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tortirioan
08-10-2013, 12:41
Hello everyone, I have been doing research for the last couple months on Survival rations, and have yet to find a real indepth review, now i'm sure it was my failure to find rather than someone else's failre to make. But I have purchaced the smallest pack I could find of every survival food i could get. I am not including anything that requires rehydration, I did this because survival food to me should be quick and easy to eat and not have to sit down and boil 2 cups of water to add to the food then wait 10 minutes for the food to get ready.
I will be judging by total weight to calorie ratio (including packaging), U.S. RDA values, price, size, taste and texture. I will also judge on how thursty it makes one, but i suspect they will all make one pretty thirsty.
I will be attempting to get some of my family to help out with the taste aspect, but I will probably have mixed success *chuckle*. I will also be shooting a video that I shall post on my Youtube channel, the video will be posted later after all my editing and i cannot start filming until later in the day (sunlight through my window screws up the camera).
Here is a list of everything i have gotten in the mail, in total I have spent $78 a third of that was shipping. I got all of the rations from ebay (except for the Datrex which i ordered from their website because no one was selling their 1000 calorie pack). In this list I will give general information, including manufacturer, flavor and listed calorie count per pack and weight
1. Datrex - Coconut - 1000 Cal - 2.95 oz
2. Mayday - Apple Cinnamon - 1200 cal - 9 oz
3. S.O.S. - Coconut - 1200 cal - 8.4 oz
4. Mainstay - Lemon - 1200 cal - 8.01 oz
5. New Millennium - Cherry, Blue Berry - 400 - 2.95 oz
6. Food Reserves - Chocolate - 3600 - 1 lb 9 oz (no listed weight but that is off my scale)
By the way i want to give a special shout out to "Cardstoyou" on ebay, I ordered my S.O.S. ration pack from them and in the package they sent they also included 2 New Millennium energy bars, one in Blueberry and one in Cherry. This was really awesome of them, they were actually one of the people whom I felt a little upset with because they use flat rate shipping so I ended up paying 11.45 for shipping on an item that cost me 2.49. But when i opened the package and got 2 free items in the box i felt a little better (the value of the bars comes out to about 3 bucks but still it's the thought that counts). This is the hazard of flat rate shipping and i have played the game before so i understand it.
Will have more info up later, I need to get a better scale, the one I have is a crappy food scale. so i can;t really get accurate measurements.

cofi
08-10-2013, 12:58
super interested in this can you take pics when you open them also

tortirioan
08-10-2013, 13:01
super interested in this can you take pics when you open them also I will be opening them on the video and I'll take pictures as well.

Parf
08-10-2013, 13:28
I know Rapid Fire Bunker has a good selection of these sorts of rations for sale in town, just a FYI.

Circuits
08-10-2013, 13:55
I taste-tested mainstay and datrex last year. Ended up with mainstay, as the datrex, while it has a nice coconut flavor, was just way too dry and granular.

ChadAmberg
08-10-2013, 17:23
Looking forward to your review.
It would be nice to somehow figure out a way to simulate a year in the heat of a car before trying them out.

Great-Kazoo
08-10-2013, 19:04
Datrex, isn't that for lower extremity issues?

tortirioan
08-10-2013, 20:25
*yawn* Hey ya'll I'm not gonna be able to get the video up today, long day working in the yard and i don;t feel like eating much of anything right now, I'll film and edit tomorrow and have it up for you guys tomorrow afternoon.

roberth
08-10-2013, 20:42
I like the Mainstay bars.

tortirioan
08-11-2013, 09:14
Ok everyone will have this review posted tonight :) can't wait, though if i gag i promise to cut that out

ChadAmberg
08-11-2013, 11:30
You should host a "taste test panel"... get 4 or 5 of us lined up for a blind taste test, and video the responses, gags and all.

HoneyBadger
08-11-2013, 13:46
Looking forward to your review.
It would be nice to somehow figure out a way to simulate a year in the heat of a car before trying them out.
If you buy a Mainstay, I'll trade you for one that has been in the heat (and freezing cold) of my truck for 2 years. It gets 130*+ in my truck in the summer parked outside and down below freezing for much of the winter. It will have probably been frozen and thawed (as well as cooked) hundreds of times.

HoneyBadger
08-11-2013, 13:47
You should host a "taste test panel"... get 4 or 5 of us lined up for a blind taste test, and video the responses, gags and all.
lol I would volunteer for this...

tortirioan
08-11-2013, 21:43
argh, sorry guys, I got called out to a shoot with some friends (and some people i do not know) and being a gunsmith as my bread and butter a chance to show off some of my work was too much to pass up. I wasn't able to get around to the review. I have school tomorrow or I would do it now. I will do this review as soon as i can, maybe this will give me a chance to do a tasting panel as you guys suggest.

muddywings
08-12-2013, 19:50
argh, sorry guys, I got called out to a shoot with some friends (and some people i do not know) and being a gunsmith as my bread and butter a chance to show off some of my work was too much to pass up. I wasn't able to get around to the review. I have school tomorrow or I would do it now. I will do this review as soon as i can, maybe this will give me a chance to do a tasting panel as you guys suggest.

have you heard of playing hooky? killing me with the suspense ;)

hatidua
08-12-2013, 20:22
Having sadly experienced how rapidly many energy bars become almost inedible, I'd be curious how the list you've assembled tastes 12-24 months after purchase. Back when I had my 14'er habit I bought a lot of different bars and figured the leftover ones would be used the following year....most were fairly awful 12 months after purchase even when stored in a dark cool closet.