Food

TOP SURVIVAL FOODS - FOR A HIDDEN CAMP

or for Squirrelling (hiding food in small parcels).

THE BIG DILEMMA.

It is a big dilemma. If some Christians hide food, and it becomes known, people may be less inclined to help Christians who have nothing and have made no preparations, thinking they have food hidden. But God did feed the people with manna in the old testament, and Jesus said clearly God feeds the birds of the air, so not to worry. Aso in Revelation 12:16 it says "and the Earth helped the woman", so does this imply living from the land and surviival techniques, and not just deliverance from persecutors and traitors?

Those who have hidden food, if offered food, may take it, because they don't want to say "we have some hidden food left". The question has to be asked: "Is hiding food therefore ever a good idea"? What is worse, if a food shortage happens, people may think you have food and may attack you for it, or blame Christians for the food shortage even, by saying it was caused by hoarding. On the other hand, if a mans family are hungry, and look to him to feed them, and he has prepared nothing, he may feel he has badly let them down. In World War 2 the English Government made hoarding food illegal, and said hoarded food had to be handed over by law, and it must be rationed. So is that one of the times a person can seemingly disobey Romans 13 (as you may disobey the authorities if a bible morality issue counterbalances the instruction - such as when feeding and hiding Jewish people was made illegal in Germany). You have to make your own decisions on food.

Note: there is a difference between hoarding food in a home (prepping) and hiding it in survival locations outside your home (survivalism). If you are not put out of your home and are relatively safe indoors, you can forage and scrounge food from a safe home base - which is much much easier.

I personally think "squirrelling" (hiding small parcels of food in various places) is a good inbetween plan.

Most people have very strong, perhaps even immovable, ideas about food, but if one thing might change your attitudes it is the biting pain of hunger. When you are very hungry most things you will consider eating with kinder eyes. I will be suggesting foods to put in a hidden base camp that seem not very health at first, but are in fact ultra useful.

DRIED FOODS TO STORE

Dried foods will last for decades, as long as you make really sure damp and moisture gets nowhere near it when storing it. Remember also clean water is essential to take full advantage of such dried foods, so prepare well for both sources of water, and knowledge and equipment to filter and clean it.

FLOUR - maybe best of all, for bread, buns, baking cakes, crackers, biscuits. This really is a top survival food if you can stop it going stale. With bread life is so much better. Some types of flour (the best ones) go stale quicker. So you have to make practical decisions. Perhaps healthier wholemeal flours can be found that have preservatives (a necessary compromise sometimes, we are not talking civvy street here, this is survival and fighting off hunger). A freshly baked small loaf can smell mindblowingly wonderful, ad will disapate your "health food fanatic" principles is its simply "there" because it is preserved.

BLACK TEA, GREEN or HERBAL TEAS, COFFEE - and other beverages like hot chocolate powder, Ovaltine, Malt Drink (like Horlicks, or a supermarket own brnd of this), peppermint tea (also helps digestion) ginger tea, rose hip tea, etc are a big moral booster, especially is cold, icy, windy, wet weather, and keep your spirits up and are a great morale booster. Some herbal teas, like ginger and Camomile, have medicinal purposes. Camomile helps nervous people and aids restful sleep for instance.

POPPING CORN.

Popping corn is quite fantastically useful. By popping corn I do not mean pop corn that has already been "popped" I mean the corn itself, that will pop into edible and tasty treats. This is so mega useful as in the wilderness one of the things you will crave for a lot is bread, and if you have none freshly popped pop corn is a very good substitute to ease your craving, as well as expanding out into a huge bowl of food from just a small handful of seeds. Pope corn also lasts a very long time, years.

SUGAR!

Sugar is cheap to buy at the moment. "Sugar! Perish the thought!" some health food enthuiasts will immediately insist. However sugar is a top draw survival food if you can store it in your hidden camp. It keeps for a very long time if stored well, as any bacteria landing on it are killed by the osmosis gradient. is a natural preservative, not only preserving itself, but other foods. If you have planted blackberry bushes in your ready prepared camp, for instance, you can make jam with the sugar and fruit, keeping longs of tasty. high energy food for the difficult winter months, and if you add pop corn to your jam, it can be similar to a jam sandwich!

RICE - buy lots of types, including the healthier brown rice for more fiber. Black rice is out of the ordinary.

NOODLES -

PASTA - There are so many different dried pastas its probably a great idea to store lots of types for the variety you may crave if hungry. One great trick I use to get a good cheap survival meal, is to store "La Molisana" speghetti (the noodles in chicken noodle soup) with cubes of chicken stock like those made by Knorr (very cheap), providing a very inexpensive chicken noodle soup, in a smaller packing space (thus good in survival tins). I advice buying a lot of "quick cook" pasta that cooks fast, often only in 2 minutes, to save on fuel and make cooking far easier.

POTATO POWDER - get lots of varieties. It may seem at first they are all the same but they are a differet taste, texture, quality and shelf life. My favourites are "Smash" and "Yeoman" varieties. Also try Italian "Potato Gnocchi".

STUFFING - Paxo Stuffing, and other famous stuffings used to stuff turkeys at Christmas, are a filling and tasty food, that can be used as a bread substitute, as it is partly made with dried breadcrumbs, and as it is a dried food would probably last far past its sell by date. It is often far cheaper to buy just after Christmas.

LENTILS - make sure you get red and green

SOUP MIXES - often containing lentils

COUS COUS -

SEMOLINA - an underestimated food in the western world. tasty and filling. has fiber.

DRIED PULSES - dried butter beans, dried peas etc.

HERBS AND SPICES & SEASONINGS - sure are great for survival. Salt can be used preserving many things, making bread and many other foods taste far better, for toothache (gargle), and wound care. Pepper was once very very expensive and was locked away from servants. Spices like curry powder and really make a difference with rice dishes, on chips, and in soups. Mixed herbs and spices like "Season All" can be used to transform stews and soups. Reasearch the medical uses of some of your herbs and spices.

DRIED EGG - was very popular in World War 2 and is worth researching.

DRY ROASTED PEANUTS - and other dried nuts are useful. Peanut butter is a fantastic survival food, but is not really dried. It can get fungus on it if too far over the sell by date. But it has fiber, calories and is very tasty. There is powdered peanut butter!

DRIED FRUITS - some, like raisins, have longer sell-by dates than others. You must decide if you wanna go with preservatives. Very nutritious, full of flavour, have viramins and fiber. Cakes of rasins were said to revive people void of energy in the OT.

BUTTER POWDER - is something I only considered buying writing these articles. Butter on potatoes you grow, pasta, or rice and potato powder, makes the meal far far better. The butter powder of choice would be one that is most long lasting, most tasty, and most able to be mixed with water and reconstutues nearest its natural state to put on bread like real butter. Ghee is the name for clarified butter (butter with the milk solids seived out of it) that can last far longer than the official sell-by date, but its similar to oil not powder.

DRIED MILK - this makes so many foods more tasty, including breakfast cereals, tea, coffee, and baking. That it can be dried and last a long time is fantastically useful. Products like "Marvel" and "Five Pints" that mix to make milk are one type, but another is like "Coffee Mate" that can be spooned into hot milk. As I say, the additives are off putting, but in real life survival situations your fussiness can fade remarkably. There is even "sour craem powder".... wow!

CRACKERS and DRIED BREADS -

VARIOUS OTHER DRIED FOODS - ever hear of dried avocado powder?