Survival Preparedness Food Preps, Ingredients versus Prepared Foods

Modern Survival Blog ^ | 8/22/11

[Free Vulcan]

I’ve been learning my plants, especially the early spring ones, and keeping an eye out for things like roots and any kind of wild grain that might have caloric value. Cattail roots as an example.

Also starting to seed things out around the place that tend to establish themselves and thrive without cultivation.

[TribalPrincess2U]

I make a gravy for 2 using 1/4C inst. non-fat dry milk. Similac I think it’s spelled. 1TB flour, 1 TB corn starch and about 15 oz liquid of choice. I use veg, chicken, or beef broth. That’s the basic ingredients. Experiment for flavors.

Can be used as a sauce adding cheese.

I need to stock up on these dry products.
I started stocking up on coffee 3 years ago. Sure glad I did.

[Kieri]

Some of us are buying old silver dimes as well. ;)

[I see my hands]

Well powered by solar panels, water stored in barrels, and a rain harvesting system. I feel okay even though we're in a desert climate. Well, never okay.. just okayer, lol.

[Keith Brown]

Hot sauce.....

Some like jalapeno based have vitamin C.

But if hot enought the causticity helps kill paracites in your system.

And it they taste good.

[TribalPrincess2U]

northern beans and corn bread? Beans with sausage and corn bread, onions and ketchup on top? Good stuff.

Sounds like you’re from the north like me.

[TribalPrincess2U]

Please add me to your ping list.

[MestaMachine]

Well, you’re gonna need the silver to kill werewolves and vampires and things. So that is practical. ROFL

[Kirkwood]

Game would be plentiful in the spring... squirrels, rabbits, fish, birds.... Pioneers would have trouble in the winter if their previous years crops didn’t come in or if varmints got into their stores.

[Kirkwood]

LOL

[JustaDumbBlonde]

I'd like to mention something that may be obvious to those that have been at this longer than I, but several years ago we had our largest chest freezer go out. When I discovered the failure, the contents were still extremely cold, but no longer frozen solid. I had several bushels of peas and beans put up, fruits of all kinds, in addition to all kinds of meat.

Not really knowing any better, I was calling everybody I could think of to come and get things to cook so that they wouldn't go to waste. Had I been better schooled, I would have started canning and dehydrating immediately and saved close to $1000.

I've since discovered than canned meats are actually very good. I've played around with different spices. You can whip up all kinds of soups, casseroles and sandwich fillings with canned meat.

[Jane Long]

Please add me to your prep ping list. Thx.

[packrat35]

Yea, the gold bugs amuse me also. If the SHTF as bad as many of them think, gold will be almost useless. You can’t eat it and its heavy to carry.

I am not knocking investments, but the ones who really think gold is something useful when a total collapse comes, as they believe.

[packrat35]

I’ve been joking that my 3 labs are a potential food source for 2 years.

[Oratam]

b4l

[Doomonyou]

Apple cider vinegar. Bragg’s is good. works for everything.

[Errant]

You can whip up all kinds of soups, casseroles and sandwich fillings with canned meat.

I've got a secret recipe for a barbecue sandwich that's really easy to make and tastes great that I'm willing to share with just you. ;)

Take a can of chicken breast meat, break it up in a bowl and stir in 1 - 2 tbls of your favorite barbecue sauce. Microwave for about 30 seconds before spooning onto buns or sandwich bread.

It's makes a surprisingly good barbecue sandwich! :)

[PA Engineer]

I've been preparing for many years. We originally went the bucket and bulk purchase storage route. Over the years we went with a balance of freeze dried with the standard bucket storage. We have balanced it out further with canned goods and a deep freeze. Spices are an important part of the preps. We now refer to our food storage as the temporary, the deep, and very deep. Freeze dried does give that option of very long term storage, however we did not purchase prepared meals.

One of the final areas of food preparation has been acquiring adequate fats and protein. I have been doing low carb now for many years. Many of the prep diets are heavy on carbohydrates. This will not bode well for may people who will develop metabolic syndrome and type II diabetes from this dietary change. Just another consideration. I have many suggestions for those who are concerned about this.

We are currently updating our power backup system with more batteries and an improved transfer switch. One of the items we have always been prepared for is water. We learned over 15 years ago when the power goes out the toilets don't flush. That is the one problem with a water well. Hence, we went a combination of solar and a generator years ago. We have kept our feet in both worlds of having electric service and switching over to batteries when there are outages. That seems to happen regularly where we live.

Having a backup system helped us to prioritise our electric needs versus our wants. Water and refrigeration have always been a priority.

An area of consideration we are completing now is waste disposal. There may not be trash pickup. We have kept a burn barrel for years but have now updated to a link-log incinerator. They are made of a concrete aggregate and you put them together the same way you put the lincoln logs together as children. We have found the link-log outdoor fireplace to be reliable for ten years now. The beauty of the concrete incinerator is that it does not rust out and blends nicely into the landscape.



Finally we are getting the last of the raised beds in. We are installing 12-4X4 drip irrigated units. We are all getting older and square foot gardening makes sense for many reasons, besides being able to keep the animals out when necessary. With our greenhouse we should be able to push three cycles of weather related crops from this garden.



Just a few of my current projects I thought I would share with you. I don't consider prepping to mean sacrificing, though I have been at it now for 12 years. I consider it self-sufficiency to be able to grow and store food, burn wood for heat, provide a minimum of electricity and to continue on as if nothing has happened. The sun will still come up every day and the seasons will change. I have found it important to keep the modern technological diversions in perspective.

PaEngineer

[Errant]

Same here on the coffee. Had 30 lbs at one time. Been using a lot waiting for coffee prices to come down some.

Community coffee which is my favorite is $8.38 for 23 ounces in a vacuum pack at the local Sam's Club. Used to be less than $4.

[Sea Parrot]

Beans, rice, oatmeal, flour, sugar, cornmeal, grits, dry pastas, vacuum packed dried fruit, dried eggs, cooking oil, salt, pepper, yeast, baking soda, other condiments.

These are our basics we have layed by and stored in abundance. Same for medical supplies, to include six months minimum for prescription drugs.

Firearms and thousands of rounds for same. As we reload, primers, powder, dozens of bullet molds, several 5 gallon buckets of wheel weights and trot line fishing gear.

And the above does not include all we have.