Millennium Bars Assorted 24-Pack

Actually, pretty darn good. I was expecting the lemon shortbread chalk taste the SOLAS/Mainstay bars offer. I was pleasantly surprised. They still have a bit of the 'survival brick' taste and texture, but the bit of flavoring they add is enough to offset that and make them quite pleasant to eat. They came packed at 2 per flavor, and got divvy'd up into my packs, rucks and BOB's. Small enough and packed tight enough you could stick them in just about any spare space you had. At 400 calories, they are perfect for that quick break when you need to load up heavy, but not enough to slow you down afterwards. Drinking 8oz of water, or whatever you feel you need will fill you up nicely. Small enough you can eat the whole thing quickly, or nibble on it over time. Add in the water, you will 'feel' some life come back to your tired bones pretty quickly. Chug the water, suck down the bar, and you're good for an hour plus with heavy activity. Munch it down over the course of your activity, you won't get those pangs of hunger for a good long while. Having a 5yr 'shelf' life is much nicer than a 1 week 'dash' life in your vehicle. Leaving one of these on your dash for a week doesn't seep all the chemicals to one side like a 'protein power bar'. All that ick on one side makes 'that' brand inedible. These don't taste any different. The bug-out-box/camping box in the bed of the truck gets opened once a year....these will be perfect for in there as well. If you don't get into eating and replacing them regularly, these are perfect. Uncontrolled conditions, they work very well. You want daily snacks, they'll work, but these are made to last for the long term. Not a bad concept at all....

The price point of 24 bars for just over $1.20 each was perfect. These bars are simple, durable, and compact. They handle heat and cold exceptionally well. For those who have not had one, the bars all look alike, regardless of flavor. You might describe them as being like a very firm cookie dough. They don't crunch as much as crumble as you chew. The taste of all flavors is excellent, and really a strong point. I could eat these, either one or more flavors, and not get tired of them. At 400 calories each, they do kill a meal, leave me feeling filled, and give you a modest bounce. They are not intended as true energy bars I think, as much as they handy for emergency food. I keep a half dozen in my car for example. But as a way to avoid hitting a vending machine for a big snack, they are excellent. Keeping a few in a glove box to avoid gas station pizza or junk, is a good thing. They also handle being in a car well enough that you don't worry about melting or a mess when eating. I rate the value of my purchase by the cost per bar, after shipping. This is where ordering with Amazon Prime proved handy. I would buy these at prices up to $1.50, give or take the quantity, flavor, and shipping options. If you are looking to stock a survival box, shelter, etc, the bulk cases are a good deal given the high quality, taste, and compact size.

I bought for the car 3-5 day emergency pack I'm making. This is definitely the recommended use of these. I just got mine in today and had to try one. Pros: - Flavor, while not on par with granola bars and candy bars (nor was that the expectation), it was definitely edible, especially for people like me who like coconut. It also did not make me thirsty. - The packaging. They're individually wrapped and vacuum sealed in heavy duty wrapping that I can definitely expect to last. - Shelf life. 5 year shelf life on these. It's March 4th and the Mfg date on all are either 12/13 or 1/14, so they're a couple months old when you get them, which is just OK. Expiration dates are all at the end of 2018. There is only one major con: - Some flavors have 3.5g(!) of transfats. The one I just tried (raspberry) did. The apricot flavor does as well. The vanilla, lemon, and tropical fruits flavors have no transfats but 10g of Saturated fat, compared to 6g for the raspberry and apricot. The transfat is to be expected when you're dealing with essentially glorified vegetable shortening bricks though. Variety wasn't great but I doubt there is much difference in flavor to me to care that much. I really didn't taste the raspberry in the one I had: - 12 raspberry - 4 lemon - 3 apricot - 3 tropical fruit - 2 vanilla Therefore, I recommend these for emergency use ONLY. However, if used for that purpose, I'm definitely impressed and would definitely recommend. You won't care much about the transfats if you're in an emergency situation and these are keeping you fed.