In a previous post I wrote about what army surplus gear means to me.

That post explains this latest purchase from eBay.

For my money I got these British army mess tins, that came with a Firedragon stove and fuel. I think these Firedragon stoves replace the esbit stoves and fuel. Apparently esbit fuel has become illegal to use, sell, own without a license from the Government. It turns out nasty people can use it to make things go bang. Or that’s the thinking behind this “ban”.

They also had a pleasant surprise included that I wasn’t expecting. But more on that in a moment.

I’ve not been able to confirm one hundred percent that these are the mess tins that the Paras were using when Dad was serving in the late sixties.

But the likely hood is very strong.

When mum saw these mess tins after I opened up the parcel they came in, her words were “didn’t we have some like this?”

Which makes me think that at some point in my childhood we did have them. Most likely dads. What happened to them I have no idea.

The surprise I mentioned above was the seller had included a bag of “random” ration kit stuff.

There was a plastic long handled spork! Pot scourer, matches, water purification tablets, wipes, sugar, couple tea bags, hot drink whitener, some mystery sauces. My French (I think that’s the language) is nonexistent.

I do want to play with the Firedragon fuel. That will work in the Crusader mk1 or mk2 stove.

Will I use this mess kit? I think this may be used when I’m car camping with the Naturehike duel stove I have. But this in reality was bought as a piece of nostalgia.