi refill tubes with the correct round pucks, they were all over Facebook a couple of weeks back.

[@andrewcombe8907]

The salt contents in former military rations (ie: before current retort pouches) is something I remember well. Salt served two purposes firstly as a preservative secondly to restore salt in men who engaged in massive amounts of exercise. Infantrymen can be expected to burn 3,000 - 4,000 calories per day which is similar to professional athletes and heavy labourers. The salt lost in sweat had to be replaced or illness can be suffered.

[@longrider42]

Yes I need the biscuit recipe, please. Another great video.

[@roberts1938]

It would be very nice if you could enter the composition = Ingredients of the various elements of the food ration. So that the reenactor could replacement contents on his 24h ration by preparing for the reconstruction show.

[@HootOwl513]

If you put the Meat Bar, Oatmeal Bar and some Chocolate in the pan with water, and boil it up, you'd approximate ''Hoosh'' which Scott and Shackleton's Antarctic parties subsisted on. Washed down with hot tea, of course.

[@jakebrowncollection1772]

Great video as usual mate just dropped you a little video that might answer a question.

[@zaynevanday142]

I got one of the Ration packs a few years ago off Evilbay it’s on display in my mini museum

[@Droodog127]

Cousin Ian is still looking for the original Airborne stove version , he better go to a museum in Holland LOL

[@Droodog127]

for the wind break try a Terracotta flower pot

[@zaynevanday142]

Really interesting Hexi stove very different to the ones I used in the Service

[@nomadmarauder-dw9re]

Clue. Esbit is a German company. Got my first one there.

[@graemer3657]

Is the stove fuel really hexamine on the original stove? I thought it was a fuel tablet made from ethanol that had been solidified . Hexamine was a recent German invention ;1936) and I didn’t realise we used it this early. My grandfather was in REME in NW Europe 44/45 and he used a petrol stove, but that could have been home made or bought privately. For him access to petrol as a fuel was easy. Genuine question, love the videos.

[@RiflemanMoore]

The fuel is indeed hexamine, the stoves are oficially 'Tommy Cookers (Hexamine Type)'. The hexamine was provided in large round tablets, not much smaller than the perforated centre disc of the stove and about a half inch thick. I believe the US also made use of hexamine tablets for heating rations during the war.

[@graemer3657]

@@RiflemanMoore thank you for taking the time to answer.

[@timp3931]

I am surprised, that being a 24 hr ration, what is for lunch? The oatmeal is for breakfast and the dried meat is for supper, but just a few "crackers" for lunch? No jam or peanut butter for them? There are the soup cubes, but the supper is sort of the same , is it not? I would have been trying to find some captured rations in this case.

[@Yandarval]

Its not meant to be a modern 24hr pack. This thing is supposed to fit in a mess tin. So size and weight are important. As mentioned, these rats were more to stave off hunger pangs, until the cooks arrives with "proper" food. The genuine biscuits were probably crumbled into the broth to make it more substantial.

[@mattmagee180]

How does one carry the fuel for the stove? Would the soldier have it in a special tin, or have the fuel wrapped in grease proof paper in his pack?

[@TheMonkeycMonkeydoo]

Tablets were issued in a round metal tin with spare hexi base in a pack of 6. i believe spares were then issued in a cardbaord tube in the same quantity

[@joemorganeatmyshortschannel]

Those are pretty cool

[@davidbrennan660]

Likely as good as it was back in the day. The used packaging will make excellent props/ rubbish litter for the display.

[@mikmike5475]

Elkes biscuits in uttoxeter used to have the contract to make and supply the hard tack biscuits for the military.

[@XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX981]

This isn't hard tack. More sophisticated recipe. By 1944 hardtack would have been unacceptable to the troops. Maybe they made it for the early 20th Century.

[@mikmike5475]

@@XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX981 they were still producing the biscuits in 2000 that I know of. When issued compo rations in the late 60s the biscuits came in their own separate tin and you were issued two packs of biscuits with each ration. You could soak them in your tea for ages and they were still hard. However five minutes doing river crossing and they turned to mush in your pocket 😁

[@XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX981]

@@mikmike5475 That's very interesting Mik. Nice one. Was it like biscuits brown?

[@mikmike5475]

Not the ones from the 60s no. They were in big tins each portion wrapped in a white greaseproof type paper. Biscuits brown came after biscuits AB. The rations included a tube of margarine and a tube of jam ( more often than not greengage). 45 years in army uniform (47 if you count my time as a cadet) I've had many different ration packs some good. Some not so good 😁

[@XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX981]

@@mikmike5475 That's really interesting. Cheers for that Mik!

[@danieltaylor5231]

You mentioned that the fuel tablets should be round to be historically correct. Would Coghlan’s fuel tablets look more correct? They are 7/8 inch diameter x 1/2 inch thick.

[@malachy1367]

GOOD VIDEO

[@paulmatthews7744]

Interesting that the meat looks like dehydrated mince rather than a biltong like affair 😀

[@MikeJones-xw3te]

5 Boys chocolate, for plums (officers) with normal chocolate for the troops.

[@iainsmith6643]

Not exactly haute cuisine. I was waiting for you to do some all in cooking.

[@davehopkin9502]

Good Video, but you aint gonna win Masterchef with those recipies!!! When did the folding hexi burner come into service?

[@nomadmarauder-dw9re]

Post war. Esbit is a German company.

[@alcockell]

biscuits are probably Trek n Eat ones...

[@willtheww2collector742]

I've just brought some round hexi blocks of eBay, for cheap.

[@thebelfastvikingmartinbrow3603]

I was just about to say that myself. I have a few packs of round one's I got in our nearby camping shop .

[@RiflemanMoore]

They aren't the correct size to replicate the wartime examples, unfortunately.

[@thebelfastvikingmartinbrow3603]

@@RiflemanMoore could you not cut some round should not be that hard

[@willtheww2collector742]

@@RiflemanMoore ahh ok fair enough.

[@longrider42]

Can you direct me to the Biscuit recipe, please and Thank you. A great video as always.

[@RiflemanMoore]

Thanks! Check out the ration guide linked above.

[@longrider42]

@@RiflemanMoore I did, every recipe except the one for the Biscuits.

[@RiflemanMoore]

Oh, interesting, I'll check with Ramsey, I know they were made with national flour and hydrogenated coconut oil but can't remember the rest off the top of my head.

[@longrider42]

@@RiflemanMoore Seems like a list of ingredients is there, but no actual recipe. Thanks again.

[@paulmatthews7744]

Is there contemporary evidence on how this was used in the field. Being of a cheffy nature I might have used the oat and meat in the same pan. Sloppy haggis? 😀

[@EXO9X8]

WWII 24hour rations ASMR ha

[@zaynevanday142]

Please Sir can I have some more ? 😂

[@ryanvargus9456]

Man I hope you didn't do your health any harm actually consuming that stuff?

[@RiflemanMoore]

Nope, absolutely fine.

[@nomadmarauder-dw9re]

This is a repro. Not 80 years old.