At the beginning of the war every fort was equipped with a supply of food which ensured an autonomy of 10 days, then one of 3 days only, towards the end of the conflict.
This foodstuff called “war reserve” were stored in special numbered boxes for every fort, depending on the assigned troop. They contained packet soups, canned meat (the famous so called viande de singe or “monkey meat”), military biscuits (“tiles” instead of bread), various form of pasta, cans of vegetables, tea, sugar, oil and chocolate powder.
The cooking should be done on a kerosene stove for which a fuel supply was attributed.