I had a reader try out making the Homemade Survival Bars and graciously agree to have his experience shared with all of you. Thanks, Robert! Here’s how it went.
I made the recipe according to instructions. After reading some of the comments, I decided to make flat bars instead. I used a 1/2″ thick jelly roll style pan, and sprayed it with Pam to avoid sticking.
I was surprised at how much liquid the honey produced when it melted, but it still wasn’t enough, so I ended up adding more water to get a doughy consistency. I spread it out into the pan, and baked it at 300 degrees for 20 minutes to start.
As you can see, I pre scored the bars with a dough knife to make them easier to separate. At 20 minutes it was browning quickly, so I shut off the heat and let it cool in the closed oven for a couple hours.
They look great. The problem is that they never hardened. They have the consistency of an oatmeal cookie. I’m thinking that I either added too much water, or it reacted negatively with the PAM spray. The 42% humidity here may be a factor too.
We tried them, and they taste like oatmeal, with a strong artificial lemon flavor. Not hard to chew or anything. The kids liked them. I would probably eat one or two if I needed them for survival, but would need milk or a lot of water.
Next time around I will skip the PAM, and use less water, and maybe lower the heat.
More from Angela: It does look like too much water in the dough. The dough isn’t very “doughy” when it’s ready to bake–it is actually very dry and hard to shape. And instead of Pam, maybe some parchment paper to keep it from sticking? I’m glad Robert gave this a try, AND he’s willing to try again and do some experimenting with it (like trying to add protein powder to the mix). What about you? Have you tried making these homemade survival bars? How did they work for you?
Keep preparing! Angela
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The key word is, “closed oven”. IMHO, you baked the mix, not dried it. You may have to leave the oven door a bit open to allow humidity to escape. I make mine in my dehydrator…yuummmm!!! Love them!
8-)
The original instructions say “Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Another recipe I found says to put it in the oven and dry at low heat.” I hadn’t considered the closed oven trapping moisture, and took the word bake literally. Try Try gain. :)
I’ve tried a different but similar type of bar which came out gloppy. Our humidity is usually somewhat high, and I did bake it with the oven door closed. I’ll try again with the dehydrator, like J. Acevedo suggested. Thanks for this article, because DH loves the PB flavored Power Bars – the only way he’ll eat oatmeal LOL
Tried and failed. Dehydrator is a great idea and off we go. Thanks J. Acevedo.
You really need to use a food dehydrator for this.
Jan–A dehydrator would work great, however, I had no problem with mine when I’ve made them using the oven as the instructions direct. You can see the original post here: Make Your Own Homemade Survival Bars.
I just tried this recipe with strawberry jello and it tastes great. Even with the hard as rocks texture, it is really really good. Maybe something about strawberries and cream via the powdered milk. Anyway, even though I live in the desert, I will be vacuum sealing mine for storage purposes.