MREInfo.com

This is not a review, more of a "did you know this exists"
(i can later make a review tho if you people want)

There is this finnish made ration bar that has been developed by a finnish guy who was fed-up with the fact that there was no portable meal which you could scarf down in a moments notice and would have a long shelf-life, so, he developed one and it is commercially available in finland for 4euros per pop

Heres a link: http://www.varusteleka.com/en/product/b ... 400/22433/

(varusteleka is the main distributor of that thing)

So, basically when we break it down, its a meal bar, has 2 years (and more) shelf life and holy poo, it actually tastes like real food, has good nutrients and so on

PICTURES!





promo pictures, i know

Also there is version which is kind of energy bar, contains the same stuff energy drinks does but ... it tastes horrible

Great find.

i have actually known abut this for a few years already and i have the energy version of thing in my dark and room temperature place

Apparently, they're popular with the BDSM crowd? (See video on page linked)

noderaser wrote:Apparently, they're popular with the BDSM crowd? (See video on page linked)

lol, yeah, no idea about that, but, varusteleka has a very.. interesting sense of humor, bear with it

also and yes, varusteleka does ship those things internationally incase you are interested in trying it out o.O

Very interesting, they have a great web page explaining their product. I would be open to try one of these on a long hike.
Also on the same website I found some other canned Made in Finland products that might be desirable for winter canoe trips.
Many American hunters, shooters and campers hold Finish products in high regard.

I was very intrigued by these. There is a definite dearth of hand bar meals of a savoury variety, which is odd as they seem very popular - i.e. pasties and pies, burritos, etc etc.

So I went to the linked site and bought a box of the chilli beef ones. They arrived here in the UK within a few days. Good packaging too.

My first impression was that they seemed a bit small, roughly 10cm X 5cm (4inch X 2.25inches) - a little bigger than a weetabix - they are very dense and hard - texture like moist pumpernickel or like a cold burger.

But it is quite substantial when eaten - each mouthful takes a LOT of chewing - plenty of fibre in here, certainly need a set of Gnashers to eat these. I found myself slowing down and taking longer over the bites as I ate, it really does seem to fill you up. After the one bar I have no hunger pangs or urge to eat anything else for a while (I did drink plenty of water with it though, it doesn't taste salty at all, but the salt content for one bar is 37% of your daily dose!)

The taste? Not bad - very savoury and a bit indistinct - notes of beef jerky as the predominant flavour, but sort of dilute and background. Not really any flavour of Chilli - be ok to have these once in a while, but you'd go mad if that was all there was. I ate it cold as this seems to be the intention - there is no heating instruction at all on the packaging - does anyone know if you can?

I would buy more in other flavours to keep in a BOB, but the wet MRE or Rat Pack food is nicer and more tasty. But as intended, you could stuff a load into a pack and never have to get out the utensil and bowl for days - Job done!

Pics to follow.

Thanks for the update on these SugarLord The closest thing I've eaten here in the states has been the Tanka Bar (short for Tatanka, a native name for the American buffalo). I haven't had one in a few years, but I recall enjoying them. The energy bars and hiking foods I seem to find tend to be more carbohyrdate based - finding something meat based that isn't just jerky is rare.

Back when I was backpacking (1965), there was a "Bacon Bar", basically cooked crumbled bacon formed into a bar.
We added it to the powdered eggs, It helped (some)...

I'd be tempted to order a few but the 29 euro shipping cost is a deal breaker for me.