# Survival Foods.



## woodster (May 25, 2011)

I eat good all week long so when I go tent camping here in the desert it's a good time for myself to shed a few pounds and weight is a consideration as I may backpack to another destination. I've tried a lot of the survival foods that are available and generally found them to be costly and really not that tasty, so I have developed my own survival foods exclusively for my purposes.

I always pack the 4 oz cans (not always available in stores) of spam which I can eat out of the can or fry it. I package Oatmeat into plastic bags with each bag containing enough for one breakfast. I like beef flavor Rice-Roni and turkey flavor Stove Top. I'll split the package into two seperate bages for my dinner. Pancake mix (add water) is placed into plastic bags, enough for 2 or 3 pancakes for breakfast. I take along salt, molasses and the butter I use is in a small squeeze type container. In 100 degree temperature, it's already melted! I also include powdered milk. There's a lot of other things you can get from the grocery store that can be repackaged for your own choice of foods.
Lipton packaged soups are also very good in flavor.

Hunting in the desert for desert mullies, big horn sheep, white-tail and coues deer, prong horn, etc is seasonal and requires a special permit for some of these game animals. However, the good news is that there are plenty of rattle snakes and lizards and even a few geckos! Scratch the geckos, we'll have PETA knocking on our door in no time! Rattlers have a real gamey flavor, but are a soft chew (hope that makes sense). They go well with beans or a stew. Remember... if your really hungry and your life is on the line to have some nournishment to sustain you, you'll eat the rattler!

Warning... the Mojave desert rattler is one of the most venomous snakes in North America and when you cut his head off, it dosen't necessarily mean he still can't take a bite out of you! 

Rattlesnake head attacks:
YouTube - ‪Rattlesnake Head Attacks THIS IS FAMOUS!‬‏


----------



## woodster (May 25, 2011)

I was going to mention that about a year ago I stocked up on some grocery items that I placed in a sealed container in my shop. They were items like vienna sausage, chile and beans, etc. These items all came in an aluminum can with a flip top lid for easy excess. I also stored some pudding's and assorted fruits that came in a plastic container with a peel-off type of lid. After about a year. I took the container out and checked the cans and plastic food containers I had stored. Each item stored in this container had either poped open or the plastic seal had come loose. I can understand how the plastic containers would react to this time frame, but was suprised that the cans would pop open.
I had gotten these food items for just general camping, not survival. Now I make sure what items I may purchase for general camping is in the old tin can and requires a can opener to open it. I know my shop can get hot during the summer months but seldom does it get past 90 degrees inside.


----------



## smores101 (Jun 16, 2011)

You have some really great suggestions, minus the rattlesnake...  Thanks for this!


----------



## artmart (Sep 21, 2010)

I think smores makes this easy for every meal. Just 3 ingredients and you don't even have to heat the marshmallows. Oh and maybe some water, too.


----------



## woodster (May 25, 2011)

Early Survival Foods

I'm second generation Dame and grew up in a scandavian area with Danes and Norwegians, So I had the good fortune or misfortune of eating a lot of Norwegian Lutefisk. Lutefisk was a poor man's food and was conceived because of a European food famine, and the same is true for the introduction of Hungarian Goulash.
I was never that fond of Lutefisk, probably because I'm not a big fish eater. Besides... Lutefisk always tasted... well... kinda fishie to me! 

(Off topic, but something that just came to my mind when discussing a little Scandavian history) My Grandmother once told me that when she came to America on a 80 person tramp steamer with a crew of 12 and only one bathroom and they approached the New York Harbor, she saw for the first time the Statue of Liberty. She told me she fell to her knee's and wept out of thankfulness and gratitude of finally reaching her new home.

From The Lutefisk Hall of Fame:
Here's The Lutefisk National Athem?
Lutefisk Hall of Fame: Lutefisk Jokes


----------



## artmart (Sep 21, 2010)

Most Scandinavians I know especially Norwegians can't stand lutefisk. They call it food from the old country that can stay in the old country.

I think your Grandma was grateful she didn't have to eat Lutefisk any more. Now she can have good stuff like tacos or eggrolls.


----------



## ctfortner (Nov 16, 2007)

My mother in law is scandanavian (her parents were "full blood"). She cooks lutefisk once a year at Christmas for the family, and believe me there is always leftovers. I think some, if not most, just eat it because they feel like they should.


----------



## woodster (May 25, 2011)

ctfortner said:


> My mother in law is scandanavian (her parents were "full blood"). She cooks lutefisk once a year at Christmas for the family, and believe me there is always leftovers. I think some, if not most, just eat it because they feel like they should.


 
Thanks for your response 'ctfortner.' I've been patiently perched in the wings here waiting for a Norwegian to respond to this topic .:10220:

Your absolutely correct, Lutefisk is usually prepared and eaten out of tradition. In growing up with Norwegian kids my age, the lutefish stopped when the Drive-in's came to town with hamburgers and hotdogs.:thumbup1:


----------



## jason (Sep 15, 2011)

Food To Take on a Camping Trip


Premade meals, Tea, coffee, hot chocolate, Cereals, Fruit, Nuts, Sunflower Seeds, Breads, soups, Lentils, pasta, dried vegetables, honey, sugar and Flavoring agents like soy sauce, hot sauce, salt, pepper, garlic, dried onion, cilantro, cinnamon etc.

Let me know, if I have missed anything important in this list.

Thanks


----------



## hideout (Feb 12, 2011)

beer,you all forgot beer,wheat beer fills you up,and makes you feel happy.:thumbup1:


----------



## bigjr (Mar 5, 2009)

amen Hideout I didnt even know food was required barley hops grains and alcohol and not just for breakfast anymore:rotflmao1:


----------



## hideout (Feb 12, 2011)

i forgot water,and a trusty firearm,you can live fore days without food,but not water,and if there is a creature living in the area you are in,you can cleanly kill it with the gun,and now you have food.:thumbup1:


----------



## jason (Sep 15, 2011)

Check out some of the camping survival foods from a Pinterest - Camping Food


----------



## voyaginator (Aug 26, 2015)

On the subject of survival foods, I'd like to know more about keeping dry beans for a long time. Beans / seeds (lentils, chickpeas, rice) contain a lot of healthy nutriments, and you do not need to cook them to eat. Sprouting is in fact very healthy.
But the question is how to keep it dry for a long time? 
For example, is a sealed bag (myllar bag with a small bag on oxygen absorbant inside) a good idea ?
Any thought, comment, experience ?
Thanks


----------



## dottie4 (Sep 13, 2016)

These are some really good suggestions. I will definitely need to try some of these!


----------



## watsonwillam (Dec 26, 2018)

Beverages. Filtered water will be the most critical sustenance to add to your crisis wash room.

Meats. Meat is the hardest thing on your crisis list since it should be prepared to-eat.

Fish.

Dairy.

Grains, Nuts, and Vegetables.

Foods grown from the ground.

Oils.

Sugars.


----------



## bruce5 (Apr 26, 2019)

*survival foods*

Beans
Rolled oats
Pasta and Noodles
Dried Fruit
Cheese
White rice
Carrot


----------



## Sullivanzy (May 13, 2019)

Looks like someone knows how to have a blast of a time in the wilderness. Man, just where have you not been. I thought I travelled a lot, sure as heck have never been camping or travelling in a desert. About the weight, I needed to lose some too. Obviously, hiking and camping is good for you and if you eat properly. I mean sometimes you can give yourself something unusually tasty. I treated myself with a santa fe chicken packet. Well, packets actually. So many more splendid food ideas at https://under-the-open-sky.com/five-great-food-ideas-for-your-outdoor-adventure/ it scares me. So much that I haven't tried yet. The funny part is that when I get really excited about a trip that I am planning I am not so sure what I am happy about the food that I will eat or the trip itself. The wife is always happy to cook me whatever I ask too. Anyhow, I guess I got inspired by you and I might plan to travel to a desert. Sre as heck will lose a ton of pounds.


----------



## CunningFox (Jul 26, 2019)

There's a youtube channel called MRESteve1989- he tastes test MRES and rations, including opening and eating stuff that's 75 years old. 

What I've learned from watching his fun stuff is:

1. Storage conditions matter as much as the food type- leave stuff in your garage and let it thermally cycle between summer and winter is a way of wrecking even freeze-dried foods rapidly. A cool, dry, dark environment without moving all the time is best

2. Peanut butter and honey lasts forever. Literally.

3. Anything with milk powder or solids will not last as long as other components

4. Anything acidic (fruit) or salty will eventually eat through steel cans.

5. The oils in nuts will go rancid faster than baked goods- so a good cake might have lasted 30 years in a can is inedible as a result.

6. Military rations have lots of varied components, often in different states of preservation and packaging- the whole otherwise-edible ration can be wrecked by one can of peaches bursting.

7. Stuff we might ordinarily right off as likely to kill us (Say- 1965 Canned Ham from an MCI ration pack) can end up being edible if a little unpalatable.


----------



## frankgibbons (Oct 31, 2019)

During survival time it's very important to have knowledge about what types of things you can eat while you're trying to survive.

Because you'll be in a surviving situation due to an incident, you don't have anything with you or might be a few things, for example, some foods, a knife (possibly), a piece of rope, etc.

And at that time, you have to decide how to consume those left things while you're surviving, till you've found a way safe path, or help is over to you.


----------



## nancyjoshua (Feb 4, 2021)

It's a great idea for every person who want to go for trip and camping.


----------

