Hard Times Menu Item

Awhile back, I decided to dry-run my preps for a month, for all the right reasons (including eating them before they potentially went bad).

Consider this a refresher for some, and a heads-up for all. 

Menu item #1:

Meat and rice.

FWIW, 1/2 cup of Minute Rice is a one-person serving. You can dial that up or down, based on (Number of Mouths To Feed).

Boil the rice in water for 5 minutes (or microwave it for 1 minute, my preferred method)†.

Your goal for the water is to have just enough for the rice to absorb, and little to no extra.

For the last minute, throw in meat (of choice). That heats it to edibility as well.

My go-tos for that:

a) Canned chicken (Costco staple).

b) Canned ham or pulled pork.

c) Canned roast beef chunks. (Former Costco staple, currently still available, at premium prices. Watch for sales.)

d) Canned Tuna

e) Canned Tiny Shrimp

f) slab of SPAM (any variety)

g) Anything else you want to try.

Nota bene: 

1) All of the above rice additives are canned, pre-cooked, and in a pinch, could be safely eaten cold. But they taste a helluva lot better piping hot.

2) One standard can of a/b/c/e is enough for two meals, or one meal for two people. As with the rice, dial up or down as necessary for your number of diners. Thus one can and two rice servings is dinner for two nights, or two people. Or, breakfast and dinner the same day. Figure it out for yourself.

3) Hot is good. Seasoned is fantastic.A few dribbles of teriyaki sauce to taste makes the chicken and ham taste worlds better. Worcestershire is my fave for the roast beast. And tartar sauce for the seafood. YMMV. Point being, any sauce, ketchup, mustard, those previously listed, McIhenny's Tabasco, or whatever you will, gives some flavor to the meal that the truly hungry will find mouth-wateringly delicious. Experiment for yourself, and stock the condiments alongside the staples.

4) Any pre-cooked meat will work. Anything raw/fresh should be cooked appropriately, unless you also want to test out your disaster plan for food poisoning, diarrhea, vomiting, etc. I do not recommend that test, but you're all big kids now, so you can play by Big Boy Rules.

5) For additional goodness, per the opening illustration, you can throw in quantities of canned corn, peas, carrots, Veg-all, etc., for taste, dietary balance, and additional calories. Once again, work it out. Does it work? A billion-plus Asians can't be wrong.

Starving college kids can usually figure this out, but in case you needed a booster step, there it is. I fit food for a month for two adults into four banker's boxes, and it worked just fine as earthquake supplies for ten years*. And when I ate it at the end of that time, it was all perfectly good.

And yes, for those not new to the kitchen, noodles can substitute for rice (though they don't store as long, nor as well). It also gives you a whole universe of new sauce and menu options, including spaghetti, stroganoff, etc.

If you're in the position to grow wheat, and/or potatoes, let alone raise the chickens, pigs, and cows necessary, you're already in the MasterClass here. For those of more limited circumstance, many good options remain, provided you don't wait until five minutes too late to get started on your plans.

Weekly dinner menu (with rice):

M-beef T-beef W-chicken Th-chicken F-pulled pork S-pulled pork Su-Special

Special was a mini canned ham or SPAM Turkey, and as many of the extras as I could manage: stuffing, corn, canned potatoes - new and/or sweet - applesauce, cranberry sauce, etc. A weekly mini-Thanksgiving treat, if you will. You're going to need it.

I mainly saved the tuna (the 3-pack of mini cans) for lunches (alternated with PB&J), and did the SPAM (regular, and bacon-chunked) as part of breakfasts.

Fruit and pudding cups or cans, dried fruit (raisins, etc.) and hard candies, rounded things out.

If vermin are a problem, go with the big round popcorn can tins, or metal trash cans with tight lids.

4-8 cups of rice (I break mine down into single servings placed in WalMart craft supply ziplock bags), about 15-20 cans of food and 2-3 jars, a couple/three bottles of condiments, a quart of water, and the means to heat food 7-14 times/week, and it was meals for days. In about 2 ft² of space. For reference, a 20' Conex box holds 86 man-years of food like that, with space to spare. IOW, you could sock away multiple years worth of food, supplies, extras, propane, etc., in that amount of space, for a dozen people. (Which dozen pipe-hitters and skill-bringers would be another good thing to have handy.)

If you made it out of cinder blocks instead of a rust-prone conex, and waterproofed it, with a concrete slab floor and roof, it'd fit within (better yet, under) the tiniest back yard, and be impervious to damned near everything (including both the government, and your nosy neighbors, provided one has the wits not to tell them about it).

Something to think on right about now.

One other tip: Companies in all fifty states sell pre-stressed concrete culvert in sizes up to big-enough-for-trains, in both round and rectangular dimensions, as well as manhole entry couplings. Imagine Legos, for grown-ups. (I.E.: Dig hole. Lay gravel. Buy culvert pieces. Drop Culvert. Waterproof seams. Attach manhole segment. Backfill and bury. Walk away.)

A can of food is a meal. A box of cans is a food supply. A small stash of them is a storehouse. Being able to replace them with fresh components is a food system. Aim for systems. That's how civilizations sustain themselves.

Food is good. Calories equal survival. Period.

*It also included the afore-mentioned PB&J, instant soups, cocoa, tea, coffee, sugar, dehydrated milk and butter, etc. Basically each box was a week-sized MRE, with much better components.

† One solar panel, one deep-cycle battery, a charge controller, and a robust inverter = endless power for the microwave. Anywhere, potentially.