What type of food service program do Coast Guard cutters use?

• A. Cafeteria plan
• B. Subsistence in kind
• C. Contracted meals
• D. Government mess

Answer: (B)

On Coast Guard cutters, meals for the crew are provided through subsistence in kind. This means the government supplies the actual food items and rations to the ship’s mess, and the crew’s cooks prepare and serve meals from those provisions. This setup ensures consistent, ready-to-eat meals afloat and keeps provisioning centralized for the ship. A cafeteria plan is a civilian benefit not used for military meals, contracted meals would involve outsourcing the meals to a contractor—which isn’t the standard practice on cutters—and while the term government mess refers to the dining facility itself, the program describing how meals are provided is subsistence in kind.