Up next in 10
I Ate Nothing But Emergency Ration Bars for a Week…
5K views
May 21, 2024
What happens when you eat nothing but emergency ration bars for a whole week? Can you actually live on emergency rations? I decided to try! For a whole week I ate only emergency ration bars. But I didn’t just do that, I tried out several of the most popular ones you can buy. Check out what happens when emergency rations is all you eat. Here are all the ration bars I tested: S.O.S. Rations: https://amzn.to/45eMRZv Ready Hour: https://www.mypatriotsupply.com/collections/short-term-food-storage/products/2400-calorie-emergency-food-ration?g_adgroupid=136997513667&g_campaign=JUICE+%7C+Search+%7C+NB+%7C+MREs+%26+Ration+Bars&g_acctid=738-967-2590&g_keyword=mre%20survival%20kit&g_campaignid=16465773734&g_adtype=search&g_network=g&g_keywordid=kwd-301299801836&g_adid=585535921860&gclid=Cj0KCQjw0IGnBhDUARIsAMwFDLl3dTrJyWojlNXirwPtsm99hA9FrIwsxFJNUiGewiDLBTNCvjplWLoaAlqGEALw_wcB High Energy Bar: https://amzn.to/3QHSYRB Ultimate Survival Technologies: https://amzn.to/3QGAxN6 Datrex: https://amzn.to/45vlOIW Some of these links are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Pantry Preparedness is a trademark of Income School LLC, an Idaho Limited Liability Company
View Video Transcript
0:00
So, yeah, I only ate emergency rations for an entire week
0:04
Let me tell you exactly what happened. This all started because I was ordering some emergency food online
0:09
I really wanted to try out a few different kinds. And I ordered some, and then I got this like pop-up at the very end that said
0:17
hey, do you want some of these emergency rations too for your, you know, emergency kit or whatever
0:22
And they were offering me some sort of a deal. And I was like, actually, yes, I'd like to try some of those
0:28
so I ordered some emergency rations. Doesn't look very appetizing, does it
0:33
Here, check that out. Nothing very exciting about eating that. They got here, and I had the thought
0:38
can I really survive on just that? So rather than just stick with one type of emergency rations
0:44
the one they sent me, I went and I found four other really common popular emergency rations
0:49
and I bought some of each. Enough that should last me a full seven days
0:54
And let me walk you through exactly what happened. Day one started out completely normal. I started out my day, my normal meals, and I had some
1:02
emergency rations. And those first ones I tried, they were fine. They tasted okay. I mean
1:08
nothing to get excited about. And I ate them throughout the day. And what I found was I wasn't
1:13
hungry at all. It was enough that it filled me up and it made me feel okay. My energy level
1:20
throughout the entire day felt basically normal. The only thing was that I just kind of missed
1:25
normal food. Good flavor was about all that was lacking. And on this day I ate 1,640 calories
1:32
Now, that's not as much as I was supposed to eat, but I just wasn't very hungry. And so it was
1:37
enough. I ended the day thinking to myself, this isn't going to be so bad. This emergency food
1:42
stuff, these rations, these are going to be just fine. Then the next day came. On the second day
1:47
of this challenge I set for myself, I took my first bite of emergency rations. This was a different
1:53
one and I just got to tell you, the flavor started out fine but it left this lingering
2:00
aftertaste that I just like couldn't stand. As the day wore on I found myself
2:07
feeling a little bit hungry but not that bad. The hunger mostly came though because I
2:12
really had a hard time forcing myself to eat this particular ration. Now part of
2:17
the deal for this challenge that I set for myself was that I was going to go about everything completely normal. This is something that would be different in a real
2:26
emergency situation, but in this situation, I actually had a meeting in the
2:30
evening with some friends. We were meeting up to plan out a reunion. And of course
2:35
everybody brought snacks. There were cookies. There were chips dip, delicious sauces and things, presumably delicious. And I forewent. Is that the past forego? I foregoed
2:48
them. I didn't have any of them. I brought my, you know, Yeti cup and it was full of this hot water full of what my emergency rations. That's right
2:56
because by dinner time the thought of having to take one more bite of those
3:02
rations made me want to throw up. Literally I was like gagging the third time. I
3:08
only I ate it four well four times throughout the day the third time I was gagging
3:12
the last of it down. So I took a chunk of this particular one. I busted it up
3:18
and I put it into boiling hot water and it took a bit of stirring it took a while
3:24
to get it to fully or reasonably fully dissolve right and I ended up with this
3:29
kind of thick hot drink and at that point I was actually able to get it down
3:34
very slowly so over the course of like the next two hours I just sipped on this
3:39
drink and it was okay it was watered down enough that that aftertaste was
3:43
all right with me so if you're eating emergency rations and you find yourself
3:47
just unable to stomach them consider that, put it into some hot water. Now, one of my concerns going into this
3:53
was that these were gonna totally just dry me out. That turned out to not
3:58
really be the case. Almost all of them did a pretty good job of having
4:05
reasonable moisture content that didn't dry me out too much. Now a couple of them, ones I had later in the week I found it was really helpful kind of like eating saltine crackers right You need some water to finish getting them down If you going to have to survive on emergency rations make sure that you do have an ample supply of water Plenty of emergency water storage on hand because you are going to end up
4:25
wanting to drink more throughout the day. That's going to do two things. One, help with the
4:28
dryness that you're going to feel from eating this stuff, but also it's going to help with the hunger
4:33
because I got to tell you on day three, that's when the hunger really started to set in
4:38
You see, because on day two, let's see, I ate 1,440 calories
4:43
Again, I just couldn't get myself to eat more. And so I started to feel more hungry
4:49
And by the evening of day two, my energy level was starting to decline
4:53
On day three, I had yet another one. And this one had the most plain flavor so far
4:59
It was a little bit more like eating just a plain cracker, you know, one without any sweet
5:05
flavor or really much salt, just pretty dang plain. gram cracker if there was no sweetening, like the original gram cracker. Believe it or not, that
5:13
actually made it more palatable. I preferred eating this one to the other one that had some sweetness
5:20
to it that just, ah, just didn't do well for me. I started feeling hunger on and off throughout the day
5:26
Obviously, I mean, not that bad, but one other thing that I was noticing was I was rapidly losing
5:33
weight. You see, all of the food that I had eaten leading up to this challenge was all on its way out of my
5:38
body, right? But what I was replacing it with was minimal in volume, in mass, and also had a tendency
5:46
to kind of go right through me. And so I was getting the calories from it, but that was
5:51
it. So, I was feeling more hungry. I was dropping weight really fast, and I was drinking
5:56
a ton of water. And by day three, I felt my energy levels start to dip. The rations I did choose
6:01
for day three, I ate the full pack of it, 100% of it, but it was still only about 1,100
6:06
calories. Most of them recommend more, but this one was a full days worth of calories
6:10
That brings me to day four, the center, the middle day, the midpoint of this entire
6:15
challenge. On day four, I went back to the ration that I ate on the very first day
6:20
I used this one partly because it came in a bigger pack, but also to use this sort of
6:26
a baseline. I figured that maybe throughout this challenge I would find myself
6:30
disliking them more and more. And so that would make it a little bit harder for me to
6:35
fairly compare them to each other. And so I used this one as a baseline. So I ate the same one on
6:41
day four that I ate on day one. I did like it less than I liked it on day one. So, there you go. I
6:47
had a harder time eating these as time went on. At this point, I was kind of in a fairly constant
6:52
state of hunger. I probably could have eaten more, but again, I was, this first one that I had was
6:57
also sweetened and it was one that was really kind of starting to bug me the more that I ate it
7:02
And so I just, I didn't want to force myself to start throwing up. And so I just ate what I had to and what I felt like I could stomach
7:09
I guess I was able to get down 1,640 calories again. I ate the exact same amount that I ate on day one
7:14
But let's just say, I really wasn't enjoying it that much. Well, it's day four of eating absolutely nothing but emergency rations
7:23
Today I'm definitely feeling a bit of an energy drag, which makes sense
7:28
I haven't eaten a full 2,000, even 2,000 calories any day. for the last three days
7:35
Yesterday, the rations that I got was 1,145 calories the whole day
7:40
I've tried to just completely not change my activity level. So, you know, yesterday morning I still went to jujitsu
7:48
I mean, I'm still just doing all the stuff. I'm going on jogs and going on walks
7:54
Keeping my activity level where it normally is. And certainly not getting enough calories for that
7:59
but that's completely to be expected. Curious to see how this goes throughout the rest of the week
8:05
Definitely feeling a lot of temptation to go eat some good food, especially when I sit down
8:11
to dinner with my family and I'm meeting an emergency rations bar
8:16
So yeah, we'll see, I guess, how the rest of this week goes
8:21
And now at day five, at this point I've lost just over 12 pounds
8:26
I trying yet another new emergency ration This one kind of like the one on day three had very very very very little flavor much more like eating a cracker This one was probably the driest one I had yet It was definitely helpful to have some water but also probably the most palatable one
8:41
I'd had yet. By day five, I'm really not feeling as hungry anymore
8:46
Again, it was just kind of a constant drum of hunger, but milder
8:51
I think at this point my body was kind of just getting used to it because I wasn't feeling
8:55
as hungry and because even though it was probably the the most palatable one I'd had yet, it still wasn't any fun to eat it. So I found myself only
9:03
eating a thousand calories that day. That's it, 1,000 calories. And a guy my size, I should be
9:10
eating much more than that just to maintain weight. So I continued dropping weight. I also have to
9:16
highlight that between day four and five, the morning of day five, is fortunate that I didn't have
9:21
to get up early for anything. I literally slept a full 10 hours straight. I don't do that. A normal
9:28
for me is six hours and then seven or eight if I don't have to get up for anything
9:35
Because of this, I really wanted to understand a little bit the nutrition in these things
9:39
Is my energy level this low just because I'm not consuming enough calories
9:44
What is the, at least the macronutrient makeup of these things? So I looked at each one of them closely
9:49
And I found that most of them are pretty similar. As long as you eat, as much as they tell you to eat, if you eat all the servings you're
9:57
supposed to eat in a day. this point I really wasn't doing anymore. Now for actual long-term nutrition, this is
10:04
absolutely not something I would recommend. It's certainly not a good diet plan
10:07
These are actually quite high in carbs. Anybody that's on keto would just go
10:14
nuts at these numbers. I mean, most of these things you're eating like 300 grams
10:18
of carbs in a day. Now I was eating a little bit under half of the daily
10:22
recommended value for some of these and so I was getting like 130 grams of
10:27
carbs in a day, but most of them also only have 30 to 50 grams of protein, which I don't know
10:36
for a normal person is maybe fairly normal, but I am usually shooting for like 100 to 140
10:43
ideally even like 160 just because I'm a big guy and because I'm trying to maintain a fair
10:50
amount of muscle mass. But even so, for most adult men, 120 grams of protein is like an ideal to shoot for
10:56
It's kind of hard to eat that much. But, you know, 30 to 50 is on the low side
11:01
And only eating half of a daily recommended value now, I'm getting like 15 grams of protein
11:06
It's just very, very low. And also, most of these have about 100 grams of fat total for a daily recommended value
11:15
So the macronutrients are just not really ideal for anything long term
11:20
That's really not what these are for. They pack them full of carbs to give you energy to survive a short term, period
11:26
So then I got wondering, how long are you supposed to be able to survive on these things
11:31
What are they sort of intended for? And I googled like, how long can you survive on emergency rations
11:36
And the result that Google picked to answer this question here basically says you can eat comfortably
11:42
for two to three days. No wonder by day four and five, I'm just like not feeling very good
11:48
And I don't know how I feel about this word comfortably. It's not very comfortable even for two or three days
11:54
The reality is that emergency rations are really creating. created for survival and to prevent malnutrition in real emergency situations
12:03
We're talking about there's an earthquake, people are out of their homes, boom, we're going to get a bunch of emergency rations there
12:09
And I get it maybe even for your bug out bag for like a 72 hour kit. This seems like a good idea
12:13
Three days worth of food just doesn't take up that much space. But here I am on day five and I'm thinking to myself, there is no way I am filling my 72
12:21
kit with these. I'm definitely going to be seeking to get my energy from something a little bit more tasty
12:26
as well as something a little bit more balanced. And that brings me to day six
12:31
On day six, I had yet another new one and that actually was this one
12:34
And what I found was I actually didn't quite like the flavor this one quite as much
12:39
as the one I had on day five, but it was close. It was really a close second for me
12:43
What I did find is that this one has more than twice as much protein as most of the other ones And let see it the only one that doesn have added sugars So that was pretty cool By this point everything started to sort
12:56
of level out. I continued to have this sort of constant hunger. I was definitely missing food
13:02
I wanted to eat something like really, really bad. Mostly, again, because I'm not in an emergency
13:07
situation and because I have plenty of food around me. In fact, I was cooking dinner for my family
13:14
And I got to tell you that is painful. I was just watching with my wife who were watching this series on National Geographic
13:21
Limitless with Chris Hemsworth. And in it, he's doing a four-day fast. And here he is like
13:26
cooking this delicious breakfast for his kids. And just I can feel his pain because there I was doing
13:32
something similar. So all I'm eating is this stuff. It's pretty grainy. My kids call it cardboard
13:38
because that's kind of what it looks like. The irony is my three-year-old, he won't
13:44
don't eat almost anything except like mac and cheese and even then he throws half of it away
13:48
But he every day was like, I want some of your cardboard daddy
13:52
And I would give him a chunk of it and he's like, hmm, I like cardboard. He would eat the dang emergency rations, but he wouldn't eat anything else
13:59
I don't understand kids. On day six, I ate 800 calories with a food
14:03
Now I have to say the pack that this comes in is intended to give you 2,400 calories
14:08
in a day. I just wasn't up for it. I was so tired of eating stuff that tasted so plain
14:13
I liked the plainness. It was so much more palatable. I know I keep using that word palatable, right
14:20
But one of these that I bought literally says on the packaging, designed for maximum palatibility
14:27
across all ages and food tastes. If palatability is the goal, I knew I was in for it before I even
14:34
started. All right, so day seven comes along. I'm feeling pretty okay. That hunger level maintains
14:40
my energy levels kind of stabilized. At this point, I'm hitting a lot of, I suspect, I'm hitting a lot of ketosis simply because
14:49
as soon as I start moving and doing something active, I could feel my energy levels really
14:54
pick up. And so I think my body was just like, here you go
14:58
Let me just, let me give you this. And just using the stores that I keep plenty of on me at all times
15:05
I maintained all of my normal activity. I continued jujitsu training. It was a little hard
15:10
But I did. And in the end, here's the result. Was I able to survive on only eating emergency
15:16
rations for an entire week? Yes, because I'm still here and I managed to do it. Was it comfortable
15:21
No. Um, were they palatable? Most of them were reasonably palatable. It ended up being two of
15:27
them that I had to dissolve them in water just to be able to get some more calories at the end of
15:32
the day. And when all was said and done at the end of one week, I weighed in having lost 5% of
15:40
body weight in one week, 5%. Now I got to tell you healthy weight loss for
15:45
someone who's actively trying to lose weight is 1% of your body weight per week. So
15:51
5% was definitely not something we'd want to shoot for. So what I recommend
15:55
using these as any sort of long-term survival? No. Not even in a 72-hour kit. I
16:02
do think they have their place and I will always keep some here on the shelves. But I
16:06
am going to be filling my 72-hour kit with freeze-dried meals that are
16:10
going to give me a better balance of nutrition because they have a diverse ingredients
16:16
natural ingredients that have just been cooked and then freeze dried. And with freeze dried meals I'm going to be able to have much more diversity in the
16:22
things that I eat. And so what am I going to do? I'm going to take some of my favorites
16:26
I'm going to pack them in my 72-hour kit. Those things last 20, 25 plus years. Whereas
16:32
these, this one here says five years. So I don't know. That seems like a better option
16:38
to me. I hope that was enjoyable and maybe somewhat instruct. for you. In this video right here, I'm going to share with you the exact food bars that I ate
16:47
as well as talk about the pros and cons of each one, comparing and contrasting them so that
16:52
if you are going to get some emergency bars, you can at least pick the ones that are going to work
16:56
the best for you. So, go check out that video, and hopefully we'll see you there
#Food
#Nutrition
#Nutrition Drinks & Shakes
#Special & Restricted Diets