I'm researching emergency food bars. Else where on this site there is information and recommmendations about MAINSTAY and MAYDAY food bars. There is also DATREX and I just learned of another ER BAR. I would appreciate hearing opinions about these food items from those of you that have actually eaten them.

I would use the SOS Lab survival rations. The big advantage is that the portions are individually packed.
http://www.dougritter.com/DR-Aeromedix_survival_pak_faq.htm

( scroll to food group)

I wanted to pop this discussion back to the top of the threads.

Has anyone tried the SOS Food Lab bars? How is the taste?

I wanted to buy a few packs of food bars to keep stashed.

SOS bars taste like a shortbread cookie, an excellent cultural comfort for us tea drinkers.The individual packaging is superior.
It's not fruitcake, but then some of mine broke my SAS saw trying to cut it recently.

Oh my... I hear the Mainstay ones taste like lemon pound cake.

The packaging seems to be a draw for me...

I have the Mainstays in my bag, but haven't tried them yet. I wish I'd gotten 9 of the individually-wrapped ones or 3 of the 1200 calorie packs instead of getting one 3600 calorie pack though.

Well this is an opportunity to learn and use up your present brand. Take one day and live on the ration alone, monitoring your water intake and problems repacking the unused portion.
You can make a bulliun cube broth, brew some instant coffee and pour that small bottle of tobassco sauce on rabbit roadkill.
Now once again: who would rather pack 5 knives in their BOB or
some chocolate bars, a few cans of Dinty Moore stew and a '58 Chateau laFitte Rothschild?

Yeah, I'm thinking I might have to order the smaller ones and maybe keep the 3600 in there also.

I've tried the MayDay Bars. Not bad. A bit dry but don't require a lot of water to process.

I did that once for 3 days. It wasn't bad - food wise I actually felt full most of the time. Did get a bit thirsty after each one. But, boring it certainly was. That being said, I did replace them with the same product (forget the name, it't the yellow package with black stripes). Didn't have any true "flavor" like lemon, but it was kind of dry-cookie texture. Very crumbly.

Sounds like the MayDay bars.

I've been making my own for several years using the following recipe I found on the web:



I divide them into 9 smaller bars, Press'n Seal them, and toss them in the freezer.

I left one out of the freezer to see what the shelf life was and it went about 18 months before developing any mold.

I prefer the lemon flavor but lime and orange are good too. I've been meaning to try vanilla so I should do it while I'm thinking about it.

Hmmm... seems interesting...

PSM - I'm going to try that recipe. Do you have an estimated time to dry out the bars at 300 degrees? Half an hour? Three hours?

Thanks

Dave

More than half and hour and less than three hours, probably. Like with most drying there are a lot of variables. You just have to test it.

At first I tried to make the loaf so that it could be cut into 200 cal. cubes, but, unless you’re starving and have lots of water, you’re not likely to eat one at one sitting. In the future I’ll probably cut them in 50 cal. cubes so they can be used for grazing throughout the day.

I don’t think that the calorie count is all that important in “emergency” bars. I see them as staving off the demoralizing feeling of hunger while waiting for rescue or for the situation (flash flood, etc) to resolve itself. In a worst-case scenario, it gives you time to switch into “survival” mode.

These 110 cal. bars are from my first batch back in '02 before I switched to Press'n Seal. I took the pic just a few minutes ago. I keep these frozen and test them occasionally to see how they're holding up.



Pat

I have bars and keep them as part of my stockpile of food. Because they are designed to be all the food that someone needs, I think it gives me a lot of nutrition for the amount of space taken up by the bars. Living in a NYC apt. doesn't allow you to have much space. Bars give me a month of food, for DW and myself, of food in the space of three shoe boxes.

I carry one Mainstay and one Datrex 3600 kcal bar in my BOB. I also have one MRE left over from my last deployment in there. But the trunk gets hot (Florida) so the MRE is about due to come out. I recently vacuum sealed a few extra items for the BOB:

Hard candy lemon drops
Instant coffee and tea
Bullion cubes
Almonds
Gatorade

In thinking of adding some sort of instant soup and peanut butter (I consider PB to be one of the best outdoor fuel foods going). I'll have enough carbos and fats, but I'll be short on proteins. I can't think of anything that would last a year in a hot trunk. Jerky won't.(don't ask)

I don't want to carry a lot of food, just enough for a few days that'll keep, but I'd like to hear you guys' suggestions.

Jeff

I like the idea of making them yourself. Some folks posted what looks like a pratty good recipe above. Why not try it out?

Otherwise ... I vote for simplicity. Go down to your local supermarket. Pick the brand of granola bars that works best for you. I prefer the moist ones myself. Then buy a bottle of multi-vitamins (& minerals) and cram it in the top of your box of granola bars. Presto. Done!

Data says that human beings can survive a LONG time on minimalist rations, especially if essential vitamins & minerals are all avaialable. Nobody says it's fun. You may feel like eating your neighbors, especially if they're low in fat and high in protein. But you will get by just fine.

Pete

P.S. Oh, and I'd add a bag of beef jerky too. There's only so much of granola bars that a guy can take. Give yourself a break in the routine. If you get bored ... try trapping a few pigeons or ravens too. Plenty of good meat there.