Pilot Bread Crackers, 2 lb

Have had the Mountain House, Future Essentials, Saratoga Farms, and the USGI MRE crackers. They're all good, and I like 'em all just fine, but the Sailor Boy Brand are IMO the best. They're considerably larger than the other brands, and they're a crisp, solid, substantial example of the baker's art. They're pleasantly neutral flavored - very much like an unsalted saltine, if you will - and not at all slightly sweet like Mountain House or Saratoga Farms. The upside is that at their regular price, a 2 lb. package is less than half the regular price of a 2 lb. #10 vacuum-sealed can. Downside, of course is that they likely don't have anywhere near the 25 year shelf life of the canned varieties. They'll likely store a whole lot longer than ordinary grocery store saltines (and I've got some saltines that are 5+ years old and are still palatable); just rotate 'em out a little sooner. These are good - highly recommend.

Great cracker with a long storage life.

Loved these pilot crackers! They arrived in good shape, barely broken. Came packed in a cardboard box packed with large bubble wrapping. I used to love the Diamond Bakery Saloon Pilot crackers from Hawaii, but they are way too expensive for how much you get. This order of Sailor Boy crackers will last me a long time. I'm planning on vacuum sealing some to keep fresh. I will buy again. One thing I noticed was there is no expiration date on the box. I never buy expired food so I didnt like not seeing a date. It's only crackers so it cant hurt me to eat if expired, just might get stale fast. Other than that I love these crackers. I know my grandchildren will love them too!

Having read about hardtack for many tens of years, I bought Sailor Boy Pilot Bread Crackers, 2 lb because it was advertised as a modern version of traditional sailor’s bread. Over a period of many months they did not go stale. The last cracker was of the same quality as the first. I am an armchair sailor, so this is based on the fact that the humidity in Houston gets to most anything intended to be eaten crisp. Your money’s worth in large crackers. The crackers are thick making them a solid platform for larger snacks. They are rather bland, with a mild toasted flavor. This means they will not conflict with topping's from cheese to peanut butter. As a dipping cracker they will stand up to anything, from soup to chili. Given their shelf life, Sailor Boy Pilot Bread Crackers make for good emergency stores. They are brittle. Other reviewers mention that there is a certain amount of breakage, more like chipping from the simple packaging. I am not sure I would want to trade off crackers for shock proofing as I suspect reducing breakage would mean more box and less product. They can shatter into many pieces with every bite. They are not perforated in a way to make them easy to snap into smaller portions. Indoors, you are always going to want to eat them with a napkin in hand to limit the scatter of crumbs. On deck, make sure to eat them to leeward.

Born and raised in the Alaskan panhandle, there is no telling how many Sailor Boy crackers I have eaten in my years there. As an expat now living in New England I have not had any in many years. I was overjoyed to find these online and ordered 8 boxes of them. These are precisely as I remembered, much to my great joy! I haven't opened every box obviously, but I detected no damage in shipment. If I find some, I will have no problem eating some busted up crackers or even the crumbs. My dad used to love popping these in the toaster for a good while to brown them a bit and crisp them right up. I have eaten these with peanut butter MANY times. I have served them with soup, crumbled up a bit to soak up the broth. My mouth is watering. I heartily recommend these crackers 1,000,000% to anyone and especially my fellow Alaskans wherever life finds you. I hope these remain available online for as long as I still draw breath!

I ordered two boxes of these crackers. They are great hardtack crackers but the manufacturer packages them stacked in plastic bags slipped into thin cardboard boxes. When shipped in case lots, this probably is adequate. But when thrown in an Amazon box, maybe with other items, and not protected with excessive shipping cushioning, and then thrown around in a shipper's van or truck, the crackers inside are damaged or destroyed. Great if you need to bread some chicken or veal, terrible to eat with butter or jam. Amazon needs to take greater care in handling and packaging these crackers ... think eggs or light bulbs.

I've been wanting to try pilot bread, but they seem to be impossible to find in most of the lower 48's. Decided to order although I'm not entirely sure if I can get through 2 Lbs before they either go moldy or stale. We'll see I guess. Good tasting crackers. Not sure if I miss having salt or not. Part of me thinks they'd be tastier and part says that would kind of defeat the purpose as they might dry out from the salt and go stale. They hold up well when you're biting them. They don't seem to flake (as badly, they do flake a bit) or break like saltines. Seem to have a slightly more bread like texture than saltines. So far I've only tried them with peanut butter but plan to test them with either tuna or chicken salad in the next day of two. They should be fine. Better, in fact, then regular crackers. In case anyone is wondering, I sealed up 8 crackers (2x4@crackers) in my vacuum sealer and they held up well sealing. I plan on testing them in a couple of months to see how well they hold up to sort of make your own home-made MREs. I'll update this if they don't hold up, but I don't foresee that being a problem unless the seal gets punctured. My box arrived in good shape. Had two broken, on on each end. That should be expected. For crying out loud, they're crackers! A few were also "chipped" but, again, they're crackers! I didn't see anything different from what I buy crackers in my local grocery. Of course if the delivery truck runs over them...

Pretty decent tasting food, kinda expensive to eat as a snack and not as good as other crackers but they will last way longer. I opened these when I bought them and tried a few, put them back in the box in my closet. A year later, they still taste exactly the same and seem to be doing ok. Definitely a great item to have around in the back of the car, or around the house just in case things go wrong. I also took some hiking and while they do break, its not as easy as other crackers so it's a great option with some peanut butter or jerky for a meal or as a backup in case a trip goes longer than planned. Package doesn't seal, just has a plastic bag with a twist tie in it so if you want really long-term storage in a humid environment I might put some in a vacuum bag.