This may be of interest to those of you who are looking for something compact to keep in your vehicles or emergency supplies for short term nutrition. I recently sampled the three brands available at Emergency Essentials and did a brief summary of my results.
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Candidates: Mainstay
Datrex
SOS
All provide the same calories (1200 kcal per day) and similar nutrition. All are packaged for long term storage (five years from date of manufacture) in durable outer wrappers and are suitable for any situation where compact emergency food source is needed. All are priced the same at most vendors.
Mainstay:
The Mainstay rations are very sweet (too sweet) with a hint of lemon. Servings are not individually wrapped, but they hold together fairly well. The product is very thick (after unwrapping), and not that easy to eat. As advertised, it did not “provoke thirst.” The overall package is noticeably bulkier than the other two brands.
Datrex:
Individually wrapped in 200 kcal servings, the first thing you notice about the Datrex rations that they are very dry (and crumbly), and not very sweet at all. The flavor is minimal, with just a little taste of coconut. The urge to drink water was immediate because of the dryness and texture.
SOS:
The SOS rations are individually wrapped in 400 kcal servings. They are moister than both of the competitor and far less crumbly. They are sweet (not nearly as much as Mainstay), and initially taste like shortbread, then coconut. There also seems to be a bit of lemon or other citrus “tang” added. The SOS did not provoke the same urge to drink as did the Datrex.
Conclusions:
If you are selecting a short-term, compact survival ration, the best choice among the three sampled is SOS by far. The taste is far superior the distant second (Mainstay), and the texture makes them a lot easier to handle. I would not eat the Datrex again unless it really was an emergency and it was all that was available. The same is true for the Mainstay, although it was slightly more palatable than the Datrex; it was just way too sweet. I could eat the SOS brand at any time and not suffer (although it has too much sugar and simple carbohydrates for me outside of emergencies). If storage space is an issue, then the SOS is more compact than Mainstay (and similar to Datrex), so SOS is again the choice.
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REVIEW OF “EMERGENCY RATION BARS”
01 July 2008
Candidates: Mainstay
Datrex
SOS
All provide the same calories (1200 kcal per day) and similar nutrition. All are packaged for long term storage (five years from date of manufacture) in durable outer wrappers and are suitable for any situation where compact emergency food source is needed. All are priced the same at most vendors.
Mainstay:
The Mainstay rations are very sweet (too sweet) with a hint of lemon. Servings are not individually wrapped, but they hold together fairly well. The product is very thick (after unwrapping), and not that easy to eat. As advertised, it did not “provoke thirst.” The overall package is noticeably bulkier than the other two brands.
Datrex:
Individually wrapped in 200 kcal servings, the first thing you notice about the Datrex rations that they are very dry (and crumbly), and not very sweet at all. The flavor is minimal, with just a little taste of coconut. The urge to drink water was immediate because of the dryness and texture.
SOS:
The SOS rations are individually wrapped in 400 kcal servings. They are moister than both of the competitor and far less crumbly. They are sweet (not nearly as much as Mainstay), and initially taste like shortbread, then coconut. There also seems to be a bit of lemon or other citrus “tang” added. The SOS did not provoke the same urge to drink as did the Datrex.
Conclusions:
If you are selecting a short-term, compact survival ration, the best choice among the three sampled is SOS by far. The taste is far superior the distant second (Mainstay), and the texture makes them a lot easier to handle. I would not eat the Datrex again unless it really was an emergency and it was all that was available. The same is true for the Mainstay, although it was slightly more palatable than the Datrex; it was just way too sweet. I could eat the SOS brand at any time and not suffer (although it has too much sugar and simple carbohydrates for me outside of emergencies). If storage space is an issue, then the SOS is more compact than Mainstay (and similar to Datrex), so SOS is again the choice.
The SOS looks like bags of liquid soup base, and the Datrex looks like suet cakes. 
