Oh yeah. I fully agree they get old fast. That's why they are in my crash bag as emergency food. When I am going out kayaking or hiking or something I always pack tastier goodies and keep the cliff bars as just in case food. As far as "pack it and forget it" food goes I have experimented with this and that and just found cliff bars to be kind of hard to beat.

The fact that they don't melt in the heat is a bonus I forgot to mention. A lot of meal bars I have tried don't hold up very well in the heat.