Make a Survival Foods Pantry

A few months ago, hubby and I decided that we needed to stock up on survival foods. Unfortunately we really didn’t have much kitchen cabinet space, so we had to make another plan. We had turned an unused bedroom into an office, and the room has a closet in it. Basically, we had been using the closet to store some holiday decorations and some winter coats and sweaters. We decided that survival plans were more important, so we went to work cleaning out the closet. The winter outerwear was squeezed into the closet in the master bedroom, and the decorations went to an outdoor storage building.

Once everything was out of the closet, hubby added storage shelves. He used five storage shelves, and he left an open space at the bottom of the closet for storing large items. As soon as the storage shelves were in place, we began filling them up. Every time I went to the grocery store, I’d always pick up an extra canned item or two for the survival food storage closet. I watched the papers for sales, and I’d take advantage of them, too. Our survival closet is almost full now.

The survival foods we have in the closet in the way of canned goods include beef stew, chicken, tuna, Beef-a-roni, diced tomatoes, kidney beans, corn, green beans, tomato sauce, black beans, chili beans, chili, Vienna sausages, green beans, okra, pineapple, peaches, fruit cocktail, evaporated milk, and lots of different types of soups. In addition to canned goods, we’ve included other types of survival food, too. We have sugar, salt, spices, peanut butter, jelly, ketchup, mustard, powdered drink mix, barbecue sauce, boxed stuffing mix, coffee, creamer, and dietary supplements. On the top shelf, we store dried beans and instant mashed potatoes in closed plastic containers. In the space at the bottom of the closet, we have large jugs of water and gallon containers of cooking oil. By the way, I store rice, flour, and cornmeal in my refrigerator.

We use the closet for more than just survival food, also. In it, we made room for plastic food storage bags, garbage bags, flash lights, batteries, candles, matches, soaps, paper towels, toilet paper, and feminine pads, which make great bandages. We keep most of the other first aid supplies in bathroom cabinets.

I’m telling you – just seeing all that survival food stacked neatly in the closet gives me a great sense of security! If some disaster occurred, or if we went for awhile without money, I know we’d be able to eat for a long time. It’s also made me more aware of sales, and since I now have the storage room, I can really take advantage of sales items. It’s also nice to be able to grab something from the survival closet when I run out of something in the kitchen. No more unplanned trips to the supermarket! Take my advice – clean out a closet, insert some storage shelves, and start buying your own stockpile of survival foods.

Pine Trees and Survival

If you live in North America, you’re probably near pine trees, and they can be used in several ways for survival. For one thing, they supply a free source of survival food. You’ve heard of pine nuts, right? They’re seeds that come from pine trees. Of the more than 100 species of pines, only a few have large seeds, but the seeds of all pine trees are edible. Some just take a bit more work.

How to harvest pine nuts

The easiest way to harvest pine nuts is to gather the pinecones after they’ve opened, which is usually in the fall. Place the cones in an old pillowcase and hit them against a large tree, a brick wall, or some other hard, sturdy surface. This will force the seeds out. The seeds have to be shelled before eating and can be enjoyed raw or toasted in a skillet or in the oven. When dried and stored properly, pine nuts will keep for several months and are a good source of iron, protein, fat, carbohydrates, fiber, vitamin E, vitamin K, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folate, potassium, phosphorous, zinc, copper, manganese, and magnesium.

Eating the phloem

You can also eat the phloem of pines. The phloem is the soft tissue inside the tree that transports glucose and other nutrients. The phloem from small twigs usually has a sweet taste, and it contains vitamin A and vitamin C. Native American tribes often ate pine phloem. It can be eaten as is, or it can be dried and pulverized. The resulting powder can be used to make bread or to thicken stews.

Pine needle tea

Have you ever tasted green pine needles? I don’t know why, but I used to like to chew on them as a kid. I always thought they had sort of a citrus taste. The young, tender needles make the best tea.  After harvesting a handful of needles, rinse them well in clean water. Break them up into small pieces and cover them with boiling water. Steep the tea for about fifteen or twenty minutes. Pine needle tea is a great source of vitamin C.

Glue

Pine trees have a thick, sticky resin that can be used as glue. Examine holes or splits in the trunk for the resin. If you can’t find enough resin, cut a notch in the tree and return later to collect the resin oozing from the cut. If the resin has already hardened, heating it will soften it.

Dental uses

Pine resin can also be used to fill cavities in teeth. Take a small bit of semi-soft resin and place it in the cavity to mold it into the perfect fit. Pull the resin out and allow it to harden. Return it to the tooth, with just a tiny dab of soft resin to hold it in place.

Fire

Pine resin makes a great fire starter, and you can burn dried pine cones, too. Of course, you can also burn dried pine logs, but they’re not good for cooking over. Pine fires do, however, provide a lot of quick heat.

How to Save Money on Meat

I said in the beginning that this blog wouldn’t be just about survival in the traditional sense – it’s really more about day-to-day economic survival. Nowhere is that hitting Americans harder than in the grocery aisles – except for at the gas pump. I told you how you could save a little money on buying gas in an earlier post. Here, I’m going to tell you how to save money on groceries - in this case, meat, which is probably the bulk of your grocery spending, unless you’re vegetarian.

How to Save Money on Beef

When you’re craving a nice grilled steak, you might just go into sticker shock when you see the price tags on T-bones, Porterhouses, rib eyes, and New York strip steaks. Forget about it! Instead of buying those pricey cuts, buy chuck-eye steaks. They’re a heck of a lot cheaper, and when you tenderize them correctly, they’re great on the grill! Try wrapping them in bacon after tenderizing. For tips on tenderizing meats, click.

If you’re planning on splurging and buying filets for a special occasion, don’t. Filets rarely go on sale, and even when they do, they’re cost prohibitive for most people. Wait for Porterhouse to go on sale, instead. One side of a Porterhouse is tenderloin, and the other side is a strip steak. Cut the meat from the bone, and you’ll get two steaks from each Porterhouse.

A lot of folks concerned about fat and cholesterol pay extra for extra-lean ground beef. They also think they’re getting a bargain in the long run because less is cooked off in the form of fat. True, but extra-lean ground beef has a higher water content than fatty ground beef. Buy the cheap ground beef, crumble and fry it, then place it in a colander. Place the meat under running hot water and rinse it to remove most of the fat. If you want to be really frugal, place a pan under the colander as it drains and save the beef broth. Freeze it in bags for the next time you make soup.

How to Save Money on Chicken

When it comes to survival food, chicken is chicken. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts are usually about $4 a pound in our neck of the woods, while leg quarters comprised of drumsticks and thighs can be found for 69 cents – sometimes cheaper – when they go on sale. You do the math.

The cheapest leg quarters are usually sold in large bags. Buy a big bag and separate it into meal-size portions and freeze. If you prefer, cook all the meat in a large pot and remove it from the bones. Cool the meat and divide it into meal-size portions and freeze. Use it for casseroles, chicken salad, soups, chicken and dumplings, chicken and rice, chicken and dressing, etc. Don’t throw out all that fat and broth, either! Freeze it for future use.

How to Save Money on Pork

Center-cut pork chops are delicious, but they’re expensive. Use pork steaks, instead. Save even more money on pork by purchasing shoulder roasts or fresh hams and slice your own pork steaks for frying, grilling, baking, and stir-fry recipes.

When you’re craving cured ham, buy a picnic (shoulder) ham instead. These are usually significantly cheaper, and they taste much the same as traditional ham. Save any remaining slices in the freezer for future meals. Freeze small lean pieces for adding to casseroles, ham salad, and scrambled eggs. Freeze chunks of fat for seasoning vegetables.

How to Save Money on Fish

The best way to save money on fish is to catch your own! Fishing is fun and easy, and it provides a healthy food for free. Fish is versatile, too, and can be cooked in a wide variety of fish recipes. Don’t throw out leftover fish, either. Remove the skin and bones and save the flesh for soups and chowders. For some saltwater fishing tips and a recipe for fish chowder, click the link. This recipe uses sheepshead, but any lean fish can be used, including bass, bream, catfish, flounder, seatrout, whiting, redfish, grouper, snapper, tilapia, etc.

How to Save Money on Meals

Don’t throw out leftovers if you’re concerned about survival foods. I always keep a “soup bag” in my freezer. Whenever we have leftover meat and veggies during the week, I add them to the bag. At the end of the week, or whenever the bag contains enough food, I make a big pot of soup.

Serve a meatless dinner once or twice a week. Use eggs, instead. Eggs are much cheaper than meat, yet they’re high in protein. Such dishes might include scrambled eggs, omelets, quiches, frittatas, or egg-drop soup.

How to Freeze Fish

Most every body of water in the world contains finned fishes, and a large percentage of these fish are edible. They provide free food that's high in valuable protein. For many species, there's no legal limit, so you can preserve all the fish you catch, creating great survival foods for lean times.

After catching fish, clean them as soon as possible. To dress a fish, remove the head, the entrails, and the scales. If you prefer to fillet the fish, cut along the backbone all the way to the tail. You can remove the skin or leave it on. If you leave it on, the fish needs to be scaled first. Watch the video below to see how a fish is filleted.

After the fish has been dressed or filleted, get it chilled as soon as possible. Rinse the fillets in cool water and place in freezer bags or in plastic containers. If you use freezer bags, double bag the fish. We like to use old gallon milk jugs for freezing fish, but whether you use these or bags, cover the fish with water. Fish will keep for months when frozen this way. Yes, it takes up more room in your freezer, but think about this: In case of a power outage, the fish will still be good to eat for a much longer period of time because the ice will keep them chilled. As an added bonus, the block of ice will also help keep other foods in the freezer cold when you're without power.