Mainstay Emergency Rations vs Mayday Food Bar

[Trebor]

Does anyone have experience with *both* the Mainstay Rations and the Mayday food bar? I'm looking for a "head to head" comparision.

The Mainstay Rations are available here for $12.40 for 3600 calorie package.

http://www.survivalmetrics.com/cgi-bin/ ... E:cat_food

The Mayday Bars are availalbe here for $4.50 for 3600 calories package.

http://www.raytechcatalog.com/index/food-7.htm


Since they are almost 1/3 the price, I'm probably going to go with the Mayday Bars, unless someone has a good reason to go with the more expensive Mainstay product instead.

[IrideLLAMAS]

That price seemed high for Mainstay Rations so I did a quick search and found this:

Mainstay Rations

[Trebor]

That price seemed high for Mainstay Rations so I did a quick search and found this:

Mainstay Rations

Thanks. $6.95 for the 3600 calorie Mainstay ration is a better price then what I had found.

The Mayday 3600 at $4.50 is still a better price overall. I'm just wondering if the Mainstay is really better than the Maydays or not.

[quazi]

How many are you looking to buy? If it's a whole case it would probably be worth it to buy one of each and test them out yourself. Tastiness of food is pretty subjective.

[Jamie]

I don't know if it's coincidence or not, but I just did a review of the Mayday rations in the eats and drinks section...

http://www.zombiehunters.org/forum/view ... hp?t=16680

I like the taste of the Mayday rations better than the Mainstay rations, and they are cheaper, so I will be going with the Mayday rations in the future...one difference worth considering is that Mainstay rations have a much wider safe temperature range...

nfa

[Trebor]

Nice review. I hadn't seen that and it answers some of my questions.

Did you find a cheaper source for the Mayday rations then the source I listed? If so, please post it.

I'm probaly only going to order 2 or 3 of the 3600 bags. One for each of hte cars and one for the house.

[Jamie]

The cheapest ones that I could find, including delivery costs was:

http://www.aaoobfoods.com/foodbars_lifetabs.htm

They have the 2400 bars at $100 per case of 24 delivered ($4.17), and the 3600 bars at $100 for a case of 20 delivered ($5.00).

By my math, the case of 3600 calorie bars is a better deal in terms of ounces of ration per buck than the 2400 (5.4 vs 4.32)...

I might be buying some of the 3600 cal bars as well as the 2400 ones...

nfa

[Tibus]

I ususally keep my BOB in the trunk of my car, but I am worried that the Texas heat is going to destroy my MRE's. One of these options might be a better alternative. Does anyone have a guess what the temperature might be in a car trunk in a Texas summer?

[ninty]

nfa, -29F = -33C, not -6C. For some reason I can't respond in your thread, it takes me back to the main forum page when I hit reply.

[Gunny]

I ususally keep my BOB in the trunk of my car, but I am worried that the Texas heat is going to destroy my MRE's. One of these options might be a better alternative. Does anyone have a guess what the temperature might be in a car trunk in a Texas summer?

Well in excess of 130-150

[Jamie]

That's weird...I copied the info off of the package...I'll check and fix...thanks!

nfa

[jamesraykenney]

That price seemed high for Mainstay Rations so I did a quick search and found this:

Mainstay Rations

That is where I got my Mainstay Rations from...
They are good to do business with...

BTW, I love the taste of the Mainstay Rations...
If they were not expensive and have SO many calories, I could easily see myself keeping them around for snacks... They have a 'feel' something like a heavy 'sandy', with the taste of a not too sweet sugar cookie...

[Tibus]

I ususally keep my BOB in the trunk of my car, but I am worried that the Texas heat is going to destroy my MRE's. One of these options might be a better alternative. Does anyone have a guess what the temperature might be in a car trunk in a Texas summer?

Well in excess of 130-150

I guess I'll need a couple of Mainstays then or my atrificially flavored sawdust might start to taste bad.

[jamesraykenney]

I don't know if it's coincidence or not, but I just did a review of the Mayday rations in the eats and drinks section...

http://www.zombiehunters.org/forum/view ... hp?t=16680

I like the taste of the Mayday rations better than the Mainstay rations, and they are cheaper, so I will be going with the Mayday rations in the future...one difference worth considering is that Mainstay rations have a much wider safe temperature range...

nfa

I have some OPENED 3 year old(they were OPENED three year ago) Mainstay Rations that I found in the car(Texas summer heat for two summers!!!)... I have been afraid to taste them, but they LOOK like new... I had put them in one of those semi-disposable Tupperware-like containers, and forgot about them...
If anyone wants to put their life on the line to test them, I can mail them to you... I have them in my garage now...

[variable]

You first...

[variable]

What do the rations consist of? Is it just like energy bars or what?

[jamesraykenney]

What do the rations consist of? Is it just like energy bars or what?

The mainstay rations are not at ALL like an energy bar...
More like a 'grainy' block of fudge, but without the chocolate...
VAGUE lemony taste...
I have heard that some of the others have a coconut taste, which I do NOT like, so I have not tried any of them...

P.S. Nice Cthulhu avatar you have there... That IS the Big C there isn't it???

[zXzGrifterzXz]

The mainstay rations are not at ALL like an energy bar...
More like a 'grainy' block of fudge, but without the chocolate...
VAGUE lemony taste...
I have heard that some of the others have a coconut taste, which I do NOT like, so I have not tried any of them...

Most of the ones I tried have more of a "crumbly butter cookie" kind of taste.

[g0nz0]

how long can you eat these before your body says screw off? what about the protein level of these? are they enough to keep you going?

[variable]

P.S. Nice Cthulhu avatar you have there... That IS the Big C there isn't it???

Yeah, in Lake Hali

[BloodLust]

SOS Survival Rations. More flavors. And come individually packed.
http://emprep.com/sos%20rations%20energy%20bars.htm

Anyone have experience with SOS? They also have the emergency water packets.

[PlatonicPimp]

Well, it doesn't have nearly the nutritional or storage information on the website of the other options above, so I'm thinking it probably doesn't measure up. I could be wrong, but usually if the information is good they paste it up everywhere.

[Blacksh33p]

Does anyone have experience with *both* the Mainstay Rations and the Mayday food bar? I'm looking for a "head to head" comparision.

The Mainstay Rations are available here for $12.40 for 3600 calorie package.

http://www.survivalmetrics.com/cgi-bin/ ... E:cat_food

The Mayday Bars are availalbe here for $4.50 for 3600 calories package.

http://www.raytechcatalog.com/index/food-7.htm


Since they are almost 1/3 the price, I'm probably going to go with the Mayday Bars, unless someone has a good reason to go with the more expensive Mainstay product instead.

Hey, I remember Mayday bars. Hell, when I was a little kid my dad used to buy me the stuff every time we went to an Airshow. What probably brought back the memory was a photo of me by a then-new B-2 Bomber, right next to a mean-looking USAF dude.

I used to have loads of it, but now I cannot seem to find it anywhere besides the internet.

[BloodLust]

Well, it doesn't have nearly the nutritional or storage information on the website of the other options above, so I'm thinking it probably doesn't measure up. I could be wrong, but usually if the information is good they paste it up everywhere.

From the page of the flavored bars:
"Formulated and packaged for endurance of temperature extremes and
extended shelf life of up to Five Years !"
NUTRITION FACTS:Calories 409 Kcal, Protein 8g, Carbohydrates 5g,
Fat 19g, Sodium 0.05mg, Cholesterol 0.
INGREDIENTS; Wheat Flour, Vegetable shortening, Cane and Corn Sugars,
Dried Coconut, Corn Starch, Corn Syrup, Natural Flavors.
Additives: Ascorbyl Palmitate and Lecithin as antioxidant; Calcium Propionate as
antimycotic; Citric Acid, Gaur Gum and salt as Formulation Aids:
Multi-Vitamin Mix
Vitamins; A 15%, C 15%, Thiamine 25%, Riboflavin 15%, Niacin 15%
Based on US recommended values based 2000 calorie diet

From the same site, page of the regular survival rations:
"Safely stored up to FIVE YEARS!
all climatic conditions - ranging from desert to arctic."

They have a separate page for the design criteria:
http://emprep.com/sos%20food%20labs.html

They seem to be at par with Mayday or Mainstay. I'm just wondering if anybody has had any personal experience with this brand.