Visalus For Bugout Food (After Action Report)

So although It may not of been discussed here yet, as I am working on Apache Survival as project for Gear/Weapons Reviews, as well as a way to learn new survival techniques and skills. I as a younger reviewer am also working my way into the Armed Services. Anyways To become a U.S. Marine I found out I needed to drop some weight (about 40 lbs. [16 kg.]) Truth is I went all Paleo via my recruiters request. The First week I dropped 13 lbs, I was pretty impressed. The thing that sucked was that Paleo is pretty expensive for a college aged guy to maintain. So needless to say even though I was on a 2 Hour every day workout schedule I gained a large part of the weigh back, Soon after I ended up plateauing. Really SUCKED!! 

Anyways Months Go by, still working on APS, and I hear about the 90 Day Challenge. What really caught me off guard was their claim that its cheaper than food. I thought to myself "wouldn't be bad to check this out maybe save some money this next month,". So I Take the plunge and go for it..... month later now and I am down a whole 25 lbs! So here I started at 250 lbs, Recruiter says you wanna be a Marine you gotta be 208 MINIMUM!! As of March 14th 2012 I was 223 lbs. This is with little to no serious PT, Mainly some 3 mile jogs whenever I felt like it, and standard 30 min weight lifting. Like I said nothing serious because I have been spending a tremendous amount of time gathering supplies for APS. 

SOOO actually getting to the point of this article, I decided to do some bugout loadout testing, and while I was at it I wanted to test out how the Visalus Shake mix would work in a bugout scenario. This mainly piqued my interests because of the fact that a single shake only required 26 grams of shake mix. So I though I would measure out enough for 3 days worth for 3 people and carry it as the sole food supply and would simulate a 3 day hike to my bugout location. most of this hiking took place near said location and total mileage ended up somewhere around 30 miles hiked. This was with a pretty lax pace of 4 miles per hour with a 50 lb. pack and a full SAW gunner vest (25lbs). As for weapons I was running the Model 97 Winchester in a Scabbard on my Ruck, and a M44 Mosin Nagant (Unissued config. Minus Bayonet). This didn't prove to be a bulky loadout, but I was having issues running despite it not being a full weight pack. 

So come meal time being able to hydrate with the shakes (water + shakemix) was great. Not having to carry any gear to cook proved to be useful as with 90 degree heat in the high dessert made any movements difficult. What I liked the best about it was that I could down my entire meal in one a few short gulps with minimal prep time. Another great positive was that these shakes provide much more nutrition than anything else you can carry, Including MRE's.  Having them proved exceptionally beneficial, as It allowed me to carry much more of my mission essential gear + extra ammo. 

Now for the bad, I can only really come up with 2 cons for using Visalus as "Bug Out" food. (and by bug out I mean exclusively the trip out, Not long term survival) The First Being that because this product is meant to be nutritious and low calorie; at 170 calories you will be burning more than you are taking in with serious hikes like 8+ miles. I think a good solution to this would be protein bars with something like oatmeal or some other grain for energy while you are on your trip. The second and maybe more a petty gripe is that you are required to use your water to make the product. Granted this isn't really a major Con but a possibly a pro to a degree. While 8 0z. of water isn't much its still some water that you may not have unless you are proficient in water rationing. 

All in All I will have to say that I am giving Visalus 9/10.

Anyways I wanna Invite anyone Here looking at APS to Start their Own 90 day Challenge:

Check it out here: http://visalusgivingvisalusmasteraliance.myvi.net/

Email me at apachesurvival(At)Gmail.com and tell me about your Challenge!!