Thousands of packs of emergency army rations are to be donated to help tackle food poverty.

The army will donate the packs through FareShare, an organisation which works with 10,000 charities nationwide, including homeless shelters, breakfast clubs and community groups.

The boxes contain enough food to feed 10 soldiers for 24 hours, with 4,000 calories to keep an active person going for a full day.

The MOD said the boxes include "porridge, sausages, baked beans, pasta and rice", and enough food for a two-course breakfast, lunch and a three-course dinner.

One video of a kit being unboxed shows tea, coffee, hot chocolate, as well as biscuits, cereal bars and drinks flavourings.


Among the meals are options like a tuna Thai green curry, chicken and noodle red curry, a vegetarian all-day breakfast, and some packs even include a tiny bottle of Tabasco sauce.

Sky News Sunrise presenter Niall Paterson said the ration packs were "tastier than you'd expect".

According to the Ministry of Defence, two million packs are used each year with less than 1% needing to be disposed of. These donated packs come from the 1%.

Minister for defence people and veterans Tobias Ellwood said: "Ration packs help provide nutritionally balanced meals to our armed forces on operations around the world.

"But charity begins at home, and I'm pleased our partnership with FareShare will make sure no food goes to waste.

"FareShare does a fantastic job redistributing food across the country and I'm proud the military can support communities in this way."

The MOD said the food packs would help the charities cut down on their food bills and spend money on other resources.