A man stranded with his dog in snow in central Oregon for five days survived by eating taco sauce packets and starting his car’s engine periodically, in order to warm up.

A snowmobiler found Jeremy Taylor, 36 and from Sunriver, on Friday and a search and rescue team member on a large snow tractor brought him out of the woods, said Sgt William Bailey, spokesman for the Deschutes county sheriff’s office.

Taylor, an avid outdoorsman, was last seen getting gas on 24 February in Sunriver. He told his rescuers he and his dog, Ally, became stuck in deep snow on a US Forest Service road later that same day. He slept in his car and when he awoke on Monday, more snow had fallen.

He attempted to hike out but the snow was too deep, so he and Ally returned to his car.

“Thank you everyone, I’m safe my Ally dog is safe. I really appreciate all the help. Got lucky, lets [sic] never do that again. I’ll be in touch with everyone soon,” he wrote on his Facebook page late on Friday.

Taylor did not reply to a message sent through Facebook on Saturday. In response to a friend’s comment about how he ate three Taco Bell hot sauce packets during the ordeal, he joked: “Taco Bell fire sauce saves lives!”

Taylor and his dog were both in good health when found, authorities said, but were very hungry.

Central Oregon has been hammered with snowstorms in recent weeks.