French RCIR MRE Review - Is This The Best Tasting Ration In The World? 

There is a very rare french MRE that is specifically made for festive times (christmas, new year, national day...), it contains a bottle of wine, a main dish with guinea fowl meat and chestnuts, duck rillettes, a cake, tapenade (olive paste) and other goodies, It's already really rare for soldiers to get these so it's even more rare for it to get out

My French MRE ration box of 1975 amused me. It contained, amongst others, a miniature of brandy, ten Gitanes cigarettes, matches, cheese, tinned fish and tinned pate. It was a revelation to us British soldiers on exercise in France…..and delicious too…🇬🇧

This is a really fun channel. As a 74 year old former high school exchange student to France, French major, masters in French language and literature, francophile, cook specializing in French cuisine, etc. this review is not one bit surprising! I would expect nothing less. When I was in France in 1964 and '65 one thing that mystified me was why the housewives of the families I stayed with went out shopping every day for provisions, even quite affluent ladies, who could easily afford well-stocked larders. The answer was always the same: freshness. Everything had to be fresh or else the meal would invariably suffer. This RCIR is crafted for men and women raised up with high expectations for each and every meal. Everybody takes food seriously-- even grade school kids, who are fed real food at lunchtime: a piece of chicken, some white beans, a veg, green salad, some nice, crusty bread with local butter, a piece of chocolate. It's the difference between a civilized country and an uncivilized one.

Fun fact: the Opinel knife (Oh-pee-nail) is an iconic knife in France. Almost all farmers, hunters, fishermen etc carry an Opinel in their pockets. You can use it for almost all current daylife tasks. But the main task is to cut the "saucisson sec" (dry sausage), cheese and bread, when working or hiking in the countryside.. Not to forget the red wine! (Opinels are sold in 10 sizes: the largest Opinel has got a 10 inches blade)

To be fair, it was Napoleon that said an army marches on its stomach.

I'm french and it's so funny to discover the military ration of my country on your american channel 😄

that 65% cacao chocolate is actually one of the lower Cacao levels from the French rations, I have had one up to 78% I believe and it was fantastic. Given that I like dark chocolate it was great but I can understand that some people might find it a bit harsh.

Former 68W here. Glad I found your channel. My son and I are huge fans of military rations and we're both looking forward to more videos. Keep up the good work dude.

The French know how to eat!!!!!🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷

I'm ex- L.E. and I can assure you this is real and tres fantastique. We NEVER were hungry or disappointed.

Not only for Eastern Europe. After WW2 a lot of Germans went in there. The brother of my grandma was in the Legion in 1951. He was fighting in Indo-China (what later desintegrated into the three countries Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos) for the French, alongside a lot of other Germans. There's still a lot of German tradition there, like singing "Westerwald", which sounds very funny when people try to sing a German song, but can't speak German. In addition to the heavy Eastern European accent.

Fyi the cheese is normally fondue. You need to heat it then dip the biscuits.

Oh, yes, definitely Michelin-grade rations. I've had French rations before. They are awesome.

Only the French would make such superb food "in a can, no less!" I have eaten the RCIR 9 meal and the beef lasagna and the tuna dish was not bad. I also enjoyed the liver pate and other goodies. I have an RCIR 10 meal and just waiting for right time to break that open.

I remember trading for French rations in 1983. Giving them a C ration for their pasta, bread, box of wine and a blue pack of Gitanes cigarettes always felt like we were ripping them off.

When I was at PSAB during Southern Watch, one of these cost EIGHT US MRES in exchange.

One article I read on military food stated the French Foreign Legion actually has their own brand of wine.

Maybe the French make those rations so delicious as an incentive for you to kill the enemy and survive so you can continue to eat them?

Yep, now you know why I am stoked when my son goes on manuever with the french and brings some of those back with him ;)

The French RCIR are amazing. Best menus out there.

The french rations come with no utensils because every french soldier is equipped with a "tatou", a set of reusable metal knife/fork/spoon/bottle opener in a for similar to a Swiss army knife but bigger. So they don't need anything in the box.

Loving the reviews man. Keep up the great work!

Best ration I have ever had! Opinel and the k55k are the best knives ever made.

French food is always really good❤

This meal box looks like pure happiness!

You’re the only man on earth that gave a good review on the ration cheese😂 we usually put it in fire so that it pops to scare the newbies

My absolute favorite type of ration. Then again, I’ve only had a handful of foreign rations. Would love to try a South African one some day. Great video!

Former 19k/19d here. Keep 'em coming!!!

I love the look of surprise on your face when you think something will taste worst than it does 😆

Love the pulp fiction references. What an awesome channel.

Loving the Wild Bill's mug... got my own all set to get packed for the next convention I travel to.

Love the french MRE ...had them on exc.with the french ...loved it

Thanks for the video. nice editing

You mention being able to serve this army ration food in a restaurant. We also make jokes about hospital food but I was in the hospital (in NYC) a couple of years ago for a minor operation and had a chicken breast with dijon sauce that was better than what I've had in a restaurant with nice napery. It was thick and juicy and the sauce had a delicate touch, nothing like the usual American over-the-top way of making things. The rest of the meal was good also. This was Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn.

Both the italian and the french mres had some sort of alcohol included years and years after other nations had implemented some sort of alcohol-policy in the service. Would be interesting to get a reweiv of one of those, If any exists at this point

My first time watching a video of yours. I love the editing! Not to bash on other MRE videos, but they dont have the same modern feel as yours

Very cool friend. I finished up an RCIR, about 2 weeks ago. Only complaint, the nougat bar. They smell like paint thinner, LOL. Your meal looks excellent. Good looking components. That cheese is excellent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Glad you enjoyed. Peace, John.

Pretty good narration. Good viewing experience. :)

I don’t know about MREs, but I’ve been all over the world and France twice. There’s great food everywhere but sometimes you have to work to find it. In France, you have to work to find bad food, and honestly, I’ve never had it there. They value food more than any other culture. Respect.

Many don't realise, foreign nationals can also serve in the US military. I have known several.

Nice! Let’s get this out on a tray. (I personally like chocolate muesli)

Thanks for taking my recommendation (and Im sure others too) to try out the RCIR! God bless and thank you for your service!

I love the cartoon Skunk reference!

Great video this is definitely the best NATO MRE out there

I like the way you heated the tin food.

I recently had this menu. It's pretty solid. Mine had tuna cheese, which I really liked surprisingly enough, and prunes, not 2 cheeses, though.

Darren excellent TRES BIEN. Bill McIntosh here.

When I was at PSAB (Prince Sultan Air Base), it cost us EIGHT US MREs for ONE RICR. I knew some generous RAF personnel that could sneak me one 24hr pack for two US MREs. The problem, for ME, is that an RICR is composed of treats to be eaten with French wine.

Nice review.

That is one high speed looking kettle!

What's "sad" nowadays with our MRE (french ones) is that they took out the wine and/or liquor and/or eau de vie from it. Years ago, each one of them had wine, eau de vie or liquor in it, not in big quantities but still

We would mix some of the cereal and chocolate biscuits with the hot chocolate mix and mush it up into a sort of porridge

Welp. Ordering this for my next hiking trip ASAP. I'd say the only better one I've had is the cassoulet RCIR. Gawt dayum.

Bernard Fall wrote about wine concentrate called vinogel at Dien Bien Phu but I’ve never seen any on the internet.

I was prepared to not like that, spoken like a true man.

Wait... did he just say 'Snassuages'? [rewind 10 sec] Yup. Snassuages. Lol. Great review- I'm going to try to find one of these (French rations are generally very good, they're up there with some of the Scandinavian stuff, but I am excited to try this one in particular). Cheers (this got my sub, and a +1, etc)

im drooling while see this

I had one French MRE that included a small bottle of wine.

Points for Schlitz beer glass.

I have gotten several of these in a deal on eBay, we always eat the potted meat and the potted cheese products together on the salted biscuits, it is pretty good in that form. Kind of like meat and cheese crackers.

France has an issued utensil kit, even an updated one with a nicer knife and larger spoon and fork, coming in a pouch....

What opinel knife is the one u r using

Steve once had a French MRE which contained rabbit stew.

It looks tasty indeed, but how well does it field strip and ruck? It seems pretty bulky and fragile.

on one hand, our guys would love the taste. On the other hand, I wonder how heavily these things get fieldstripped before going out. On the bright side they'll probably be having a military feast if they ever got stuck in trench warfare

Those burps! Wasn't expecting that to be left in the edit! .. not even an excuse me! Lol

Any link as to where that kettle can be bought? Haven't seen anything quite like it, but that is from a Mom's basement viewpoint...still, what a gourmet delight that ration is!

fun fact, one French mre cost the same as one Russian army company's meal allowance.

The thing about dark roasted coffee is the darker the roast the lower the caffeine content I’m in a muddle I need my caffeine fix in the am but I love my strong dark coffee,!!

That cereal biscuit sounds a lot like a British, digestive biscuit that my mother used to eat with her tea. You could also get them with chocolate on one side, iirc. Also, the Potee Paysanne sounds like cassoulet, to me. Beans and sausage.

I have never had a foreign ration, just American C and K with a try of the MREs from the late 60s. This looked like something worth having on hand. Is there anywhere we can purchase them?

In FFL you put the tins closed on fire and shake them from time to time. If they bulge, they're done.

The french do have a strong tradition of good military rations. I mean it was Napoleon Bonaparte that made a prize of 12.000 francs to the person who developed a good way to preserve food after all. That gave the world the tin can

"He was wearing just a Beret, a side-arm................ and literally nothing else." "He also had an all-female hare- *cough* - i.. i - mean, Protective Detail, around him!" "Weird guy hahah lol"

In France you can get those for 10 bucks, yummy

The French general you mentioned was Gen. Philippe Morillon, right?

Next time u gotta use the little stove lol

The jam might be good on the chocolate biscuits

Where do you get these?

I know people that would eat them 2 cans and say what's for dinner I don't think enough to fill the gut Protein ok I get it .. but no filler there A cat could eat one can .. But good show buddy Hello from. Canada 🇨🇦 👋👋👋🙏

My question is where do u get these kinds of MRE?

The nougat bar reminds me of a Big Hunk candy bar.

Merci pour l hymne national en fond sonore 😊

Green mint tea is a north african thing, it is usually drunk hot and very sweet.

Dang it all you’ve done is made me hungry now.

Oui!!

Enjoying seeing how our allies and foes fed their troops when hot chow wasn't an option. Night and Day differences especially later in the war.

He eats the deserts before the main course... In the french army you get jail time for that.

Schultz glass? Nice! I still drink Sschlitz.

Why you boiled the can? you have a little tab stove with the ration

Wanted to see how the included "stove" worked.

How much would one of these cost. As well as most Mre's what do they cost.

Cheese is supposed to be melted and used on crakers.

French general with the all-female protection detail.....As Mel Brooks said, It's good to be the General!

This is the Big Herc prison talk music😂😂😂😂😂😂

There are no utensils provides because French forces are issued a set during basic, kown within the Legion as 'le tattou'. Why? Because, like a tattoo, it's always on you.

Joining the FFL tomorrow.

Well the picnic knife would have done a much better job opening the package.. that is the problem with a “combat knife” you can cut a throat but it is hard to peel a tater..

Loved the video, but the lamp in the background is really weird/distracting.

Where the heck did you find this French MRE.