Here's the second installment of survival information, put together by my very own self, all used, tried, and worked for me. Recipes not included, note at end.
Basic Survival Nutrition
This is all information I learned through years of studying nutrition (informally), not being wealthy, wanting to eat a good diet for health reasons, and liking to eat good tasting, healthy food. It is also vegetarian based, which has advantages - cheaper, no need for a refrigerator, freezer, hunting skills, and so on. Meat eaters can add what they want.
(Note: I am not attempting to "convert" anyone to a vegetarian diet here, just adding a little info that has worked for me in "regular" hard times, and may help someone if more hard times are on the horizon.)
Humans can live perfectly well on a grain, legume, and milk based diet, with vegetables and fruits as available. The basic nutritional requirements are carbohydrates (primarily whole grains, and vegetables and fruits), protein, fat and assorted vitamins and trace minerals. These basic needs can be met well with the items listed below, which can be purchased in bulk, will keep for some time if stored properly - with no need for refrigeration, and best of all, are cheap! I have found that most emergency survival based food lists take the viewpoint that the emergency will be over in a few weeks and everything will be back to normal. Therefore, canned foods, MREs, and pre-prepared packaged foods are the staples. My view is a little different. Maybe there will be a disastrous attack (or not!) and if there is, maybe things won't get "back to normal" for some time. For instance, what good will frozen foods do if there's no electricity? What good is food that needs cooking if the electric or natural gas stove doesn't work? Even a large amount of canned or packaged food may not last very long if several people are eating it, plus it may be quite expensive if people need to subsist on it for months (all speculative here!). Additionally, if food is scarce for a while, or times are hard, the danger is not just being hungry, but not being nourished properly. The foods below are good serviceable foods that provide high quality nutrition to maintain health and strength; which , if hard times come, everyone will need.
So here's my take:
1. Have an alternative cooking method - I favor propane camp stoves, get a couple of 5 gallon propane tanks or a larger one. Or, get a propane range. Or, if you live where there's a lot of firewood, get a wood cookstove. I have a camping dutch oven that works on top of a campstove and it has come in handy.
2. A pressure cooker is a very good investment. If the situation gets "radical", fuel or energy may be hard to come by, and a pressure cookers allows cooking with the least amount of energy/fuel use.
3. Make sure you have plenty of matches, lighters, salt, pepper, sugar or other sweeteners, condiments like jars of salsa, ketchup, your favorite vinegar, or mustard. It's a lot easier to eat boring or non-tasty food with familiar condiments. One thing that happens in hard times when food is boring, scanty or non-tasty is a lot of people lose their appetites. Fear can do that too. If people are off their feed for a long time (especially kids, the elderly, or invalids) they can easily succumb to illness or depression. So stock up on these items. You can always use them anyway.
In addition to condiments, simple herbs and spices not only make boring food much more tasty but many help digestion and have other health benefits. For instance, cinnamon helps improve the digestive "fire", improves circulation, warms up the body and makes oatmeal taste good. Some basic ones I keep on hand are: pepper, red and black, crushed chili peppers, turmeric, coriander, cumin, oregano, basil, dill seeds and weed, marjoram, and black mustard seeds. Good sweet spices are cinnamon, nutmeg (calming!), cardamom, and powdered ginger (actually ginger is kind of all-purpose.)
4. I am NOT a fan of vitamins (IMHO you just need to eat a wide variety of healthy foods and have a good digestion and you'll get all the nutrients your body needs) but in hard times or with poor or scanty food, vitamins are good to have. A simple daily one without huge amounts of any one vitamin, as natural as possible, would be my recommendation. And chewable ones for kids.
5. Make sure you have enough cleaning stuff for dishes, pots, and eating utensils. Spreading diseases through "sharing drool" is easier to do in difficult situations, so make sure there's dish soap, scubbies and so on stocked up.
6. Good quality vegetable oil is important. People need a certain amount of fat in the diet, especially under physical stress or if nutrition isn't sufficient. Olive and sesame (the health food store kind, not the Chinese toasted kind) keep the longest without degrading and going rancid, which is really bad for the body. I have some "Y2K" Olive oil and it's still completely good. Getting it in smaller containers is good, since once the jar is opened it can go rancid faster. Cans of Olive oil seem ok, though, maybe since the light can't get it.
7. Again, think about water quality. Most disaster lists suggest bottling up water and adding bleach, which is certainly better than ingesting harmful microbes. But when the good water runs out, then what? My solution is to not only store water if necessary (I don't have to since I have a good well) but to own a good water purifier - so that even if your good water runs out, you can use any water available and purify it for safety. The best purifiers I know are British Berkefeld, and I own no stock nor do I distribute them! The cheapest place to order them that I have found on the net is this:
http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/purifiers.asp
(and the person who answered my emails was very helpful) . Berkey filters eliminate virtually all harmful organisms including bacteria, amoebas, giardia and cryptosporidium, many chemicals such as bleach and other toxic chemicals, every bit of dirt and AFAIK, heavy metals. They require no electricity or water pressure as do many purifiers. One can even filter pond water or other unclean water sources and have good, tasty, safe drinking water.
Here is a list of food basics I normally would have on hand in the possibility of disaster or terrorist attack:*
1. Beans - lots of beans. Choose ones that you like, and ones that cook quickly. My hands down favorite is mung beans. They cook quickly (especially the way I do it), are very easily digestible (NO GAS), are tasty with or without vegetables cooked in, and can be sprouted. Other good ones that can be cooked or sprouted are lentils, azuki, and chickpea or garbanzos. Pintos can't be sprouted, they take forever to cook and often cause gas. I love them but don't eat them much for that reason.
2. Rice - lots of rice. I use Basmati as it is extremely tasty, very balancing for the body, cooks quickly and doesn’t get rancid like brown rice, is more healthy than regular white rice. I usually buy 15# bags at Costco.
3. Whole wheat flour - for homemade bread/tortillas. Whole wheat has a lot more nutrition than white flour, but it does go bad faster. Still, it lasts for months in a cool place out of the sun. It is simple to make tortillas/chapattis out of whole wheat flour, and they are dam* good! I haven't decided whether to bother with wheat berries, as grinding them into flour is the ultimate survivalist test which I don't know if I want to contemplate. If there's a terrorist attack I will immediately go out and get some, though.
4. Masa if you like corn tortillas, which I do. A tortilla press is an excellent tool and greatly facilitates making proper tortillas. If you've never had home made masa tortillas you're in for a treat. They are NOTHING like store bought ones.
5. Oatmeal - the smaller flakes, sometimes called "baby" oatmeal. I get it bulk at stores, natural type or otherwise. The small flakes aren't any more pre-cooked than the other kind, they are just chopped smaller. The reason I prefer them is they take less time to cook, saving energy and time. This kind of oatmeal is also really good with just boiling or hot water or milk poured on it, with a pinch of salt. Oatmeal is a very good staple to have on hand in quantity.
6. Any other kind of hot cereal that is agreeable. Hot cereals last longer than cold, since they are less processed, more filling, and generally have more solid nutrition. Good ones are rye and triticale flakes (triticale is a combination of rye and wheat, very tasty, and high protein), farina as in Cream of Wheat, Zoom, and the like.
7. Grits, polenta, and bulgur are all good grains for those who like them. Corn has amino acids that other grains are low in, so they are good additions to the diet, and bulgur is whole wheat that has been cut, steamed, and toasted, so it is really pre-cooked. It can be soaked and eaten as in tabouli, or cooked like rice.
8. Powdered and evaporated milk in quantity, especially if there are children around. It is very hard to go without any milk for a long time. It is filling, soothing, and makes things taste better.
8. This is strange, but I have found it handy - instant mashed potato flakes. When people need hot food in a great hurry, you can heat water and milk, pour it on, add salt, butter if handy, and voila! Emergency food at its finest. :0)
9. Nuts and nut butters are highly nutritious foods, and a handful of nuts and raisins, for instance, are good for giving energy and filling a hungry stomach. Raw nuts store better than roasted, and you can always roast them at home. Nut butters don't last as long, but if you buy several smaller jars rather than one large can or something you don't have to worry about rancidity. Tahini is a favorite, and when mixed with raisins, sugar, or honey is a healthy sweet that is very good for you.
10. Nutritional yeast - I like Red Star brand, natural food stores and the chains in CA such as Raley's have it in bulk. If you've never had it before, don't be scared, it tastes very good; not like brewer's yeast which is disgusting. Nutritional yeast is yellow flakes which have high amounts of all B vitamins (I think all) as well as iron. Adding a few Tablespoons a day to food will add these essential vitamins and iron to food.
11. Seeds and beans to sprout. I mentioned sprouting beans above. I used to make sprouts for money, and got to like homemade beansprouts. If there is a disaster, either man made or natural, it may be difficult to get fresh vegetables for some time. Since the body is designed to have fresh vegetables, making and eating sprouts is an easy way to get the needed nutrition. Here are a few I've made: alfalfa, clover, radish, azuki, lentil, garbanzo, and mung. I've heard of people sprouting broccoli and onion seeds, never done it. The best way (easiest too) is get quart wide mouth mason jars and get plastic tops with screen, made for sprouting, at health/natural food stores. Or just use cheesecloth, but it's harder to clean it. Wash, then soak the seeds over night, and if you're using beans, for at least 12 hours. Then rinse, drain, and place in a dark place, rinsing a couple or three times a day (depending on humidity and temperature) and eat when the tails are visible. Don't let bean sprout tails get longer than the bean itself! In fact, most bean sprouts are best then the tail is just visible. They are completely unlike the long, white tasteless bean sprouts in Oriental stores. Most bean sprouts are ready in a day or two, and the smaller seeds are ready in a few days.
12. Dried fruit. Very concentrated nutrition, and sweet, which is very good to have in the event of disaster or shortages. Ones that keep well are dried apples, apricots, raisins, and dates.
13. In my previous list I mentioned salt, since it has so many uses. It's cheap, and you can always use it for something. Most people can't eat saltless food, I can't. Have lots of black pepper for the same reason - it also promotes digestion and improves appetite.
14. Dried onions, chilis, garlic, mushrooms (very cheap at Oriental stores), anything that can be tossed into rice, beans, stews - to add flavor and stimulate the appetite. Those who are brave can toss in a little dried seaweed, helps cook beans faster and adds an interesting flavor.
*I have not included any recipes or directions on how I cook anything, since all this is so long already. If anyone requests, I will add recipes. (Keep in mind my recipes are not scientific but they work.)
Final note, very important:
Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word which comes from the mouth of God. Prayer is actual food for the soul. If before every meal a person prays, remembering God and His gifts, and offers back to Him the meal, and the strength gained from the food, then the soul is nourished as well as the body.
