ust Emergency Food Rations for Outdoor Survival, Backpacking, Emergency Prep

This is the second of these, bought to replace one that had gone the 5 year shelf life. I opened the old one, as I had never tasted it. Not bad! The texture started off a bit gritty, had me thinking I'd need a gallon of water to wash it down; but to my surprise the finish didn't leave me gasping for water. One swig and it was down. The flavor is faint apple cinnamon. This is almost pure carbs and calories, but for the short term it'd do the trick. All in all, for something you can put in an emergency car kit and not worry about for 5 years, it is a good value.

First point I want to make is that you should ignore anyone reviewing this on grounds of how it tastes. This is intended as a survival food for emergencies, not a camping or hiking snack. Survival rations typically taste bland or even bad on purpose to discourage excessive eating when you find yourself trapped for days in the wilderness or even in your own home after a disaster. That said, these taste okay. Kind of a cinnamon shortbread. Texture and quality are fine for its intended use. I have so far recieved 6 of these packages and they've all been perfectly sealed without any loss in vacuum packaging. I seal a second layer of vacuum plastic over my survival food to extend its lifespan and add an additional layer of protection to prevent accidental puncturing. If you do recieve any that have a loss of vacuum, just eat it or trash it. They're only $5 and not worth a 1 star review based on what was probably poor handling in transit or a minor factory defect. Doing the math, these come out to $.001 per calorie. I've been searching and purchasing long term storage emergency rations for over a decade and never have I found a better price per calorie in any market. Buy a bunch of these for emergency use only, put them in a box in the back of a closet, and then purchase a bunch of canned and dry bagged foods for your "shtf" meals. Additional note... these provide sugar and fat calories and are NOT a meal replacement. Keep a bottle of multi vitamins, a few gallons of water, and a couple pounds of freeze dried potatoes or rice nearby to make sure you're achieving something resembling real sustenance. UPDATE: I'm up to 15 and so far I haven't had a single issue with any of them losing vacuum. I think a few people just had bad luck, so don't let it discourage you from purchasing these. Keep buying these low cost alternatives and maybe the price gougers *coughMOUNTAINHOUSEcough* will start lowering they're ridiculous prices.

These Emergency Food Rations are not sold by UST. UST has discontinued selling this product. Any of these rations that are sold on Amazon, have been bought by Amazon and have been stored in an Amazon warehouse. The expiration date on EVERY package will be less then the full five (5) years that is advertised. Several of our packages purchased only had one (1) year left to expiration. After contacting UST and explaining our dissatisfaction, they explained how Amazon bought them and they are sold and shipped by Amazon. UTS said they are not making this product anymore so ALL of the packages will have a shorter expiration date. They also gave us credit for the price that we paid for all of the packages with short expiration dates. UST could not refund our money but were very fair and willing to compensate us the amount of money we spent for other products they offer. Be aware when you purchase this item that the expiration date will be short.

Well I get up around 1245 1am every night. Didnt have a big dinner and was starving, I like something small and preferably sweet. Well after realizing pretty much the only thing I have left to eat is items in my survival stash. So after searching thru my roughly 8mo worth of food and remember people saying these were sweet and kind of Apple Cinnamon tasting so I said why not I have to 5 of them. Well let's just say this wasn't the best choice for my scenario but that is irrelevant when we're speaking of what this food is for. It was easy to snip and open package then comes the not so fun part (well at 1am anyway) I tried to cut with a kitchen knife after trying to karate chop it without success. Well the expensive stainless kitchen kitchen wasn't doing it, so I busted out my ole K'Bar and leaned in a bit and crack the 6 scored pieces separated 2 and 4 on other side and didn't break even all I could think us oh boy my jaw and teeth are gonna hurt like hell. Well after placing and making a huge mess (tends to crumble) and having to stuff leftovers into the formerly vacuum sealed bag wasn't too bad. (While in emergency situation could be difficult) Then rolled that and placed in large Plastic ziplock bag and pressed air out. Then I was rewarded with a softer than it looked and cut (it was density not thickness causing cutting issues) sweet definitely apple cinnamon flavored treat that crumbled. I had it with milk and it was awesome I recommend this for sure. It is a bit messy but you get use to it (so did my 80lb BlackMouth Cur she cleaned up all of it gladly) the taste is great considering the caloric value and weight. Former military here and I've had worse survival food for sure and I've had a lot better too (some MRE's are yummy) this would be great stowaway on the boat, jet ski, kayak. I would highly recommend for you backpackers and wildlife photographers (the ones that go deep in wilderness). Not to mention pilots of small planes drivers of vehicles in snowy or poor conditions where the threat of getting stranded is real and relevant. I could eat this for days if I had to and probably enjoy it the first few times lol. Nah funnies aside this is serious business folks and this will keep you alive and give you the nourishment you need to continue your fight, journey, rescue, deployment...whatever! Former military pilot approved for sure. Good choice for the price I paid folks....can you really place a price on yours of your love ones lives or hunger even? Don't answer that question. My goodness my humor is terrible. Gooday

My expectations were low, but these are surprisingly tasty. Like a shortbread cookie with apple cinnamon. The package is much heavier than I figured. They are super dense, but still edible without breaking a tooth. Each package has 6 squares, each square is 400 calories. So you'd be eating 3 squares of this a day (or 2 if you're trying to just survive), getting 1200 calories. It is legitimately tasty. Mine were good for another 3 years, but realistically if you stored this in a reasonable environment at temps of 50-80, I can't see how they wouldn't still taste reasonably well for many years. This is like some fallout shelter food. Or if you were some hardcore thru hiker who only was trying to pack as many calories into the smallest, least weight, I can't see how you could do better than this. I paid $5 per bar shipped from Amazon, which if you were eating 1 bar a day on the trail, that's so much cheaper than another other backpacking food. It needs zero water or heat to cook. I am impressed.

I had previously purchased the SOS coconut flavored rations (B075TXP1P5) so my expectations were largely established based on those emergency rations. I thought I'd try these apple-cinnamon rations. I bought four packages in late SEP22. All four were manufactured APR21 and had an expiration date of APR26, so they expire 3.5 years after I received them and I don't benefit from the full five year shelf life. Two of the four vacuum sealed Mylar packages had apparently started to leak because the pouches were no longer tightly vacuum sealed. I opened one of those to try it. I was expecting individually wrapped servings as the SOS rations are packaged, but these rations were a single brick with grooves to facilitate breaking it into six servings. That wouldn't be too bad for a family of six that was eating the entire pouch, but there is no way to reseal the package, making it difficult for one or two people to consume these rations over 2-3 days. I'd read other reviews where people had leaking Mylar packages, so I think I'll vacuum seal the other three pouches inside heavy aluminized Mylar pouches, along with an oxygen absorber packet and a desiccant packet. I'll also include a heavy quart sized zip top bag to store the uneaten rations when opened, and maybe some Jolly Rancher hard candies and some tea bags, because emergency rations are a lot easier to nibble with a hot cup of tea to wash the brick down, or coffee if you prefer. The mild apple cinnamon flavor was OK. I liked it as well as I liked the mild coconut flavor of the SOS rations. The texture was similar as well - a thick-as-a-brick dense compressed fatty flour shortbread. The taste and texture of emergency rations take a back seat to maximum calories in minimum weight and bulk. In addition to being one big brick that I needed to break into six serving chunks, I was also not pleased that the Ultimate Survival Technologies emergency food rations brick is 1.24 inches thick. Broken into six servings, they're almost cubical. That makes it much more difficult to gnaw off pieces to eat. The SOS rations are packaged as individually wrapped bars that are maybe 3/8" thick that are much easier to eat. My final issue is the pricing which seems to follow some sort of marketing function rather than honest pricing. I paid $5 but by the time my order arrived a couple of days later, the price had doubled. Other reviewers noted this as well. The price jumps back and forth frequently, by a very large amount, probably based on some marketing profit maximization function. At the minimum price, there is a limit of four. When the price doubles, you can buy as many as you like.

We get this occasionally for the emergency stash. Decided to try one one day. Yeah. Good if an emergency makes it necessary, however, you're not gonna want it on your Snacks shelf... taste and texture are not a priority in the making of this item. Glad you have it if you need it though!

Well, unfortunately one of my packages had a little hole. So its not vacuum sealed anymore and I don't have a vacuum sealer to reseal it with a clear bag. So to not waste the ration by returning it and it being discarded at the facility, I'll just eat a portion for lunch everyday. It's just $5 and I got to taste it, it reminds me of eating ginger bread cookies but apple cinnamon flavored and obviously harder to chew but not rock hard. But I won't be buying this product again, it disappoints me that customers have had this problem before and the seller doesn't simply invest in shipping protection for the item to prevent damage. I didn't want to be forced to eat it this week but to have it for its intended purpose to be used in an emergency. Oh well.

It's a huge thick biscuit bar like a brick. You need to snap it off into cubes.

Quick enough delivery to UK from USA, although, the package is ripped! I would now imagine this product no longer has a 5 year shelf life and is now totally useless for an 'emergency food' option. I could probably eat it over the next few days and get on with my life, but would you eat something that arrived with a hole in the package? Probably not. It's not worth the time and effort to send it back and get a refund etc, but I am pretty disappointed 🤷🏻‍♂️ either an issue at the manufacturer or an issue with the people while it was in transit! If your thinking of buying this item from the UK I would go for a different option tbh. Waste of time and money.

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Don't be taken in by the 5 year shelf life, they have been on the shelf 4 years before they get to you. I could have bought something like this for a quarter of the price at Coles.