Today, many guys, going to serve the prescribed year, are seriously worried about the quality of food. This issue worries their parents and relatives even more. So talking about how things are with food in the army will not be out of place.
How is the diet in the army?
To begin with, it is worth saying that the products in the army are as simple as possible. Still, no state can feed all the soldiers with delicacies. Therefore, red fish, cakes and various pickles should not be expected. But at the same time, the food is quite high-calorie, most dishes are quite satisfying.
In general, the food is quite balanced - the soldier receives a strictly defined amount of carbohydrates, fats and proteins, allowing him to effectively develop physically and intellectually. There are no gross violations leading to the development of obesity, which is often found in everyday life, in the army.
It should be noted that in the last 15-20 years the quality of food has generally increased dramatically - soldiers consistently receive three hot meals a day or a worthy replacement in the form of IRP (individual rationsmeals), or, as they used to be called, dry rations. Three meals are standard. Let's talk more about each of them.
What do you eat for breakfast
The first meal starts at 7:00 sharp. Most often, porridge made from oatmeal, millet or barley is served for breakfast. In some cases, porridge can be replaced with pasta. In any case, a meat dish is served with the side dish - most likely, one sausage or cutlet. In some parts, a soldier can also rely on a boiled egg and a small amount of cheese - processed or hard. A nice addition is butter - alas, in a fairly small amount, enough to make a sandwich. In recent years, oil is given not in a lump, but in the form of a small packaged briquette. Therefore, a soldier does not have to complain that a neighbor was given more butter than him.
Tea (sometimes with milk, regular or condensed milk), as well as something like cookies or gingerbread, relies on sweets. In cases where porridge is boiled with milk, tea is served without it.
This concludes breakfast. As you can see, it consists mainly of complex carbohydrates - the minimum amount of proteins and fats. This is fully justified - carbohydrates are absorbed much faster, without creating heaviness in the stomach. The most suitable meal for the early morning, when the body needs to get the maximum calories after the night and prepare for a busy day.
Dishes served for lunch
The second meal is scheduled for 13:00. Lunch is more dense - it is most noticeable from it that food in the Russian army is significantlyimproved in recent years.
For starters, the first one is sure to be served. It can be borscht, cabbage soup, pickle, hodgepodge, vermicelli soup or something like that. Of course, the quality largely depends on the chef and the honesty of the unit commander, but in general the dish is quite nutritious and even relatively tasty.
The second dish is served with a meat dish: roast, beef stroganoff, cutlet, chicken fillet or liver. The addition is a side dish - pasta, stewed cabbage or some boiled cereal (rice, buckwheat, pearl barley, millet, peas).
A nice addition in many parts is the salad. It can be prepared with fresh vegetables (in season), such as cucumbers and tomatoes. But more often, longer stored foods like cabbage, beets, onions and others are used. Of course, even a small bowl of salad is great to cheer up a soldier, especially a newly drafted, homesick.
As a sweet, juice is given or, much more often, freshly brewed and barely cooled dried fruit compote. Sweets are served with a bun or a few cookies.
Quite often in the spring, vitamins are added to the diet - ordinary ascorbic acid or a more complex multivitamin complex. Sometimes the soldiers are served a few pills, which they must eat before eating. But sometimes vitamins are added directly to food - they do not affect the taste, but are absorbed better. True, because of this, there is a lot of speculation about what is added to food in the army (more on that later).
You can see for yourself, lunch combines proteins, fats and carbohydrates. Suchthe set is not at all random, because they have different rates of splitting and assimilation. This means that the soldier will feel full and receive the necessary calories for several hours after eating.
What do they have for dinner in the army
The last meal of the day starts at 19:00. And many people don't like dinner very much in the army. First of all, because fish is often served here as a meat dish. Of course, they try to save on it, serving most often pollock, cod, flounder or saffron cod. Sometimes it is boiled or stewed, but most often it is fried. In some cases, minced fish meatballs are given instead of fish. But still, the abundance of bones makes itself felt - the pleasure of eating is greatly reduced.
Of course, fish is served with a side dish: mashed potatoes, stewed cabbage, buckwheat or some other cereal. Salads for dinner are usually not relied upon. Sometimes they can add a small amount of canned corn or peas to a meager dinner.
Bread served with a small piece of butter (not always). The dessert function is performed by a glass of juice, compote or sweet tea, sometimes with cookies or even a bun.
Dinner, as you can see, is quite modest, so that it has time to digest before lights out, without leading to heaviness in the stomach during sleep. Here, again, the emphasis is on carbohydrates, only slightly diluting them with low-fat fish - this is enough for the whole night. True, if there is a forced march or other "entertainment" at night, the calories received are clearly not enough.
What is the IRP made of?
It is far from always possible to provide soldiers with hot fresh food. During long tripsor exercises have to make do with canned goods. Well, judging by them, the food of soldiers in the army is very balanced, varied and tasty.
For an example, consider a standard individual diet. Soldiers most often get IRP-3 or IRP-4 (the second one is a little better), and officers can be pampered with IRP-5, where standard, in general, dishes are served with several pleasant goodies like a piece of s alted lard, chocolate or s alted fish. Already by this one can judge what kind of food awaits young soldiers and officers in the army.
IRP is packed in a rather bulky box and is designed for three meals. Well, or for one reception, if three soldiers dine at once.
For example, consider the IRP-3 as the simplest one.
Meat-and-vegetable canned food is served for breakfast - peas and carrots with meat, or some kind of porridge with stew. An additional bonus is a jar of cheese.
The soldier will also be able to dine with a can of meat and vegetable canned food, but will also receive an additional can of stew and a small package of lecho, vegetable caviar or other salad substitute.
Finally, dinner is supposed to be a meat dish - minced meat, meatballs or something similar, flavored with liver pate.
Pleasant little things in the ERP
Four packs of biscuits, tea, coffee, dry cream, sugar, as well as nice little things like an instant drink (something like a fruit drink), chocolates and jam should be added to the main meal.
Also in the box there is a place for napkins - dry and wet, three spoons,opener for canned food and a special taganka with dry fuel - you can heat food without making a fire.
So soldiers and officers are all right with food in field conditions.
Bromine in food - true or myth?
But there are many legends about the fact that bromine is added to food in the army. The most common version is that this is done to suppress sexual desire. In fact, this is all untrue.
It's worth starting with the fact that bromine is an extremely dangerous substance that can lead to serious poisoning. And since it seems to be added to boilers right in the kitchen, cases would regularly surface when several mouths in some separate part fell ill with severe poisoning.
Lack of sexual desire is explained by completely different reasons. First of all, physical activity, to which many recruits are unaccustomed. Blood goes to overworked muscles to supply them with oxygen and nutrients, not elsewhere.
Yes, and the lack of external stimuli makes itself felt - it's easy not to think about sex when the only woman in the unit that you can see regularly is a sixty-year-old saleswoman from the chip.
So if you are interested in the question of what is added to food in the army, then most likely the conversation is about vitamins.
Do they eat the same everywhere?
Of course, food in the army is not always exactly the same as described above. In many respects it depends on the principles of the commander. One, remembering himself as a soldier, carefully monitors thatrecruits received quality food, not allowing cooks to warm their hands on defenseless guys. The other one himself is not averse to getting an increase to an already not small salary, saving on purchases, carefully diluting the soldier's soup, figuring out what can be put into the hands of unscrupulous businessmen from food in the army. Alas, but this is an objective reality. Therefore, nutrition can vary greatly depending on the part.
Are soldiers starving in the army?
But all the same, rumors about hungry soldiers circulate among the conscripts all the time. Do they have no reason?
In fact, this happens even in the best-supplied units. But greedy cooks are not to blame here. It's just that recruits, yesterday's schoolchildren and students, are used to not only three meals at home, but also to numerous snacks. After all, you can always eat a sandwich, ice cream or refresh yourself with a bar. In the army, meals are strictly on schedule - at 7:00, 13:00 and 19:00. And the load is much greater than in civilian life. The rest of the time the soldier runs, jumps, exercises, shoots and tries to get used to a completely new life. The breaks between meals are long, and the opportunity to have a snack (except for rare trips to the "chip") is not foreseen. But in two or three months, the body is completely rebuilt, and the feeling of constant hunger disappears even among the most spoiled soldiers with homemade pickles.
Conclusion
This is the end of the article. In it, we have tried to describe the techniques in as much detail as possible.food by soldiers in the canteen, as well as exercises and long-distance trips. We hope that the information will be useful for you and your loved ones.
