Has anyone tried Mainstay bars? How do they compare to mountain House?

I would imagine they compare like apples compare to..uhm..well some type of non-fruit.

Mainstay bars are a compressed and concentrated nutrition source that closely resembles a cookie. Mountain House products are freezedried and are usually a particular entree. Asking how one compares to the other is like asking how does Baskin Robins compare to Dominos Pizza.

So, what do you mean 'compare'? Compare to what?
How do they compare in shelf life? In packaging?

Mainstay doesnt make any entrees like Spaghetti, Chicken or Chili Mac.
Mountain House doesnt make lifeboat rations.

So, what exactly are you comparing?

I remember reading that the Mainstay's are the best tasting of three most common lifeboat rations like Datrex and another I can't remember.


Somebody on a forum did a review of all three a while back.

I prefer the Datrex, since their portions are individually wrapped. The Mainstay package just contains one big bar that you have to break chunks off of. It's sort of divided up with "break lines" in much the same way as a Hershey bar, but due to the consistency of the bar itself (best way I can describe it is "dry cookie dough") it doesn't generally break straight. The Mainstay bar itself is tasty, I'll admit - possibly better than Datrex. For me, Mainstay is just much less convenient to eat on the go.

Anybody got a link to the rations review?  I have been considering ordering a pack of these to try out, but am unsure as to which one would be the most practical.  Like you said though, the Datrex are individually rapped.  That is a big plus.

Quoted: I would imagine they compare like apples compare to..uhm..well some type of non-fruit. Mainstay bars are a compressed and concentrated nutrition source that closely resembles a cookie. Mountain House products are freezedried and are usually a particular entree. Asking how one compares to the other is like asking how does Baskin Robins compare to Dominos Pizza. So, what do you mean 'compare'? Compare to what? How do they compare in shelf life? In packaging? Mainstay doesnt make any entrees like Spaghetti, Chicken or Chili Mac. Mountain House doesnt make lifeboat rations. So, what exactly are you comparing?

CZ has pretty much nailed it.

You see, "SURVIVAL or EMERGENCY" type ration bars are just that, for an emergency.

They were NEVER meant to taste like grandma's chocolate chip cookies. They were just meant to taste like most people on here say they taste like. Most say they are kind of okay I guess, or better than nothing, and will keep you from dieing, are the common type of responses you hear or read.

The reason they taste just a little better than the asshole out of a skunk is because if they tasted like grandma's cookies, you would eat them like grandma's cookies when they is no real survival situation. They wanted to keep you from eating these just out of plain boredom. Then if a real SHTF event happened, you would never have any rations to fall back on.

When they made these, shelf life, and packaging was higher on their list of priorities than taste.


Now MH they try their best to make it taste like grandma's home cooking. They want you to eat as many of these as you can. These are your HOT A's out in the bush so to speak.


If you want to help the taste of the rations bars, take and add a little honey on them. Honey stores forever, and really helps them to taste better for kids if need be. Kind of like a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down.

So to sum it all up, the only honest comparison you can make, is that they will both keep you alive.