19-year old Private Tara Boast is one of 120 Army chefs in Afghanistan. She and her colleagues cook for the 9,500 British troops in the country, going through 7,500 burgers, 2.5 tonnes of chicken breast, 20,000 baguettes and 4.5 tonnes of potatoes a week.

It's an important job, because as she says: "If we don't feed the lads they won't be able to go on patrol".

For part of her time in Afghanistan, she worked in a Forward Operating Base (FOB) in Sangin, one the areas of fiercest fighting with Taliban insurgents.

A month before she arrived, the supply chain had been disrupted, meaning that the 120 troops at the base were living on ration packs, which although nutritious and filling, are not quite the same as fresh food. So with just two hobs and the 10-man ration packs, she deployed her culinary skills.

"At first, everything we did was poached," she recalls. "But when we got a supply of oil we could start frying. We cooked different meats, joints and chicken breasts."

Life at the base was cramped and, on occasions, dangerous for the troops from 3rd Battalion, The Rifles. "We had a few casualties brought in, which was not very nice, but morale remained pretty good. They were a good bunch of lads and it was important we did out best for them," she says.

Such was the morale-boosting effect of her cooking that soldiers at the base tried to stop her leaving! "They wanted us to stay for the whole six months. The Sergeant Major didn't want us to leave", she laughs.

Pte Boast is now back at Camp Bastion now, where she works with other chefs serving 12,000 meals a day to the British and NATO troops there.

She's set to return to the UK after her six month tour in April. Although she's missed her family, she says it's been six months well spent. "I am very glad I joined the Army. I like my job."

Her boss, WO2 Marcus Turner, says he's proud of the work of all his chefs. "As the old saying goes, an army marches on its stomach," he said. "From junior to senior chef, they have been a team to be proud of."