I'm talking about these: http://www.survivaltabs.com
I have known of them for a long time. Now I'm curious enough to try these. I did a test where I ate 1 mainstay 1200cal bar and 1200cal worth of a Datrex 2400cal ration, for 1 day each.(3 400cal "meals", average work day with moderate physical exertion.) I was alive but tired and hungry at the end of each test. I guess what I'm looking for how did you use the Survival Tabs? As directed? When you used the Survival Tabs as directed were you constantly hungry? Did you feel like you had enough energy? They list the daily calories at 240. Thats a lot less than the average 2000cal a day diet. And less than the 1200cal a day for the Mainstay Ration. The Datrex instructions indicate 800cal a day. I tried to search ETS forums but could not find anything.

Aren't survival tabs supposed to be a supplement to make whatever food you have last longer by providing you with vitamins, minerals, fats and proteins the food you have might not have.

These are a usefull option. What they are not is the equal to an MRE, dead moose, fruitcake or Thanksgiving in two weeks. The tab's appeal is more to our psyche than stomach. 'Survival Tabs' fall into the realm of kit that sacrifices performance for minimum wieght or bulk. I am going back to fire hardening my new spear over my ESBIT stove. The annual migration of my favourite survival food is close to getting underway and I have my annual ambush site prepared.

I have seen them at BQM, but have neglected them as a gimmick. I am highly sceptical, as the human body can in many cases survive for months w/o any food. After reading about the camel jockey, now I am curious. I wonder how they stack up to spirulina tablets.

a military repo ration outfit sells these in a Altoids
style box with some sort of WW2 label..and a refill tube
comes with it..they say something like "survival tabs..as
in keeps you alive but expect to be hungry" or something
like that..i would think if you were in a life raft or
not active in some sort of shelter..basement..cave..??
and had nothing else these would keep you from not
starving as fast as nothing at all..

I have never tried the tablets. I have tried the survival bars and stay hungry because they are so nasty.

Quite a few years ago a friend of mine ate nothing but survival tabs for about a week. If I remember correctly (an ify proposition at best), he said that he was a little bit hungry, but not bad, had enough energy to get by day to day, all in all he said it was a pretty good deal...

]Yeah. Thats what got me on this search for some sort of compact ration that is shelf stable at car trunk temperatures (80-100deg)for use in a car BOB or as a light weight backup to regular food while backpacking. That was the WW2 concept behind the emergency rations. A ration that I really liked is the U.S. Military Food Packet Survival General Purpose- Improved. It has good variety. 6 bars. 2 Shortbread bar. 1 Granola bar. 1 cornflake cereal bar. 1 Chocolate chip desert bar. And 1 Wintergreen bar. The Wintergreen bar a 1"x3"x1/2" certs like breath mint. That was the hardest to eat but very refreshing. It also comes with a packet of ice tea and a bouillon packet. Rated at 1147cal total for 5 days. I ate the whole thing in one day. I think the variety made me feel better. They are hard to find. My local gunshow sometimes has 2004 dated ones for $5. Shelf life is 5 years @ 80 deg. They can also be found here: Life Support International but I've never bought from these guys.

CDVXF7--very good link to the food pack source--i have seen
these at twice that price and the ones i bought at surplus
stores are always at least 10 years old..

Hey, OBG. Actually, I remember it being 4 days, but my memory's not all that great, either. Anyway, the tabs weren't bad and I used them during a work week, monitoring my energy level, and I functioned fine without any negative effects. I had planned to do a week, but got tired of eating the same thing, day after day. Plan for variety. BTW, I started out pretty healthy and was about 35 to 37 years old at the time.

Regarding bars, I have tried Mainstay and (lemon, raspberry and vanilla) Millennium and I believe both are good. Millennium gives you variety and this is the best place I have found for them:
http://www.emprep.com/sos%20rations%20energy%20bars.htm

There are a couple other flavors for the Millennium bars, like Orange if I recall. I have been using them for hiking, and I have a bunch in each car for backup. They actually taste pretty good to me, but, I'm usually eating one when I am on a trail taking a break from hours of hiking, so that may affect my perception on quality and taste

Any earlier post mentioned the Survival GP-I ration. They were designed to be an ejection seat ration for the USAF. They are supposed to keep you alive for 5 days under all survival conditions.(That's pretty open ended eh?) The Natick Army Labs are up here in Massachusetts, and they test all this stuff in some pretty amazing simulated conditions. My brother worked there for a while... oh the stories about the stuff that didn't work out... I'd tell you, but, then I'd have to kill you

"the equal to an MRE, dead moose, fruitcake or Thanksgiving in two weeks." ~ CK

I'm at a loss. MRE's, dead moose, and Thanksgiving dinner are all edible. Where the hell does fruit cake come in?

First Strike Rations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76ba-uQCVuU


Weird, First Strike Rations are meant to be high density energy rations. In the video, you can spot Fat Free Mayonnaise .

Apparently Kraft make a Fat Free Mayonnaise Dressing for fat people. Could it be the same stuff?

Where are the pringles and Slimfast milk shakes when you need them.

BTW what ever happened to the ration the folks from Natick developed, that you could urinate on to rehydrate. Must of been a salty affair.

Everything you wanted to know about MREs, but were afraid to ask.

Cookie, is that you???

Some of us love a good fruitcake...

the little survival ration tin i got from the repo ration
people had a super chocolate nut brownie in it--and powdered
tea with sugar..almost as good as the mre fruitcakes

You use pieces of the fruit cake for ammo in your improvised slingshot to kill the moose.

OBG,

That can be interpreted in many ways....

Nonetheless, you need help...

"...you need help..."

That is a given, but has nothing to do with fruitcake...

I've eaten them for two weeks (12 per day). I'm not sure why but I wasn't hungry myself. I found it great that I didn't have to waste time eating, cleaning dishes or cooking. My only issue with them is that I didn't have to defecate after the second day. True, that did save time but it concerned/disturbed me somewhat.

I wasn't doing heavy labor though. I was just training medical staff.


-NIM

Yep. decided to join a couple of forums.

That's a couple of other things I noticed, too. No messy food prep & the lack of restroom activity; but I figured low input, low output... saved on TP.
These would probably be good when you are on the move.

And you figured out who I was by the "name" huh? I've gotta work on that...

NIM and Basecamp

Decreased defecation, according what I've read is due to the way you consume these tabs, allowing nearly 100% of the intake to get absorbed. Since it's all used and burned, nothing much in the way of waste to produce.

Millenium bars are made by SOS Food Labs, which also makes survival bars in 1200, 2400 and 3600 calories. I think they taste much better (like cookie dough) than Mainstay or Datrex (sawdust).

They are tricky to find, especially the 1200 cal. size which are the most useful. www.emprep.com has the larger ones, but I've had to contact the company directly and wheedle a retail sale to get the smaller ones. Now I just use a 2-3 Millenium bars instead.

More fun with Survival Tabs. This couple tries 4 days on only Survival Tabs. A candid review by non preparedness types.4 part series. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmJUPm6Hqd4

Before I found these vids I tried my own test of Survival Tabs. I also found the 12 a day/240 cal to be an exercise in starvation. I thought about food all the time and it became very difficult to concentrate after 8 hours. I decided to try to get about 2000 calories for the day, divided into 3 meals of 33 tablets, eaten 10 an hour. Although I felt more satisfied I still felt hungry all the time.

Nutritionally, energy wise and comfort wise I am better off eating 2000 calories worth of Balance bars or similar. The Survival Tabs appear to be just dried milk and sugar. They taste like sweet, powdered coffee creamer. They don't dissolve quickly in hot coffee or at all cold milk.

The Original Food Tabs have a slightly different formula and flavors. I plan to try them for fun, so I'll report back later. They are made by the same company.

http://www.foodtabs.com/catalog/

It sounds like trying to survive on vitamin pills.

The day 4 video is actually pretty funny, the two "normal" people turn into survivalists after eating Survival Tabs for a couple days. The girl is seen cleaning a gun in the background as the guy, dressed in camo, is talking. I've lived on essentially lifeboat rations and water for a couple days, but, never tried the survival tabs. Not enough bulk there to fill you up.