Subject: Mainstay survival rations

From: [email-masked] (San Joaquin Valley Library System)
Date: 23 Sep 1994 21:00:34 GMT

Mainstay Emergency Food Rations are a low-bulk survival food that you may 
have seen advertised in various outdoor catalogs (eg. Brigade 
Quartermasters, (800) 892-2999, sells 5 packs of 6x400 Cal. bars each for 
$17).  I was curious so I bought a package to try them out, and here's what 
I discovered.

Each 6 bar package is vacuum packed inside very tough aluminized 
plastic.  Printed on the outside are nutritional data, the date of 
manufacture, and a notice that they have a five-year shelf life and will 
survive temperatures of -40 to 300 degrees F.  Each bar contains 3.5 gm 
protein, 44 gm carbohydrate and 23 gm fat; there is 0 cholesterol and 28 
mg sodium.  The suggested ration of two bars per day provides 67% of 
the RDA of most vitamins.  Each pack weighs 1 lb.

On opening the package, the bars proved to be of a dense crumbly texture 
with the general appearance of cornbread.  They have a vaguely citrus 
scent that reminds me of Tang orange drink.  Taste wise, the bars are 
very sweet and slightly greasy.  The taste is not repellant, but it 
doesn't tempt you to eat more than absolutely necessary.  Despite their lack 
of bulk, after eating one bar I felt reasonably sated; perhaps they  
have some sort of natural appitite-suppressing qualities.

About a month after I bought these rations, I came down with a moderate 
case of flu that left me unable to digest food properly for the better 
part of a week.  It turned out that the Mainstay bars, probably because of
their minimal bulk and lack of vegetable fiber, proved readily digestable when 
other forms of nourishment caused severe diarrhea.  So, even if I never 
need to fall back on Mainstay rations for their intended purpose, they 
make an excellent chaser for a Kaopectate!  I think they're a pretty good 
product.

 - Dave
 
-- 
Dave DeLaurant		Shooter of crossbows, firearms and airguns
San Joaquin Valley 	Lover of women, cats, hunting and foreign cuisine
Information Service	Mender of books, Rider of bicycles, Reader of English
[email-masked]	Collector of modern military helmets & body armor