Of Pork and Partially Hydrogenated Oil

I recently made a purchase of a couple of long-term food items, and decided to share my experience with both.  Both items were purchased from MREDepot.com.

The first was freeze dried pork chops.  It seems they got hold of some chops that had been originally made for some "higher ups" in our government.  This isn't the stuff given to the soldiers in the field, which kind of pissed me off the more I thought about it.

Anyway, the chops come in No. 10 cans with a content weight of 23 ounces.

 Their website says each can comes with between 15 and 20 chops, depending on size.  The can I opened (I bought a 6-can case) contained 20 chops.

The instructions tell you to soak the chops in warm, salted water for 20-30 minutes (or if possible, overnight to "equilibrate" the moisture), then cook and eat (BTW, the chops are raw and MUST be cooked).  For my test, I took 8 chops, put them in a bowl of salted water, and the chops floated.  I placed a plate on top to keep them all submerged.

Instead of waiting the recommended 20-30 mins, I let mine soak for a full 60 minutes.  I took them out, patted them dry of surface water, and let them sit covered for another 60 minutes.

I dredged two of the chops in flour and panned fried them up.  The results were iffy at best.

The 60 minute soak and 60 minute rest were not enough to fully rehydrate the chops.  They were edible, but just barely -

The meat was tough to cut (NO, I didn't over cook them), and was very stringy.  Flavor, though, was OK.

The next day, I took two more of the chops which had been in a ziplock bag in the fridge.  I did the same flour dredge and pan fry.  Quite a difference!

These chops, you'll notice, have none of the stringiness.  I cut the chop with and against the grain.  Seriously, very little difference (if any) from a fresh chop.  Flavor, texture and mouth-feel were awesome.

Now, let's talk value.  The 8 original chops weighed 9.2 ounces straight out of the can.  After rehydration, they weighed 19.7 ounces.  Doing a little math, that means that the whole can of freeze dried shops - which started at 23 ounces - will produce right around 49 ounces, or 3 pounds of rehydrated chops.

They are currently sold for around $48 per can, or $16 per pound when rehydrated.  Pricey, for sure, but for my money, it's a hell of a deal if you're in a SHTF scenario where you've been eating little more than rice, beans and jerky.  The mental uplift of eating a real chop would be huge.  The stuff lasts for 25 years, so it's one of those things, which for all practical purposes, will never need to be rotated.

I could see these being used while backpacking as well.  After setting up your base camp, throw some chops in water, let them sit a day, and have an awesome meal to look forward to.
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The second item I purchased was powdered shortening.  I had VERY high hopes for this stuff.  Their website noted that the powder could be sprinkled in a pan - which would cause it to melt - and you could fry up your food.

 Here's a screen clip with the "how to" for the powder (click to enlarge) -

I'm thinking, "Finally, a light-weight, portable fat that can be used for frying!  No more lugging lard or bottles of heavy oil!"

Absolute.  Total.  Failure.

I sprinkled some of the powder in a cold pan, turned the heat on medium, and waited for the powder to melt.

And waited.

And waited.

Finally, the powder started to brown (WTF?).  No melting at all.

I wiped out the pan, sprinkled in some more powder, and put the heat on low.  Same thing.  More browning, no melting.

I followed their instructions to make up some of the shortening.  One-third cup of water and one-half cup of the powder.  Mix well.  I ended up with this -

 Kind of a very thin slurry, not a solid shortening.

I put some of the slurry into a pan, thinking maybe their "sprinkle" instruction meant it had to be done with the wet stuff.

Not so much.  Just some bubbling, then - you guessed it - browning.  It never melted into an oil with which I could pan fry.

Very, very disappointed.
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I wish MRE Depot would just be straight about both of these products.  For the chops, stress that they MUST be soaked overnight for them to act like real chops.  Sure, you can eat them after 20 minutes, but I can also say I can eat a bag of dried beans like popcorn if I wanted.

This is a great product, and I will likely buy more because of the high quality.  There is no need to try and make this stuff something it's not:  an instant chop.  Like the aforementioned dry beans, for them to have their expected texture and flavor, they've got to be soaked for HOURS.  It is what it is.

With regards to the shortening, IMO, it failed miserably.  I was relying on their statement that it would liquefy when sprinkled in a pan.  Not even close!  It may work wonderfully in baked goods, but those won't be high on my hit parade during a SHTF situation.  Having a light-weight cooking "oil" that I could have in my stores (and perhaps in a BOB) was what I was looking for, and which I was promised.

Like the chops, MREDepot appears to be trying to be all things to all people.  This stuff simply does not melt in a low, medium or high heat pan.  Don't tell me it will!

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Copyright 2013 Bison Risk Management Associates. All rights reserved. Please note that in addition to owning Bison Risk Management, Chief Instructor is also a partner in a precious metals business. You are encouraged to repost this information so long as it is credited to Bison Risk Management Associates. www.BisonRMA.com

Ghee-licious and Other Preps

Item 1:  Kinda cool idea, along the lines of the Just Add Water (JAW) [link] recipes I favor - The Honeyville Farms blog has put together a bunch of recipes using their freeze dried and dehydrated foods.  While not in the same category as my JAW recipes - where you add water, wait, then consume - recipes such as this one [link] add the additional step of requiring baking or further cooking prior to consumption.

The dry ingredients are put into Mason jars with an oxygen absorber, lidded and put away.  The oxy absorber causes the lid to seal shut, keeping the contents fresh for 5 to 7 years.

I've got two issues with these otherwise great looking recipes.  First, they'd be expensive.  Honeyville Farms produces these products, and item-for-item are obviously much more expensive than buying the foods fresh.  Since they're implying in their posts that these meals are basically for every day use, they'd cost considerably more when compared to using fresh ingredients for daily meals.  I do my JAW recipes for use in emergency situations, and can personally justify the additional cost on that basis.  YMMV.

Secondly, if I were going to put these together, I'd do them in mylar or Foodsaver bags.  They'd take up much less storage "real estate" that way.  I personally only use my Mason jars for home canned foods I've purchased or gathered in abundance.  They're a way of saving a bounty of food you've come upon.... or, as in my next item, having a long-term storage item where there are few, if any, other alternatives.

Still, I like the idea.  Using the Mason jars and having to do the extra cooking might have an application in your prepping plans.  The linked article above has other links at the end so you can download the print off 12 recipes the author has put together.
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Item 2:  Finally got around to making and canning up some ghee.  Ghee, for those of you who aren't one of the Cool Kids, is "drawn butter" - whole butter with the milk solids removed.  This gives you another type of fat to add to your storage.  Supposedly, this stuff lasts years and years.

WARNING:  Don't do this.  The government doesn't say it's safe, so you'll probably die if you follow the instructions.  If you choose to continue reading these instructions and end up dead or sick, you made that choice, you deal with the consequences.

I followed the instructions from this article [link] which were very easy to follow.  I, too, used the half-pint jars (why aren't these called one cup jars?).

I started with 4 pounds of unsalted butter in a heavy-bottomed pot -

I had the flame on low.  Once everything had melted, I kicked up the heat to get the mess a-boilin'.  This drives off the water in the butter that can cause problems with storage and safety -

I turned the heat down a bit and the white "scum" on the top pretty much disappeared.  The milk solids settled to the bottom of the pot.

I took my cleaned jars, which I put into the oven at 200F to heat up and dry out (don't want any water in the jars).  I put my lids in 190F water to soften up and sterilize.

I then triple folded some cheese cloth and poured the melted butter in a 1 quart measuring cup (had to do this step twice).  I then used a wide-mouth funnel to fill the jars (ended up with 7 1/2 jars from 4lbs of butter).  I took the lids, dried them off with a paper towel, and screwed them down.  Within 10 minutes, all of the lids had "popped" and sealed.

If you look closely, the jars at the top of the picture have a very light "dusting" of milk solids that made it through the cheese cloth.  TO ANYONE WHO HAS DONE THIS IN THE PAST:  Any problems with this?  My gut says these will not store for years like the stuff without the dusting is supposed to last.  Unless I hear some pretty compelling information, I'll be putting these jars in the fridge and using them first.

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Item 3:  I've got a buddy that was in a horrible car accident a few years ago where his face got pretty wrecked.  Part of the consequences was his inability to chew food for quite a while.  As a result, he lived on those Ensure food drinks.  They're primarily marketed towards older folks as a way to ensure you get your daily calories, vitamins and minerals.

I figured they might be a good prepper's items to squirrel away.  The problem with them is that they're bulky and heavy.  They come in these little metal or plastic bottles.  Too much cost and work to consider as survival food.

By chance, I was snooping around some site, and found this stuff.... in powder form.  You take some of the powder, add water and you've got a 250 calorie quickee meal or snack.

The stuff runs around $10 a can (for 7 servings - link), but I found a generic version of it in my local supermarket at around $7 (has the same nutritional stats).

IMO, this is just about a perfect JAW item, in that you don't even need to heat up the water to consume it.  Just mix and drink.

I'm going to take individual servings and vacuum sealing them in Foodsaver tubes.  I've done this before with Gatorade - I'll take some pictures of how to do it at a later time.

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Copyright 2012 Bison Risk Management Associates. All rights reserved. Please note that in addition to owning Bison Risk Management, Chief Instructor is also a partner in a precious metals business. You are encouraged to repost this information so long as it is credited to Bison Risk Management Associates. www.BisonRMA.com

Canning Conundrum, Show Me The Money and More JAW

Most preppers are familiar with the adage, "Store what you eat".  The idea being, don't store stuff you hate just because it's cheap or plentiful.

For instance, I know with metaphysical certainty that beets and sweet potatoes were put on this earth for no reason other than to test my gag reflex.  They are horrible, puke-inducing produce.  I'd never even consider putting some of them up in storage.

Chicken, on the other hand, is something I really like.  I've never met a chicken I didn't love.  As such, I've home canned TONS of chicken.  Mostly breast meat, with a smattering of thigh meat.

Here's the conundrum:  I love chicken breast, but after canning, it's like commercially canned tuna - flaky.  I love chicken breast, and I like it in this style, but not ONLY in this style.  No other storage format (freezing, dehydrating, etc.) is as shelf stable.

Beef is the same way, but I've found a way around it:  I grind and brown it first, THEN can it, and the texture is just like regular old ground burger.  I can it with my Italian sausage flavorings, and it absolutely rocks.

Has anyone ever ground up chicken breast, cooked it THEN canned it?  If so, how was it?  In my mind's eye, it won't keep the "bouncy" structure of a ground meat - it will just be another pint of flaky breast meat.

Looks like I've got another test ahead of me...
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Speaking of beef, I heard a story on TV about how beef prices are set to spike.  Something about how we've got fewer heads of beef than we had in the 1970's, and not enough cows to breed more.

Sounds like a marketing ploy, or poor planning, to me.

I don't eat a lot of beef - mostly pork and chicken - but I like a big ol' thick steak now and again.

I do believe I'll be picking up some beef for the freezer, and some freeze-dried cans of beef for the larder.
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I just don't get this - leaving money on the table.  And in these cases, I mean that literally.

With my gun classes, if you can't make the class and you notify me of this less than a week before the class, I provide you with a credit that can be used for any future class (if you call me a week or more before the class, you can get your money fully refunded if you want).  Right now, I have 6 students that have bought and paid for my Introductory Pistol class - at $99 a pop - that haven't reschduled.  One of these is 7 months old!

In our PM shop, we pay past customers who refer us new customers, a 5% bonus.  We look at this as advertising expense, and doesn't come out of the proceeds of their friend!  Anyways, we must be over $1000 in unpaid referral fees. 

We call them immediately to thank them and to come down and get their free cash.  We do a follow-up call a week later to touch bases again.  Nuthin'.

They must be tripping on all of those green shoots as they're running to the store...
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A screamin' JAW (Just Add Water) recipe....

This was inspired by a post I saw over at Riverwalker's Stealth Survival blog.  The topic was, Comfort Food.  As he noted, food has a way of settling you down - grounding you.  Those food favorites have a way of making a crappy day not quite so bad.  In a survival situation, they could be crucial to your mental (and physical) health.

One of my first thoughts was mashed potatoes.  Yeah, boy - I luvs me some spuds!

I keep the majority of my JAW packets in my car.  They're part of my stuck-out-in-nowhere-and-I'm-going-to-be-here-for-a-while supplies.  They take up a bit too much room to be included in my Get Home Bag, but are perfect if I've got to hunker down for a while.  Great for camping trips as well.

My idea was for a bacon, cheese and garlic mashed potatoes recipe.  I picked up a bag of bacon bits (actually, Textured Vegetable Protein - TVP), and some cheese powder from the bulk section at my market.  I already had plenty of potato buds and dehydrated garlic (not powder, but the minced bits).

The first crack at it was OK, but didn't curl my toes.  It would be good in a bad situation, but not Top Shelf.  The second try was absolutely awesome!  I increased the garlic and cheese amounts (2x and 3x, respectively).

Here goes:

2/3 C potato buds/flakes (I've got Idahoan)
1 T powdered instant milk
3 T Cheese powder
2 T TVP bacon bits
1 tsp dehydrated minced garlic
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1 1/4 C boiling water

Mix it all together, keeping it covered (or sealed in a Foodsaver bag) for 5 minutes, then devour.  The reason there's no picture is because I ate it all.  Seriously, this stuff rocks.

One tip - more water is better than less water.  I did the first recipe with a cup of water (which was a little over what was supposedly needed) and it was still a bit too stiff and almost sticky.  Added the extra water, and it was creamy smooth.

Enough for 2 side dishes or one meal.

The stats (total) -

Cal - 285
Fat - 3.5g
Carbs - 51g
Protein - 14g

As Campbell's says, "Mmm, mmm, good...."
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Copyright 2012 Bison Risk Management Associates. All rights reserved. Please note that in addition to owning Bison Risk Management, Chief Instructor is also a partner in a precious metals business. You are encouraged to repost this information so long as it is credited to Bison Risk Management Associates. www.BisonRMA.com

Gold, JAWs and Our Elites

From an article I found on Survivalblog.  Apparently, unlike Uncle Ben Bernanke, lots of countries think that gold is money -

Central banks also hiked their purchases from 77 metric tons in 2010 to 440 metric tons in 2011 as worries about a second global recession grew.

Holy crap!  Nearly a six-fold increase in gold purchases by the equivalent of the Federal Reserve in other countries.

I guess they didn't get Uncle Ben's memo. Hmm.
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My only concern right now with gold (and silver) is the short-term.  When Greece crashes - and potentially the euro some time thereafter - and I think it will - the dollar is going to spike, pushing down the price of PMs.  Perhaps the market has already "priced" this eventuality into gold, I don't really know.

According to this article on ZeroHedge (also poached from Survivalblog), the Greek-TEOTWAWKI (a "disorderly default") will be some time around March 20th.

Now, I'm always a bit leery when someone predicts a date for something to happen, but the prediction comes from Credit Suisse, and not some blogger like me.  So, accurate or not, it has the potential to affect the market.  I buy gold and silver every month, but I may back off a little bit coming up to mid-March to see how things shake out.

My long-term view remains unchanged:  Until the federal government states it will no longer "print" dollars and it will no longer run a deficit, I'll buy precious metals.  Neither of those is going to happen in the foreseeable future, regardless of who's in the White House.
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Quickee Just Add Water (JAW) recipe:  Prepper Rice-a-Roni.

1 cup Minute Rice
2 oz Angel Hair pasta broken into 1/2 inch pieces
2 tsp chicken bullion
1 cup boiling water

Take the broken Angel Hair pasta and put it into a pan over medium heat, sprayed with Pam or some other cooking spray.  Continually stir the pasta until it is dark brown.  Remove from the heat and place in a bowl immediately, as the pasta will continue to brown even in a pan that's off the heat.

Combine remaining ingredients, and cover for 10 minutes.  Makes a side dish for two, or a meal for one.

Eat.

If, like me, you're putting this in Foodsaver bags, make the bag bigger than normal, as it can be used to hold the food while it's re-hydrating.  Just fold over the open end and clamp/hold shut.

If you have access to butter, add a tablespoon or two, and it tastes much more like the real thing.  Be sure you're using Angel Hair or another VERY thin pasta, as thicker types like spaghetti retain their crunchiness.

Stats (total):

Calories:  610
Protein:  17g
Carbs:  131g
Fat:  1g
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Part of the reason posting has been light the past week is because of crap like this.  I see very, very disturbing "signs" and it seem no one gives a damn.  Unmanned police drones.  Police check points.  Police armored personnel carriers.   All manned by cops attired as soldiers.

I really am starting to hate this, and it worries me quite a bit:  The overview you read on the TV listing for every damned "real life" cop show on TV is full of "elite" cops.  I swear to God, I just saw one that was about an elite squad of cops that were tasked with catching..... speeders.  What's next?  "Elite" meter maids?

I was just watching a show by John Stossel called, "Illegal Everything" (find this and watch it).  One of the sections was about citizens filming cops doing their job - and getting arrested for the effort.  In each incident, the citizen was arrested for something like, "interfering with government function" or some horseshit like that.

Each was the epitome of trumped up charges, and in each incident, not a single cop was disciplined or fired.  WTF?

Why's it worry me?  Because more and more cops start believing the TV propaganda, that they are in fact, elites - and not our servants.  Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, too many citizens - their masters - are believing the propaganda as well.

Sheeple
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In the Stossel show, they also had a section on grotesque government abuses of power.  One family had their land arbitrarily designated as a wet lands.  The state hadn't cleared some drainage ditch, and the water had backed up.  The people - with the blessing of the state - cleared the ditch.  The feds came in and sued them.

The landowners won the law suit, but the feds didn't give a damn, and fined them $37,000 a day, effectively bankrupting them.

How can this happen in America?

I swear to God, I would not have lost my home and land by just rolling over.

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Copyright 2012 Bison Risk Management Associates. All rights reserved. Please note that in addition to owning Bison Risk Management, Chief Instructor is also a partner in a precious metals business. You are encouraged to repost this information so long as it is credited to Bison Risk Management Associates. www.BisonRMA.com

Instants, Inventories and Fats

The absolute perfect food for preppers would be high in fat, protein, vitamins, carbs, etc., be light-weight, be compact, be inexpensive, take no fuel resources to prepare, and would taste fantastic.  About the only things that come close are those Mayday emergency food bars.  While they're edible, I think I'd eat a bullet if I had to go more than a week or so munching on those things.

So we have trade-offs.  For instance, flavor and texture are usually sacrificed for storage time.  Real mashed potatoes taste a whole lot better than dehydrated potato buds.

I've got a few items that I think most folks believe would fall into that category - they don't taste as good as "the real thing".  Personally, I like each of these as much as I like the real thing.

They'd be:  Instant grits, instant cream of wheat and instant coffee.

Hey, hey, hey!  Put down those pitchforks and flaming torches!  Not being from a part of the country that eats grits on a regular basis, I've NEVER had the real deal.  Not once.

A few months ago, I picked up a box of the individual serving Instant Grits packs and loved them.  A half of a cup of boiling water, a pat of butter, pinch of salt and pepper, and a half teaspoon of sugar....  Color me a heretic if you must, but they're damned good!  They're ready to eat in about 2 minutes.

And they're high on the "stickin' to the ribs" scale.  I can have a bowl of them and a cup of coffee, and it will easily hold me until lunch.

Shelf life:  About 2 years.

As a kid, I did eat a lot of cream of wheat.  I still love the stuff.  Preparation is about the same as the grits.

Shelf life:  About 8 years (!)

With instant coffee, for me at least, brand names matter.  I simply cannot handle the "store brand" crap.  Weak, watery, smells of old, stale water.  I like Nescafe Clasico.  I like it so much, it's what I drink every day now.  Instead of making a whole pot of coffee, I just nuke a cup of water at a time.

Shelf life:  About 2 1/2 years.

With all of these items, besides the improved shelf life over the real thing, you have a serious savings in fuel costs.  For most of us, right now, that's not a major issue.  But, we prep for when it MAY be a major issue.  It takes a whole lot less fuel to boil up water, than it does to fully cook these items from scratch (see our Just Add Water posts).

Also, if things were to get uber-ugly, you do not want to bring notice to yourself that you have resources.  The aroma from a pot of brewing coffee could bring a bunch of hungry and desperate people in your direction.

[The same goes for garlic, onions, basil, oregano, thyme, BBQ smoke, frying foods.  Think what those smells do to you now when you get a whiff, and think what they'd do if you hadn't eaten in 2 days.]
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I lost a butt-load of sugar.

Well, not really, but I can't find it.  I have LOTS of staples that I don't rotate (eat from my stores) - sugar, salt, beans, rice, wheat, corn.  The main reason for this is that these staples are in long-term storage containers.  Mylar bags with oxy scrubbers inside of food grade buckets, or smaller portions (a couple of pounds) in Foodsaver bags.

Since all of these items will last forever (from a practical standpoint), I don't want to incur the expense of, say, cutting open a Foodsaver bag to get at two pounds of rice.  I then need to go out and replace that rice, and incur the expense (time and money) of re-Foodsaver-ing the food.

The only exception to this rule is if I run out of something that I must have this very second.  I recently needed some sugar, and the cupboards were bare.  So I went out to my storage, and I'll be damned if I couldn't find any sugar.

I've got tons of the stuff in 2 pound Foodsaver "bricks".  Seriously, I remember packing a 66 quart Rubbermade tub FULL of these things.

Nuthin'.  I found the 7 gallon buckets each filled with 35lbs of sugar in mylar bags.  I was NOT going to crack open one of those bad boys.

I ended up substituting honey for whatever it was I was making, but it's got me scratching my head.  I've been telling myself I need to reorganize my preps to make it easier to know what I've got and where it is - to make sure my inventory lists are accurate.  I think this is a hint that I was right to do a little reorg...
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Long term fats - think Crisco.  I think I've mentioned this before, but in case not, it's a great way to squirrel away fats that last a long time.  As long as whatever you're making doesn't require a liquid fat (such as in a salad dressing), Crisco is a great alternative.

I buy the bricks/sticks of the butter flavored stuff.  In a pinch, you can mix it with salt to give you a spreadable butter substitute.  Unopened, Crisco will last you 2 years.

http://www.crisco.com/About_Crisco/faqs.aspx#faq_long

I've got some that has just passed the two year mark.  I'm going to let it go at least another 6 months to see if it turns into some grotesque science project, or, if as I suspect, it will be perfectly fine.

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Copyright 2012 Bison Risk Management Associates. All rights reserved. Please note that in addition to owning Bison Risk Management, Chief Instructor is also a partner in a precious metals business. You are encouraged to repost this information so long as it is credited to Bison Risk Management Associates. www.BisonRMA.com

Money Grab, Preps With Leftovers, Caveman!

Debit card charges. Bank of America is now going to charge customers a $5 fee to use their debit cards each month.  This is just like banks did with ATM cards.  They get you addicted to using them, then they start affixing fees to access your money - even though it's MUCH less expensive for them to deliver the cash via a machine instead of a human teller.  

Bank of New York, I believe, is now charging customers a service fee for making deposits.  Why dat?  They can't make any money lending it out - in fact, it costs them money, as they must pay the FDIC insurance fee.  No one is borrowing money - regardless of how low the interest rates might be - so they've got to make it up by charging you to warehouse your own money.

Do you need more reason to take your money out of the bank?
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Occupy Wall Street protesters:  Growing, and spreading [link].

Gotta say, I agree with the general premise, but they need focus.  Too many folks with differing causes.  Stay focused on the banks and the bailouts, and they'll get some popular support.

As Ol' Remus says, "Stay away from crowds."  So far, the protests have focused mainly on cities with Federal Reserve Bank branches.  The SF Fed is located right next to the first BART (subway) station that enters San Francisco.  If their protest spread to the BART station, business in SF would be seriously hindered.  This same line goes all the way to the SF airport as well, so that could mess things up as well.

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Made up a batch of cream cheese with some fresh milk that was on its way to not being fresh any longer.  In the past, I've made a non-rennet cheese out of non-fat dry milk that was getting a bit gamey ["Gettin' Cheesy" link].  This time, I made it out of some fresh 2% milk that was a week past it's expiration date (still smelled and tasted great).

I brought about 3/4 of a gallon up to 180F, and added 2 tbs of white vinegar, gave it a stir, and..... nuthin'.  It wouldn't break into the curds and whey.  I eventually added another tbs and turned the heat back on and it broke up very nicely.

It was MUCH softer than the dried milk stuff.  I'm guessing that was because of the added fat.  I poured it into a cheesecloth-lined colander, where I rinsed out the vinegar with warm water.  I let that drain a bit more, and decided I was going to make a cream cheese of sorts.

I added dehydrated onions, garlic powder, salt, black pepper and perhaps a quarter cup of milk and stirred it all up.  Awesome!  I filled up some ramekins with the cheese spread, and it will adorn my morning bagels over the coming weeks.
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I made up some killer Asian-style spare ribs this weekend.  Knowing I'd have lots left over (I have difficulty not cooking for an Army, even though it's just me and my wife!), I decided to do some prepping with beans and the leftover ribs.  I reserved the excess marinade, plus the drippings from the ribs (I cooked them in the oven).  The marinade was a homemade teriyaki sauce.

First up, I took my overnight-soaked beans (4lbs dry), added them to a pot with sauted onions and carrots.  I covered them with water to about an inch over the beans.  I then poured in the reserved marinade (about 1 1/2 cups) and let the beans soak in some of the flavor.  I brought the beans to a boil and let them go for about 45 minutes.

While this was happening, I got my canner, jars, lids and rings ready, and started taking the meat off the ribs.  I ended up with about 3 cups of shredded meat.  I broke this into 10 piles (my canner holds 10 pints).

I pulled the 10 jars from the canner (where they were in 180F water) and put one pile of meat into each.  I then filled each jar with beans to within an inch of the rim.  The jars were then filled to within a half inch of the rim with the bean broth.

Ten pounds pressure for 75 minutes, and I have ten pints of Asian BBQ beans on the shelf!
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I still had a butt-load of beans left.  I cooked them - without meat - for another 4 hours or so.  I then followed  the dehydrating process outlined in a post I did way back in 2009 ("Dehydrating Beans" [link]).

When I did the beans for the post in 2009, they were unflavored.  This batch has the Asian BBQ flavoring, and are very, very good.  Two thumbs up!

They'll go with the rest of my Just Add Water [link] preps.
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You know how to make a great teriyaki sauce, right?  Equal parts soy sauce and sweet - brown or white sugar, or honey - is the key.  Then I usually add some orange juice, grated ginger, Chinese Five Spice and some hot chile/garlic paste.

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Hey, did you see the mini-documentary, "I, Caveman [link]" last night?  Pretty damned interesting.

Basically, it was about 10 regular folks to go out into the wilds of Colorado for 10 days.  They can only use the tools of the caveman to survive.  They were given two days worth of water, caveman clothes, and a shelter (they also got a two day survival course prior to being set out on their own).

Good Lord, are we a soft bunch of humans.  The main thing I got from it was, in the event of a societal break-down where we are forced to form small groups for mutual benefit, the first rule will be, "Don't work?  Don't eat!"

Spoiler Alert!  The scientists that were watching these folks realized they had little or no chance of supplying themselves with enough protein.  They introduced one of the first primitive weapons, something called an "atlatl".  It's a dart/arrow flinging contraption.

Somehow, these folks brought down a bull elk with this thing.  Holy crap!

A magazine called, "Make" has a PDF of an article [link] that includes instructions and diagrams for making one of these things, their darts and how to use it.  Pretty cool...
 

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Copyright 2011 Bison Risk Management Associates. All rights reserved. Please note that in addition to owning Bison Risk Management, Chief Instructor is also a partner in a precious metals business. You are encouraged to repost this information so long as it is credited to Bison Risk Management Associates. www.BisonRMA.com

Just Add Water: Vegetable Beef Soup

**UPDATE:  Statistics added at end of post.**

I recently purchased a 6-can package of freeze dried and dehydrated vegetables from USA Emergency Supply:  Corn, peas, carrots, celery, potatoes and onions.  Like most folks, I've used dried potato flakes and dried onion flakes for a good long time, but I'd never tried the other items.

All of these are made by Honeyville Farms, which has been a very consistent product for me in the past.  I think the only food I've purchased from them in the past that I didn't like was their powdered butter.  OMG, it was horrible!

The onions, carrots and celery were dehydrated, and the corn and peas were freeze dried.  I don't know how they processed the potatoes.

I decided to try a Just Add Water (JAW) soup with the corn, peas, carrots and celery.  When I opened the cans, I tasted each of them in their dry state.  The freeze dried peas and corn were fantastic as-is.  If they weren't so expensive, they'd make a great snack.  The carrots were also very good while dry, but the celery was horrible.  Chewy and quite salty tasting.

I also decided to add some deydrated beef.  I got this from MREDepot.com a while back.  I've used this in the past and have always had great success with it.  It is very tasty stuff.

Here's what they look like right out of the can (clockwise - peas, celery, beef, corn, carrots) -

I made up the following recipe (enough for two bowls) -

4C boiling water
4tsp beef bullion soup stock
1/4 C freeze dried peas
1/4 C dehydrated carrots
1/4 C freeze dried corn
1/4 C dehydrated celery
1/4 C freeze dried beef

After the water came to a boil, I just dumped everything into the pot and covered it for 5 minutes with the heat off.  The beef and all of the veggies except for the celery were fully cooked and tender.  It took another 5 minutes or so before the celery lost most of its chewy texture.

**UPDATE**


Commenter Marine83 had asked for the calorie stats on the meal.  I usually add this info, but had forgotten - thanks Marine83 for the reminder!

These numbers are for the 4-cup recipe listed above.
Accept The Challenge

For the JAW packs I make up, I'm going to exclude the celery.  I think this stuff needs to be long, slow simmered before it really loses its chewy texture.  I think it would be good in a chowder or other soup that you had plenty of fuel and time.  Part of the idea for the JAW recipes is quick, easy and low fuel consumption.

I'll be making these in two sizes:  Single serving (half the size of the above recipe) to be included in my GHB, since its contents are generally geared towards single-serving portions.

The other size will be a doubling of the recipe for family-sized meals.  This would be fantastic for a camping or backpacking trip.  Very light and very nutritious.

This is one of the doubled-up packages.  It only weighs 6 ounces!


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Just Add Water: Tomato Sauce and Pasta

I've mentioned before that I have this semi-obsession with making up recipes where you Just Add Water (JAW) and eat.  Well, here's another one.  This is a bit more complex to prepare than just pouring in water and eating it up - but not much more difficult!

While I'm not a huge fan of tomato sauce (I'm more of a white sauce kind of guy), I wanted to try something with tomatoes since they do go well with so many dishes.  The problem was finding some sort of emergency tomato sauce.

I think I've found it.

I found Dehydrated Tomato Powder on a number of internet sites.  The stuff ain't cheap.  I found some on a site I trust and have used before - USA Emergency Supply - at a good price.  When combined with some other purchases, the shipping charges were very manageable.

To make a sauce, the directions said to add 1/8 cup (2 Tablespoons) of powder with 1/2 cup of water.  I made the mix up - with cold water.  It mixed up very easily, but was too runny.  It was more like a V8 Juice consistency.

I added one more tablespoon of powder, mixed it up, and it was perfect consistency.

Its consistency was somewhere between canned sauce and tomato paste.  The flavor was tangy - probably more tangy than canned tomato sauce, but very palatable and edible.  I then added the following spices to turn the tomato sauce into a pasta sauce -

JAW Pasta Sauce (makes 1/2 cup of sauce)

1/2 cup water
3 tbls tomato powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp dried onions
1/2 tsp dried garlic
1.2 tsp dried oregano

I let this sit for 5 minutes to re-hydrate the onion and garlic pieces, and to let the flavors come together.  Also, I would add more salt - another 1/4 tsp - if it were just for me.  My wife liked it just as is.  Obviously, adjust the spices to your own liking.

Since this was for long-term storage, I did not add any Parmesan cheese.  If I was making these up for a camping trip, I would definitely add some cheese - probably a full teaspoon for the sauce, and more to be added to the top after I was finished preparing the dish.

I then cooked up a 1/2 cup of dry pasta per their instructions, and put everything together.  I was very impressed with the flavor -

For the JAW (single serving size) I added the powder and spices to a ziplock "snack size" bag -

I then put the ziplock, pasta and instructions (the yellow paper) into an overly-large FoodSaver vacuum bag -

The reason I used the overly large bag was so I could use it as a serving container.  The FoodSaver bags are boil-able.  I won't be using it to boil this stuff up, but it will be used to either serve the pasta, or as a container to catch the pasta water (conserve water, folks!). 

You would first cook up the pasta.  Empty the snack bag into the FoodSaver bag.  When the pasta is done, you take a half cup of the water and pour it over the tomato sauce ingredients, mix it up well and let it sit for 5 mins.  Then strain the pasta, add to the bag and eat.

Accept The Challenge

The nice thing with this recipe is that it's scalable - the instructions will give you enough food for one person.  Multiply by the number of folks in your group, and you're good to go.  This sauce could be used with any recipe that uses tomato sauce.  I really was impressed by the stuff.

One thing that I saw on the website was that the stuff loves water - from the air (hydrophillic).  After the can is opened, it needs to be used or air-tight sealed in short order.  I'll be dumping the can into a vacuum bag that is over-sized so I can cut and reuse it.

For variations, I'm going to add some dehydrated beef so I have pasta with meat sauce.  My next JAW will use dehydrated veggies, so I'll see how they come out and if it would make sense to add some to this recipe.

Experiment while times are good and money is plentiful.

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Copyright 2010 Bison Risk Management Associates. All rights reserved. You are encouraged to repost this information so long as it is credited to Bison Risk Management Associates. www.BisonRMA.com

Ron Paul, Soup and PMs

Random items -

I'm not sure of the date of this video, but his premise is pretty hard to argue with. I'm not in full agreement with all of his solutions, but I think we need to move in this general direction. Quickly.




Since we all know our government will NOT move in the right direction, all we can do is prep.  And prep some more.
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Just Add Water Recipe - Creamy Cheddar Potato Soup

It is brain-dead easy and extremely good. Seriously good.

Makes 4 cups

1/2 C dehydrated potatoes (I use hash brown style)
1/2 C instant potato flakes
3 tsp chicken soup base (or 3 chicken bullion cubes)
2 tblspn dehydrated onion flakes
1 tsp dehydrated parsley flakes
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
3 tblspn cheese powder
1 C powdered milk

Bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Add all ingredients, stirring very well.

Reduce heat to low, cover pot and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir pot every 5 minutes to keep soup smooth.

Eat.

This is one of the Just Add Water recipes I have made up and vacuum sealed for our BOBs/GHBs. Great for camping trips as well.

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A rather lengthy, but interesting look at what is going on with the precious metals markets. There is some concern in many circles, that the actual amount of physical gold that is supposed to be available, isn't being reported correctly.

There have been a number of futures contracts - that were supposed to be filled by taking delivery of gold - that have been fulfilled by cash and a BIG bonus instead. The physical gold just wasn't available.

This is now beginning to cause a rift between the spot price of gold, and the price you pay for physical gold.

Take a look here. It's interesting, a bit over-the-top in its presentation, and more than a bit disturbing. (H/T John).


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Copyright 2009 Bison Risk Management Associates. All rights reserved. You are encouraged to repost this information so long as it is credited to Bison Risk Management Associates. www.BisonRMA.com

Just Add Water: Mexican Rice and Beef

Before I get into the recipe, I want to make one note:  In most of these Just Add Water recipes that include meat, I use beef.  It's what I like.  But, you can substitute any freeze fried (and perhaps dehydrated) meat you like.  MREDepot.com has freeze dried beef and chicken available.  Nitro-pak.com has beef, chicken, ground beef and pork chops, although their prices are a bit more expensive.  I'm sure other online vendors sell similar products.
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This is another of our favorites.  It makes a LOT of food, easily enough for two very hungry people to fill up.

Mexican Rice and Beef

3 C boiling water
2 C INSTANT rice, dry (not regular rice)
1 C Freeze dried beef
1/2 t salt
1/2 t Red chile flakes
1T Dehydrated onions
1T Chile powder
1T Cumin

As with the Mashed Potatoes and Beef recipe, add the boiling water directly into the vacuum seal bag.  Stir well, then seal it shut, and wait 5 minutes.

Viola! (click to enlarge)

Sorry, this is only about half of a batch - I got carried away eating it before I remembered to take a picture.  It is a bit on the hot (spicy) side, so if you have a sensitive palate, you can cut back on the red chile flakes to suit your tastes.

The stats (rice and beef only):

Calories - 860
Protein - 54g
Carbs - 176g
Fat - 8g

Accept The Challenge

If you were stuck out in the "boonies" with just your BOB or truck bag, a nice hot meal would most likely hit the spot.  And maybe keep you alive.

You can buy Mountain House meals - which are absolutely great - but they're expensive.  This rice dish cost under $4.50, including the vacuum seal bag.  You're looking at $7 - at least - for a similar 2-person Mountain House meal, plus you're getting lower portions of protein and carbs (calories are about the same).

And by making them yourself, you know exactly what is going into them, taking allergies and food dislikes out of the picture.
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Copyright 2009 Bison Risk Management Associates. All rights reserved. You are encouraged to repost this information so long as it is credited to Bison Risk Management Associates. www.BisonRMA.com

Just Add Water: Potato and Beef

I've mentioned that I have this near-obsession with Just Add Water meals for my preps.  I just like the idea of being able to have a meal that only requires the addition of boiling water.  I keep a number of these meals in our BOBs/GHBs so that we can get a quick, tasty, nutritious meal if need be.

One of my absolute favorites is Mashed Potatoes and Beef.

I start with potato flakes (the Idahoan brand in this case).  The standard, off-the-box instructions are as follows (for 4, one-half cup servings):

1 1/3 C water
1/2 t salt
2 T butter
2/3 C milk
1 1/3 C potato flakes

I must say, I have not found a decent shelf-stable substitute for real butter.  For this receipe, it would need to be the powdered butter, and it is just horrible (IMO, of course).

To help offset this lost flavor component, and to add some more moisture to help rehydrate some of the other ingredients that follow, I increase the milk component from 2/3C to 1 C.

Here's the recipe.

2 1/3 C boiling water
1 1/3C potato flakes
1/3 C instant milk
1 C freeze-dried beef (more on that later)
1 T dehydrated chopped onion
1T dehydrated minced garlic
2 t dry parsley flakes
1/2 t salt
1/4 t black pepper

Vacuum seal it in an over-sized bag.

Why an oversized bag?  Because that's where you're going to be doing your cooking.  As per the instructions:

Be sure you cut the bag open just below the seal line.  Boil up your water and pour it into the bag (yep, they're boil-able).  Stir it up to make sure everything is well mixed, fold over the lip of the bag and secure it closed.

In this picture I have a large paper clip holding the bag closed.  In every BOB/GHB we include a dozen or so large paper clips.  They are flexible, yet sturdy pieces of wire that can be used for a number of things other than holding paper together, and they take up virtually no space.

After letting it steep for the 5 minutes, you have a fantastic meal.

It really tastes great.  My wife was out when I whipped up this batch.  When she got home, she smelled it and asked what I had cooked.  I told her.

As the faithful spouse of a prepper who uses his family as guinea pigs for his "experiments", she gave it a quick taste.  That was followed by a, "Hmmmm, pretty good.  Mind if I grab a bowl of this?"  Victory.


The nutritional stats (from the potatoes, beef and milk only):

620 calories
54g protein
112g carbs
8g fat

I consider this a meal for 2, but decide how many people will be eating it, and divide accordingly.
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The freeze dried beef is a great product.  I got mine from MREDepot.com.  I've always had great success with them in the past.

The beef, though, is pretty expensive.  A can weighing 15oz will set you back about $44.  You get about 17 portions out of a can, with each dry portion being 1/2 cup.

The last time I bought a can, I mentioned to them that their labeling said you got 24 dry half-cup portions.  When I broke down the can into Just Add Water packs, I only got 17 portions.  They said they contacted the manufacturer and the label SHOULD say it makes 24 REHYDRATED portions.  Just understand that you'll only be getting 17 dry half-cup portions.

Accept The Challenge

Consider experimenting with meals that require a minimum of preparation.  You never know when an emergency will hit, or where you'll be when it happens.

Having easy-to-make, calorie-rich foods can make a miserable situation a bit more bearable.  I've got some more potato, rice, soup and pasta meals I share in later posts.


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Copyright 2009 Bison Risk Management Associates. All rights reserved. You are encouraged to repost this information so long as it is credited to Bison Risk Management Associates. www.BisonRMA.com

Thermos Cooking

I've wanted to do Thermos Cooking for a while.  The general idea is, you add boiling water to a food, put it in a thermos, and let it slow cook.

I've done little tests in the past, but they were with the cheaper plastic lined deals.  All of the research I did indicated that you needed to use a high quality, stainless steel-lined thermos.


My past tests certainly indicated that the plastic models would not work - even with rice.  So I broke out my trust Stanley one quart thermos to give it a shot.

Beans

I started with beans.  I soaked one cup of red beans over night.  The next morning, I took the soaked beans, two and a half cups of water and some spices, and brought them to a boil.  I covered them and let them boil for 5 minutes.

The beans, spices and liquids were placed in the thermos, given a good shake, and placed on their side.  Every article I had read said to do this to ensure the greatest coverage of water over whatever is being cooked.

I then waited for 6 hours, giving the thermos a shake ever hour or so just to make sure everything was staying covered.

The result?  Total failure.

The beans were still way too hard to eat.  I have a plan to fix this, though (later).

Pasta

Next up were pastas.  Everything I read said that this was a natural for thermos cooking.

I started with orzo.  Personally, I love the shape and cooked texture of orzo.  It is a small, oval-shaped pasta.  I like it for my preps as well because it doesn't have any sharp edges.  This ensures it doesn't pierce my vacuum-sealed bags like spaghetti and other dry pasta have a tendency to do.

I poured one cup of orzo into the thermos, and covered it with about 3 cups of boiling water.  I sealed it, gave it a shake, and placed it on its side for 25 minutes (regular orzo takes about 9 minutes of boiling).

After the allotted time, I poured the contents into a strainer.  It appeared that not all of the orzo came out.  Perhaps half came out, with the other half stuck to the bottom of the thermos in a big ball.

Apparently, there was still a bit of water in the bottom of the thermos, and it made the orzo stick to it - enough so that even when I shook up the thermos, it did not dislodge from the bottom.

I was eventually able to get it out, and I must say, the orzo was cooked perfectly.  Just a bit al dente, which is how I like it.

Next up was curly-Q pasta (I forget what its real name might be).  It's that corkscrew-looking stuff.  This time, to prevent the sticking pasta problem, I added about a cup of boiling water, THEN a cup of the pasta, and covered that with another 2 cups of  boiling water.  Like the orzo, this had a regular cook time of 9 minutes, so I sealed up the thermos, shook it for good measure, placed it on its side, and set the timer for 25 minutes.

I poured this out into the strainer, and it too was cooked perfectly.  It was a bit broken up, so I'm guessing that it could have spent a little less time in the thermos.

Wheat

Lastly, I did whole-grain wheat - hard winter red wheat, to be precise.

I poured in 3/4 of the wheat, covered it with 3 cups of water, gave it a big shake, and set it on its side.

The next morning, I strained it, and it was perfectly cooked, but cold.  I estimate it was in there for 12 hours.  I took some of the wheat, added a bit of milk and sugar, and had a bowl for breakfast.

It's not really my favorite way of eating rehydrated wheat berries.  I prefer them added to a salad or mixed in with some sort of savory dish.  They're a bit too rubbery/chewy to eat all by themselves, IMO.

Conclusions

So what did I learn?

Large whole beans will likely never be able to become a meal in thermos cooking.  In my next test, I'm going to try lentils and split peas to see if they work better.  Also, I'm going to try the fully-cook, dehydrated beans I made a while back (see here for specifics).

Pasta is the big winner, especially if you were in a situation where you HAD TO conserve fuel.  Instead of burning fuel for about 14 minutes (5 to bring it to boil, and then boiling the pasta for another 9 minutes), you can cut that to just the 5 minutes it takes to bring the water to boil.  Total cook-time is doubled, but fuel usage is only 1/3 of normal.

The wheat was a winner as well - performing as expected, but it just isn't my cup-of-tea when eaten by itself.  In terms of fuel savings, wheat would be the clear winner, as it can take an hour to boil up kernels to the tender stage.  Personally, I just need to find some more uses of the boiled-up kernels.

My next set of experiments will also include some full meals.  I found a couple of them on the Internet, which I may tweak and take a stab at.

Lastly, get a wide-mouth thermos.  I had the regular type, and it's a pain getting the water and foodstuffs in and out of there.

Accept The Challenge

Finding alternate ways of preparing food, especially under difficult conditions, should be a part of everyone's prep skills.  Thermos cooking, while significantly increasing the cook time of a food, offers a fantastic alternative, especially when cooking fuel is at a premium.

Identify some foods you enjoy, and test some small portions to see how they turn out when cooked in a thermos. 


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Copyright 2009 Bison Risk Management Associates. All rights reserved. You are encouraged to repost this information so long as it is credited to Bison Risk Management Associates. www.BisonRMA.com

Legume Flour Soups

At home, we nuke foods in the microwave - we can't get our "meals" down our gullets quickly enough. In a grid-down situation or while camping, fuel resources may be limited. You want food to be prepared quickly, with as little valuable fuel consumed as possible.

I recently saw some videos about a group that teaches bushcraft and survival skills - Bushcraft On Fire. I sniffed around their site and YouTube page (60+ videos of some decent stuff).

The videos that interested me were about making soups using natural greens and legume/grain flours. I have this near-obsession with finding and developing foods and recipes that only require the addition of water and heat. What I like about these recipes is that by using flours, the cook time is considerably reduced. After your water comes up to a boil, you only need 3 or 4 minutes to have a meal!

First up, it required some legume and grain flours. I broke out my Family Grain Mill and made flour out of dent corn, yellow split peas and lentils.

After I made the flours, I followed two of the recipes to the letter. First, corn chowder -

Corn Chowder

Approx. 3 1/4 c. hot water

1/3 c. rounded fine corn flour or Masa

3 Tbsp. pea flour

1 Tbsp. chicken or vegetable bouillon

Hot sauce or cayenne pepper is awesome in it too!

Whisk flours and bouillon into your hot water and cook, stirring, for 1 minute over medium high heat. Cover and turn heat to low; cook 2-3 minutes. Serve with broken corn chips. Makes 2 hearty bowls full.

The result was an edible, pretty flavor-less, though fairly thick soup. It passed the "standing saltine" test. Still, definitely NOT a chowder.

I added some black pepper and a shot or two of hot sauce, and it was much better. I think this would be very good with some sort of smoked meat - ham or bacon come to mind. Some parboiled corn kernels would work nicely as well.

It's a keeper recipe with some minor adjustments for the JAW recipe files.
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Next up was the lentil soup.

Just from looking at the recipe, I could tell it was going to be VERY thin. And it was.

Lentil Soup

4 c. hot water

2 tsp. lentil soup seasoning (See below this recipe)

4 Tbsp. green lentil flour

Have your canteen [your cooking pot] over medium heat (knock fire down to hot coals), whisk lentil flour into boiling water and add soup seasoning (below). Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cook 2 minutes. Serves 3-4.


Soup seasonings

8-10 Tbsp. salt

2 1/2 Tsp. garlic powder

3 Tbsp. black pepper

7 Tbsp. parsley flakes

5 Tbsp. dried chives

3 Tbsp. onion powder

3 Tbsp. paprika

Combine and store in airtight container (Keep in your kitchen and EDC kit)

As suspected, this was more of a broth than what I think of as a soup. It needed some sort of binder, as the lentils would separate from the liquid after a few minutes. It did not pass the "standing saltine" test -

The flavor was pretty good, though. I made up a batch of her Soup Seasoning, and used it to flavor this stuff.

It needs to be thicker, IMO. I guess if you were sick at home and just wanted some watery nutrition, it would do the trick. If I were out camping or in an emergency situation, I'd want a more substantial soup. As with the corn chowder, smoked meats would go very well with this.

In general, though, it's a keeper. I'm going to play with the recipes a bit, and I'll pass along any insights I come across.

Accept The Challenge

Developing foods and recipes that require little preparation can benefit you in a number of way.  In addition to being able to grab a quick, nutritious meal, you can also prepare them with very little fuel.  This can be crucial in any kind of emergency, or if you are on a camping trip.

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Copyright 2009 Bison Risk Management Associates. All rights reserved. You are encouraged to repost this information so long as it is credited to Bison Risk Management Associates. www.BisonRMA.com