Preparation and Cooking
IMPs are usually "stripped" before field use by removing the cumbersome packaging and discarding extraneous elements the individual soldier does not wish to carry with him. Each bag is contained in a cardboard box, for example, and there are numerous condiment packages which may have no appeal depending on individual tastes.
The new method of heating has greatly improved over the previous options. The soldier simply puts his meal packet inside the heating pouch along with the flameless ration heater and pour some water. The chemical reaction generate enough heat to ensure a hot meal.
Every meal can be eaten without any cooking; when circumstances permit, the ideal method of preparation is to cook the entrees in a pressure cooker, heated on the standard issue Coleman stove, or by simply boiling the rations in its package in water. Another way to heat up the meal when a stove is unavailable is by putting it in the pocket of a coat during winter. Chemical cooking pouches have also been issued, allowing for flameless meal heating. Other items can also be improved by boiling or adding water, such as packages of soup, rice, powdered drinks and even the prepackaged bread, which is dense and can be softened by exposure to the pressure cooker.
Another technique developed by soldiers in the field is putting the package in the grill covering the exhaust on many armored vehicles, and on radiators of wheeled vehicles. Some armored vehicles come with a built in pressure cooker.
Read more about this topic: Individual Meal Pack
Famous quotes containing the words preparation and, preparation and/or cooking:
“It’s sad but true that if you focus your attention on housework and meal preparation and diapers, raising children does start to look like drudgery pretty quickly. On the other hand, if you see yourself as nothing less than your child’s nurturer, role model, teacher, spiritual guide, and mentor, your days take on a very different cast.”
—Joyce Maynard (20th century)
“Living each day as a preparation for the next is an exciting way to live. Looking forward to something is much more fun than looking back at something—and much more constructive. If we can prepare ourselves so that we never have to think, “Oh, if I had only known, if I had only been ready,” our lives can really be the great adventure we so passionately want them to be.”
—Hortense Odlum (1892–?)
“Architecture might be more sportive and varied if every man built his own house, but it would not be the art and science that we have made it; and while every woman prepares food for her own family, cooking can never rise beyond the level of the amateur’s work.”
—Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935)