And watch for the salt content if you are on salt-restricted diets. Pre-made meals made by Mountain House are incredibly salty. Salt's a preservative, yes, but it's on overload in some of those prepackaged meals.
Jim Balister said:
All good advice Cheryl! Some of my experiences are that way. I bought a powered potato soup last year and tried it to check it out. It had a wonderful flavor but it was so spicy hot that I could not finish it. (Wont buy that again) Their clam chowder was a little hot but not as hot as the potato. A good bunch of books to look into for foraging is the Fire Fox books. And I found that angel hair pasta cooks many times faster then regular spaghetti. Saving you gas or wood . If you cook spaghetti on a charcoal BBQ grill be sure to cover the pot! I did not once and the spaghetti tasted like smoke! Like Cheryl said, you do not want to wait tell the hospitals are closed to find out that you have an allergy to some new pre- packaged food.
All good advice Cheryl! Some of my experiences are that way. I bought a powered potato soup last year and tried it to check it out. It had a wonderful flavor but it was so spicy hot that I could not finish it. (Wont buy that again) Their clam chowder was a little hot but not as hot as the potato. A good bunch of books to look into for foraging is the Fire Fox books. And I found that angel hair pasta cooks many times faster then regular spaghetti. Saving you gas or wood . If you cook spaghetti on a charcoal BBQ grill be sure to cover the pot! I did not once and the spaghetti tasted like smoke! Like Cheryl said, you do not want to wait tell the hospitals are closed to find out that you have an allergy to some new pre- packaged food.
Actually using your preps, besides getting the knowledge inside your head, reveals the holes in your food storage program. For example, you have a ton of beans and rice. But you never used them. You cook your first meal and you find out that some beans take a long time to cook, so you wait for hours past dinnertime. However, rice cooks quick, which is what you end up having your first "prepper meal," since the beans weren't ready. As you're eating the rice, you notice how boring it is and think, wouldn't it have been nice to have stocked up on: butter, salt, pepper, onions, boullion, sauces, gravies, etc.? Too late.
By using your food storage, you will (a) become used to the type of food (like beans are tough to digest and it takes time to get used to them), (b) know how to prepare the food (like allowing enough time), (c) know what foods you really don't want to have mass quantities of (maybe lentils are easier for you to digest than pinto beans) and stock up on what you will eat, (d) be used to alternative ways of cooking -- maybe you'll be cooking in a dutch oven, or over a campfire, or a wood stove--you'll have the right equipment (like dutch ovens need tripods to hang them over the campfire and be sure to have lots of THICK oven mitts, even those up to your elbows for cooking over a fire) and won't be burning the first meals during a bad situation.
I'd also have back-up meals in cans or pouches while you conquer the learning curve, if you decide to wait until you need your storage food.
I also recommend having a book or two of the plants native to your part of the world (with lots of color pictures). I would begin to learn how to identify the safe ones and how to prepare them and start eating them now, so in case you make a mistake, there are still functioning hospitals you can go to.
I'd also have several books on how to prepare and cook insects. Many parts of the world do eat them and they certainly are plentiful.
Native plants and insects is everybody's back-up plan for if the food storage runs out or becomes inaccessible for any reason and you have not been able to get gardens up or animals (chickens, goats) producing yet.
Replies
Have you used it yet, or checked the ingredients?
Jim Balister said:
The one I bought was BEAR.
And watch for the salt content if you are on salt-restricted diets. Pre-made meals made by Mountain House are incredibly salty. Salt's a preservative, yes, but it's on overload in some of those prepackaged meals.
Jim Balister said:
All good advice Cheryl! Some of my experiences are that way. I bought a powered potato soup last year and tried it to check it out. It had a wonderful flavor but it was so spicy hot that I could not finish it. (Wont buy that again) Their clam chowder was a little hot but not as hot as the potato. A good bunch of books to look into for foraging is the Fire Fox books. And I found that angel hair pasta cooks many times faster then regular spaghetti. Saving you gas or wood . If you cook spaghetti on a charcoal BBQ grill be sure to cover the pot! I did not once and the spaghetti tasted like smoke! Like Cheryl said, you do not want to wait tell the hospitals are closed to find out that you have an allergy to some new pre- packaged food.
Actually using your preps, besides getting the knowledge inside your head, reveals the holes in your food storage program. For example, you have a ton of beans and rice. But you never used them. You cook your first meal and you find out that some beans take a long time to cook, so you wait for hours past dinnertime. However, rice cooks quick, which is what you end up having your first "prepper meal," since the beans weren't ready. As you're eating the rice, you notice how boring it is and think, wouldn't it have been nice to have stocked up on: butter, salt, pepper, onions, boullion, sauces, gravies, etc.? Too late.
By using your food storage, you will (a) become used to the type of food (like beans are tough to digest and it takes time to get used to them), (b) know how to prepare the food (like allowing enough time), (c) know what foods you really don't want to have mass quantities of (maybe lentils are easier for you to digest than pinto beans) and stock up on what you will eat, (d) be used to alternative ways of cooking -- maybe you'll be cooking in a dutch oven, or over a campfire, or a wood stove--you'll have the right equipment (like dutch ovens need tripods to hang them over the campfire and be sure to have lots of THICK oven mitts, even those up to your elbows for cooking over a fire) and won't be burning the first meals during a bad situation.
I'd also have back-up meals in cans or pouches while you conquer the learning curve, if you decide to wait until you need your storage food.
I also recommend having a book or two of the plants native to your part of the world (with lots of color pictures). I would begin to learn how to identify the safe ones and how to prepare them and start eating them now, so in case you make a mistake, there are still functioning hospitals you can go to.
I'd also have several books on how to prepare and cook insects. Many parts of the world do eat them and they certainly are plentiful.
Native plants and insects is everybody's back-up plan for if the food storage runs out or becomes inaccessible for any reason and you have not been able to get gardens up or animals (chickens, goats) producing yet.