Emergency Ration Food Bars

Emergency Ration Food Bars are designed to sustain a person for two or three days during an emergency situation, until additional food can be obtained. The food bars come in foil packages, with each package containing six to nine food bars. Each package contains 2400 - 3600 calories (400 calories per bar), and weighs around 725 grams (a little over one-and-a-half pounds). Advertised shelf-life on most emergency rations is around five years. 

Emergency rations are manufactured by several companies, such as Datrex, Mainstay, Marine Pro, SOS Labs, and Tac-Bar. Regardless of the company manufacturing the rations, they all have generally the same taste and texture. Most taste vaguely like a lemon shortbread cookie. All of the rations are fortified with vitamins and minerals to help sustain your health during an emergency.  

In a situation where you are stranded and simply sitting and waiting for rescue (such as in a lifeboat) emergency ration food bars may be ideal. In a survival situation where you must be more active these rations provide a good supplement to other food sources, and will certainly meet their purpose of sustaining a person for a couple of days.

I keep a couple packets of Marine Pro food bars in my pocket whenever I am out in the forest. These Russian made bars are a bit smaller in size than those made by companies such as Datrex and SOS Labs, but still provide 800 calories per bar (2400 calories for three bars to a pack). In addition, I keep a couple of 125ml (4 ounce) packets of emergency drinking water along with the Marine Pro rations. In my truck and cached at my bug-out location I keep a Tac-Bar ration kit. Also, cached at my bug-out location are a few bottles of Survival Tabs.

Survival Tabs are worth mentioning here because they have a very long, 25-year, shelf-life. I personally have Survival Tabs that bought 13 years ago, and they still are edible and retain their texture and taste. Unlike emergency ration food bars, Survival Tabs come in a canteen-sized bottle and are similar in size to chocolate malt-ball candies. Each bottle contains 180 Survival Tabs. Each individual Survival Tab contains 20 calories, so a bottle has a total of 3600 calories (20 x 180). Survival Tabs advertise these bottles as a 15-day food supply, but that would only provide a person with 240 calories per day. Like other emergency rations, Survival Tabs can be expected to provide a few days sustenance, but probably would not last for 15 days if you were doing any work and expending energy. That being said, Survival Tabs make an excellent supplement to other food sources during a survival situations, and their 25-year shelf-life makes them a good choice for your survival caches.

The only potential caution for storing emergency ration food bars is to ensure that the foil packaging does not get torn or punctured. The packaging is generally very tough and tear-resistant, but they can be torn or punctured by a sharp object. This is one reason that I like the Tac-Bar ration kit, which comes packed in an ‘ammo can’ to help protect the rations from being accidentally torn or accessed by rodents or insects.  

Emergency food rations are not something you would want to live on for a long time, but for their intended purpose of sustaining a person for a few days during an emergency they are an excellent addition to your survival gear.