Editing Mess kit (section)

===United States===
Prior to [[World War II]], two factors influenced the design of the US Army's M-1926, M-1932, and M-1942 mess kits. First, unlike most other armies of the day, the US mess kit was designed to serve men queuing in feeding lines and served in unit formations from large garrison-type field kitchens when not on daily combat operations. Secondly, US soldiers in the field were never expected to forage or to completely cook their rations, even in daily combat or front line service. Instead, when not used as a serving tray for company-size or larger units, the mess kit was used to re-heat pre-measured servings of the canned [[United States military ration|Reserve Ration]]. After 1938, it was used for the new [[C-ration]], a canned combat ration with several menu precooked or dried food items. Today, though canned and dried combat rations have further evolved into the [[Meal, Ready-to-Eat|MRE]], these can now be self-heated, and thus only a containment tray is required for most units.

The US Army's flat ovoid M-1932 wartime-issue mess kit was made of galvanized steel (stainless steel in the later M-1942), and was a divided pan-and-body system. When opened, the mess kit consisted of two halves: the deeper half forms a shallow, flat-bottom, ovoid "Meat can, body", designed to receive the "meat ration", the meat portion of the pre-war canned ''Reserve Ration''. The "Meat can, body", with its folding handle extended, can double as a crude skillet. The "Mess kit, plate" (lid) is even shallower, and is pressed to form two compartments, with a center divide wide enough to accommodate the folding handle. The plate also has a very secure ring that is held in place by friction.

When stored, the "Mess kit, plate" is placed on top of the ovoid "Meat can, body", while the stamped folding handle is folded over the inverse side of the plate's center divider, and latched onto the edge of the body. It is further secured folding the lid's ring toward the center of the mess kit, which locks onto another latch. In use, each piece may be used individually, or as a unitary three-compartment mess tray, accomplished by sliding the lid-plate's center divider onto the folding handle, and securing it to the handle by the ring-and-latch mechanisms. When latched, the kit can be held in a ready position by the user in one hand to receive US Army's [[A-ration|'A']] or [[B-ration|'B']] field kitchen rations. As the soldier passed along the mess line, food service personnel would dole out hot items first, often meat followed by vegetables, potatoes, and other side dishes, ostensibly separated by the tray dividers. While a soldier could use the handled "Meat can, body" from his kit to cook raw food, it is really too shallow and thin to serve as an effective skillet, and was usually restricted to heating the canned meat ration. After 1938, the "Meat can, body" was used to heat the meat and vegetable component of the C-ration, or to reconstitute breakfast items such as C-ration powdered eggs.

To complement the mess kit, soldiers used a stamped cup especially molded to fit over the bottom of the US Army's standard one-[[quart]] (950 ml) [[Canteen (bottle)|canteen]]. This cup could be used to boil water for coffee, or for heating or reconstituting soup or other foods. During [[World War II]], units preparing heated combat rations in the "Meat can, body" or canteen cup mainly used locally procured combustible materials or [[Sterno]] fuel units of [[jellied alcohol]]. The latter could be stored within an issued folding stove for deployment when heating food, soup, or coffee in the field.

After World War II, a specially-designed [[Hexamine fuel tablet|Esbit]] stove was issued to fit over the cup-and-canteen unit, similar to designs used in other armies.