Store It Foods

Have you ever been in the situation where you’ve been showing someone how prepared you are by having a fully stocked 72 hour kit on hand, including those emergency rations, and they’ve asked how they taste? Did you have to answer, “I dunno,” because you’ve never bothered to taste them? If that’s the case, or if you have to admit that would be the case if somebody really did ask, then you’re not alone. A lot of us are in that boat.

But does that really matter? After all, emergency rations are there for emergencies. They’re not there for tasting. Right?

Well, yes, but (and it’s a big “but”) how do you know you’ll like them? More importantly, how do you know that you can even eat them? An emergency is no time to find out that those energy bars that you’ve so carefully preserved have trace amounts of peanuts and you or someone in your family is deathly allergic to peanuts. And what happens if you find them disgustingly unpalatable, even if you don’t have any allergies to the ingredients present?

In other words, it might be wise to check out the ingredients and do a little taste testing BEFORE you come to rely 100% upon those food items.

Caution should also be taken with foods in which you already have confidence.

In our family the food dehydrator is often put to use. The most common reason? Beef jerky. It’s a family favorite. We, however, like our jerky with a little bit of flexibility left in it. That means it’s a little more chewable. On the other hand, it also means that there is more moisture remaining than in the fully dehydrated jerkies that tend to be firm and crisp and that break rather than tear apart. We also prefer to use the lean beef rather than the extra lean beef. It tends, or so we believe, to be a little more flavourful. A lot of the flavour comes from the fats in the meat, so that probably means there’s a little more fat remaining at the end of the dehydrating process.

Unfortunately, extra fats and extra moisture translates into shorter shelf life. And how long has your jerky been sitting in your food storage? If it’s time for another “I dunno” answer, then it’s also time to find out. Rancid meats do not make for a very good food storage item.

Long term food storage, of course, could and probably should extend to more than just the simple emergency survival kit. We should also be preparing for food needs related to isolation due to storms or floods, disruption in food deliveries due to weather or strikes, financial restraints brought about by sudden and unexpected unemployment, or (Heaven Forbid) actual food shortages.

A prime example of those kinds of preparations are the buckets, bags or pails of wheat that the experts recommend we have on hand so that we can make our own bread in times of need. If you have such an item on hand you are likely going to be able to answer “yes” if asked if you have a wheat grinder to go with it. It seems a natural edition.

However, what will you say if asked if you know how to use that grinder? Is the answer going to be “I dunno?”

Then what will you do with the flour that you going to produce with that grinder that you don’t know how to use? Do you know how to turn it into bread?

Another “I dunno?”

Of course you could always sprout grains. Sprouts can be a very nutritional food source. But do you know how to sprout? Were you going to buy a sprouter and learn how to use it, but “dunno” when you might get around to doing that?

There are probably many more examples of where the “dunno” factor might arise as it relates to our food storage programs. The point is we need to be both able and capable of using the food we are putting into storage. It is much easier to learn and make any necessary changes before rather than after that emergency arises.