Category: Food Storage & Cooking

Loyal readers of SurvivalBlog are likely well versed on the importance of food preservation and storage. Many of you have been practicing preparedness for some time and perhaps you are equally skilled in the art of water bath and pressure canning, dehydrating and meat curing. If you’re adventurous, you may even have experience making cheese. However, I suspect that most readers have not ventured far into cheese making and, those who have taken the plunge, have likely experimented with softer/fresh cheeses such as mozzarella, chèvre, ricotta and perhaps even camembert. Indeed, these are the cheese varieties that most aspiring cheese …

Hi James, I’ve read in so many places that cattails (bulrushes here in Australia) contain gluten. You’ve just mentioned it, but everywhere else it looks like a quote word for word from a single source. I can’t find any information outlining the type of gluten it has or a site with a specific breakdown on its proteins. As a severe coeliac, I don’t eat any grains whatsoever, but I’ve never come across tubers or rhizomes that contain gluten. As you can understand, to avoid coeliac shock, I’m reluctant to try eating my crop of cattails. I’m wondering if you might …

Dear SurvivalBlog, Can I use a bucket that had paint in it to store food, even if I use mylar bags? – L.J. JWR Replies: No. The seals on mylar bags are too iffy. HJL Adds: Additionally, plastic is permeable to many chemicals. You really don’t want any of those chemicals to end up in your food products. You would especially hate to store a food product and then need that food product, only to find it was unusable due to some paint chemical contamination.

Food seems to be a most popular subject for Prepper’s and Survivalist’s, and why shouldn’t it be? We all live to eat and eat to live. In an effort to expand my knowledge of shelf-stable food, I started thinking about the way indigenous peoples in different areas of the world survive, or survived, without refrigeration, dehydrators, or freezers. What I found was very interesting and helpful in my shoring up of shelf-stable foods for my family’s security in a SHTF situation. There is one thing, more than the rest, that I really have enjoyed researching and implementing. Of all the …

Hello Hugh. With regard to your comment about animal-grade grains and bugs, I had the same problem several years ago and I have found a very effective solution. In fact, before I found a solution the weevils were so bad that when I was near the bags of grain I could hear them rattling around in there and they quickly spread everywhere. I store many bags of corn, chicken scratch, and barley without so much as a single bug now. The solution is diatomaceous earth. Bugs hate it. In fact weevils and moths simply cannot live with it. Fleas and …

When one thinks of SHTF and TEOTWAWKI, The Walking Dead kind of scenario may enter one’s mind. I know it does mine (mainly because I’m obsessed with the show). Realistically speaking, however, TEOTWAWKI will not be because of a zombie apocalypse, but because of many other reasons– natural disasters, economic collapse, a nuclear bomb dropping on us (courtesy of an antsy enemy), and/or a pandemic. In any crisis event, having food stored for a lengthy period of time is essential for survival. There are many food storage options out there, as well as manuals and how-to articles. In this article, …

In Thursday’s Odds n Sods, you mention using the top of a salt carton in the top of a canning jar to create a pour spout. This will work, but I do not go through much salt, and the salt pour spouts don’t seem to be in good shape when I am finished with the carton. Also, this does not really seal the jar as tightly as I would like. I saw somewhere to use the top of milk and juice cartons with the screw on lid. I go through a couple of these a week. I cut the top …

Maybe you wear a Peyton Manning jersey. Maybe you gulp Gatorade during your outdoor activities. Maybe you like Lowe’s because they sponsor Jimmy Johnson’s #48 car. If you’re one of the millions of people who commonly buy into the products of the top professionals, you might have an appetite for Long Range Patrol Ration Entrees. After all, LRP Rations are the survival food carried on long range missions by U.S. Military Special Forces members. The name Long Range Patrol Rations tells you who the intended military target was for this food. Today, current examples of Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol units …

Dear SurvivalBlog, First off, thanks for all you do. Your site is a great resource to “our community” of those awake and aware. I wanted to share something I found at my local Costco. By the way, I don’t work for either Costco or Tasty Bite. I’m just offering up an idea for others. I’m always looking for multi-purpose food for storage and rotating through my kitchen. I found a product called “Tasty Bite Asian Noodles” in a multi-pack. I thought it would make a good food item for a bug out bag. I have freeze dried backpacking meals and …

Dear Friends, I read the submissions regarding seasoning cast iron with interest. Many years ago I was fortunate to buy a new Wagner Dutch oven that must have sat on the shelf for an appreciable amount of time; the price was under $20. Inside it had the instructions from Wagner for seasoning. The instructions called for the use of peanut oil in an oven at 375 degrees F. for one to two hours. The only reason there is peanut oil in our house is for seasoning cast iron. Seasoning is not a once-and-done procedure, rather it needs to be built …

Referencing Three Letters Re: A Science Based Technique for Seasoning Cast Iron Dear HJL, As a grower of canola, I would like to point out the “ola” in its name is for oil. It was bred the old fashioned way in the 1970’s, long before genetic modification, at the university of Manitoba. Outside of North America, it’s called Rape, Oilseed Rape, or Rapeseed. Now, as to whether or not the Canola oil you buy at the store is GMO or not? I would say, just like corn and soybean products, it’s 95% likely to be GMO. However, I have no …

Others have mentioned Azure Standard as a source for bulk grains, as well as a variety of other goods, and I second their favorable endorsements. Those living in or near agricultural areas may find they can connect with grain farmers in their area and purchase grains in very large quantities directly. These purchasers may need to provide their own containers, but it’s common to have to repackage bulk grains from other sources for long term storage anyway. Local growers may also have “feed grade” grains, so called because they have some amount of weed seed and other material in them …

HJL, S.B. talks about the high levels of sodium in freeze dried commercial meals. As a hobby backpacker and working in the outdoor industry for some time, I know why. It is because they are designed for high activity situations, where you exceed your normal calorie consumption and have expended large amounts of sweat. Just like those working out will take some sort of beverage, like Gatorade, to replenish salts and other minerals, freeze dried meals are designed to do the same for backpackers. They will be good for those who are required to do heavy manual labor; they are …