I was in the Army Reserve from 1958 through 1962. We were an arty untit and shot WWII vintage 8" howitzer ammo as well as M2 ball in our M1s dated about 1943.
C rats were of the same vintage also. I remember opening up a package that had green label Lucky Strike smokes in it. Now that dates them.
I also opened a package that contained a candy bar and maggots were enjoying it!
Ok, best and worst. Everybody wanted beanie weenies and try to avoid corned beef hash.
Other items of the time were pound cake, peaches, fruit cake, scalloped potatoes and beef stew.
The one item I never saw used...as the directions called for...was the "hot chocolate".
One of the cans contained "accessory items". Among the items in this can was a hockey puck looking tablet of chocolate with direction to the effect of:..."place in canteen cup, pour hot water over it, stir and..."enjoy"!
I even tried going after one with a bayonet one time and that didn't even phase it.
To my knowledge, no one in the entire history of the U.S. Army was ever able to make hot chocolate out of that damn thing. I don't even think they would have made good clay birds for trap or skeet. You could have hit them dead on and the wouldn't break. They were harder than the hubs of hell!
I did see some cooks in a field kitchen once collect a large quantity of them, put them in a giant pot, cover with water and put on a stove, boiling... for a day.
It didn't make hot chocolate!
The other usless item in the pack was the "biscuits". These were pale white, hard little "cookies" that were stack three or four deep as part of a can. They had all the attraction of eating bad carboard. I don't think anyone was ever able to get them down.
Other than that, they were wonderful.
Bon appetite.