St-Laurent, QC (Canada) (Feb 2023) – Bridgford Foods Corporation, a ready to eat pocket sandwich line of products distributed exclusively for the Canadian first responders’ market by Hudson Supplies Inc, will be at CSAAA this February 12 & 13 at Calgary Telus Centre in Calgary AB Canada with choice of tasting:
Pepperoni Pizza
French Toast
Apple Turnover
Mexican wBeef Wrap
BBQ Beef
About Bridgford
Bridgford Foods Corporation is a family-controlled business, which is currently traded on the NASDAQ and traces its roots back more than 90 years to 1932 in San Diego, CA. Uniqueness, high quality, and consistency of products have been the main objectives of Bridgford Foods Corporation.
The principal product lines include frozen bread doughs; frozen fully baked breads, rolls and buttermilk biscuits; frozen micro-ready sandwiches and meal kits; sliced lunch meats, beef jerky and meat snacks as well as shelf-stable dry and semi-dry sausage products. Bridgford Foods Corporation is headquartered in Dallas, TX and has a plant in Chicago, IL, one plant in Anaheim, CA, Statesville, NC and has two additional facilities in Dallas, TX. Bridgford presently employees over 500 people and their products are sold in all fifty states, Canada, and several overseas locations.
The Shelf-Stable Ready to Eat Pocket Sandwich line was originally developed for the United States Military as combat feeding rations for the “Troops On-The-Go”. The Military required a product which had a three-year shelf-life and tasted great on day one or day 1,095. The product was originally tested with the United States Marines during an operation in Fallujah. The product scored exceptionally well and received one of the highest acceptance scores of any new product introduction. The product is currently being incorporated into the “First Strike Ration”, which is being provided to our Military’s Special Operations Forces when they carry out missions in a “Hot Zone”. The entire product line of sandwiches, pizza, and wraps are proudly produced at the Bridgford Statesville, NC production facility. Our ingredients are all sourced from the USA.
The Shelf-Stable Ready to Eat Pocket Sandwiches is produced under a grant of inspection with the USDA/FSIS. The facility is SQF certified and is inspected by the USDA/AMS, FDA, NCDA, VETCOM and a handful of other agencies. All of the meat and poultry is purchased from USDA facilities within the USA and are BSE tested.
The Bridgford Ready to Eat Items weigh 4.4-oz or 3.1-oz, depending upon the variety. No refrigeration is required, and the product has a three-year shelf-life from date of manufacturing if maintained at 80 degrees of less. The Sandwiches can be stored consistently at 100 degrees for six months. The product’s shelf-life is attained by a combination of packaging and formulation. The Ready to Eat Sandwiches are a great food solution for the outdoor enthusiast, whether you are camping, hiking, boating, fishing, etc.
It is also a great solution for household emergency kits as well as for disaster preparedness or disaster relief efforts.
Bridgford currently offers several varieties of sandwiches like BBQ Beef, BBQ Chicken, Sweet & Spicy Chicken, Italian Style, Filled French Toast, Cinnamon Bun, Blueberry, Cherry, and Apple Turnover. Three varieties of plain sliced bread, White, Whole Wheat and Multigrain. Pepperoni and plain Cheese Pizza Slices. BBQ Pork and Mexican style beef and cheese wraps. On average, the sandwiches provide 300 calories per serving and provide 10 to 12 grams of protein.
The Bridgford Ready to Eat Sandwiches was designed to be eaten straight from the pouch; simply tear the pouch open at the tear notches, remove the sandwich, and eat. The sandwiches may also be heated using an MRE/Flameless Heater; immersing the unopened pouch in boiling water for approximately six minutes or if you have access to electricity, removing the sandwich from its pouch and microwaving on high for 20 to 30 seconds or heating in a toaster oven at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.
To think that soldiers used to eat better when they could forage for their own food.
Joe_K,
That statement is neither historically nor nutritionally true. Not even close.
TLB
Some starving Confederate Raider in 1864 eating a stolen Yankee chicken he stole out of a coop disagrees with you.
Joe_K,
That is an odd example to use to support your original statement. As you say, he is routinely STARVING – as many Confederate soldiers often were. Logistics in the day were not as responsive as they are now. The fact that he might or might not be able to scavenge a chicken from time to time to stave off immediate death does not make your point. Meanwhile, scurvy, dysentery, and myriad malnutrition related issues from a piss poor diet killed more Confederates than Union rifles or cannon combined. And, while they did better, the Union Army had similar problems.
It has been a long time since any American unit or individual soldier had to scrounge for food to stay alive. So, bottom line, soldiers today eat better – in every sense of the word – and are certainly nutritionally healthier than ever before in history. That is because of more reliable logistics systems AND the kinds of advancement in food preparation and preservation represented by ration items similar to those highlighted in this article. I have no doubt, that if he had the choice, your hypothetical Confederate would be more than happy to have rations predictably delivered rather than resorting to daily hit and miss foraging expeditions.
TLB
You are talking about logistics. I’m talking about what it tastes like. Meat flavored cardboard beats no food at all, freshly butchered game or a “donated” Cow/Sheep/Chicken from the locals will always taste better.
“Hunger is the best sauce” is a truism that applies just as much to modern grunt with hot pocket as it does to a starving confederate raider with Yankee chicken.
Joe_K,
I am talking about feeding soldiers so that they have the “fuel” they need and remain healthy so that that they can stay in the fight. “Logistics” is simply the – hopefully – effective process that military units depend on to get food and potable water to the soldier, ammo to the guns, and fuel to the vehicles, etc.
I would recommend reading a book that came out in 2011 called “Food in the American Military.” It is about 250 pages and covers US military rations from the Revolutionary War and well into GWOT. Reference your “tastier’ chicken; based on history, odds are that it would NOT be butchered, cleaned or cooked properly in an austere field environment. Even assuming that the bird was a healthy subject in the first place,
If the soldier was lucky, a bad bird would mean a hasty run to the woods with the raging squirts. Or it could make him sick enough to become a casualty and need evacuation and medical treatment. Worse case, it could kill him. That happened a lot in the Civil War and can still happen today. Foraging, scrounging, and scavenging are inefficient and unreliable. That is why they are a last resort and only used when the supply system breaks down.
Today, a soldier can splash some hot sauce on his “meat flavored cardboard” to make it “tastier” and be thankful he doesn’t have to take those kinds of chances with his health. I’ll repeat my bottom line from my last post. “Soldiers today eat better – in every sense of the word – and are certainly nutritionally healthier than ever before in history.” I’ll stand by that.
TLB
Would love a Baldwin file on modern rations
There is so much wrong with this statement 1st forage was always the last resort for an army in the field it was meant to supplement rations on the March 2nd by 1864 there were no confederate raiders actively raiding in northern states so I don’t see how he would be finding a ” Yankee chicken “
Joe if they’re starving, they’re already behind the nutritional curve.
NGL that Mexican Beef Wrap looks super good. Ready to eat (hot or cold) pocket sandwiches are a super good idea. Combining quick and easy to handle mains in MREs with other items that might be more suited to sitting down creates a lot of versatility in a ration and gives you flexibility depending on what you’re doing.
If you’re chilling at a FOB you can take the time to sit down and take your time on the whole thing. If you’re on a LRRP and you’re moving just scarf the main and make the main enjoyable and handy.
Yup… screams out for a little tabasco which I guess they’ve phased out…
What no Canadian classics? Where is the Pineapple on the Pizza? The Puotine? The Tourtière?
Or the Monte Christo! The calories in one of those French Toast ham and cheese sandwiches will get you over the mountain!