BDH Emergency Food Ration Bars, Pepper Flavor Survival Tabs Supply for Outdoor Camping Emergency Snowstorm Earthquake Disaster Preparedness Kit With Long Self Life

These are a compact ration bar. In texture they are are dense but crumbly - they don't break apart in the hand but do when bitten and are reduced to dust when chewed. Despite this, eating them doesn't provoke too strong of a thirst. In flavor, I'd say they are like a savory, mild shortbread cookie - like such a cookie made from ghee. There is no detectable flavor of pepper or salt, so far as I could tell.They are conveniently packaged two bars to a robust foil pack, with each bar individually wrapped with a thin plastic wrapping, just enough to keep the bars separate and free from sweat/dust until you are ready to eat them. Though thin, it can be removed in one piece, for the most part.I purchased these for two reasons - to keep in my car as an emergency food supply, and to keep in my pack to top off on clean energy. They seem to work well for the latter purpose; when I was climbing a mountain to see the total eclipse, I tested out a pair of bars to see how they supported the exertion. They were easy to remove and eat, left no residue and had no gastrointestinal effects, and provided enough energy that I didn't have to eat again for almost twelve hours.If I had any complaint, it would be that they are a bit expensive for what they are - they should be maybe half this price. It might be nice to get these individually wrapped, since they are 400 Calories each and you don't necessarily want to 800 Calories even if you are out on a tough hike. I'd prefer US-made ration bars to Chinese ones, and will see if any are available. They are, however, suitable to purpose.

Tasted ok,but the best before is 18/09/2027,how could it last for 20 years?

I opened the Amazon box to find the green box this come sit. It clearly states on the box this is manufactured in China which I wasn’t thrilled about. I decided to try it one out and it was pleasantly soft yet hard with minimal crumble. It tasted sweet yet salty. Overall good product that appears will be shelf stable for a long time. Only thing is I wish these were manufactured in the USA.

I got this package to add to my stash of emergency provisions, in the event that I would ever need it. I hope not! I live in the Southern California mountains, where the potential for earthquakes and wildfires are very high! It is advisable to keep untouched and unopened food and water set aside in the event of a disaster. That's what these are for. THis said, I shouldn't really care how they taste, only that they are nutritious enough to survive on before help can get to our mountain area, which could be more than a few days, maybe even weeks. (I am a CERT. I took the civilian preparedness training.) I pulled this down a star because unless it is vacuum sealed so tight to make it as hard as a brick now while they are new, I am almost worried that these are going to be very hard to eat when and if the time comes! I imagine I will have to take a hammer to them once they are opened. Also, the nutrients are not exactly jam packed. I have seen more nutrients in a bar on the shelf at the dollar store, quite honestly... But, these do have a 20 year shelf life, supposedly, so I do not see myself living off of 20 year old over the counter protein bars... they won't last as long as these! And unless my math is off by a few digits, the salt content is really high in these! I need to watch that number. (Bar = 120 G, salt is .35/G 42 G per bar, time 1000 equals 42000 Mg salt? I could be wrong. I hope I am wrong.) Also, people who can not eat wheat or soy product need to pay attention to the ingredients as well. Lat thing you want is a reaction during a disaster! I am good in that department, so I will save these strictly for emergency.

When you do the math, these aren't that far out of the ordinary price range for energy bars. Each of the 12 vacuum-sealed packs contains two bars, each of which is 60g (about 2 oz) of food. Pulling out my conversion-factor math skills, I calculate that each 60 g bar contains about 275 calories. (The package says that there are 458 cal per 100 g of the product, and each bar is 60 g, so 60 x 4.58=275). 275 calories per 2 oz is a very dense nutrient source, with minimal water for effective energy while hiking and minimizing weight in the pack. The nutrition is about 10% protein by weight, so each 60g bar would have about 6 g of protein. When you divide the cost by the actual number of bars included (total of 24), the price is about $2 a bar, which is absolutely not the high end of cost of protein bars.When you add in the other benefits, like their insanely long shelf life, light weight, and high caloric density, they start seeming a lot more like a good deal.And the taste? I like them! They taste like butter cookies. They are very dry and crumbly, but salty-sweet-buttery with a good texture (dry, but cookie-like). They're like Girl Scout Trefoils. The only reason I took off a star is that they are difficult to open in the field. Each individual bar is shrink-wrapped tightly, and it's hard to open them without a knife. They're also difficult to share, since you can't really cut or break one of the bars without ending up with a crumbly mess.These are not everyday energy bars for me, but for when I want them, like for extra energy while hiking, they are a terrific purchase.