Today I was fortunate enough to get a few Canadian Military IMPs from about 2004 to try, sent to me by a generous friend who had a few extras. I figured that not very many of us on this site have seen or tasted these so I dug in and took lots of pictures...for those of you with Canadian military experience...no big whoop I guess

Breakfast/Lunch Menu No. 4 is 'Ham steak w/ mustard sauce'. It was the most lunch like of the 3 I received. If I'm reading the packaging right, I think the food was processed in November or December of 2003.

Here's the complete package. It was bigger and heavier than I expected...I guess I've seen too many freeze dried hiking meals.

Inside the brown paper is a foil paper bag and inside that is this:


I was impressed by the diversity within the package...lots of stuff going on. For me, there were just too many pieces. I imagine that for a military man who may need to eat a lot of these in a row, the variety breaks the monotony, making each meal a little different if one chooses.

Here's the brief list of contents:

• Ham in mustard sauce entree
• Pear slices
• Instant Hot Chocolate (Amaretto flavor)
• Strawberry fruit drink mix
• Bread
• Paper Matches
• Whole pack of Trident gum...I was surprised!
• Wet napkin
• Tooth pick
• Long plastic spoon (pretty sturdy, could be saved and reused)
• Instant Oatmeal (cinnamon flavor)
• 2 packets of honey (pretty generous size)
• 1 packet of ketchup
• 2 packages of sugar
• 2 packages of coffee whitener
• 2 packages of instant coffee
• 1 packet of pepper
• 1 packet of salt
• 1 hard candy
• Several napkins

The entree and desert come in foil packets...essentially canned goods.

I wanted to eat it right away so I quickly grabbed my Crusader canteen bag and set up. It's got everything I need to heat all 3 meals...in theory.

The packet doesn't exactly fit into the steel cup but since everything is canned, I only needed to get it warm, no cooking required. I keep 4 oz. of fuel in the bag so there's enough there to run the stove 3 times depending on how much I spill.

I lit it using the paper matches and when the stove petered out the water was not completely boiling. The entree I'm sure was acting as a bit of a heat sink, conduction inhibitor, and I couldn't put the lid on...less than ideal. It was warm however so I dumped the contents into a bowl. Not wanting to waste the water (who would in a survival situation?) I poured a bit into another bowl and prepared the oatmeal, eating it first. It had a grain like taste and the cinnamon flavor was weak but it was on par with cheap instant oatmeal found at the store. I added one of the honey packets and gulped it down no problem. I poured the rest of the water into the plastic cup and made the hot chocolate...there was still plenty of water left...maybe too much as the drink tasted watered down.

The entree didn't look that great

But I was amazed at how good it tasted...especially since I'm not a big mustard fan. It was sweet and didn't have a strong tang of mustard. The Ham was what you'd expect from a can but better than Spam by far (though you could have subbed in Spam and it would have been nearly as good I think). I didn't want to waste the sauce so I cut the bread in half and ate one half dunking it in the sauce.

Before moving on I'll say that the bread is nothing special but it is bread. It's dense, borderline dry, and not very tasty...but it's bread.

I ate the other with the other packet of honey spread on top...pretty good actually.

Not wanting to waste fuel, I ate the pears cold...which was fine because they were just like canned pear slices and tasted really good.

I made the strawberry drink to drink while I ate the pears...it was on par with something you could buy at the store.

When I decided that I was done, I noticed that I had a pile of little bits left. Some could be used later, some not (I don't drink coffee). Most of it wouldn't like the wet and there was no way to repackage them. I'd either have to throw them out or repack them in a Ziploc bag if I had the forethought to bring one for that purpose.

I tried to clean up using the wet napkin but it had dried out...it is over 3 years old after all.

In the end, it filled me up, it tasted good, and it was easy to prepare.

Pros

• Pretty tasty
• Complete meal
• Good variety in one 'meal'
• Seemingly nutritious
• Uses water frugally

Cons

• 3 meals a day take up quite a bit of space
• 3 meals a day fairly heavy too (not what you'd carry in the woods as emergency food)
• Good shelf life (aside from the napkin, there's no way to know by taste that these were over 3 years old)
• Can be lots of bits left over to deal with
• Lots of packaging means lots of garbage

Conclusion: Overall I think that it's a great meal which has a lot of benefits like a multi-year shelf life. I wanted to get my hands on one to see if it would be worth ordering MRE's for emergency food in the car or camping, etc. For that purpose my opinion is that it's a bust. They're just too heavy and big. Even to throw a days worth of food for 2 people in the trunk would take up as much space as my entire vehicle emergency kit including a blanket and extra clothing. The fact that it doesn't heat well in my cookware of choice (the crusader canteen cup and stove) is another thumbs down for me. If it weren't for how they fit in the steel cup, I'd be tempted to order just the entrees as some retailers offer that. I also noted that everything tasted very sweet...even the mustard sauce was sweet. I assume there's more than normal amounts of sugar for energy. I'm sure I'll enjoy the other two but I won't be investing in any cases of MREs any time soon.

Hi Hacksaw,

The pears actually look like real food. But where's the custard. The Canadian IMPs look pretty good and well thought out. Thanks for the review.

Thanks for such an in depth review. They look like they might be good for "a brown bag luch" ahhhhh i crack myself up, lol

The entree reminds me of UK school dinners from the 1970's/80's(shudder)

Hi Hacksaw,

Excellent review of an IMP, nice photographs also.

I remember reading somewhere that you SHOULD NOT CONSUME THE WATER used to heat the IMP entree in and also wash the container out before you cook in it again (I do not remember the reason why).

To make an IMP more portable you can "Field Strip" it by removing a lot of the packaging and extra items before going on your trip, this does lighten weight but also reduces the protection provided by the packing.

Field Stripping an IMP was discussed on one of the SAS Youtube Survival videos, I will try to find it and will post a link later.

Thanks for the info.

Mike

HAHAHA! That's why I test these things at home before I take them out to the real wilderness. That's definitely an argument for flameless heaters. I have a few civilian heaters of the Eaterz brand. I'll try one when I eat the next IMP. It only takes 70mL of water to activate...seems a waste to use a couple of cups of water to heat a meal and not be able to drink the water...when water is tight anyhow.

It's likely only an issue if you eat a bunch of them like a soldier might. I haven't spent the afternoon in the bathroom so I'm sure I'll be fine.

I like the idea of stripping and repacking the IMPs. You could ditch the waste packaging, remove some of the unwanted items, and add a few extras at the same time.

Thanks for the in depth review on the IMP. I have never been able to get my hands on one and wondered how they compared to the MRE. Of which I have eaten WAY too many of.
The "field stripping" that was mentioned is a great way to lighten them up and/or make a great meal by taking your favorites from several and making one meal. On occasion while backpacking I have taken just the main course out of an MRE along with the heater.Just to treat myself and get away from the dehydrated meals if only for a night.

Just boiling the pouch in the water shouldn't affect the water (unless the pouch is dirty). I know the chemicals in the flameless heater are supposed to make the water undrinkable, but since the amount of water is so small its not really an issue.

+1 on field striping makes MREs much smaller and you can discard things you don't like or need. Over several days, the lack of extra protective packaging won't really be missed.

US MREs also come with a "hot beverage bag" which is a thick ziplock bag. Useful for all kinds of things, not just making hot chocolate, tea or coffee. Carrying the hot beverage bag, flameless heater and beverage powder of your choice is a light easy way to have a hot drink on a short hike when you don't want to carry a lot of gear. Very useful.

Looks like the IMP has both pluses and minuses compared to the MRE. I'd be interested in doing a side by side taste comparison.

AROTC already mentioned it earlier, but heating the retort pouches in boiling water and then drinking that water is not a problem. I believe that you're thinking of the flameless heater pouches where you add water and an exothermic reaction heats up your ration pouch.

I believe that the main reason why you shouldn't drink the water from a used flameless heater is because it will act like a laxative, which could then dehydrate you rather quickly due to diarrhea. The water you add to the heater reacts with dry magnesium-iron powder inside to generate heat. The solution you end up with contains, among other things, magnesium hydroxide, which is what Milk of Magnesia is.

Hi Hacksaw,

The problem with the Crusader Cup is that it is a bit small to reheat the entree pouch evenly, although it can be done. The technique is to boil the pouch for a longer time than is first thought required, say for around 4-5 minutes. You will also need to remove the pouch half way through boiling time and rotate and push the contents of the pouch to the bottom of the pouch then boil for another couple of minutes to ensure that the contents of the pouch are heated evenly.

Using the traditional British army mess tins are even better though, they allow 2 entree pouches to be reheated throughout at the same time. The boiled water can also be used to prepare both a hot drink either tea, coffee or hot chocolate or the soup starter.

I personally dislike MRE Flameless Ration Heaters because of the mess they generate and the lack of their ability to boil or cook food properly (or even reheat the entree pouch evenly), which is not contained within the MRE system itself. How on earth you would cook a pheasant, brown trout or boil rice etc or even boil enough water for a days use with a FRH is beyond me I'm affraid.



The Hexamine cooker has the ability to boil up to 1 gallon of water.