A man whose four-wheel-drive was stranded in Oregon snow for five days survived by eating packets of taco sauce and starting the engine periodically to warm up.

A snowmobiler found Jeremy Taylor, 36, of Sunriver, on Friday and a search and rescue team member who rode to him on a large snow tractor brought him out of the woods, said Sergeant William Bailey, the spokesman for the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office.

“Jeremy stayed warm … by periodically starting his vehicle and used a few taco sauce packets he had as food,” the sheriff’s office said.

The office had released a missing person’s report for Mr Taylor last Thursday. It said he was known to visit the forested area because he liked to go off-roading.

He had last been seen getting petrol in Sunriver last Sunday.

On Friday, Mr Taylor 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 4WD and when he woke on Monday, more snow had fallen.

He tried to hike out, but the snow was too deep, so Mr Taylor and Ally returned to his vehicle.

“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 Friday.

In response to a friend’s Facebook comment about how he ate three Taco Bell hot sauce packets during the ordeal, he joked: “Taco Bell fire sauce saves lives!”

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

-with AAP