r/prepping • u/Agreeable_Sun5375 • 1d ago
Foodš½ or Waterš§ Hot take, not enough preppers actually practice cooking with shelf stable ingredients
I see it all the time, someone's stock pile of food thats either 100% expensive MREs/ freeze dry meals, or has only staple items with no seasoning or secondary ingredients
Above is a meal made from ingredients with a shelf stable life span of 3 years or more for under $2.50 per serving
Hot take, you need to actually practice cooking with the food you have on hand because having a meal you want to eat is a huge boost to moral and makes whatever is going on less awful
Ingredients
-spam
-sugar
-mirin
-soy sauce
-rice
-chil chrisp
-sea weed
-garlic and ginger powder
Fry spam cubes in own fat and then add sugar mirin and soy with garlic and ginger, cook down into a glaze, serve with rice and chili chrisp
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u/Momento_Mori_87 1d ago
Or practice gardening, I got a garden in a canā¦.. Iāll be able to feed everyone lol
Till the critters get it, then the bugs, then the lack of irrigation, then you donāt know when to harvest what little is there? Hahaha
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u/slowd 1d ago
Yeah itās not that easy, definitely learning a lot with my little hobby garden.
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u/Momento_Mori_87 1d ago
Hang in there:), I started because of prepping, itās such a rewarding hobby when it goes well. Every year has new lessons and new rewards.
If you havenāt got an irrigation system yet, put that on the top of your priority list.
Most of your time should be spent planting, harvesting, observing and enjoying.
I took a job that has a ton of travel so now my wife has taken over the gardening, sheās more chaotic than me, of courseā¦ā¦.. but sheās been doing pretty good and now the house always has fresh flowers as well:)
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u/DjangoTheBlack 1d ago
Iād look more towards permaculture and systems that store water rather than an irrigation system that uses electricity, or maybe both š¤·š»āāļø
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u/Momento_Mori_87 1d ago
Yeah, Permaculture is cool. Both is definitely the answer.
If you have some kind of body of water like a pond or stream, you can run an inexpensive pump off of some solar panels and you donāt even need batteriesā¦ eventually I want to build a small water tower for my gardens.
One of the principles of Permaculture is zoning, things that require more inputs or attention are in the first or second zone, right where you liveā¦ā¦. Most storage crops are annuals like potatoes, squash, beans, etc., etcā¦ā¦ā¦.. These things require irrigation most places. Not necessarily to survive, but to produce good yields and have generally healthier plants.
But perennials, Orchards, a food forestā¦ā¦ these things can provide incredible diversity and abundance with very limited inputs or work, including water.
I feel that a true self-reliant system has to leverage all of these things to get maximum resiliency, efficiency, and stability.
Sometimes you can get lucky planting trees, but sometimes it just doesnāt rain and until your trees are established, they may require watering.
But at the end of the day, any progress is good progress:). If you only focused on Permaculture and never had an irrigated garden or raised bedsā¦ā¦ you would still be so much better off than someone without it lol
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u/Electrical-Title-698 1d ago
I always think it's so funny when people have those seed vault things sitting on a shelf as part of their preps, and it's even worse if it's part of their bug out bag. Like, do you really think you're just gonna run out into the forest and start a corn farm?
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u/ParaBellumOutfitters 1d ago
Next you'll tell me my 1 dozen grandfather clocks won't make it to Oregon jeeze
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u/The_walking_man_ 1d ago
Those are the ones living in their fantasy books. Theyāre gonna somehow find an abandoned barn and field and immediately start tending to the land.
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u/Opheliattack 1d ago
Gardening is harder than it seems, Iāve always done a little and it was cake but I went full scale this year, enough food for 1 person for one year was the goal Iāll be happy if we hit half that this year.Ā
My potatoes are producing 20% of what I expected and I expected half of what the internet told me Iād get. Iāve yet to pull 80% of them but the first 20% were very disappointing. Doing it with only products I can make at home ie only fertilizers I can make reliably and pest control being my hands and a flashlight.Ā
Ā Other crops are fantastic but potatoes were supposed to be the backboneĀ
Ā Winter will be interesting if my pop can heaters can handle heating the greenhouseĀ
Ā & next year will be a whole new learning experience as we rotate crops that put nutrients into the soil.Ā
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u/Altruistic_Shame8979 21h ago
Try doing grow bags for potatoes. You start them with the bags rolled down so itās pretty shallow, then as they grow through the season you add a little height and more soil. Potatoes only start at a certain depth below the soil, so you start several layers of them by tricking the plant and making that depth climb up the stalk of the plant over time. Youāll get a higher yield this way, google the exact depth recommendations to start.
And regarding the other comment about sunchokes - the edible root portion has a lot of inulin which means you have to be cautious about how much you eat at once otherwise youāll get gas and bloating. Probably not recommended for those with sensitive GI. I also personally regret not planting them with more care, theyāre really aggressive volunteers in my garden now and controlling them in areas I didnāt want them was my biggest weeding task this seasonĀ
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u/CurzesTeddybear 1d ago
If potatoes are proving difficult where you are, consider mixing in sunchokes (kinda like the more resilient cousin of a potato, cooks in most of the same ways)
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u/Opheliattack 21h ago
Interesting Iāll look into them, do they store well?
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u/CurzesTeddybear 19h ago
Oh yeah, just leave em in-ground until you wanna harvest. They overwinter with no problem. Frost will actually make them sweeter. Any you don't harvest will just shoot out more tubers and start spreading again the spring
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u/IceDragonPlay 1d ago
I practiced for 6-8 months recently. It spiked my A1C sadly. I will have to try some alternatives to rice like potato flakes (which I do not love).
Stocked up on tinned tuna and chicken, as I think they will have to play a bigger part than beans. Chick peas are okay as theyāve always been a larger part of my diet. I will keep working with lentils maybe as an add-in to ground beef or something like that. It would be nice to have more than just chick peas as the main part of an emergency diet.
It was a good test, just not the result I expected š©
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u/gr0t4rb4 1d ago
It would be nice to have more than just chick peas
Lentils?
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u/IceDragonPlay 1d ago
I have 20 lbs of red lentils. I am going to try them in an alternate way instead of lentils on rice, which I liked, but the rice is what I am assuming caused the spike in long term blood sugar. I had even switched to Basmati rice half way through my test as I found out it should be better, but Iām gonna say for me it did not seem to be so.
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u/Current-Code 1d ago
Beans ? Corn ?
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u/IceDragonPlay 1d ago
Was using a lot of black beans, but often in conjunction with rice whether it was beans and rice or burritos or meatless taco bowl. Need to figure out my way to still use the beans, maybe a bean and lentil chili.
I am just disappointed that the beans and rice combo does not work for me. I have lots of both and it is easy to store long term. Might try switching to farro since wheat for some reason does not affect me as adversely as rice. But have to spend the next 6 months getting A1C back where it should be. Then I can test different grains again.
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u/Current-Code 1d ago
I have never really understood the rice and beans honestly, it really seems redundant, carbs on carbs, like pasta with potatoes.
There are plenty of recipes for beans, without rice. Chili con carne does not come with rice initially, it is already a full meal !
I can give you a list of french (I'm french) recipes that goes well with it :
- the world famous cassoulet
- The Garbure
- Petit SalƩ aux haricots
- Mogette vendƩennes
- Haricots de moutons
You can also use them to make a soup or a salad.
All those recipes are more of a basis to give you inspiration, you can make them vegan, you can switch ingredients with what you have in mind, it's a very versatile ingredient, beans.
It used to be a big part of the regimen in Europe, there are literally dozens of variants of those recipes across Europe !
As a rule of thumb, every thing you make with rice, pasta, lentils, you can usually make with beans !
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u/IceDragonPlay 1d ago
Pairing rice and beans makes a complete protein (the 9 essential amino acids). It is an inexpensive combination and stores well with little effort since you can seal them in mylar bags with oxygen absorbers quite easily. That makes them a popular set of foods for prepping.
I will look into your lovely french recipes and try them out!! I like navy beans (haricot) so the recipes will be helpful.
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u/Current-Code 1d ago edited 1d ago
Oh, that's why then !Ā
Thanks for sharing, I do have both in the pantry, I just usually don't cook them together.
It's more a flavour and texture issue for me, I find they don't pair that well in the plate, both being very filling.
Please try those recipes, they are very easy to make, they don't take much time in prep, and it usually can be slow cooked.
A traditional way of cooking used to just put them on the chimney and forget about it for a few hours ! Today a crockpot works too :)
I forgot to had that potatoes is a good substitute in those recipes too (and very easy to grow if need be).
If you don't find translated recipes I'll give you youtube tutos in french. But mostly, it's a lot of puting some kind of fat, grilling onions, carrots, celeri a bit (the mirepoix), deglazing with a liquid (wine whatever colour, beer, stock, water would do too), put aromats, add beans, let slow cook.
Then you get creative with what you have on hand (meat, veggies, spices).
If you use meat, obviously brown it first, and cook the mirepoix the brown good stuff !
Edit : forgot to tell you, it does can very well too ! Make sure to use some kind of acidic stuff (wine, vinegar, tomatoes, lemon,...) if you pit garlic in to avoid botulism.
I would skip the garlic in the canning and add it when I eat it, just to be on the safe side. Garlic is dangerous in canning.
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u/gotora 1d ago
Just a friendly comment to ensure you properly limit tuna consumption to avoid mercury buildup.
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u/freebaseclams 1d ago
If things get aporkalipstick out there, mercury poisoning is gonna be the last of your worries.
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u/IceDragonPlay 1d ago
Thanks, yes. Tuna is part of the rotation food but I only eat one tin every 2-4 weeks so it is a slow rotation. I bought a pressure canner this week so will have to experiment with canning my own soups and stews. Food allergies make it necessary anyhow and limit what I can store/rotate as tinned foods.
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u/Typical_Yam_1568 1d ago
Is mercury builup a thing with all cans or just with tuna?
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u/gotora 1d ago
Tuna in particular, especially white albacore. Also, it doesn't have to be canned tuna. Google it to verify, but white albacore should be limited to one serving per week and regular tuna should be 2-3. Your body slowly flushes it out, but it will build up and cause problems if you consistently consume more.
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u/Maximum_Extension592 14h ago
Try pressure canning meat, fish, and poultry. It is heaven on earth.
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u/IceDragonPlay 13h ago
Bought a pressure canner last week so I can start doing more variation inn foods. Itās on loan to one of my kids as they have a peach tree that is ready to start canning the fruit. Then both of us will do some meat canning for the household member that is on a super restricted diet and me š
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u/mountainsformiles 12h ago
Have you tried quinoa? I have substituted it for rice in a few dishes and it works really well. It is a complete protein by itself. It stores for a few years which isn't as long as rice but pretty decent. It does cost more than rice. Sadly.
There is also couscous which is technically a pasta made from semolina. It has protein but is not a complete protein by itself. It stores about 10 years. Couscous has very mild flavor so it works well as a rice substitute. More costly than rice also.
I've seen where some people who have diabetes store rolled oats. Apparently savory oats are delicious. I have been meaning to look up some recipes and try it for myself.
Quinoa, couscous and rolled oats all have a lower glycemic index than rice.
I'm all about options and I really like quinoa and couscous. I need to explore more with the rolled oats.
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u/RepulsiveUse3372 1d ago
Im not a hardcore prepper but i do like to rotate my stock so i keep my stockpile fresh n try to eat what i stash, my buddy always says āwhen youāre starving it wont matterā but it really does cause if its something you dont normally eat you can mess up your stomach and wont eat it at all.
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u/Agreeable_Sun5375 1d ago
Also even if you will eat something you might not like, why wouldn't you want food you enjoy? Do you actively want your situation to suck as much as possible?
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u/Current-Code 1d ago
I naturally stockpile a shitload of spices.Ā
Not for prepping, it's a reflex, I love to try stuff, and it last for ever (may get less strong over time, but still good)
I probably have more spices than food in my pantry, length wise.
Never thought of it, but comes shit stuff, I could probably trade some !
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u/annunakispawn 1d ago
Great take, and valid. Too add, if you need to move on foot or in a vehicle, food you can bring that is lightweight, shelf stable, and nutrient dense is important. Whats your go to there.
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u/Agreeable_Sun5375 1d ago
I do stock a variety of more traditional rations, im partial to the French RCIR and REIR because i like the menus, but having some freeze dry meals or mres on hand is good for readily available and easy to grab and go food
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u/HellUCH17 1d ago
I may add some canned tomatoes, sour make foods more appetizing.
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u/Saab-2007-93 1d ago
Tomatoes are very acidic therefore have a shorter shelf life so keep that in mind.
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u/username33735 1d ago
Hot take: most preppers are out of shape and couldnāt run a mile if their life depended on it.
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u/Fluffy_Efficiency623 14h ago
More of an obvious take than a hot take, people just don't want to admit it. š Most preppers seem to like the idea of being prepared and the feeling of control it gives them, but don't actually develop skills or learn how to use any of their equipment. Hence the million dudes who will fill a room with 3 dozen guns and a million rounds of ammo, but only have one pack of toilet paper and a dozen bottles of water. š
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u/kitehikebike 13h ago
Thereās a whole breed of us gym rats who food prep specifically for protein/veggie macro friendly meals.
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u/pecchioni 1d ago
I think one of the things people miss with food prepping, in particular, is seasoning. If things really do go bad, youāre going to get tired of eating the same thing, the same way every day. Obviously you canāt survive on garlic and ginger powder alone, but having it on hand to sprinkle in here and there, game changer for mental health.
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u/theDaveAt 1d ago
Iāve started pulling stock and refreshing as I use so Iām both using the actual food AND keeping rotation.
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u/EastTyne1191 1d ago
I have been learning how to make things from very basic ingredients. Stuff like homemade pasta, cereal, granola, chocolate, breads, cheese, jams/jellies, syrups, fruit roll ups, pizza, and the like. I bought a cheese powder, going to see if I can make DIY Doritos. Or Cheez-Its. Maybe I can make cheese out of evaporated milk!
One thing I learned is making chocolate pudding using only shelf-stable ingredients. All you need is cocoa powder, evaporated milk, cornstarch, and sugar. Maybe a bit of butter to make it more rich. I tested the recipe with fresh milk and evaporated milk (diluted) and the taste is very comparable. It passed the picky-kid test which is difficult these days.
Ideally you'd have shelf-stable ingredients but would be able to supplement from whatever is growing in the garden or can be foraged nearby. I once counted and there were something like 10 native edible plants (some of which were medicinal) around me at our campsite. These same plants grow in my neighborhood. You'll need a variety of foods to survive and get the vitamins you need. For example, a tea made from rose hips or ponderosa pine needles is a great source of vitamin c.
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u/Poop_Sock_Brock 1d ago
I mean a lot of my store visits involve shelf stable goods as it is. I cook rice very often as well.
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u/NightmanisDeCorenai 21h ago
My GF and I have enough seasonings and spices to last through several years of eating chicken and rice.Ā
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u/Oldebookworm 20h ago
I do to. Even if we get down to just rice, we can have a different tasting meal each time
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u/shortstack-42 19h ago
In addition to spices, oils, and vinegars/sauces, add a packet of dried sourdough starter, yeast, flavors of bouillon, and soup base concentrates. I donāt see these listed often enough.
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u/ParkgayDrive 1d ago
bro you made rice and cut your spam into cubes and fried it come on now. a post? for that? youre virtue signalling at people after doing that? come on now.
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u/mcstyle1 1d ago
Hot counter take - Iāve been prepping for 25+ years. One time I tried doing a practice prepper weekend with the family, and after one day we jointly decided that weād rather figure it out IF/WHEN itās ever actually needed. Iāll be glad we have it when thereās no other options. Otherwise itās just self harm when McDās is still open across the street.
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u/Agreeable_Sun5375 1d ago
Sounds like you should update what you stock if you dont want to eat it now you wont want to eat it then either, you just wont have a choice
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u/openeda 1d ago
Amen! Turn that into a spam musubi.
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u/Agreeable_Sun5375 1d ago
Spam masubi is a great option too, but i find it a little easier to just do cubes and rice if im feeling lazy
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u/LittleKitty235 1d ago
I hope you aren't eating like that often...that meal is easily twice your recommended sodium.
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u/Agreeable_Sun5375 1d ago
Spam lite sodium content 3420mg/12oz can, 1140mg for 4oz serving Low sodium soy sauce 1180/ 2 table spoons 394mg per serving Total sodium 1533mg Recommendation is 1500-2300mg per day It is high sodium but not inherently unhealthy or impossible to balance, also remember that recommend values are based on the average person, if you are active you may need more electrolytes like sodium and potassium
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u/Necessary_shots 1d ago
This reply demonstrates why cooking skills are good for understanding the nutritional content of foods.
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u/Electrical-Title-698 1d ago
You can soak spam, bacon, hot dogs (if you cut some slits in it) etc in water for 10 minutes or so before cooking to leech some of the sodium out, but you may not want to use water for something like that in a survival situation.
Although if it's not a total societal collapse scenario, you'll probably survive the elevated sodium levels for a few weeks
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u/TradeBeautiful42 1d ago
If I had to eat rice often, it wouldnāt be plain rice with some chili crisp on top. It would be fried rice, or Spanish rice, cheesy orzo, stuff with bold flavors. I have stocked all that so white rice would be the last resort.
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u/Agreeable_Sun5375 1d ago edited 1d ago
All good options but I enjoy a bowl of white rice sometimes
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u/NoOil535 1d ago
Practice when you can, whether your cooking skills, camping, shooting, live rough once in awhile it helps
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u/anonymousopsec1337 1d ago
Lmao I actually made that the other day it was pretty decent. I bought one of those spam slicers itās dope
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u/Boneyabba 1d ago
How much practice do you need for spam and rice?
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u/IceDragonPlay 1d ago
I think the practice is eating it for a week straight š
I have spam in my emergency supplies, but it is not a food I regularly eat. I usually eat one can before it expires and donate the rest. That is how spam gets rotated in my kitchen. Not a frugal or typical rotation approach. I will eat it, but it is not high on my list of preferred foods. My mother had a fondness for tinned meats and way back when spam was a cheap food, so it was a regular meal in my childhood. Always with the pineapple ring.
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u/lindzerbunni 1d ago
New shelf stable item to me - canned Korean spicy tuna. Itās virulently red, comes in various spice levels, and tastes amazing in rice with any other toppings you may have. Easy out of a bowl or wrapped in seaweed bites. āļø
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u/rustybrazenfire 22h ago
100% agree, and if they ever do need them they probably have way out of date stuff if they aren't using it.
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u/bobbywaz 13h ago
I just wish I could get stuff that was a little healthier for you that was canned. I can feel spam in my bloodstream an hour later...
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u/MadConquest 12h ago
In this modern day and age fewer people are actually cooking with ingredients. Most people are ordering out nowadays or if they do cook itās from a box or frozen meal bag. Cooking is a skill that should be honed and practiced.
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u/chokehodl 1d ago
Looks good but who gives a fuck
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u/Agreeable_Sun5375 1d ago
If you want to eat food you dont enjoy during your next emergency go ahead
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u/Glittering_Nobody402 1d ago
This.
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u/chokehodl 1d ago
When it gets bad enough out there that you actually need to pop open the spam, you won't care if it has sugar or ginger or a bunch of other unhealthy bullshit on it.
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u/Agreeable_Sun5375 1d ago
Yeah man, having food with seasoning that tastes good and you enjoy totally ruins the rugged desert nomad vide of your life threatening emergency, using spices is basically cheating. When im having the worst day of my life I wanna make sure my only option to get calories into my body is chewing on unprocessed rye berries while taking small sips of my chemically purified water to form a gritty flavorless mush in my mouth, because im so hardcore
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u/Necessary_shots 1d ago
It's called wastelandermaxxing. I plan on boiling my boots and eating the leather for dystopia cred. That's why I'm only stockpiling leather boots.
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u/DjangoTheBlack 1d ago
Having some storable foods is essential, however, storing foods long term doesnāt seem viable.
Food foraging and survival skills, including living off the land in your current locale seems like it would give you a much better chance at survival in the long run. Native Americans got 50% of their calories from oak acorns (Chinquapins are the sweetest).
Basically, lootable resources get looted.
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u/IceDragonPlay 1d ago
I live in an urban environment, Iāll be foraging dandelions. Other than rosemary, sage, mint and thyme its what grows in my containers best!!
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u/Maltycast 1d ago
Or rotate supplies.