I have been playing around a bit with making survival bars. It is much less to make them and pack them myself than to purchase the survival bars offered online of in stores.
Ingredients:
Coconut oil
Coconut flakes
Flour
Sugar
Almonds
I will update on the quantities of each...sorry, have to find my notebook.
I baked them at 325 for 12-15 minutes.
So here is my question...they ended up getting a little hard after a few days in a ziplock; I would be storing them in maylar eventually of course. I was wondering, would it reduce the hardening if I added more coconut oil?
The bars are the same size as the ones you purchase in the store, but my bars are about 5,000 calories (high in fat). My bars have a coconut cookie dough flavor.
how much sugar are you adding? A lot of sugar tends to turn cakes and bars rock hard. Have you tried something like honey, liquid glucose with milk powder instead?
I would be tempted to add something like a little bran in there too or use wholemeal flour to help keep the intestines happy and to help process the oil content.
I added sugar, but not much. The flour is whole wheat, and with the almonds, there is more than the RDA of fiber. On the second batch I put even less sugar in because it was pretty sweet, and made me feel thirsty really bad, yuck!
I am still looking for the final ingredient amounts.
I just got a 5 GALLON bucket of Coconut oil with Vitamin A(Beta carotene) added as a preservative/colorant. It was only $25.00!!!!
Other than that its just plain old non hydrogenated oil.
The best part about this is that it has NO flavor. I cook eggs with it in the mornings. it's meant for popcorn popping oil in movie theaters but is great to remove bodyfat as it is an MCT.
So my suggestion for the thread is for anyone to make as similar 'bar' but not as a candy/survival bar but as a true meal replacement in the sense that you use it to make a soup out of.
The op's bars ARE meal replacements but would probably get tiresome after awhile. Why not make a lemon pepper chicken bar with dried chicken flavoring and whey protein and say rice and vacuum seal them with a desiccant?
The Korean grocery stores are actually serving vacuum packed rice on the non refrigerated shelves!!
Survival bars have to be GOOD for you if they are going to be eaten. They have to actually have things like vitamins and such.
How about this recipe:
1 B vitamin
1 whole multivitamin
coconut oil
lemon pepper seasoning
wheyprotein
various dried fruit
ground walnuts
rice, either brown or white
chia seed
and chicken freeze dried and packed separately
Thats just a lemon pepper chicken one I came up with just now.
I'd be interested in hearing how these are after certain time periods. If you've ever tried those meal bars, they are pretty blah but I suppose if that is all there was, I'd like them fine!
I'm wondering if changing the recipe to make them like logrfood's chicken version might not make them less shelf stable and long term?
My intent is to make something that is inexpensive, has all of the nutritional requirement and some, have a long shelf life. Freeze dried foods that I have see can be pricey.
Great link Mellissa I could see these coming in handy in an emergency type situation when it is more about calories and energy than real "nutrition." It might be interesting to make more savory flavors though. Getting the usable calorie level is the main roadblock I can see due to sugar being the easiest way to add calories fast and I'm not a fan of sweet. Logrfood, maybe if you used some chicken bullion or something to give the flavor something other than sweet. I may have to play around with this now... so many ideas, so little time!
I made my bars similar but added milk chocolate chips, oat meal and applesauce. The applesauce gives the bar added moisture. You could use a powdered egg or powdered milk to up the protien if you wanted.
I am sorry to say that I dont have much insight into how to make your bars better. I am pleased though that someone on the site is experimenting with this and Im eagerly waiting the recipe when youve finished perfecting it. Two things came to mind as I read the posts before mine and I am hoping my thoughts are helpful. 5000 calories per bar is a lot of calories, Id halve or even quarter your 3x2 inch bars and I dont think this would be a big thing post SHTF as were all going to have to learn to get by with a bit less at meals. I was just looking at a calorie calculator yesterday and it said that a six foot man 200lbs needs 3200 calories to maintain his weight doing two three hour intensive workouts a day. I also saw someone post that bars are generally blah but I have to say that I have found one brand and type that I can eat day after day (and I dont work for these folks) the Met RX big 100 colossal crispy apple pie(if you could figure out a recipe on these id be forever in your debt). I keep about twenty or thirty of these on hand at all times for when Im in the mood for something sweet or when we are going to be moving about and will need to eat something.
I also saw someone post that bars are generally blah but I have to say that I have found one brand and type that I can eat day after day (and I dont work for these folks) the Met RX big 100 colossal crispy apple pie(if you could figure out a recipe on these id be forever in your debt). I keep about twenty or thirty of these on hand at all times for when Im in the mood for something sweet or when we are going to be moving about and will need to eat something.
After looking over the ingredients and the nutrition levels, when I get a chance, I will do some experimenting in the kitchen to make a more healthier substitute trying not to rely on soy (which could wreak havoc on a man's testosterone levels) and sugar (which intereferes with insulin spikes and liver congestion with high protein intake). Will report back later...with a basket of goodies to share with everyone.
Don't worry about the hardness. It must be a result in the ability to last. I tried one of my ER bars I keep in my truck. Almost broke a tooth and they tasted like ka-ka but hey I was hungry and 50 miles from the nearest town, didn't want to wait(living in the desert can suck sometimes, but it's good practice). They will not be touched again unless I have been without proper nutrition for a week. But am going to keep an eye on your progress those ER bars are expensive.
My plan is to bury as much of a homemade survival bar chock full of vitamins in the desert as a fall back plan if all my other plans fail. Looking to get as much calories and vitamins into 50 pounds that I can. And shelf-life should be at least 5 years.
Just wondering, many bars that use flour also have a leavening agent, like baking soda or baking powder. This incorporates some air, maybe making them less dense?
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