C Rations shelf life?

[movieman1500]

Hey all I have an uncle that has about 28 C Rations from around the Vietnam era and was wondering what the shelf life was he seems to think 100 years but I am skeptical

[Murph]

You wouldn't catch me eating them.

[Phoenix David]

18.7 years

[Lonely Raven]

12 Parsecs.

[Phoenix David]

12 Parsecs.

Oh come on!!?? Really??!! Everyone knows that parsecs is a measure of distance and not time.

Further more Solo was not referring directly to his ship's speed when he made this claim. Instead, he was referring to the shorter route he was able to travel by skirting the nearby Maw black hole cluster, thus making the run in under the standard distance. By moving closer to the black holes, Solo managed to cut the distance down to about 11.5 parsecs. The smuggler, BoShek, actually beat Solo's record in his ship, Infinity, but without cargo to weigh him down

[shoggoth80]

In Star Wars, it seems to be a measure of time. I recall the character Han Solo saying his ship can make a run (forget which planet) in less than 12 parsecs. Not on topic, but silly humor.

[movieman1500]

In Star Wars, it seems to be a measure of time. I recall the character Han Solo saying his ship can make a run (forget which planet) in less than 12 parsecs. Not on topic, but silly humor.

[crypto]

There's a really tortured explanation of the parsecs time vs distance thing that involves nerdery that I'm not willing to admit to knowledge of in a public space.

You can google it though.

[lonewolf15002000]

Might want to check and make sure if they are C rations or not. They more then likely are MCI's which replaced the C ration in 1958 and was used until 1980. The troops however did still call them C rations.
Source
More info on the MCI











As for the parsec well........ You decide

[NYKh]

Up in till the mid 80’s we were eating the thin tins of peanut butter my buddies father brought back from the ‘Nam..

[crypto]

Apparently as of 2009, the Vietnam-era C-rat / MCI was still edible.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... ation.html

I lolled.

the tl;dr version is "Soldier brings 1969-issue C-rat poundcake home with him from Vietnam, vows to eat it when he retires from Army. Does so in 2009."

[lonewolf15002000]

Here is the MREinfo's link to the MCI page. No mention of shelf life but there is a link to a 26 year old fruit cake taste test.

[shoggoth80]

"There's a really tortured explanation of the parsecs time vs distance thing that involves nerdery that I'm not willing to admit to knowledge of in a public space."
Awesome.

[Phoenix David]

I remember in 83 they fed us C rats that were stamped in the 50's. none of us died that week

[kiwilrdg]

Just be sure they didn't turn fresh.

[Lonely Raven]

"There's a really tortured explanation of the parsecs time vs distance thing that involves nerdery that I'm not willing to admit to knowledge of in a public space."
Awesome.

OK, I will then (since I brought it up in the first place as my facetious answer:

The Kessel run was a smuggling run that took you past a cluster of black holes that would help mask your ship and avoid "Imperial Entanglement". The problem is, only the strongest and fastest ships could skirt close the cluster without being pulled in and crushed. Han says he made the Kessel run in 12 parsecs (12 Parsecs = 3.7028163 × 1017 meters). The story goes he cut it so close, that some armor plates were pulled off the bottom of the Falcon by the (multiple) gravity wells.

Rock Out with your Geek Out!

[armored_pig]

I've eaten 24yr old mre's--but not c rations..

The mre's lose their texture altogether and become a mush--but very much edible. however, if any of them become pressurized (inflated bag, can hisses and lets out a putrid smell), DO NOT EAT IT.

Pig

[shoggoth80]

I imagine that many components from C-Rats would still be ok to eat? From what I see of them, much of it is canned. Theoretically, if you take out the chance for something to come in contact with oxygen, you take away the possibility to decompose? Granted, I have never eaten anything as old as C-Rats out of a can though. I know that it is possible for something to spoil while in the can.

[Frank]

I've eaten 24yr old mre's--but not c rations..

The mre's lose their texture altogether and become a mush--but very much edible. however, if any of them become pressurized (inflated bag, can hisses and lets out a putrid smell), DO NOT EAT IT.

Pig

i only had 17 year old mres..they were still good except for the tabasco and the coffee creamer. the tabasco had turned into black death. even the coffee was still pretty good. i had the peanut butter the next day with no runs.

[Geardo]

If they are complete, you may want to throw them up on e bay. Collectors are hot for complete originals these days. Not many left.

Just curious; Do they still have the smokes?

[movieman1500]

If they are complete, you may want to throw them up on e bay. Collectors are hot for complete originals these days. Not many left.

Just curious; Do they still have the smokes?

I think so on the smokes, thanks for an alternative use idea I will check that out and let him know