Soldiers on operations are provided nutritious meals made from fresh ingredients by professional military chefs whenever possible.

All personnel receive an extremely high standard of catering from centralised facilities and only deploy with Operational Ration Packs (OPRs) when absolutely necessary.

Military cookhouses provide food free of charge on operations where there is no requirement for personnel to buy their own food. However, at main base locations, additional food items are available from shops and concessionary outlets. These facilities are in addition to and not a replacement for military cookhouses.

Who cooks the meals?
Most meals consumed in the Army are prepared and cooked by chefs from The Royal Logistic Corps (RLC). Everyone, including the chef, is a 'soldier first' and 'tradesman second', and troops can find themselves eating a meal cooked by the same chef who supported them out on patrol or fired mortars in the same mission.

Every effort is made to ensure the comforts of home-cooking are provided to the soldiers.

What do soldiers eat on operations?

One huge boost to the morale of our troops abroad is the standard of food available to them whilst they are away from family and friends. In Afghanistan the soldiers eat in three different types of location:

Main Base (Camp Bastion)
Here the troops can enjoy a cooked breakfast or cereals. It's a self-service system in an air-conditioned dining tent. Lunch choices include filled baguettes, salads or packed lunches to take away. Evening meals are served on a hotplate and include curry and rice, sirloin steak or gammon and egg to name just a few. Vegetarian troops are well catered for.

Apart from the military run cookhouses, there are also coffee bars, shops, an Indian takeaway and a Pizza Hut. The majority of the troops enjoy the choice available in the dining facilities and see the other outlets as a once-in-a-while treat.

Forward Operating Bases (FOBs)
These semi-permanent camps are built as the soldiers push forward towards the frontline. Where possible, they take their military chefs with them to ensure that morale remains high. At these locations troops eat a mixture of fresh rations and tinned products - similar to what they might eat at home.

Soldiers can still enjoy a cooked breakfast, cereals or fruit and they have choices for lunch and evening meal. At these locations the troops will be fed more carbohydrates due to the more arduous duties they carry out.

Patrol Bases (PBs)
A PB is a temporary location, usually a previous building or compound, used by Soldiers who are pretty much on the frontline. Troops here will generally eat from 24hr Operational Ration Packs (boil-in-the-bag rations) although not sounding very appetising, these have improved dramatically in recent years.

There are now approximately 20 varieties so troops can go almost a month without eating the same meal .These packs also cater for varying religious and medical dietary requirements.

Packs are designed to sustain a soldier engaged in arduous activities for 24 hours and they provide the necessary nutrients and calories to keep a soldier fighting fit. They can be eaten hot or cold.