Cooking After Teotwawki

Discussion in 'Finding, Identifying, and Preparing Food' started by TexDanm, Sep 8, 2020.

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  1. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    No matter what when things settle down those that survive are going to want to be able to return to as near possible to a normal life. Cooking on a campfire is fun for a little while but once the new wears off it is not the way that you want to cook forever. Camping equipment is great but it is not designed nor intended for long term use plus most of it requires fuel that may never be available again in any near future time.

    People CAN live on basic gruel and mush made from grains, water, and whatever you can find but let's face it that will get old FAST. I know that most of us have some pretty extensive food stores but after a year or two you are going to be living on what you grow, gather, catch, and kill. Having better cooking tools will allow you to make the most out of what you have.

    So much of what we eat today is rather exotic compared to when our ancestors ate. The farther back we go the simpler the food it and I believe that we are going to fall WAY back. There are no local grain mills and it will be a long time until we reach the point where they will be built again. All the breads that we eat now are going to be a no show for a long time both because of a lack of materials and the lack of ovens until you build one.

    We all need to add a full set of spice seeds to our stores or if you are sheltering in place start growing them now. There is a very good reason that people in Europe were willing to sail around the world to get to China and it wasn’t for gold. Columbus headed out into the west trying to find a better way to get thee and ran into the Americas. All of this was for spices!! You might also start thinking about where you will get your salt when there are no handy stores. If you are staying where you are you need to get a few hundred pounds of rock salt for pools it is cheap and will be an amazing resource over time. It is just pure roughly crushed mineral rock salt from mines.

    What are you going to cook with when you settle? What ideas do you have and what can you get now especially if you are at your permanent place. That is something else that will be a problem for people. Suddenly someplace close like only 20 miles away is going to be a full days journey each way if you are on foot. Make your plans based on only things that are less than about 15 miles after the fall.
     
  2. Dalewick

    Dalewick Legendary Survivalist
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    Cast iron cook ware. You can't beat it. Great for frying, baking, boiling, whatever you want to do. I've been eating out of it my whole life. Cooks on gas, wood, wood stove or modern electric. Great as a make shift weapon when needed. Just don't make the wife made while she has it in hand. LOL!
     
  3. randyt

    randyt Master Survivalist
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    Lot to think about. I have to agree with the cast iron thoughts. I'm working on my dutch oven skills and reflector oven.

    Also I've been thinking of trying one of these.

    https://mengrills.com/
     
  4. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    Cast iron was MADE for cooking over fire. I inherited a full set of old cast iron cookware and already had a dutch oven and a 12 frying pan. None the less it will never go to waste. I also have three from small to large footed pots for campfire cooking. I made a tripod stand with chain and hooks for cooking over a fire with the dutch ovens.

    For my go-to cooking, after the power has been gone for a while, I have a rocket stove and a boxwood stove. I have all sorts of Coleman stuff for the short term but when the fuel is gone they are done except for the oven which will work on the boxwood stove. I have seriously considered a small real cookstove like this.
    https://www.woodcookstove.com/tiny-cook-stove.html
     
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  5. poltiregist

    poltiregist Legendary Survivalist
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    One of the first big dollar investments I made in my journey down the survivalist/ prepper life style was to purchase a cast iron wood burning stove with 4 eyes and a oven , then hauled it five hundred miles to my survival retreat . Then I enlisted a bunch of neighborhood teens to lift railroad crossties up onto a rock and cement foundation and built a crosstie cook house . That cook house will in all probability still be standing 150 years from now . Inside my house I cook with propane but I wanted the wood outside stove for when S.H.T.F. . Yea I know - the entire community knows I am a prepper . Prepper stuff just kept accumulating . No way can I hide all the stuff . But lucky for me nearly everyone in the county prepares to some degree so my acentric behavior isn't that unusual around here .
     
    Last edited: Sep 8, 2020
  6. Dalewick

    Dalewick Legendary Survivalist
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    In the older times (1800's and back) homes had a kitchen inside for winter and nasty weather and a cooking area outside. If the world would go belly up this would probably work for many of us again. I have a patio area right outside the room where my wood stove is that would work well for a kitchen area. I plan on building something like one of these to cook on until I'm producing enough methane to cook only with gas.

    3644e17301ecc9ffebf94356b62eb42c.jpg

    973bbbab2430a6a14324b5cc4e39ada8.jpg

    Dale
     
  7. Pragmatist

    Pragmatist Master Survivalist
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    Good morning Dale,

    Appreciated seeing the white water kettle in picture with wood stove with "For Sale" sign.

    That white kettle model is now somewhat hard to find, from Walmart to Yuppie kitchen gadget stores.

    Easy to find newer version have a removable whistle and the handle folds down via the pivots. Witnessed the handle folding at inopportune times when container loaded with boiling water. Won't mention unneeded burns caused to new Prepper folks.

    The adage "The less moving parts is best" is still an important adage.
     
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  8. lonewolf

    lonewolf Societal Collapse Survivalist. Staff Member
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    Our ancient ancestors ate more than 2,000 different foods, modern people eat less than 200, some much less than that(take aways).
     
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  9. randyt

    randyt Master Survivalist
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    when I was in the North Maine Woods a few years back, the guide mentioned that one of the participants from the Mountainman show had a cabin nearby. I thought it would be cool to meet the guy but wouldn't want to bother him. The guide told me heck no, he likes company. So I went, he wasn't home. I noticed that he had a summer kitchen. Basically a roof with no walls, tables for processing, a wood stove and sinks.

    Here in my area some folks have a extra stove in their garage. They use this stove for canning and finishing off maple syrup.
    Also the occasional big family get together.
     
  10. lonewolf

    lonewolf Societal Collapse Survivalist. Staff Member
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    when I lived off grid I would cook outdoors on a simple camp fire in the summer and in the winter I cooked indoors off an even simpler boiling stove.
    keeping it simple when your on your own, no need to make things overly time consuming.
     
  11. Pragmatist

    Pragmatist Master Survivalist
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    Good morning Randy,

    Ref the mountainman's summer kitchen;

    On my list of things to do ...... there's a saying that Heaven is the place to complete these types of lists ...... is to place a roof properly placed over my outdoor DIY grill / stove setup.

    At the Virginia welcome center on the Interstate highway toward Hampton Roads in New Kent County is a large picnic area for travelers. The area has picnic tables on a slab of cement with a roof only. It's easy enough to lash a couple of tarps to the 2 vertical poles supporting the roof.

    I was reminded of my list entry for a roof when I attended a meeting (unofficially; the place isn't for area locals to hold meetings) for social distancing compliance that's outdoors. Personally, I like meetings at night during adverse weather to determine who I could depend on when / if the meeting knowledge is placed to use.
     
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  12. Rebecca

    Rebecca Master Survivalist
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    For winter cooking even now I use a wood cook stove, so that won't change after SHTF. In summer I currently use propane indoors but am slowly building my outdoor kitchen. I got perhaps a bit too optimistic with the plans so it's a work in progress but it will have a wood braai/barbecue area, a wood oven, hot smoker, rocket stove and ample area to do canning and maple syrup. Not a simple plan but in long term survival I want to have the options already built and available. And if nothing ever happens, well I like cooking outdoors even now, and I already make a lot of maple syrup and do a lot of canning.

    Its cast iron all the way or stainless steel for the large stock pots.

    For herbs and chili I grow what we use now and have plenty seeds for the future. Once stored salt runs out replacement will come from the sea which is a 8 mile trip from home. Not as close as convenient but still well within walking distance.
     
    1. Old Geezer
      You live among civilized people; good stock and all. In this you are blessed. Couple that environment with all of your self-sufficiency efforts and you have a very stable situation even in the hardest of times. This is all so wonderful. I'm so happy for you.
      Never let anyone attempt to take any of this away from you all. All the best to you and yours.
       
      Old Geezer, Sep 9, 2020
  13. Alaskajohn

    Alaskajohn Master Survivalist
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    Like Rebecca, we already cook using our woodstove during the winters. We have all the cast iron cookware we could ever need. Both my wife and I started our lives living without electricity, so we recall some of the primitive cooking methods. My wife is from a third world nation and her family cooked outside year round under an awning off their home in a fire pit. How we prepare food SHTF is the least of our worries. Even if I have to bug out from my already bugged out location, how to cook food is nothing we worry about. Access to food is another question.
     
  14. randyt

    randyt Master Survivalist
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    any one ever make beanhole beans? It where you dig a hole and burn down a fire. Then take a pot of beans, cover it up with the coals and such. Then put the dirt back on top and let it go for the day. In the evening it's ready to eat. A big piece of tinfoil over top of the pot is desirable, it keep the dirt from getting into the beans.
     
    1. Old Geezer
      Sounds great to me. Never have grown tired of beans. I'd like to advertise Bush's Best Baked Beans (factory/cannery in East Tennessee) -- OK, there's the ad.
      Y'know, everybody cooks taters under a fire, so why not other vegetables.
       
      Old Geezer, Sep 9, 2020
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    2. Dalewick
      We always just called it, pit cooking. I don't like beans but have ate lots of other stuff cooked in a hole. Chili, cowboy stew, venison, chicken, grouse, etc. Similar to cooking a pig for a luau or a new england clam bake (lobster is AWESOME that way).
       
      Dalewick, Sep 9, 2020
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  15. Rebecca

    Rebecca Master Survivalist
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    I haven't tried beanhole beans but have made some awesome stews virtually the same way. Dig a hole, put rocks on the bottom, burn down a fire. Put your uncooked stew in its pot in the hole heaping the coals around it as much as possible. Helps to cover the top with tin foil too. Back fill the dirt. Dig it back up in the evening for an great slow cooked meal. This has to be done with a heavy cast iron pot though or you end up ruining the food and the pot.
     
  16. Old Geezer

    Old Geezer Legendary Survivalist
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    https://www.lodgecastiron.com/product/camp-dutch-oven?sku=L10CO3


    [​IMG] tHR-0rm8eM-uEPUTBV0798Vk_z2cXG8y.jpeg
     
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  17. Old Geezer

    Old Geezer Legendary Survivalist
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    Dutch oven camp cooking and recipes:

    https://duckduckgo.com/?q=dutch+oven+camp+cooking&atb=v140-1&ia=videos&iax=videos

    I've bought several cast iron products from Lodge. I've cooked in our home fireplace using these products (BIG fireplace). I have a vent that brings in outside air to the fire so that my home heat is NOT sucked up the chimney -- this helps, but is certainly not perfect (air-flow dynamics confound the mind, strange).

    You can always put coals on top of a Dutch oven. Bust loose the ember parts of a burning fire logs and place on top. This surrounds that which is being cooked with heat. People bake bread using this technique; corn pone. (Seen it, but I've never done this; but have cooked over many a fire).



    My childhood = cornbread and beans and probably some fried chicken or streaked meat. Saturday or a Sunday, beef, that was special. It was pork chops that were special to me. Cat head biscuits with gravy on them, yum yum. Squirrel gravy, better yet.

    This guy purports to know how to bake Cajun cornbread (uses a Dutch oven in vid.). I'll leave it to others to judge. I know little to nothing whatsoever about Cajun cooking nor anything Cajun -- all foreign to me.



    https://duckduckgo.com/?q=coals+on+top+of+dutch+oven&atb=v140-1&iar=videos&iax=videos&ia=videos

    I guess there's still that little boy in me that loves to build fires and hang around them even though I'm getting scorched. The smell, the hypnotic effect of the flames, addictive. And the smell of meat cooking is overwhelmingly addictive; stirs-up something ancient within. There'd be the yearly gathering of my mother's clan atop a mountain when I was a kid; this in fall just before the winters came crashing down. I'm there again, sitting here, I'm there. Up amongst the clouds, campfires, laughter.
    .
     
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  18. Dalewick

    Dalewick Legendary Survivalist
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    Some of the best biscuits and apple pie I've ever ate came out of a dutch oven. Wife still makes awesome biscuits and a mean apple pie in cast iron, and I'm not a big fan of apple pie.

    Dale
     
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    1. Old Geezer
      My dad's mom (b.1899) was super-picky about which apples she'd use for whatever purpose. We'd head into Elk Park, NC to load-up on apples for her. Heaven only knows how many orchards were close to that town. Now days (50 years-ish later) it's ski resorts and rich folk who've taken over. She'd bite into an apple, think the lot was good, say, "I'll take a bushel of these. I'll take a bushel of those ...". She knew exactly what she was going to preserve/jar and what she was going to be cooking in the next few weeks. Her apple pies were so good because she could taste/calculate what the remaining tartness would be in them after cooking. "There's eatin' apples then there's bakin' apples then there's cannin' apples." All the sugar and butter and whatnot killed her in her mid 90's.
       
      Old Geezer, Sep 10, 2020
  19. Rebecca

    Rebecca Master Survivalist
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    I just wanted to add these two links to YouTube channels on here.

    They are vastly different but both have many useful cooking ideas for after SHTF. Many of you probably know most of them but just incase.

    One is more old style British/European cooking and by old I mean they dig up methods and recipes from the 1500s onwards. They also throw in a few survival and homestead videos.
    https://www.youtube.com/user/jastownsendandson

    The other one is very American, but again most of it is outdoors cooking, so maybe someone will find something useful.
    https://www.youtube.com/c/CowboyKentRollins
     
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    1. Dalewick
      Thanks!
       
      Dalewick, Sep 19, 2020
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  20. F22 Simpilot

    F22 Simpilot Master Survivalist
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    I've cooked sausage on rocks...
     
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  21. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    When we went camping we nearly always carried Hobo Dinners. That is a large hamburger patty or a tenderized cutlet with slices of potatoes, onion, string beans and carrots with some salt and pepper on it them you wrap it up tight with two layers of foil and just bury it under the coals of your campfire. Let it slow cook and it is about as good a camping meal as you will ever have.

    I like beans and rice and we have huge stores of them in well-sealed 5-gallon buckets. This will offer us a base of protean no matter what. If meat is available;e it can be a side dish or if the meat is low you can cut it up and throw it in with the beans and rice. this is an easy meal to cook no matter what sort of fire that you are using. Potatoes and yams are another easy to cook in several ways and will be the first things planted in the event of a disaster.

    So many of the things that people now consider as staples are just going to be GONE within a month never to be seen again until things settle and recover to near present levels. Most people today think of cooking as opening cans or popping things in the microwave and don't have a clue about cooking from scratch with the basic ingredients.

    There won't be any mills for a long time and making flour even if wheat will grow where you live is more trouble than it is worth. Where I live there will be no wheat or rice to be had. It's too hot and dry here for either to grow. Our grain was, is, and will be corn. Cornbread comes in many shapes and flavors and cornmeal is a lot easier to make than flour. Corn can be eaten in so many ways and sorts. We will make hominy with the dry corn then dry the hominy for storage. It is easy to then grind the hominy or just rehydrate and cook as-is. We did this a lot when I was a kid. We canned the corn when it was fresh and green and then the dry corn was made into hominy and fed to the livestock. We usually had 25 to 50 acres in corn and another 25 acres in peas. Then up beside the house was a 2-acre kitchen garden.

    we canned a lot of what we ate and then also butchers a couple of calves and hogs every year. Food was mostly not from the store. If we could grow it we did. What we ate was mostly simple fare but lordy it was soooooo good. Lots of meat and fresh vegetables year round (We always had a winter garden too) and then canned stuff as sides.
     
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  22. Pragmatist

    Pragmatist Master Survivalist
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    Good morning TexDanm,

    From a fading memory, isn't "homity" a/k/a/ "grits" ?

    When traveling north of Washington, D.C. in the "old days", the only reliable restaurant / cafeteria to find homity was the cafeteria in a Federal Building.

    I am now in the mood for ......
     
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  23. Snyper

    Snyper Master Survivalist
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    Grits are ground hominy.
    Hominy is corn treated with Lye.

     
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  24. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    Yeppers you boil dry field corn in lye water and then rinse it two or three times. The second boil is to allow the husk to separate from the corn kernel and let it start to swell. You get the separated hulls out and then move on to the third boil. The third finishes the swelling and you finish scooping out the hulls. Fresh homemade hominy is great and tastes like corn whereas the canned stuff tastes like cardboard. You can either can it as hominy or dry it out and then grind it into hominy grits. We did our boiling in huge old cast iron wash pots on wood fires. We had three of them and used them all the time for canning and cooking for canning. Our soup recipe made 54 quarts of condensed soup. We also used the pots to blanch tomatoes for peeling and making all sorts of tomato things. Grits made from homemade hominy tastes a lot better than commercially made grits. We even made out own lye. So none of this stuff had ANY chemicals or additives that we didn't know about. We also used the lye to make lye soap.
     
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  25. Pragmatist

    Pragmatist Master Survivalist
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    Good morning Snyper,

    Appreciate this clarification.

    Thank you.
     
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  26. lonewolf

    lonewolf Societal Collapse Survivalist. Staff Member
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    most-if not all- cooking over here post teotwawki will be "one pot" cooking.
     
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  27. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    Most people don't really understand the realities of what and how people ate in the past and how we will have to adda2pt if any end of the world disaster lasts for more than a year. There are so many things that we eat now that will be GONE because they are dependent on modern shipping and processing.

    I will just speak to what we will not have here in East Texas. What will disappear will depend on where you live to some extent. Things that we will not have available where I live...
    Wheat and the flour that is made from it.
    Rice
    Sugar
    Salt unless you store it now
    Irish potatoes
    Sea food
    lots of vegetables that we have because they are shipped here that don't grow well here.
    Other than pepper, and a few other things that some of us grow in herb gardens most of the "common" spices will disappear.
    In some areas grease is going to be hard to come by. No more Crisco! Frying in general will become rare because it is wasteful of calories.
    Unless you HAVE a milk cow or goats you can forget all of the dairy products.
    fresh out of season vegetables...

    There was a good reason why our ancestors generally ate a very simple and somewhat boring diet. They ate what they had and that diet changed according to the seasons. What I see happening is a world where most people will be like the early European settlers that came to the Americas. They nearly starved to death and suffered from terrible problems from the lack of various vitamins and minerals. It wasn't that these things were not available, it was that they didn't know what there was to eat. So many of the things that they brought with them to plant and eat just didn't produce in the Americas back them. For one thing, the Honey bee did not exist here. All sorts of things in the soil that European plants depended on were not native to North America.

    Scurvy is a terrible illness. If you don't live someplace that has the citrus fruits do you know where to get your dose of vitamin C? Do you know what rickets is, what causes it, and how to avoid it. We will be visited by a lot of problems from the past and in general, most Americans today are even more ignorant of what is eatable in their areas than the first Europeans were and will starve to death trying to live on berries and rabbits.

    Cooking is easy but knowing what to cook and where to find it is a lot harder. In this case, ignorance is not Bliss. It is deadly!!!

    PS: What do you feed a baby when Gerber is only a memory??
     
    1. TMT Tactical
      Very good post. It should be a real eye opener for modern day folks, me included.
       
      TMT Tactical, Sep 22, 2020
  28. Pragmatist

    Pragmatist Master Survivalist
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    Good afternoon TexDanm,

    Real good analysis. I grew up worrying about beri beri.

    It generates a Prepper-type question.

    After a mid-level Prepper studies health care, would it not be fair - be reasonable - to say that stockpiling a cache of food requires having additional food arrangements eg fishing, gardens, etc or the person DOES NOT have food supplies ?

    The objective is to prevent the mentioned scurvy and rickets and the rest of the person's and area's ailments.

    If proper nutrition can't be planned for along with some actual indicators of preparedness, it's time to evacuate.

    Here on a tidal flood plain, it really is "later than you think". They can't go anywhere once the stalled vehicles close the roads.
     
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  29. Rebecca

    Rebecca Master Survivalist
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    What Texdamn has said is absolutely true especially if you have not thought the whole food and vitamins thing through completely. When put like that its really scary. And a wake up call for some. But isn't that why we learn and prepare so we at least don't end up nearly starving to death with scurvy added onto the suffering?
    There are alternatives to many things. Oh the imported and out of season stuff will be long gone. But some examples that are very much focused on my personal preperation and circumstances.

    Sugar - I hardly even store much sugar and don't plan on changing that. My substitute is maple syrup that I make already. I am also already substituting it for sugar in much of my cooking.

    Flour - this does not only come from wheat although that lovely soft white store flour will be gone, flour can be made from many things including certain tree fibers,cattails and potatoes.

    Vitamin C? Spruce tips
    Oil? Sunflowers, bears, nuts eg oak (I have a small home cold press for just this)
    Vitamin D? Egg yolks

    My point is while it is going to be difficult proper planning and learning now can help mitigate some of that difficulty. And this isn't just theory for me it's what I actively try to do here already. The goal is self sufficient as possible TEOTWAWKI or not. I like knowing what's in my food. I like growing it and eating what I grow,forage or hunt.

    It's why I try different cooking methods, different recipes, different foraged foods. Learning now when I can throw the whole lot out and grab something else is a lot better than learning the hard way when food is scarce. I look for alternative methods or to know many methods of doing something incase circumstances prevent one method. Circumstances can include anything from storm damage to your kitchen to personal injuries.

    This is just a short explanation on the way I personally look at the food and nutrition problem. Knowledge is everything in this case.
     
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  30. Alaskajohn

    Alaskajohn Master Survivalist
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    Really good discussion, particularly how the sudden loss of basic food supply will impact how we survive SHTF/TEOTWAWKI. For those of us who live in the northern boreal forest, there is rich history of native populations thriving in the area I live in. A book that was super popular with the homesteader explosion in Alaska during the 1970s was "Hunters of the Northern Forest: Designs for Survival Among the Alaskan Kutchin" by Richard K. Nelson as it was published in 1973 based on his time living with them in the 1960s.

    As part of his post-doctorial research as an anthologist, Richard Nelson live with the Alaskan/Yukon Territory Athabaskan natives (he called them Kutchin) and the book provides exceptional detail of their hunting and gathering technics and the various plants and animals that they harvested. It reads like an anthropology book, so it isn't a quick and overly entertaining, but it provides excellent wisdom of the first Alaskans natives who thrived in abundance. Any serious survivalist who lives in the northern boreal forest should have this book. When the world turns to crap, much of our modern wisdom and knowledge is counter productive to survival. Much of my strategy is centered on pre-industrial wisdom and technology. Might as well learn from those who have lived and thrived in what we are calling SHTF.
     
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  31. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    Most primitive people in the past didn't have much trouble getting enough to eat. They were an intimate part of the ecology where they lived and in normal times they had no trouble finding food. They lived a sort of pastoral life and many migrated with the seasons so that it was easier to find food. The only real issue came when the number of people reached the point where people started getting possessive and migrating through land that another group claimed could be a problem and so war was invented. It was never so much that they couldn't find food so much as it was that they were denied passage and to harvest the food that another group claimed.

    If 90% of the people in the US died there would not be much shortage of food as long as you didn't insist on living someplace that was barren. Take out a major part of the population where I live right now and there would be more cattle than people and there are already more hogs than people. The fishing is good right now and with fewer people fishing it will only get better.

    Once the thugs are killed and things settle down people will start farming again. Farming is when you grow MUCH more than you need to eat and use personally so that you can use the excess for trade or sale. Farming is hard work!!! Growing enough for a family of four isn't all that much work by the old standards. Most of the old preindustrial world "worked less than 4 hours a day on average with most of that during the planting and harvest times to feed, clothe and shelter themselves and their family. THAT is why primitive people had so much time to quarry, shape and transport big rocks to build their huge stone wonders that the Ancient Alien Theorists think were made by space Aliens.

    If all you want is to feed your family you don't need the old 40 acres and a mule. that was for a minimal farm that would support a family. For a while, all you need is enough to eat now and to store for the bad times in the winter.

    A lot of cooking will differ a lot depending on the time of year and what is available. One of the pitfalls that will kill a lot of people is that they will want to mostly eat what is easy to get and so won't go to the effort to harvest and eat a wide variety of things. There was a r=tribe in the American North West in the early 1900s that suddenly started dying. If=t got so bad that the government sent people there to try and figure out what was killing them and offer them aid. this was a very peaceful tribe that had always had good relations with the European settlers.

    In normal times they ate salmon that they harvested during the annual migration and smoked so they had it all the way through the winter. They did a little gardening and also gathered all sorts of natural things. It was finally determined that they had changed their diet. Rabbits are cyclish and you will have a massive overpopulation of them for a few years and then the number of predators will rise and knock the populations back down. Over time the predatory population will fall and you will have another rabbit overpopulation. The rabbits were everywhere and they hardly needed to leave their camp to kill more than they could eat or wanted to smoke so they didn't go out and harvest the salmon. If you make rabbits a major part of your diet you can eat all the time and still die of malnutrition.

    Rabbits depend on speed for survival and so have no fat. You can eat them and become fat BUT without the fat from the fat in animal flesh, your body will not be able to access those fat reserves. There is a thing called El Carnitine in meat that has fat that you must have in order to access your own fat and metabolize it. How often have you seen pictures of children with a big belly that are starving in third world countries? They are getting enough calories but without the necessary proteins, they just can't access their stores. You live on your last meal and when the calories from that are gone you are starving to death.

    We are able to have terrible dietary habits these days because so much of the trash food that we eat is "fortified" with some of these things that we need but don't have enough sense to eat. We also have access to one a day vitamins that will keep even someone like my daughter alive and healthy. She eats nothing BUT crap most days. Her idea of getting some stores put up for hard times was to go out and buy 20 cheap frozen cheese and pepperoni pizzas and chocolate milk drink mix.

    You need to know what your body needs AND know where and how to get those things where you LIVE. A tea made of pine needles has more vitamin C than a lemon and is full of antioxidants. If meat is in short supply cook it in a soup. When you grill it over a fire that is the fat that you desperately need that is dripping out and into the fire. Soups and stew make better use of short supplies. you can put anything into a soup. For those with weaker stomachs than I can hide the things that they just can't face raw or slightly toasted. Bugs and worms jump to mind.

    We all need to have GOOD plant identification guides that are applicable to WHERE YOU ARE GOING TO LIVE. What grows in one place may not exist in someplace a couple of hundred miles away. I know that the Texas flora and fauna is a lot different between the low lands along the coast where I was raised and the Hill Country in the Piny woods where I live now and many of the things that I grew up eating are just not to be found here.

    If you are going to try and can your foods you need to get the biggest cast iron pot that you can afford. You don't can 4 quarts at a time. A big pot lets you cook in quantity and then you can can it.

    Lots to know but a lot of people are going to die from malnutrition. They may get plenty of calories but still die.
     
    Last edited: Sep 22, 2020
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  32. Pragmatist

    Pragmatist Master Survivalist
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    Good morning Rebecca,

    Most appreciative reading about addressing changing circumstances such as storm damage to kitchen and personal injuries.

    These subjects govern my Prepper philosophy of preparedness.
     
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  33. F22 Simpilot

    F22 Simpilot Master Survivalist
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    I think it may be of best interest for survivalists to read and learn about what people ate and how they prepared it all from back hundreds of years. I'm talking about everything from the American Pilgrims, native Americans, Aborigines to the Roman empire. That information would indeed be crucial in a very big SHTF situation.

    Now if your plan is to hunt and fish, note others will too. So be ready for a possible confrontation. The more armed people in your "crew" (to borrow a mafia term) the better. No one wants to go against some five or more armed men and woman.
     
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  34. lonewolf

    lonewolf Societal Collapse Survivalist. Staff Member
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    I think that is-or should be-standard Prepper research .
     
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  35. Rebecca

    Rebecca Master Survivalist
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    I think that beyond the research there needs to be a practical component to this education. Like planting and growing a vegetable garden just knowing the theory is not enough. You have to do.
    Can you imagine never having cooked over an open fire, now the SHTF and suddenly you have dig out that dusty cast iron pan you could never use properly and have to keep you family happy and alive with it.
    It's all well and good to say hey I saw a thing once where Bear Grylls just stuck it on a stick over the fire - I can do that.
    That person is gonna die.
     
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  36. lonewolf

    lonewolf Societal Collapse Survivalist. Staff Member
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    the vast majority of the modern British population have never A. lived without Electric. B. cooked over a open fire( garden bbq's dont count). post SHTF they will fail and fail big time.
     
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  37. F22 Simpilot

    F22 Simpilot Master Survivalist
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    Reading this suddenly conjured up my thoughts about America's big cities. Now I'm no gambling man, but I'm willing to bet some serious coin in Vegas that at least 90% of the big city population knows nothing of this. Not one iota.
     
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  38. F22 Simpilot

    F22 Simpilot Master Survivalist
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    And probably with good reason. I firmly believe there are natural rules about things such as gravity, hot and cold, low pressure high pressure, the speed of light, good and evil, heaven and hell, etc. Part of natural law says that if you are weak you will be phased out. If you are strong you will survive. It's for the betterment of the rest. Sad but true. See you in the next world.
     
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  39. TMT Tactical

    TMT Tactical The Great Lizard ! Staff Member
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    Now this is a strange post from me, the microwave chef. This is about a cook book / recipes from the depression era. Written by a 90 year old Lady that lived that life. For the chefs and real life cooks, please watch and let me know what you think.

     
  40. Pragmatist

    Pragmatist Master Survivalist
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    Good morning TMT,

    Very good.

    The Depression era is important to study because everything from cooking to getting food was arranged and worked.

    I'm here because of the many Clara's who weren't down at the food bank or sipping sloe gin.
     
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  41. lonewolf

    lonewolf Societal Collapse Survivalist. Staff Member
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    never mind TEOTWAWKI nothing will return to "normal" beccause of Covid, not the normal we knew in 2019 thats for sure.
     
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  42. Pragmatist

    Pragmatist Master Survivalist
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    Good morning Lonewolf,

    Definitely not the "normal" we knew before COVID-19 but it can be said that the "abnormal" events on a long time line of 2 to 3 generations is what constitutes what is "normal".

    Before COVID, we had other dangerous diseases - at least dangerous as perceived at the time. Pre-COVID was SARS and AIDS and some other abbrediations. We both were around during the polio scare.

    The current "low intensity" wars are just the ned edition of the pre and post WWII flareups like the Korean War, Vietnam War, Middle East wars, ...

    In our current modern times, this last week had ~ 700,000 customers on the US Gulf Coast without provided electricity.

    Add a couple more of the headaches such as no medical care and no roads that are cleared of debris, ......

    This is our "normal" world.

    Our current majority of the subsidized won't make it even if they call 9-1-1.
     
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  43. lonewolf

    lonewolf Societal Collapse Survivalist. Staff Member
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    the new "normal" will be nothing like the old normal.
    most people who rely on "the system" wont make it.
    those that survive will have to learn to adapt to the new normal. a new lifestyle will be required.
    yes I was around when Polio was something to fear. as was TB which had all but been irradicated.
     
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  44. Max rigger

    Max rigger Master Survivalist
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    Learn to cook now then if it hits the fan you can produce a meal with whatever you can lay your hands on. I've seen some good food ruined at camps.
     
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  45. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    My wife and I were both raised sort of old school poor. Beans of various kinds and rice play a big part in our diet. We don't eat it because we are poor. We like simple eating as long as we also eat a lot of meat but meatless meals are not uncommon. Cajun cooking is an amazing study in making do with very little meat. Most people, when they think of Gumbo, think of it as a sort of seafood dish. We eat a lot of gumbo and most of it is sausage based.

    LOL, This is on my mind as I sit here eating sausage gumbo for lunch that I started simmering early this morning. I'm not a fancy cook but I do cook a lot in the cooler months when a pot simmering on the stove is a plus towards warming the house. This morning it was on my mind so my wife got to wake up to lunch and supper tended to. After she got up I made cornbread to go with the gumbo.
     
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  46. poltiregist

    poltiregist Legendary Survivalist
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    With my clan migrating from southern Mississippi , we to eat a lot of gumbo and as Old Geezer said on another post a lot of fried food . I even make my own file from the sassafras tree leaves . It is really quite amazing how Cajuns developed such delicious foods as coming from a group of people dumped into the most unhospitable , mosquito infested swamp the British could find and left to die . -- In my survival food stash is lots of red beans and rice .
     
    Last edited: Sep 26, 2022
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  47. lonewolf

    lonewolf Societal Collapse Survivalist. Staff Member
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    wife and I eat mostly stews in the winter, some roasts but mainly stews or a variation of.
    quality of the contents is important to us and we dont have the huge helpings that most people seem to eat these days.
    take away and ready meals are contributing to the obesity crisis in this country, at least with home cooked food we know whats in it.
     
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  48. Max rigger

    Max rigger Master Survivalist
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    Stews are a cornerstone of cuisines from all around the world, a simple one pot meal which when well made are wonderful, the ultimate comfort food.
     
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  49. lonewolf

    lonewolf Societal Collapse Survivalist. Staff Member
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    absolutely, at the moment we cook it in a slow cooker, after TEOTWAWKI it will be in a stewpot over a log burner.
     
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  50. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    It is probably one of if not THE most common sort of poor folks food out there. It comes with lots of different names but is basically a little meat with a few vegetables and a lot of water with spices. The tastes vary tremendously but whether you call it soup, stew, gumbo, creole, goulash...it is all a delicious way to feed a lot of people with very little.

    In the old days this was sometimes a community affair. You put a BIG old cast iron pot on the fire and as the day goes by everyone adds what they have to the pot. You often did this at things like a barn raising or any other community project. We often added assorted corn-breads to this and it was GREAT!!!

    Cornbread is another thing that has several different type and varieties. In my family Mexican cornbread is a big favorite. It has cheese, corn, peppers and onions in it and may be put together all in one mix or done in layers before it goes into the oven. Cornbread dressing also has several sorts and is not just a Holiday meal. To my Grandmother various different cornbreads were her bread of choice. Other than biscuits we don’t make a lot of flour based breads. We don’t grow wheat here. This is corn country and south of here is rice country.

    I don’t think that our weather is good for wheat. Lots of out winters don’t have a single day when it freezes and dosn’t warm up well of bove freezing during the day. In East Texas a cold day is one that stays around 40 most of the times. I have had gardens that were still going in the spring because we never had a freeze that killed it.
     
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