ER Emergency Ration 2400 Calorie Food Bars for Survival Kits and Disaster Preparedness, Case of 20, 1AC

I received my package sooner than the expected delivery date, which was a much appreciated surprise. As a heads up: the case shown online is the box that the bars actually ship in. I would have preferred that the case was placed in another box with some padding, because it arrived in pretty rough shape when I received it (that, and I'd rather be discreet about my purchases). Because of this, it prompted me to open up the case and check the integrity of the contents. Of the 20 bars, 2 of them had compromised seals, evidenced by the amount of give the packaging had when inspected, which was way more than was felt on any of the other bars (sealed properly, the packaging stays firmly and uniformly stuck against the bar inside). I promptly contacted the seller, who was very responsive and courteous and resolved the matter in minutes. I wasn't sure what to expect from their customer service department given the current crisis, but they were very helpful and I honestly couldn't speak highly enough of the experience.Since I had 2 replacement bars on the way and since the manufacturing date was the same month that I ordered the bars, I took the chance to open the two packages and try them for myself. While I couldn't find where the punctures were from the outside, upon opening, I did hold the packaging up to one of my windows and was able to find one pinhole puncture each, where light could be seen passing through. Despite this, the bars looked and smelled to be in good condition and seemed to be safe enough to sample. Despite the toughness of the material, opening the packaging was easy, and I found that the bars were intact. As others have said, the bars are not so much "scored" as simply having lines cut along the top to show how to portion the rations. I broke off a chunk as best I could, and had a bite. The texture is very similar to that of a dense shortbread or butter cookie, with the flavor being a subtle vanilla with a very slight lemon aftertaste, but overall pleasant enough and better than I had expected. As advertised, I felt no thirst despite the dryness of the bar, and found myself having to stop nibbling at it since each portion has enough fat to use up almost half of one's recommended daily allowance.Long story short, I think that these bars are an excellent option to consider in emergency situations. Beyond their nutritional value (which I think is impressive for what they are), the bars' ability to withstand extreme temperatures while maintaining their 5-year shelf life is a very attractive feature. You can keep one in your car, at your office, in your go bag, whatever, and can be confident that you'll have something to temporarily and adequately sustain yourself in an emergency situation. And while I'm sure I'd get sick of the flavor if these bars were my ONLY source of food, I think that by using the bars' individual rations as a supplement to an MRE or Mountain House-style meal (especially if you need to limit yourself to only one meal per day), these have enough nutrients and vitamins in them that I'd consider them a very viable addition to your emergency preparedness plans.

As others have commented, this is basically a big crumbly block of bland shortbread. The taste wasn't bad. I wanted to try one before I ever needed it to make sure it was edible and to test the packaging. I was favorably impressed. I wouldn't buy these for snacking, but they're plenty edible enough for survival purposes. I think even fussy kids would eat these if hungry.These rations are mostly flour and oil for calories, but they also have some mild flavoring to improve the taste. They also contained a fair amount of vitamins and minerals. I think most people would use these rations to stave off hunger and provide energy needed to survive in a hostile climate or environment for a few days, and nobody is getting vitamin deficiencies in a few days, so I really didn't care about the supplemental vitamins and minerals, but they don't hurt, even if I suspect they're more for marketing, or possibly to meet some bogus government agency requirements. I particularly liked that these rations were make from naturally hydrogenated palm oil rather than artificially hydrogenated cottonseed oil. The verdict is finally in on the adverse health effects of artificial trans fats. If I was starving to death it wouldn't matter so much, but it's great that the manufacturer spent a little more on palm oil to make these a healthier product.I washed these rations down with hot tea, which would be my preferred method if I needed them for their intended purpose. They're so crumbly that they're a bit difficult to eat. The bars are scored and mostly break along these score lines into six irregularly shaped chunky blocks, but attempting to nibble on these blocks resulted in crumbles that were difficult to control. If you were desperate for every calorie, you might want to nibble them in the bag to catch the crumbles.Speaking of the bag... that's a large part of this product. The usefulness of these rations solidly hinges on the quality of the bag, and these ER emergency rations score big in this category. The bags are very heavy duty. I can't see any bugs getting into the bags, and I doubt rodents would randomly start chewing on these bags if they weren't already open and smelling like food. The corners of these heavy duty bags seem very unlikely to wear through when jostled in a pack for long durations. The vacuum seals on all four bags were intact. The built-in zip closure on these bags actually works, unlike most "resealable" food bags which are a bad joke. These emergency rations look and feel like the sort of quality you want in a product that you're relying on to help save your life or the lives of loved ones. Yes, most of us can live a month without food, but you'll be miserable, cold, prone to infection, not thinking clearly and you'll lack the energy needed to do what you'll probably need to do to survive once your body goes into starvation mode.