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In a post apocalyptic world, assuming that you are not part of a criminal enterprise, you might want to have some bacon.  If you do not have any piggies or if all the piggies in your area were previously eaten or otherwise died or became contaminated, you might be relieved that you bought some canned bacon.  Yes, I am talking about Tactical Bacon manufacturered by CMMG.

This is 9 ounces of already cooked bacon.  Just heat and serve, and if you do not have any heat, you can eat it cold.  The pre-cooked weight is 3 pounds of bacon, and if you compare the price of this bacon to raw bacon at the grocery store you will see there is not much of a difference.  The advantage is that this bacon will stay on your shelf for 10 years.   Will the post-apocalyptic world currency be made of bacon?

The disadvantage of this bacon is there is the same amount as 3 pounds raw bacon in this can, and once you open it you must refrigerate it.  That is a lot of bacon!  Serving size is 3 strips and there are 18 servings in a can, so if you have bacon with every breakfast and you are feeding a family you will need 2 cans a week.  4 people would consume 1 can about every 4 days.  You will go through it faster if you are also having BLTs or mixing bacon in with green beans or other dishes that require bacon.

My impressions of the bacon is that it is a little salty, but I dislike salt much more than anyone I know.  My mother said that the bacon is normal for store bought.  I thought that this bacon is just like what Denny’s would serve.  Upon opening the can I can hear the vaccuum seal break with what seemed like a much longer hiss than normal.  I am not sure if they are vaccuum sealed or if there is a pressurized gas like nitrogen added to displace oxygen.  After opening the can I noticed that there was a big wad of bacon tightly rolled into the can.  After shaking the can to get it out, a mixture of paper and bacon plopped onto the counter.

I unrolled the paper and then unfolded the paper and discovered 3 layers of bacon, seperated by wax paper, presumably to make it easier to serve the bacon.  Each layer is about 1 pound of raw bacon, all cooked and ready to eat.  I could see the sheen of bacon grease on the bacon, and in some areas it was easily visible as bacon grease, with the white color and pasty texture.  The grease was not much, I have seen more in restaurants.  Honestly I would rather have a little extra grease on the bacon so that when its heated it heats better and retains more of its bacony flavor.

The bacon comes out soft, not crunchy like bacon bits.  It tears easily, so you can make other dishes than just having the bacon plain.  One of my favorite dishes is green beans with chopped up bacon added for extra flavor.

I do recommend this bacon to anyone building a long term pantry.  I am planning on ordering 4 cases myself, to give me and those that I am providing for a good years worth of bacon.  The bonus is this is not TVP, it is real bacon.