Customer Reviews

Mainstay Emergency Food Rations - Case of 10 Packs

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If you are looking for a product that has a long shelf-life, is compact, and will provide you will the sustenance you need in a survival situation, then this is it. I bought some to store in the pantry (about 3 weeks worth per person in the household) just in case we are held up in the house for an extended period, such as would be the case in a zombie attack.

The person who says this isn't food proceeds to list food ingredients that appear in most things in the grocery store. Flour and sugar aren't food? You need some fat in a nutrition bar. While hydrogenated oils have their problems, it is the only way to ensure shelf-stability for fat. These bars will last FIVE YEARS without refrigeration. You need carbs for energy in a stressful (remember, it's an emergency) situation. I like lemon cookies, so the taste is just fine for me. MREs are a great supplement, although the best only have a 3-year shelf-life. So use these in combination if you can afford the cost and space for the MREs. BTW, these bars are Kosher and meet the dictates for Halal. Not bad for meeting a wide range of dietary requirements. As always, people with specific food sensitivity should read the label.

I purchased a packet of these for a lightweight and handy meal for packing in the woods. The taste is fine as advertised. This isn't a three star based on this being just a snack, however. They are survival rations, not just some kind of nosh. I would not choose to eat these as a snack as they are rather dense, and despite claims to do make you thirsty; just as eating anything bread-like will make you thirsty.

There is also an aftertaste that, while not strong, will make your mouth continue to taste the lemon-bar you just ate for as long as it takes you to drink enough water to wash it down.

I would rather have an MRE, but the compact and portable nature as well as the price makes this a good item for extreme light hiking.

The purpose of these rations is to keep people alive despite limited potable water supplies. They've got plenty of vitamins and minerals, however, they are greatly lacking in sodium and other electrolytes. That's a benefit when potable water is extremely limited, but it's a curse if you'll be performing strenuous activities.

Each bar contains only 23mg of sodium, which is 1% of the recommended daily allowance. That makes sense - any more salt is going to provoke thirst. But it also means that with any moderate or greater activity, you're going to be sweating out electrolytes, and these bars won't replace them. If you have any desire to fend for yourself in a survival situation (doing anything but sitting around waiting for help to arrive) I'd STRONGLY suggest adding a sports drink powder high in sodium and potassium. Same thing if you're planning on using them to replace/augment hiking rations.


The texture is heavy but crumbly, and doesn't seem to absorb much water. (The first two ingredients on the list are Enriched Flour and Vegetable Shortening; the shortening would repel water or saliva) Meaning: it's not going to provoke thirst anywhere nearly as bad as most baked goods.

The taste is similar to a lemon cookie. It's slightly cloying, but quite tolerable. Taste might not be a significant consideration for adults, but when you've got kids, you don't need the extra aggravation of one of them refusing to eat at meal time because they don't like the taste of their rations.

The packaging is a sturdy foil. Tough, but can be opened without tools, and can be folded closed to protect an unused portion.

All in all, I'm impressed. I wouldn't want to eat these things for a month straight, but they would be great to get by for a few days. They managed to cram 3 days worth of food into a package about 1/3 the size of an MRE.

Mainstay also markets 1200 and 2400 calorie packages, which are more conveniently sized for personal emergency kits.

Nutrition facts (summarized from the package I received):
Serving Size: 1 bar
Servings per container: 9
Calories: 400
Fat: 20g (36%)
Sodium: 23mg (1%)
Carbohydrates: 46g (15%)
Protein: 3g
Vitamin A: 50%
Vitamin C: 60%
Calcium: 50%
Iron: 10%
Thiamin: 15%
Riboflavin: 25%
Niacin: 30%
Vitamin D: 50%
Vitamin E: 25%
Vitamin B6: 90%
Folic Acid: 35%
Vitamin B12: 20%
Phosphorus: 40%
Magnesium: 30%
Pantothenic Acid: 100%

Mine are 6 months expired (i.e. 5 and 1/2 years old), and I've had them in the garage in extreme heat (Florida) for quite a while. I've never actually tasted them before. Since they expired, I figured I might as well give them a try. If they're good, I've still got the rest of them to keep handy. If they're bad, well, at least I know.

I wasn't sure what to expect as I peeled the package open. Would it be a moldy mess, or dry as cardboard?

I first realized they were moist, and showed no signs of mold. They smelled pretty good, actually, so I went ahead and took a nibble. Lo and behold, they tasted great! Even as old as they were and how they'd been stored.

I give these a big thumbs up.

The five year shelf life is impressive. Too bad it arrived with about 30 days left on that.

Why do they think someone would order these and intend to eat them almost immediately?

Ordered 2 cases of Mainstay Emergency Food Rations - Case of 10 Packs from Big Fly Sports via Amazon.com. For some reason, the shipment was split. One case was sent via UPS, the other via FedEx. The UPS package arrived, vacuum packed rations packed well with no loss of vacuum seal (it's essential for these rations to be properly packaged for long term storage.)

The FedEx package arrived with the rations packed loosely (allowing them to rub against each other during shipment). Three of the packages had lost their seal, resulting in a product that can't be used for it's intended purpose.

I wanted to open one package to taste anyway, and and have tried to contact Big Fly Sports for replacement of the other two. To date, I've left several voice mail messages and still haven't heard back from them. Can't say I'd order from Big Fly Sports again.

Other than this slight problem, I'll add the good rations to survival kits and use the bad packages for friends to sample. Survival rations are an essential item for many, especially here in Alaska. I've no problems with the Mainstay product itself, as long as it's properly preserved & sealed.

UPDATE: I received voice mail from Big Fly Sports yesterday. Email sent with hopes of a "fix"...to be updated.

FINAL UPDATE: Big Fly Sports passed me back to Amazon.com customer service. Amazon.com customer deserves a big THANK YOU as they took care of me and resolved the problem immediately, despite the lack of action by Big Fly Sports.

This is the second brand of emergency food ration I've sampled (the other being ER Bars). I have no idea why the Amazon review is listing this as a toy review (presumably a database glitch), but Mainstay Bars are a 4 star product.

Starting with the packaging, the case of 10 packs came double boxed, presumably to avoid any potential shipping damage. Crushed bars are less of an issue as these are very durable, not to mention, dense. But severe damage could potentially rupture a pack, killing the shelf life. Always examine each pack individually before caching it or adding it to an emergency kit. The actual product box is extremely compact for a month's worth of rations, and is easily stored or cached virtually anywhere for emergency use.

Each pack has indentations formed in the brick for easy portioning and is vacuum sealed in a durable, non-resealable foil/mylar wrapping. Packs are compact and small enough (24 oz weight) to be thrown into any bag of emergency supplies, be it car kit, marine kit, or even at the bottom of a backpacking pack to be used in emergencies if caught stranded out in the woods, desert, bush, etc. beyond what was planned.

The taste of these rations is surprisingly pleasant, perhaps a bit too sweet for some tastes, while others may have issue with the lemon flavor. While not overpowering or artificial tasting, it is clearly lemon flavored. A more neutral flavor might be preferable if one had to subsist off these for more than a few days. For reference, the nearest comparison to a common food stuff would be lemon sugar cookies, albeit much denser.

Compared to ER Bars, I would personally say the taste is better (more like a cookie and less like a biscuit) although a bit stronger (sweeter, stronger lemon flavor). Texture-wise, the Mainstay bars are not as hard (easily bitten) and much less crumbly and powdery. Overall, they are much easier to eat, perhaps even a bit too easy to consume if one were in a legitimate emergency situation where they will be subsisting off 3 squares a day. ER Bars generally have to be ground down slowly or pre-crumbled; Mainstay bars can easily be chewed up in a few bites.

Nutrition-wise, they are enriched to provide the basic vitamin and mineral nutrients and are composed primarily of flour, vegetable shortening and granulated sugar. On a caloric basis, over half come from fat, followed by complex and simple carbohydrates with only 3 grams of protein per serving and 2 grams of fiber. Like ER Bars, Mainstay rations are extremely low in sodium/electrolytes, making electrolyte replacement a potential issue under high heat exposure environments. This likely contributes to the "non-thirst provoking" characteristic of the rations, which I will generally agree with; eating these do not cause dry mouth.

Make no mistake; these are Emergency Rations, not nutrition bars or backpacking food. With any luck, one won't have to rely upon subsisting off these for any length of time (ideally, never), but given the compact packaging and very efficient nutrient to volume nature of these rations, paired with a 5 year shelf life (rations received were manufactured less than a month ago), these are an ideal addition to any car kit, marine kit, go-bag or emergency supply cache.

I have tried these ration bars, as have all of the members of my family, and even my 15 year old daughter agreed that they taste pretty good. As a result I have purchased a case of these Mainstay 3600 survival rations to help supplement my store of MRE's (I plan on buying more Mainstay bars in the near future) After all, in an emergency a few extra days worth of food could mean the difference between dying of starvation and holding on until help arrives.

One thing to keep in mind is that 1200 calories is the absolute minimal caloric intake an adult should have in a given day. If you plan on any activity at all during an emergency situation it would be best to plan to intake at least 1600 calories a day (especially if you are a man - a man needs more calories per day then a woman of the same weight). This would mean eating 4 out of the 9 bars in the packet per day instead of the recommended 3.

Since most high end civilian MRE's contain roughly 1200 calories each these Mainstay bars make a really good addition to a day's menu in a survival situation. In fact my family and I plan to eat 1 or 2 Mainstay bars for breakfast each day in addition to a daily mid afternoon MRE in case of an emergency. This in turn will give us roughly 1600 to 2000 calories per day, depending on the number of Mainstay bars consumed. While this is not an ideal situation it should get us through any emergency lasting up to a few weeks in length.

Let's just hope that I have enough ammo to hold off the zombies until the military arrives...

I have mixed feelings about this (and similar) products that I categorize as "survival food." If you are looking to buy individual blocks of food that will last for 5+ years, then these are perfectly fine. Edible enough, but not something you'd normally break out for dinner - not even in most disasters.

I often point out to people that stockpiling survival food is usually wasteful and unnecessary. It is much better to simply increase your stockpile of "regular" food (e.g., canned veggies, rice, beans, boxed foods, shelf-stable milk, etc.). Nearly all store bought canned and boxed foods have a shelf life of many months to several years - detailed shelf life tables are online or in my handbook. I recommend establishing a 30-day minimum food stockpile - no tubs of beef jerky or crates of tuna. Just regular food that you keep rotated. With this level of supplies, you can feed your family a balanced diet through nearly any event, and that includes hurricanes, floods, pandemics, widespread blackouts, etc. It is true that you wouldn't be ready for truly world-changing events, such as if an asteroid hits the planet and destroys all civilization as we know it, but I would argue that being worried about highly unlikely events is not very helpful to living a productive life. It's much better to be prepared for likely threats.

You might think that 30 days of food is totally inadequate, and that's fine, stockpile more. But keep in mind that the average American eats 2,100 pounds of food per year. So keeping 30 days of food for a family of five might be about 1,000 pounds of food - definitely requiring a little creative thinking to store in most homes.

The bottom line is that the Mainstay emergency packs are perfectly acceptable food products, but unlikely to ever actually be eaten. Your money would probably be better spent on just shoring up your food supply. Just my opinion; decide for yourself.

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Written by Arthur Bradley, author of "Handbook to Practical Disaster Preparedness for the Family."