What do you think about Navy food?

[RobLyman]

We've got a vegan in our unit. She stocks up every chance she gets. Sort of like a squirrel gather nuts. Still, she looks like an Auschwitz survivor near the end of deployment.

 

[Lui]

Yeah, it seems we've got some picky eaters around here. I'd call boat wardroom food thoroughly average. It's cafeteria food that's usually OK, occasionally not bad at all, and has enough selection that you can usually avoid what sucks.

The only thing that really sucks is when some junior CS tries to stretch a batch of fresh veggies in the salad bar one day too long . . . ugh.

Or when the dried out steak from the beginning of the week just won't go away. . . There are times when the food sucks but I've never had too much trouble eating healthy. The quality of food varies from boat to boat. It's nice not having to think about what’s for dinner. Aside from when you’re in school, you probably won’t eat at the base galley.

 

[Rockriver]

You know your food is crappy...errr..shitty..You know it sucks when it doesn't make a turd.

It's not just about the turd but rather the quality of the turd. When you hear terms such as floaters, sinkers, and cross-bowl spanners bantered about in the back of the ready room, your boat is overdue for a port call.

 

[Malo83]

We've got a vegan in our unit. She stocks up every chance she gets. Sort of like a squirrel gather nuts. Still, she looks like an Auschwitz survivor near the end of deployment.

 

[navyterp67]

Some days are less than stellar.

 

[Sonog]

Went a whole deployment without them, but then discovered the prepackaged pb&j crustables on a cq det. Blew my mind. Between that and eggs at mid rats, the other meals didn't matter as much

 

[DanMa1156]

Best food I ever had underway: toss up between Thanksgiving Dinner or Sunday brunches which were on point about 80% of the time with a waffle bar, eggs to order, and a roast beef stand. Mongolian stir fry nights were good, but 2 of them on a 10 month cruise was about 25 too few.

Worst food I had underway: USS Dubuque during my Midshipman cruise. They were just constantly out of food. I remember for breakfast, they routinely would exclusively serve pastries, albeit warm. No milk, no cereal, no eggs, nothing else. Other meals were not so hot either. I remember their Supp-O had a suggestion board with his responses and it was filled with anonymous rants from the crew bitching and complaining; his responses were generally "remember that while this is anonymous, you're addressing an officer. Please be respectful and re-address this issue." I remember thinking as a MIDN, this crew absolutely had the right to complain given how bad and small quantities of food there were. Besides that, the fish the boat cooked was pretty terrible. I like fish, but I think they would steam theirs or something. It was tasteless terrible white fish of some sort (I assume tilapia) that was steamed, so it was super soggy and mushy. I always hated Friday nights for that reason.

Camp Buehring's DFAC in Kuwait beat the ship 9 times out of 10 on food; that was arguably what most dudes were excited for when we sent dets there. Toss up between that and wifi.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

I remember we had ice cream that couldn't be used because they were the CO's favorites, we had gallons and gallons of it, the guy was a dick, he was later forced out.

 

[Uncle Fester]

One destroyer my dad was on had a CS1 who was a no-shit ACI-trained chef. It's all government-issued food, but it's astonishing how much better it can be with cooks who know what they're doing and give a shit. And the converse is true, too. When they don't give a fuck, it's very obvious.

Last cruise, we were hind-teat frigate in theater. The unrep ship was always low on everything by the time they got to us. We didn't starve, but were out of everything fresh and they dug deep into the deep-storage reefers. Finally after six weeks or so we got a turn first in line. I've never in my life seen adults so ecstatic to see produce. People were shoveling oranges and grapes in as fast as they could get them.

 

[robav8r]

In 1992, onboard USS San Jacinto, the CO sent the CS1 to the CIA in New York. He also authorized him to purchase (not exactly sure how) a whole bunch of spices and herbs that made Italian night pretty incredible, complete with red & white checkered tablecloths and faux fishnet candles. That was the same deployment the CO authorized deep sea fishing rigs on the fantail and we caught, and cooked two blue marlins.

 

[Gatordev]

The FFGs really did suffer. On my first cruise between local pricing (and I'm sure a Husbanding Agent not really helping), and what seemed like general giveashititis by Supply, the ship was spending way more money and receiving way less food than normal. This was part of my comment earlier about how a MRE would have been welcomed. Between the steamed fish pudding and the one (1) piece of chicken you might get, times were tough. Even peanut butter started to get short because it was expensive and everyone was subsisting off of it. Thankfully as an Air Det from HI, we had several pure-blood Hawaiians onboard and between their fishing skills and some squid-jiggin' (yeah, it's a thing) by my OIC, the Air Det was regularly providing meals for the whole ship. Never has some fresh raw tuna and some Kikkoman tasted so good, especially after landing for the night and finding out my steamed blob of fish wasn't saved for me.

I will say that a Panamanian orange (which is probably a California orange) was like gold on all of my deployments. People who "knew" would stash them in staterooms and revel in having a fresh orange for 3 days in a row...until they disappeared.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

One destroyer my dad was on had a CS1 who was a no-shit ACI-trained chef. It's all government-issued food, but it's astonishing how much better it can be with cooks who know what they're doing and give a shit. And the converse is true, too. When they don't give a fuck, it's very obvious.

Last cruise, we were hind-teat frigate in theater. The unrep ship was always low on everything by the time they got to us. We didn't starve, but were out of everything fresh and they dug deep into the deep-storage reefers. Finally after six weeks or so we got a turn first in line. I've never in my life seen adults so ecstatic to see produce. People were shoveling oranges and grapes in as fast as they could get them.

We had a CS that was sent to one of those nice schools, he was the CS in the CPO mess and food was great, we also would have chocolate covered strawberries every Saturday as well as other cool food and desserts.

I think some of it is also just skill, some people just know how to make the food great, just like some people have the feel for woodworking or drywall, some have it for cooking.

 

[brownshoe]

We had a CS that was sent to one of those nice schools, he was the CS in the CPO mess and food was great, we also would have chocolate covered strawberries every Saturday as well as other cool food and desserts.

I think some of it is also just skill, some people just know how to make the food great, just like some people have the feel for woodworking or drywall, some have it for cooking.

At Great Lakes when I was going through boot-camp the galley was great, they even had their own bakery. Everything baked was fresh!

They beat the crap out us but fed us well. 'Course now, we're taking the mid 60's.

 

[pilot_man]

Couple things. Never eat seafood on the boat. Unless you hate seafood and don't care that it smells like a rotting marina dumpster. The only thing that might not get you sick is maybe the shrimp dishes. Maybe.

If you have to say "it will make a turd" to defend your food then it is shit. I was always amazed that the food in Afghanistan was 10 times better than on the boat. And they had people actually attacking the convoys bringing the food. They were also flexible. If guys were working the late shift they would serve breakfast at 1800. Not on the boat. Because Navy Standard Core Menu. But the best part was I didn't have to pay to eat the food in Afghanistan. Not on the boat. $400 something dollars a month for "making turds."

I have seen some good Sunday brunches. However, that skill never crosses over to wardrooms 1&2 and rarely is it seen after Sunday. I think the best way they could improve things is to stop preparing the food 2 hours prior to the meal, then letting all of the CSs eat, then letting it sit out there for another hour. That is just food service 101.

 

[nittany03]

We had a CS who made crepes for midrats once. Was a nice highlight in the middle of OEF Groundhog Day ops.

Sadly, before he could repeat the feat, he got in trouble in port, lost a stripe, and got sent packing to the mess decks. CAW CAW!