My favorite “survival” food

My food storage program consists of grocery store foods, freeze dried, dehydrated, and bulk stores such as rice, wheat, and beans. I havebeef-stew-rice been thinking that I really need to inventory everything and come up with a menu system. Having a schedule of what we can and will prepare would likely take the edge off what will already be a very stressful time. It would just be one less thing to worry about. From there I started thinking about what I have and what my favorite “survival” meal would be – which I would want to ration out.

Beef stew with rice. Yup – that’s my favorite. Boil some rice and dump a can of beef stew on top of it. Lots of protein, carbs, and a decent amount of fat thrown in. Tasty with lots of energy!! Very little preparation as well. 

Beef stew is not too expensive and stores well. Rice is ultra-cheap and can store for a very long time (Mylar bag, oxygen absorber). Another favorite of mine is peanut butter. Whether by itself or on crackers, bread, or whatever – a welcome treat. Pancakes rank up there as well which is good because mixes are cheap and can be bought as an “add water only” combo.

How about you? Have a favorite SHTF food?

Rourke


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11 thoughts on “My favorite “survival” food”

  1. Have to LOL, Rourke! I recently started buying a couple of cans of various flavors of ‘chunky’ soups to be able to make into meals exactly like this! I store a lot of tuna, we are all good with that, as well as canned chicken…some spam and other prepared meals like chix/dumplings, beef stew, lotsa chili options (hot dog chili sauce can make a meal w/added rice/noodles)and I know you don’t like them, and long term, I’d get tired of em, but ramen noodles too…we are all burned out on PB but keep some in storage just in case….

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  2. I can’t afford to eat meat any more, so rice, beans, oatmeal, ramen noodles, sweet potatoes & peanut butter are what I subsist on these days, with whatever veggies I can get hold of and occasionally some eggs. I prefer chick peas to pintos or other beans. They have a nuttier flavor and you can also make hummus out of them. My favorite meal on my limited menus is to thicken ramen noodle soup with a big spoonful of peanut butter and then add some sauteed cabbage, carrots, onions & chilis.

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  3. My favorite food storage meal: 1 can of red kidney beans (drained), 1 can of great northen beans(drained), 1 can of pork and beans and 1/2 bottle of ketchup. If you like, add meat anything is good but for me it’s venison sausage. Check out the book: “100 Day Pantry” by Jan Jackson at Amazon. Excellent book with main meal recipes using shelf stable food…I’ve liked all that I’ve tried thus far.

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  4. gah, Lisa, I cant stand chick peas! but good for you in finding creative ways to add to your menu! (it’s the smell of canned chick peas and years of putting them out on salad bar that slays me…) Ihope your situation improves…

    Like MKP recommendation, we are going to have to try that here…cheap/easy chili recipe, taken from stores…IDK that the fam will eat other than my own chili, but worth a shot! They may have no choice! TY for reminder to stock up some more ketchup!

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  5. I like Campbell’s Chunky Beef Soup over rice or noodles. Two cans and a pound of pasta feed the whole family. There are vegetables in there, too. We have a similar breakdown with stocked food. A little over 2 years ago, I started buying canned food and storing the cans in plastic totes. I made an Excel spreadsheet to track the expiration dates. This stuff is coming due and no one wants to eat it!We also purchased the freeze dried foods that last 35 years. That stuff was expensive! I packed those cans in totes, too, in event we have to Bug Out. I stopped ordering the Emergency Essentials FD foods when my wife got the pressure cooker and started canning (jarring) food. I HAVE NO IDEA HOW LONG THIS STUFF IS GOOD FOR? Recently, I rotated all the moisture absorbing packets in my ammo cans. It took me a month, as I don’t keep everything at my house. What a pain! I tried to put the packets in the oven to dry them for reuse. The instructions said 6 hours at 200 degrees. I checked on them at 40 minutes and they were already leaking beads all over the pan. I pulled them out. They were blue for a few minutes, then turned pink as I scrambled to shove them in the tin foil that I saved from the new packets. I don’t know if any were salvaged. This rotating of supplies is much more difficult than I imagined.

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  6. Irish: I agree with the storage problems. I have had good luck in storing, rotating and eating my canned and (jarred) storage. (I only can really good stuff “meats” that I will eat and started using the food after one year-It lasts much longer, but this plan is easy for me, just pull the dates from current month, 2012).
    I have lost some rice, pasta and flour to bugs (freezing for two days before placing in the storage buckets has greatly reduced this problem)
    I have a SHTF usage philosophy to use the very best and tasty of my food storage FIRST so as to gain an advantage over the hoards. (We will be eating and energized at our very best while they will be in a continuous decline, giving us an unusual force multiplier)
    Our food is stored in three classes Immediate-Intermediate-and long term and also renewable (aquaponics, grow beds, chickens and fish farm)Doing this allows us a buffer to get the renewable up and properly running and allows for some failure.
    Regards, D.

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  7. Irish, chunky type soups and rice or pasta are a wonderful idea, been serving it for years! Someone somewhere floated the idea of using expired or expiring foodstuffs as a ‘false’ store, in case you are hit by looters. I usually just donate mine to local food pantry, but have decided to create a ‘false hoard’ for this purpose. Maybe I can still donate but save some for that.

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  8. I recently read multiple articles about canned goods that stated the food is not bad after the date on the can. The manufacturer won’t guarantee taste and nutritional value past that date, THAT’S IT! If it is canned and stored properly (cool, dry place), and the containers are not damaged, the food is good for years past the “Best Before” or “Use By” date. Knowing this, I did not make it an issue to eat this food right away. I like your idea with the dates, D! While setting up a cache last month, I shuffled some totes around, mainly the freeze dried food. Since I have the totes numbered, I’m thinking of starting with #1 and consuming one box per month. I offered to give away canned food (with expired dates)last Christmas, but no one would take it.

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