In the first hours/days of an emergency situation, using your stockpile of food may not be a practical/possible thing to do. It might be hard to cook, you might be in shock or injured, etc. To prepare for just such an instance, we have bought a few cases of 1200 and 2400 calorie emergency food bars (we got a mix to add variety and help with rationing the calories). After things "settle down" a bit, then we can dig into our emergency supplies and live off of them. Just not sure that immediately after an "incident" the first thing on our minds will be breaking into our food supply... Also in the event that something forces us to leave, whether it's destruction of our house for some reason, or government mandated evacuation/relocation, emergency foodbars are light and easy to carry with you in your "go bag/BOB". So, does anyone else stock emergency food bars? Considering it?
About any store near the ocean that sells boat supplies... The only gig I took on my coast guard boat inspection in Fla. was for the survival food being out of date. http://www.survivalsuppliers.com/products/disaster_prep/food_water.html http://www.survivalpacks.com/Survival-and-Emergency-Food-Rations-s/27.htm http://www.quakekare.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=7 http://www.preparedness.com/surfoodtab.html http://www.redflarekits.com/c/w/FOOD+AND+WATER.html?gclid=CIKU9ZvNp5YCFQO2FQodn2i7zg http://www.survivaltabs.com/ http://www.bestglide.com/Food_and_Water.html http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/foodpak1.aspx http://www.survival-warehouse.com/food/index.htm?gclid=CLD8w5nNp5YCFQOaFQoduw88zQ
Mine came from good 'ol Amazon! http://www.amazon.com/Mayday-Calori...e=UTF8&s=sporting-goods&qid=1224028971&sr=8-3 (1200 calorie bars) http://www.amazon.com/Mayday-Calori...e=UTF8&s=sporting-goods&qid=1224028971&sr=8-1 (2400 calorie bars) http://www.amazon.com/Mayday-Calori...e=UTF8&s=sporting-goods&qid=1224028971&sr=8-2 (3600 calorie bars) My case was made this month (Oct 08) and expires in 5 years (see the package picture in my 1st post).
I ordered them from Emergency Essentials - Be Prepared Emergency Preparedness Food Storage. They have several brands and all I've tried are good.
Okay, I have these and I have tested them (Mainstay). They say you don't HAVE to up your water intake, it's a good thing if you do. The Mainstays taste like cookie dough, sort of, a dry cookie dough. The problem with packages like these are that the entire bar or block is exposed and you pretty much have to eat the entire thing in a couple of days (I ended up putting mine in a zip lock and keeping it in the fridge because I didn't want to eat it over a couple of days). The packages are not resealable, the packages are pretty fragile for what they are intended to be used for. The reason I tested mine was that the packaging had been holed somehow. I keep one in both cars for winter and one in my mini-BOB. All of them have been sealed in zip locks to protect the packaging and to so that the bar can be protected and saved if it is opened. If I were to purchase them again, and I don't know that I will, I'd get the 1200 single bars so that I didn't have to open the entire 2400 or 3600 calorie bars.
the Datrex brand bars come in 200 calorie sub-packages (6, 12, & 18 depending on the bar) & they cost the same as mainstay
stashing food bars I've found that regardless of the brand, they are an "emergency" source of calories; as such, not too tasty. I have a few stashed long-term in the house, trucks, and boat, along with some grocery store stand-by snacks that have to be rotated out more frequently. They are worth the price for the long expiration dates. I don't think I'll stock up on too many of them at a time, though.
Every year I make fruitcake, not the kind with the citron fruit, just dry fruits, and nuts, lots of them. Its a real dense cake and as nutritious as you would like. When done you wrap them in white gauze or cheese cloth, soak numerous times with brandy, then pack in powdered sugar, lots of it. These will keep for decades, yes I said decades, I have one in the refer that is at least 20 years old, no signs of aging or deterioration. Why buy, when you can make your own the way you 'like' it, personalized nutritional food.
I perfer the Millennium food bars. 400 calories each, individually wrapped, in a variety of flavors. Emergency Essentials - Be Prepared Emergency Preparedness Food Storage
I LOVE FRUITCAKE!!! My in-laws were just razzing me because I was the only one in the room who actually enjoys it. lol
i like "Mayday" 2400 calorie bars in sealed foil. Survival Food Bars by Mayday 1200 Calorie Case of 24 Ration Bars at Disasterstuff.com i found mine at 3vets in vancouver, bc. still looking fr a source closer to home tho. i currently live in the okanagan, bc. peace al
I love it too and I catch hell for it. I always wonder if it's a trick. Why would it be there if they didn't like it? Crazyness.
Drink lots and lots of water. Datrex makes a decent food bar as well (I have had some that tasted like a lemon cookie and others with a vanilla flavor). I susepct all or some Mainstay and Datrex bars may be made at the same "private label" manufacturer. I would aslo drink lots of water with fruitcake as well. The nice thing about fruitcakes is if you have enough of them you can use them as bricks. I keep a large ziplock bag handy to transfer the contents once I open the bag. Adds maybe a couple of days to use. Shelf life is short relative to freeze dried and vacuum packed food though. I have these bars in my food supply but it represents only a very small percentage of my total supplies.
The food bars are a good idea to have as 'part' of your emergency food storage but you do need to have your essential storage. It is NEVER good idea to only dig into your food storage when a disaster occurs. Food storage should be something that is used as part of your regular diet. It is a misconception to wait until an emergency occurs because then have to figure out how to use your storage. At Shelf Reliance . We say 'eat what you store and store what you eat'. THRIVE,freeze dried foods can be reconstituted without cooking. They can be revived in hot or cold water so no need to be concerned for how to prepare. Because they have no additives or preservatives they also are great to crush to make baby food. We cannot forget the babies in these emergencies because they cannot eat food bars or the like. www.thepantryshelf.shelfreliance.com
For me, this is a guaranteed migraine headache! I had my very first migraine headache as a teenager after eating fruitcake. I was sick as a dog. I visited with a headache doctor (his specialty) and learned that migraines can be caused by foods that are prepared using an aging process. Even though you can't see it, many foods have a mold component and mold is the primary cause of migraines for most people. Guilty foods can include preserved meats, nuts, dried fruits, some cheeses, chocolates (especially those made with the mold process--soak cocoa beans for long periods of time in water which gets a mold on top), some pickled products, food that was cooked more than 3 day ago or not properly stored, red wines, for me--beer, cantaloupe, and more. Migraines can begin up to 24 hours after ingesting the guilty food, sometimes sooner. I am just super careful about what I eat. Sometimes, chocolate will give me a doozy of a headache. Other times, nothing. It has to do with how the chocolate was processed. Migraines can be caused by other things, such as a gluten intolerance, but we are talking about aged food here, as in the fruitcake. I know some people love fruitcake. I just cannot do it. Bunkerbob, no offense meant.
or you can make your own - these are not too bad.... SURVIVAL BARS (FRUIT FLAVORED) 1 recipe contains 1560 calories, 268 grams carbohydrate, 120 grams protein and 24 grams fiber. You can eat it dry or cook in a little warm water. 3 cups quick oats 1 c brown sugar substitute* 1 TB boiling water 2 1/2 c instant dry milk 1 TB honey 1/2 package of diet Jell-O*, 3 ounce size Dissolve Jell-O and honey in hot water. Add remaining ingredients and mix very well. Add warm water one tablespoon at a time until mixture will mold and hold together. Pack firmly in a greased foil-lined pan, and place in the oven to dry at the oven’s lowest setting (if it is over 250 degrees, leave the door ajar. You want this to dry, not cook. When dry, cut or break in 2 inch pieces. Wrap in foil and store in freezer until needed. It tastes like fruit flavored oatmeal and is not unpalatable uncooked. *The original recipe called for brown sugar and regular Jell-O which would raise the calories significantly for use by a very active person with no sugar restrictions.
The original survival bar? Despite all the jokes about fruitcake, if you stop to think about it, fruitcake is the first survival bar. Before the advent of refrigeration and modern supermarkets, when people grew their own food, and were often isolated out on the farm by poor roads, blizzards, etc., the fruit cake was an excellent way to preserve the harvest of fruits, grains, nuts, etc. in an easily accessible form that required no special storage methods. Cook up a bunch of fruitcakes during the harvest season and have something to eat when you are stuck on the homestead during those long, cold winters! Loaded with calories, and a bit of booze and you have a nice meal that fills you up and mellows you out at the same time! :2thumb: If a fruitcake were cut up into smaller portions and vacuum sealed, you would have a decent survival bar that should last for years!
