The 5-in-1 ration was a

United States military ration United States military ration refers to various preparations and packages of food provided to feed members of the armed forces. U.S. military rations are often made for quick distribution, preparation, and eating in the field and tend to have ...

issued from 1942 to the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Procurement ended with the war, though remaining stocks were issued to troops after the war, as well as distributed as surplus in civilian feeding programs overseas. The 5-in-1 specification remained in effect after the war, and was again used in 1948 for a new field ration.

Development, adoption, and use

The 5-in-1 was developed in 1942 by the Subsistence Research Laboratory (SRL) of the U.S. Army's Quartermaster Corps to fulfill a need for a pre-packaged field ration for use by small motorized combat groups. The 5-in-1 allowed small groups of

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

s or large groups divided into multiple units to

cook Cook or The Cook may refer to: Food preparation * Cooking, the preparation of food * Cook (domestic worker), a household staff member who prepares food * Cook (professional), an individual who prepares food for consumption in the food industry * ...

meals without the need of complex

kitchen A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation in a dwelling or in a commercial establishment. A modern middle-class residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running wate ...

utensils or cooking skill. Another objective was to furnish sufficient food to take care of five men for one day. The U.S. Quartermaster Corps' Subsistence Branch originally planned for the rations to be used by troops without immediate kitchen facilities, such as

train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often ...

s without kitchen cars, motorized infantry, armored vehicle crews, or gun crews.Koehler, Franz A., ''Special Rations for the Armed Forces: Army Operational Rations – A Historical Background'', QMC Historical Studies, Historical Branch, Office of the Quartermaster General, Washington, D.C. (1958) Unlike the

Mountain ration The Mountain Ration (or "M-Ration") was a United States military ration developed for use by U.S. troops operating in high-altitude or mountainous regions of the European theater of operations (ETO) during World War II. Origin, development, and u ...

Jungle ration The Jungle Ration (or "J-Ration") was a dry, lightweight United States military ration developed by the U.S. Army in World War II for soldiers on extended missions in tropical regions. Origins, development, and use Prior to World War II, during ...

, the 5-in-1 was a ration developed solely by the SRL. The 5-in-1's components were packed as a group, with noncanned components placed in a separate carton overpacked in a larger carton with the canned products. Menus were enclosed in the carton as a guide in the selection of meals. By mid-1943, the ration was the most successful field ration in use in

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

. In that same year, the 10-in-1 ration was developed to replace it, as it offered a wider menu and greater flexibility in small unit issue. Extensive procurement of the 5-in-1 ended the same year. However, use of 5-in-1 stocks continued throughout the war, and the ration was still in distribution when hostilities ended. Though procurement of the 5-in-1 had ended with the war, the specification remained in effect and later became the basis for a postwar revision in 1948, under which the 5-in-1 nomenclature was reestablished.

The 5-in-1 ration contained: *

Beverage A drink or beverage is a liquid intended for human consumption. In addition to their basic function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common types of drinks include plain drinking water, milk, juice, smoo ...

s *

Butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condimen ...

spread * 10 varieties of canned meat combinations * Canned bread or type V biscuits *

Can opener A can opener (in North American English and Australian English) or tin opener (used in British English) is a mechanical device used to open tin cans (metal cans). Although preservation of food using tin cans had been practiced since at leas ...

s * Cellulose tape * Cereal * Cheese spread *

Dehydrated In physiology, dehydration is a lack of total body water, with an accompanying disruption of metabolic processes. It occurs when free water loss exceeds free water intake, usually due to exercise, disease, or high environmental temperature. Mil ...

soups * 5 varieties of

jam Jam is a type of fruit preserve. Jam or Jammed may also refer to: Other common meanings * A firearm malfunction * Block signals ** Radio jamming ** Radar jamming and deception ** Mobile phone jammer ** Echolocation jamming Arts and ente ...

Evaporated milk Evaporated milk, known in some countries as "unsweetened condensed milk", is a shelf-stable canned cow’s milk product where about 60% of the water has been removed from fresh milk. It differs from sweetened condensed milk, which contains adde ...

Fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

* Fruit juice * Hard candy *

Paper towel A paper towel is an absorbent, disposable towel made from paper. In Britain, paper towels for kitchen use are also known as kitchen rolls, kitchen paper, or kitchen towels. For home use, paper towels are usually sold in a roll of perforated shee ...

s * 3 varieties of pudding *

Soap Soap is a salt of a fatty acid used in a variety of cleansing and lubricating products. In a domestic setting, soaps are surfactants usually used for washing, bathing, and other types of housekeeping. In industrial settings, soaps are use ...

Sponge Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate throug ...

* Sugar *

Toilet paper Toilet paper (sometimes called toilet tissue or bathroom tissue) is a tissue paper product primarily used to clean the anus and surrounding anal region of feces after defecation, and to clean the perineal area and external genitalia of ur ...

* 6 varieties of

vegetables Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the flowers, fruits, stems ...

* Water-purification tablets

Notes

External links

Olive-Drab:Field rations

{{USmilitaryrations Military food of the United States

Development, adoption, and use

Contents

See also

Notes

External links