For many decades the standard way for a soldier to heat his rations in the field or boil some water for a brew was to use the folding hexamine cooker. Hexamine was a solid fuel that burnt easily and generated enough heat from a small block to boil a mess tin’s worth of water. The stove that is was used with was a small brass folding design and it is one of these we are looking at tonight. The stove comes wrapped in a grease proof type paper to protect it whilst in storage:
The front of the paper is printed with details of the contents:
Whilst the rear shows how to use the stove:
Once unwrapped the stove is a small brass box:
The ends fold down to lift the main burner plate off the ground, and provide points for the mess tin to rest on above the flames, the box of hexamine is visible stored inside:
With the box removed it can be seen that the burner has holes in its base to encourage airflow to allow the hexamine tablets to burn:
The hexamine itself is provided in a small waxed cardboard box (that can be used to help light the blocks). The top of the box warns to use the fuel in a well ventilated area:
This is wise advice as hexamine is made from various noxious chemicals including formaldehyde which you do not want to breathe in!
The rear of the box gives more detailed instructions on using the cooker:
The manufacturer of the hexamine has marked their name on the edge of the box:
Here troops can be seen boiling water using a hexamine cooker:
As ever ARRSE has a wonderfully irreverent take on hexamine:
Top stuff. Don’t be fooled. Buggering around with gucci petrol stoves is simply not worth it unless you are some kind of mountain warrior.
Hexy is a slang abbreviation for Hexamine, a kind of solid fuel which allegedly (according to the powers that be) burns cleanly and leaves no residue or ash.
Hexamine, given enough encouragement, will burn, releasing copious amounts of noxious fumes, its true there is no ash or residue left on the ground, this is because the residue has migrated to your mess tin, which is now coated in thick immovable black goo.
The inside of the cover has instructions to the sailor on how to use the book:
The original owner of this book clearly used it a number of times as coupons have been cut out of several pages:
There are still many weeks where the book has not been countersigned or coupons removed:
Although clearly not necessary in this case, a form is provided for the sailor to request a new ration book if he were to finish this one:
The back page gives instructions to the ship’s master about what he needs to do in order to complete the book:
Note also the printer’s coding at the bottom of the page that indicates this book was one of a run of 115,000 copies produced in June 1943.
This packet is unused, but was designed to hold suet to make puddings with. It is made of recycled cardboard, with simple red ink printing, described on the box as a ‘wartime jacket’:
Paper like other materials was in short supply during the world war and as well as salvaging and recycling as much as possible, manufacturers were encouraged to reuse material and cut down in other areas such as the inks, hence the very simplistic nature of this box compared to the eye catching designs of the 1920s and 30s. The box itself is made from die cut cardboard that can be folded up and secured with tabs on either end:
Apart from the product details on three sides, the only other information is the recipe as to how to use this item:
Suet puddings were a popular part of British diet at this period, being both cheap and very filling. Suet is processed beef fat and when mixed with flour and water can be made into a pastry, dumplings or a thick stodgy pudding such as spotted dick.
It takes the form of a pressed brass can, with a removable lid and multiple holes to encourage airflow in to the central burner. The lid is stamped with safety instructions:
Once the lid is removed, the burner itself can be seen inside the stove:
This is filled with methylated spirit and has a series of air holes around the rim to aid combustion, it is removable to allow it to be cleaned or refilled:
Once the cooking has been completed, a small metal lid can be dropped onto the top of the burner to extinguish the flames:
These stoves must be extinguished this way as blowing the flame out just results in the fuel and flames spraying back at the user. The rounded portion of the cover is used both the grasp it with to drop it onto the burner, and also to hold it on securely in transit so the methylated spirit can’t escape. The top of the handle fits into the dimple pressed into the stove’s lid and the fit is tight enough to prevent spillage.
It is this speed, the lightness of the design and the lack of smoke when burning methylated spirit that made this design so popular amongst troops. These little stoves also work well in low temperatures in a way designs that rely on pressurised gas do not. It was also suitable to be carried on board aircraft when deploying overseas, again something that cannot be done with pressurised cylinders of gas. The stove works by:
These are packaged in larger boxes of ten. One end of the box has a large union flag emblazoned on it to show that this is a British ration pack, and a white circular sticker indicates the ration pack contents. In this case it is ‘H10’ which is one of the halal menu options:
Some basic nutritional information is printed on the opposite end of the box:
And some general information about the menus and feedback is marked on the side:
The lid, as well as indicating the rations are owned by the MOD, gives advice on the safe burning of waste in theatre:
The base contains the familiar range card design that dates back at least as far as the 1980s:
The contents of the box include a selection of boil in the bag meals, drinks, nuts, biscuits, toilet paper and a small bottle of hot sauce:
The sundries are included in a large ziplock clear plastic bag:
These include non-alcoholic hand wipes (the alcohol can cause skin to crack in hot conditions), a range of tea, coffee, creamer and sugar, chewing gum and matches:
The disposable spoon is an idea taken form the Americans and promotes hygiene as the spoon can be thrown away at the end of the day rather than festering bacteria in a soldiers pocket. Items that made mess tins dirty like powdered soups were also discarded, the developers explaining:
This particular menu seems very tomato and bean heavy! It is also interesting that for a Halal ration pack, this is essentially vegetarian. The form allows the user to be entered for a prize draw:
These forms were seen as very helpful by the manufacturer:
The lower pan was square in shape and about six inches deep making it ideal to throw a stew in, or to place cans in boiling water to heat them through:
A wire handle is fitted that can be lifted up to allow the pan to be carried safely:
Note the metal loops on the outside. These are designed to allow a leather strap to be passed around the two parts of the pan set to hold them together when not in use. The lid is far shallower and has two wire wrap around handles:
These can be pulled out and allow the lid to be used as a small frying pan:
This lid is /|\ marked and dated 1983:
These cookers and the associated pan were common issue items in small armoured vehicles such as the Ferret armoured car and a tasty hot meal could be quickly prepared for the crew in the single pot, or a fried breakfast made on the lid.
These were in addition to the usual milk ration and each person was allowed one tin every four weeks. The tins cost 9d and one ration coupon and the powder made up an additional four pints. The tins were made of metal and had a paper label wrapped around them. The label was printed in red and blue and featured stars and stripes and the country of origin printed proudly on the front:
These packs of milk powder were specially produced in the United States for the Ministry of Food and this is marked on the side of the tin, along with a warning that the contents were not suitable for babies:
Alternative milk powder containing whole full fat milk was also produced, especially for babies who needed the fat content to grow. The back of the label is unfortunately quite badly damaged, but gave instructions to the housewife about how to mix up the powder to make the milk:
The tins of milk powder were shipped form the US to Great Britain and shopkeepers in cardboard cartons, each holding 72x8oz cans:
Milk powder was used for a variety of things during the war, as recalled by Anne Butcher: