When we had hot meals the cooks (???) would dump mixed C-Rations in trash cans that had a heater in them.
The cans were spread at the mil spec 10 yard interval, the drill was to take your mess kit and go from one trash can to the next, at each can you fished one can of rations out with tongs (I think), then on to the next.
The cans were hot, as I remember you had to wait for them to cool or some would squirt hot grease in your face.
Since the cooks (???) paid no attention to what they put into the trash cans you had the (bad) luck of the draw. This stuff was all WWII so ten years or so old.
There were boxes of the dry stuff at the end of the line.

You could try to trade and that worked a bit, some guys wanted boot money to trade though.

Not one of my fonder memories.

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Ipsis Rebus Dictantitbus