Would you Re-Vacuum Seal Ration Bars?

[Sentry18]

So I recently picked up some on clearance Datrex ration bars from the local fleet & farm store. In fact I pretty much bought everything they had out. Well today I got a call from an associate (same guy I bought the ration bars from) that knows me because he is also a police reservist. He called to say that they had a several more cases of 3600 calorie Datrex bars come in this morning and that most of the fresh supply had a vacuum sealed appearance but a few packages did not. The ones that are not sealed do not seem to have any holes, tears, or anything like that; they just do not have the vacuum sealed appearance of the others. He opened one up and said it was perfectly fine and tasted fresh. Manager does not want to send them back so he offered all 7 packages to me for $30. I picked them up on my way home. I looked them over and also could not find any holes or tears in them.

I am thinking about pricking them with a pin and then re-vacuum sealing them. Thoughts? Good idea or waste of money? Datrex bars have an approx. shelf life of 5 years but I have had ration bars last longer. I would mark these with today's date and then write "Re-Seal" on them so I remember to use them or trade them first.

 

[Morgan101]

If you feel the package has been compromised it wouldn't hurt to reseal it. I wouldn't stick them with a pin. Try one, and see how it goes. No ill effects, do the rest.

 

[Meerkat]

If you feel the package has been compromised it wouldn't hurt to reseal it. I wouldn't stick them with a pin. Try one, and see how it goes. No ill effects, do the rest.

I agree. I'd reseal them if I planned to store for awhile.

 

[Sentry18]

Well, the good news is that it worked pretty well and sealed 'em up nice and tight. The other good news is that while I was vacuum sealing these my 10 year old daughter said "Scary to think there are people out there who don't even have emergency food. I bet they waste money on stuff they don't need though." So she obviously has been listening and gets it. The bad news is after I got 3 of the 7 vacuum sealed, I ran out of vacuum seal plastic.

So now I have to jump on Amazon and see if the panic shoppers have reduced supply and driven up prices.

 

[Amish Heart]

I'd reseal them. I've done that with vacuum sealed coffee bricks before.

 

[Sentry18]

So now I have to jump on Amazon and see if the panic shoppers have reduced supply and driven up prices.

Apparently vacuum sealing supplies are not on the list of panic shoppers. Picked up two 8"x50' rolls and two 11"x 50' rolls for $32.

After I finish vacuum sealing these ration bars, it might be time to make some more homemade MRE's too.


Something I should have added to the beginning of this thread but didn't, is that each individual "hotel soap" sized ration bar is also wrapped/sealed in a thin clear plastic. So even though the external packages lost their seal, I could not smell coconut which means the interior seals are still in tact.

 

[SheepDog]

You have to eat one bar every 6 hours with 1 person? What if you are alone? Can you substitute fish for the person?

 

[kd4ulw]

You can only eat those while sitting in a liferaft!

 

[Sentry18]

Can you substitute fish for the person?

No way, gross! I would rather eat long pork than fish.

They actually taste pretty good, like a semi-dry coconut cookie. Datrex instructions are just so they can market them as being a food supply for X number of days.