

Mainstay bars are probably the best survival food bars out there, and you can find them for a few bucks per 400 calories, depending on how many you buy at once. While getting your micro-nutrients isn’t your main focus in a survival situation, it’s certainly better to get them if you can.įurthermore, if this is a long SHTF scenario where the other food that is available to you is nutrient-poor, eating these occasionally will help you maintain your health, making this option an especially good choice for the pantry. It is our number one choice for high-calorie food bars because it has all of the vitamins you’ll need. The bar has a mild lemon flavor, is crumbly in the mouth, and meets Kosher and Halal requirements.

Three bars will get most people well over their DRI for all kinds of essential nutrients including vitamin C, vitamin B12 and even folic acid. Of all of the high-calorie food bar options Mainstays offer the best vitamin profile. The nutritional contents of the bar are as follows: However, many situations will call for more calories a day than this, so plan ahead to give those who will need it an extra bar or more. The idea behind the bars is you eat one for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and thereby meet a 1,200 calorie minimum for your day. The 3,600 calorie option, for example, is composed of 9 bars, each of which is a 400 calorie meal. These food bars come in 1,200 and 3,600 calorie options.

If you’re driving out of dodge, or just waiting in your home or shelter or for rescue, then these will do nicely on their own. If you’ll be doing some high-intensity activity while surviving you will either need to have MREs, more than four of these a day, or to supplement them with the higher protein bars we discuss below. You just open and eat, delivering you the calories you need to survive.Īll of these bars also claim that they don’t provoke thirst– which is important when you’re rationing water too. Unlike other long-lasting foods, like hardtack, or bagged meals, they don’t need to be dipped in water or cooked to be palatable. So you can buy some, put them in storage or in your bug-out bag, and forget about them. This also helps you keep to a rationing schedule.Īll of the varieties of high-calorie food bars we list here have a 5-year shelf life. They are meant to be plain so that you can keep them down if you are ill/disturbed/seasick. These food bars are not supposed to be delicious. We’ll first talk about the more important food bars, the kind meant as meal replacements for when SHTF. If SHTF, you’ll be eating your bar of choice repeatedly, so if you can’t stomach the bar your morale will be even lower. I’ll do my best to give you taste information where it’s relevant, but ultimately you’re going to want to try the food bar yourself before you buy a whole bunch. These bars are often designed for hikers or weight lifters and can meet special dietary requirements.īefore we get started, I just want to point out that your personal taste is going to be a big factor here. The second kind of food bar is snack bars that you carry with you when bugging out or bugging in to provide extra energy and comfort while you try to survive. You usually buy these in 3,600 calorie packaging and eat one 400 calorie serving for every “meal.” The first are high-calorie and plain food bars meant to provide daily rations in emergency situations. There are two kinds of food bars that are useful for preppers. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a commission from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.
