NRG-5 ZERO Ration: Gluten and Lactose Free

If you cannot eat gluten or lactose, an emergency ration is only useful if it is one you can actually eat. NRG-5 ZERO is a rice-based emergency food ration made by Katadyn, sold as a 500g pack of compressed bars that the maker lists as gluten free, lactose free and vegan¹. It needs no heating or boiling, and the maker gives it a 15-year shelf life¹.

The headline figure is energy. One 500g pack provides 2325 kcal, which the maker says covers the daily energy requirements of an adult¹. That makes a single pack a simple unit for planning: one pack per adult per day, plus whatever you decide for children, who the maker says can eat it from 6 months old¹.

This page sets out what the ration is, what is in it, how it suits different households and how to store it so the shelf life holds. It is a named product page, so it sticks to the maker's own published specifications and instructions. For the wider picture of how ration packs fit into a household store, see Emergency Ration Packs: Calories, Weight and Contents.

What NRG-5 ZERO is, and who it suits

NRG-5 ZERO is an emergency food ration built on rice rather than the wheat base of the standard NRG-5. The maker's ingredient list is short: baked rice, palm fat, sugar, rice protein and natural flavouring¹. That is the whole recipe. There is no wheat, barley or rye in it, and no milk or milk derivative, which is why the maker lists the allergens as gluten free and lactose free¹.

The ration is fortified, in the maker's words, "with high quality ingredients"¹. It is sold as part of the NRG-5 range, which Katadyn describes as emergency food rations fortified with high quality ingredients³. Within the range, the maker files ZERO under a "Basics" solution category, while the standard NRG-5 sits under "Emergency Food"¹. That is a catalogue label rather than a statement about performance, but it tells you the two products are positioned differently.

Who it suits comes down to three things. First, households avoiding gluten or lactose, for whom the standard wheat-based ration is not an option.

It is not a meal in the sense of a hot dinner. It is a compact, long-keeping source of calories and protein that you eat as bars or crush into a mash or drink. If you are weighing up whether bars or full meals suit your store better, Emergency Ration Bars: How They Work and How to Choose sets out the trade-offs.

2325 kcal in a 500g pack: one adult's daily energy

The planning number that matters most is 2325 kcal per pack. The maker states that "a pack of NRG-5® ZERO (500g / 2325 kcal) covers the daily energy requirements of an adult"¹. The datasheet gives the same figure, 2325 kcal (9650 kJ) per 500g ration².

That is a useful simplification for a household store. Rather than calculating portions, you can count packs against people and days. Three adults for four days is twelve packs. The figure is the maker's assessment of daily energy requirements, so treat it as a planning baseline rather than a personal prescription: appetite, activity and circumstances vary, and the maker's claim is about energy, not about a complete diet.

For comparison within the same range, the standard NRG-5 pack is 500g and 2300 kcal, which the maker also describes as covering the daily energy requirements of an adult⁴. The two are close in energy; the difference that matters to a household avoiding gluten is the base ingredient, not the calorie count.

If you are working out how much to keep for your household, How Much Emergency Food to Store per Person takes the daily energy figure and builds a store around it.

Ingredients and nutrition per 100g

The nutrition panel is where you can see what the 2325 kcal is made of.

They are there to help you see what a full day on the ration looks like, not to replace the maker's own labelling.

Two things stand out.

The maker does not publish a vitamin and mineral breakdown for NRG-5 ZERO in the material available here. The standard NRG-5 datasheet does list a full panel, with vitamins A, D3, E, C and B12 and minerals including calcium, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, iron and iodine, each at around 20% of daily value per 100g⁶.

Giving it to children from 6 months

The maker states that NRG-5 ZERO "can be given to children as of 6 months old"¹. That is a statement about suitability, not a feeding plan. It tells you the ration is not restricted to adults, which matters if you are storing food for a family and want one product that covers everyone.

For households with babies, the practical point is that this is not a substitute for breast milk or infant formula in the first year. It is a food that can be given from 6 months, alongside the usual milk feeds. If you are thinking about how a power cut affects making up formula, How to Make Up Baby Formula in a Power Cut covers that separately, and Babies, Young Children and Medical Diets in an Emergency looks at the wider question of feeding young children when normal supplies are disrupted.

For older children and teenagers, the adult daily energy figure is a rough guide only. A pack is sized to an adult's day, so a smaller child will not need a whole one, and a very active teenager may need more. The maker does not publish age-specific portion advice beyond the 6-month starting point.

If anyone in the household has a diagnosed allergy beyond gluten and lactose, check the full ingredient list against their needs before storing this ration. The list is short and fully published, which makes that check straightforward: baked rice, palm fat, sugar, rice protein and natural flavouring¹.

15-year shelf life: storing it cool and dry

The shelf life is the reason a ration like this earns its place in a store. The maker gives NRG-5 ZERO a 15-year shelf life, and the datasheet is more precise: the expiry date is 15 years from the date of production¹. That is a long window, but it depends on storage.

The maker's storage instructions are simple. In practice that means a cupboard away from radiators, boilers and sunny windows, not a shed that freezes in winter and bakes in summer, and not a garage with a damp floor.

Rotation is the other half of storage. A 15-year life is long enough that it is easy to forget what you have, so record the date on each pack and check your store once a year. Rotating Your Store: First In, First Out explains the routine, and Keeping a Long-Term Store Cool, Dry and Free of Pests covers the conditions in more detail.

Where you keep it matters if you live somewhere that floods. A store in a low cupboard or a garage floor is vulnerable, and food that has been in flood water should not be kept. Where to Keep an Emergency Store If Your Area Floods sets out the safer options.

How to eat it, and what you need with it

NRG-5 ZERO is ready to eat. The maker states it needs no heating or boiling, so you can open a pack and eat the bars as they are¹. That makes it usable in a power cut, on a journey, or anywhere you cannot cook.

If you want something other than a dry bar, the maker says you can crush the compressed bars and add water to make "a nutritious mash or an energy drink, depending on how much water you add"¹. The bars are compressed, so crushing them is straightforward; a spoon and a bowl or cup are enough. The maker does not specify a water quantity for either version, so add a little at a time until you get the texture you want.

Water is optional for eating, but it is not optional for a household. A ration of this kind is dry and dense, and anyone eating it will want drinking water alongside. Keep your water store separate from your food store and plan for both; Water in an Emergency: A Household Guide covers how much to keep and how to treat it.

There is no need for a stove, fuel, a flameless heater or a cooking pot. That is the main practical advantage of a bar ration over a freeze-dried meal, which needs hot water to be at its best. If you are deciding between the two for your store, Emergency Ration Bars or Freeze-Dried Meals compares them by what they need and who they suit.

Checking you have the right product

The NRG-5 range has more than one product, and they are not interchangeable for a household avoiding gluten. The standard NRG-5 is built on baked wheat and contains barley malt extract and soy protein concentrate, so it is not gluten free⁵. NRG-5 ZERO is the rice-based version¹.

The maker's identifiers let you check what you are ordering:

That is the wheat-based product in a smaller format, not a ZERO variant.

For the standard ration in detail, see NRG-5 Emergency Food Ration. For the wider question of how ration packs compare by calories, weight and contents, Emergency Ration Packs: Calories, Weight and Contents is the place to start.