Future Essentials Sailor Pilot Bread (2-Pack)

These are a bit pricey, but taste good, good to store, but great with soups. Nice to keep in car on trips in case you get stuck in traffic.

Hardy, long lasting nutrition, especially good for disaster preparedness. I haven't tasted them yet, and I hope that I never do.

I just opened a can of these crackers this week and have been trying them out in various meals. My observations:Purpose: They are not generally intended for casual eating; rather, they are a durable, storage-food option. They serve this function well, I think. The can is sturdy. The crackers are densely packed, there were no breaks or powdered bits. An O2 absorber and a desiccation pack were included. The marketing material says the product has a shelf life of ~20 years and I see no reason to doubt this. However, I always err on the side of caution and plan to rotate out long-term food storage about 1/2 through its expected shelf life. So I would feel especially comfortable storing these crackers unopened for 8-10 years without worry.Taste and edibility: The crackers are about 4 inches in diameter. They are much more dense than a saltine, but are much easier to eat than regular (traditional) hardtack. Consequently, they hold up firmly when broken into soups and chili, can be used for spreads (e,g, peanut butter) but don’t require a lot of work to chew. The taste is like a mild saltine, with just a hint of the butteriness of a Ritz cracker. However, they are not designed to be a “tasty snacking cracker.” To get that kind of taste requires more oils/fats in the ingredients which would compromise their long-term storage. So yes, if you are expecting the more table-ready flavor of Ritz or Triscuit, these will taste bland. But that is not what canned pilot bread was designed to be.Cost: If you are looking for a regular cracker to eat as a snack, and just want it to store for 6-12 months, there are many options out there in the snack aisle. If you want cheaper pilot bread, you can find the uncanned version and save a lot of money. However, if you want a grain product that has a shelf life possibly up to 20 years that requires no preparation (no added water, no heating) — beyond using a can opener — then this product is a good way to go. Yes, you can definitely make your own hardtack much cheaper, but it will be less pleasant to eat, and you will have to do your own packaging. Nevertheless, these crackers are still a little pricey, so I reduced the product rating one star for the cost.Conclusions: a good product for its purpose. Expensive based on the caloric value, but you’re also buying durability here.Finally, because the nutritional info isn’t easy to find, I’ll include a photo of the back of the can.

I bought this as a joke for my buddy for when the end times come. They taste way better than I thought. Would recommend.

This is so small and not like the other survival cans. Absolutely mad I don’t read correctly before purchasing! This is no way near $19.00 worth of anything. No do not buy!

Met my needs

They are expensive but the taste is great, like a lightly salted saltine cracker but a bit more dense. Can has 12 big cracker wavers in it, one of them was broken to pieces. I use them together with Chunky brand soup as part of my emergency food supply. Since the shelf life is so long I use them as a replacement for saltine crackers/soup oysters that I don't have to worry about expiring.

I purchased a single can of "Future Essentials Pilot Bread" to inspect the quality of the product. And to most importantly taste test it before making a decision to purchase more to add to my long term food storage. It is what I would call a modern day "Hardtack" Minus the salt.The crackers fit in the palm of your hand and are definetly more thick than your average cracker.I didn't eat anything for roughly twenty hours before taste testing and went to the gym twice, each for one hour. In a survival situation you wont be picky and even tho fasting for twenty hours doesn't put you into any kind of survival situation. It will make you eat and enjoy things you typically wouldn't.First impression after taking a bite was that these were super plain. Ive never had a cracker this plain. (I always eat Rits and Saltines that have oils on them but this causes them to spoil much more rapidly unlike the Pilot Bread) I continued to snack on them throughout my shift. Even offering afew to some coworkers to get an opinion. They too agreed, very plain but not a bad taste at all.The crackers are flakly on the inside (Like a Saltine) which I did like. About half way through the can or six crackers later I actually started to enjoy them. It was something different than I was used to. Perhaps this feeling was brought on while I was reading a post apocolyptic novel.All in all you can make these same crackers for far less. Just google hardtack. But if you have the money and want a bomb proof way to store than this is the way to go. It would suck opening your home made hardtack years later to notice it had spoiled or something had gone wrong.As for my decision if I will buy more in bulk? Still pending. I will attempt to make my own hardtack and continue to do research. As I want to get the most bang for my buck.