Telford College invited Army Reserves into its on-campus restaurant to show catering students what they’re capable of cooking out in the field.

Members of the 167 Catering Support Regiment provided real-life ration packs and gave students the challenge of cooking several dishes from basic ingredients.

Sergeant Kevin Bloor said: “We came here to teach the catering students all about what we do on a regular basis. We are challenged each day by having to prepare meals for around 200 people within a four-hour timeframe.

“We showed the students a similar menu to what we work with regularly on a larger scale. In the field, we usually work to a one chef to 50 soldier ratio and use six or seven ration boxes to provide meals for 200 soldiers.”

The students were given a brief to cook a three-course meal for two in two hours in the college’s training restaurant, The Orange Tree.

They were provided with very basic commodities as well as two boxes of ration packs that each serve 10 soldiers for a day in the field.

They cooked a range of dishes which included southern fried spam, chicken curry with chapatis, pineapple upside down cake with tropical custard and chocolate flapjack.

The Army reserves then judged each dish to decide on the best starter, main course and dessert as well as the best team overall.

Robert Lee, Telford College chef lecturer, said: “It was a great opportunity for our students to see what they could do with such a limited amount of ingredients.

“It was challenging but they all had a lot of fun, and had the chance to find out about the possibilities their catering qualification will open them up to.

“Some students may have only considered working in restaurants or owning their own, but now know that even the British Army is a career path they could take.”

• For more details about Telford College’s catering courses, click here