With no proper disposal system the rats would feast off food scraps. The rats grew bigger and bolder and would even steal food from a soldier’s hand. But for some soldiers the rats became their friends. They captured them and kept them as pets, bringing a brief reprisal from the horror which lay all around.

First World War Each soldier could expect around 4,000 calories a day, with tinned rations and hard biscuits staples once again. But their diet also included vegetables, bread and jam, and boiled plum puddings. This was all washed down by copious amounts of tea.

Each MRE provides an average of 1,250 calories (13 percent protein, 36 percent fat, and 51 percent carbohydrates) and one-third of the Military Recommended Daily Allowance of vitamins and minerals. A full day’s worth of meals would consist of three MREs.

The most common food given to soldiers was bread, coffee, and salt pork. The typical ration for every Union soldier was about a pound of meat and a pound of bread or flour.

According to army regulations for daily camp rations, a Union soldier was entitled to receive 12 oz of pork or bacon or 1 lb. 4 oz of salt or fresh beef; 1 lb. 6 oz of soft bread or flour or 1 lb. of hard bread (hardtack), or 4 oz of cornmeal.

Soldiers were sometimes issued beer, cider, or brandy in lieu of Pinard, but it remained the most common alcoholic drink consumed at the front. On special occasions, other drinks like spiced wine or sparkling wine would be issued.

Meal, Ready-to-Eat
The Meal, Ready-to-Eat (MRE) is a self-contained, individual field ration in lightweight packaging bought by the United States Department of Defense for its service members for use in combat or other field conditions where organized food facilities are not available.

He added that the 2004 Joint Services Operational Ration Forum chose to put xylitol gum in the MRE packages. “I can tell you with absolute certainty that the gum does not have those effects, was never designed to impact or affect your bowels, and does not control regularity.”

A typical day, writes Murlin, might include breakfast of oatmeal, pork sausages, fried potatoes, bread and butter and coffee; lunch of roast beef, baked potatoes, bread and butter, cornstarch pudding and coffee; and dinner of beef stew, corn bread, Karo syrup, prunes, and tea.

Fresh fruit, vegetables, meat and bread were hard to find….These were solid, heavy, belly-filling meals such as:

• Bean soup and bread, followed by treacle pudding.
• Toad-in-the-hole and potatoes.
• Mutton stew and suet pudding.
• Fish and potato pie, then baked raisin pudding.

Bean soup and bread,followed by treacle pudding.

Soldiers in the Western Front were very critical of the quantity and the quality of food they received. The bulk of their diet in the trenches was bully beef (caned corned beef), bread and biscuits.

The casualties suffered by the participants in World War I dwarfed those of previous wars: some 8,500,000 soldiers died as a result of wounds and/or disease . The greatest number of casualties and wounds were inflicted by artillery , followed by small arms , and then by poison gas .

Rationing was very important in WW1 because without it many people in Britain wouldn’t of had enough or a fair share of food. The main foods that were rationed included : meat, sugar, tea, coffee, tobacco, chocolate and fruit.