In the description it made it sound like I was going to get a case of these emergency food bars. I only received one package with 18 bars in it (not individually wrapped). This vendor is way overpriced on this compared to others. I should have searched more because there are others selling at half the price. This might be a decent product but for something that seems so simple, I think the price should be closer to five bucks.
Here are the details from the package:
(front of package)
DATREX inc.
Multi Purpose
EMERGENCY RATION
APPROVED BY: US COAST GUARD
#160-046/19/0
09027/BV MCA APPROVED
Other Approvals Pending
Approx. 15075kj (3600 kcal)
This ration consists of 18 bars of compressed concentrated food.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR EMERGENCIES:
Lifeboat / Liferaft at Sea:
Eat one bar every 6 hours per person
eat in small pieces - chew well
Other Emergencies on Land:
Eat one bar every 4 hours per person
eat in small pieces - chew well
(back of package)
NUTRITION INFORMATION PER SERVING
SERVING SIZE 1 Bar (38 gm.)
SERVING / PACKET: 18
CALORIES (838 kj) 200 cal. TOTAL FAT (26%) 10 gm.
PROTEIN (7%) 3 gm. SAT. F/A (21%) 2 gm.
CARBOHYDRATE (55%) 21 gm. MONO-UNSAT. F/A (65%) 7 gm.
SODIUM 0.75 mg. POLY-UNSAT. F/A (14%) 1 gm.
CHOLESTEROL 0.378 mg.
PERCENTAGE U.S. RDA FOR ADULTS
PROTEIN 7% THIAMIN 8%
VITAMIN A 1% RIBOFLAVIN 5%
VITAMIN C 1% NIACIN 4%
INGREDIENTS: Wheat Flour, Vegetable Shortening, Cane Sugar, Water, Coconut, and Salt.
PRODUCED BY: DATREX INC.
Kinder, Louisiana 70648
TEL: (337) 738-4511
FAX: (337) 738-5675
Mfg. Date: 05-10-AF
Exp. Date: 05/15
Lot No. L330 Datrex 3600 Emergency Food Bar - 3 Day/72 Hour Bar
This stuff is kinda tasty, stays fresh for a long time, and packs small.
I suggest it for any survival kit where space is limited but still available. In other words, get cheaper bulkier stuff for your home. (Mountain House Hardtack is good there, along with some peanut butter and canned goods). This is for your car, boat, plane, or office. It's standard issue in many lifeboats. It does not require cooking and is moist enough so that it's not thirst provoking.
*WARNING!* Contains coconut, and not just a trace. Do NOT buy or consume if you have coconut allergies! I had a friend break out in hives just for being in the same room!
Once you open the vacuum sealed wrapper you have to consume all the bars within that package. The label states the bars will last up to one month after opening, however, if your emergency only lasted one day you will waste the rest of the bars. Good for 3 day emergency kits since they last un-opened for 5 years.
I'll start with a bit of perspective. This is a survival item. And as such must be portable, durable, does what it's design to do....in this case, keep you from starving to death. For that it does a good job.
With that said, the flavor is good....like a shortbread cookie. Texture seems dry (crumbles easily) but don't confuse that thirst provoking, it does not. I ate 2 portions without a drop of water. The downside of the crumbliness is that it's possibly messy until you get the hang of it. Watch out for crumbs. You don't want to attract animals, insects, zombies, whatever. The individual plastic wrapped 200 calorie portions is a welcomed feature. The upside is minimal chewing. In a survival situation, not having to chew is a plus....trust me.
The high caloric content per pack is good. But compare to other emergency bars it doesn't have as much needed vitamins and minerals. Then again, you're not suppose to live off them, just stay alive long enough to make it back to a real meal.
Just got an order in from The Ready Store, not sure if they are an Amazon merchant or not at this point but what ever, they're a great outfit and so is Amazon.
Let me clarify a previous post, as of the 5/10 batch, my biscuits were individually wrapped.
First off, a case of 20 shipped at 31 pounds. Plan accordingly, this was meant for my bug-out bags and separated in 2 bags the weight isn't too bad. In one bag it would have been way too much weight. But hey, the longer the event, the lighter your bags will get right?
At 3600 calories per "cube" with 18 biscuits in each, this will very easily get 2 people through 24 hours. If you are expending a lot of energy, less. If you are sitting on your butt, more.
The taste is acceptable, in the sense that they are pretty good, think coconut macaroon...But not so good that you'll want to wolf down 5 or 6 at a time. That is taking into consideration that I wasn't exactly starving when I tried them. I'm sure that would change depending on the circumstances. So that should give you an idea of what to expect. At 200 calories a pop, I don't think I want to polish off this bag too quickly.
This is last resort, when the defecation hits the oscillation, type rations and pack really good. We are essentially carrying near 30 days of "food" for 2 (after you add vitamins to your bags). I would prefer something a little more "exciting" and may see if I can squeeze in a few MREs into each bag to change things up. But as a very basic *on the go* food source, this fits the bill.
DATREX 3600 EMERGENCY FOOD
My emergency kit contains a package of Datrex 3600 Emergency Food. What does it give me?
3600 calories in 18 individually-wrapped portions
weight 24 ounces (measured on a food scale)
dimensions: 2.5" by 3.5" by 4.25"
shelf life of 60 months
little nutrition other than providing fat, simple and complex carbohydrates
Ingredients (food allergy notice!) wheat flour, vegetable shortening, cane sugar, water, coconut and salt
A dietitian would be obligated to lecture you on how bad this supply of emergency calories is for you--but this old-school "iron ration" can keep your starving body from metabolizing your internal organs and your muscle tissue in an emergency. I think it tastes like a gritty shortbread cookie with the coconut taste evident, but then I have no issues with eating the military Meal, Ready to Eat (MRE) individual field rations either. Think "The Empire Strikes Back," Episode V of Star Wars, the scene where Luke meets Yoda: Yoda's comment on Luke's emergency ration was appropriate. Don't expect a five-star restaurant meal! These bars are high-carb, high-fat and low-protein. For lifeboat use low protein is good--protein raises your water needs even more than fat does for digestion.
I purchased my Datrex 3600 Emergency Food in April 2011 and the package was marked with a manufacturing date of March 2011 and an expiration date of March 2016. I needed a reserve food source for my emergency kit that was low maintenance--something I could pack in my kit and not worry about for a while. I purchased two packages--one for my kit, and one for testing. The test package will be used on the job--sometimes I don't have time for a lunch break and my work days with commute are nearly 14 hours long.
The wrapper is a mini survival manual, giving old-school advice on conserving drinking water. That advice is situational--if you are in a life boat on the ocean, conserving drinking water can extend the amount of time you'll survive dehydration. The instructions recommend one 200-calories bar every six hours for lifeboat use or one bar every four hours for "emergencies on land." The nutrition information on the package is useful in planning a survival kit--basically, these Datrex survival bars are empty calories. Even though high-carb, high-fat and low-protein mean that you don't need as much water as when you eat high protein meals, if you don't have water it is a bad idea to eat. For hard corps emergencies, empty calories are not a bad thing--they keep your body from eating your heart out under starvation conditions. As I said, I plan that these survival bars are a back-up food supply. I'll have other survival foods and vitamin supplements that don't have the shelf life, the low maintenence feature of the Datrex bar.
I think outside the box. The 18 bars in my Datrex pack were individually wrapped. I wonder if they'd make acceptable fuel? I will have to test that out--learn burn time and how long it will take to get a pint of water to boil. I may need to purify a pint of water more than I need 200 calories. If opened carefully, the foil-lined package will work as a boiling vessel, holding about a pint of water. - Emergency Food - Emergency Kit - Survival Kit - Disaster Preparedness'
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