What soldiers ate during Gallipolli

Quote from Richard Reid, Gallipoli, 1915.“ We had porridge for breakfast this morning and milk, MILK mind you. Yes, golly, just fancy, condensed MILK. Jingo, if only some of those at home, who perhaps grumbled at their breakfast because the toast was cold, if only they knew what this little extra means to us, they would blush for shame and rightly so. Here they, like us, would eat anything.”

Soldiers ate what the Government gave them and what family and friends sent in care packages.

The government food had to be non-perishable, which means it had to not go off and last a last a long time.

What the ANZAC soldiers got in their rations:

Bully beef RiceJam CocaoTea ANZAC WAFER ( hard tack)

Hard Tack Recipe1 ½ cups self-raising white flour

3 cups self-raising wholemeal flour 5 tablespoons sugar 3 tablespoons milk powderPinch salt 1 cup of water

“For supper we had nothing more than those tough square biscuits given to us as rations. They were so hard a man could break his teeth on them. I had three days provisions with me, but was warned that they might have to last for five days. So I took care not to dip too deeply into my provision bag. Someone offered me the bottom of a can of tea, which helped to was those tough biscuits down.” Sydney Lock, Gallipoli.

ANZAC biscuit recipe 2 cups rolled oats

½ cup sugar 1 cup plain flour ½ cup melted butter1 tbls golden syrup2 tbls of boiling water1 tsp bicarbonate soda