Survival Recipe: Blackberry Buttermilk Breakfast Cake

I can hear the groans and complaints from the hardcore preppers and survivalists already: “A CAKE? That’s supposed to be a SURVIVAL RECIPE?”
Yep. It is. And here’s why.

Pork Ribs and Saurkraut

Here's a great-sounding recipe from Off Grid cooking expert Ann Gawith! Like all survival recipes, it can be prepared using one pot, and a campfire or off-grid cooking methods!

Survival Recipe: Santa Fe Chicken Casserole

This well-pitched tarp allows cooking over the campfire, even if it rains.

While many, if not all, of the SurvivalCommonSense.com Survival Recipes can easily be adapted to cooking inside, please practice cooking outside using off-grid methods.
This could become a weekly survival/preparedness training session for the entire family as you learn and practice how to use your stored foods and your outdoor cooking tools.
This recipe for Santa Fe Chicken Casserole used stored foods, one pot and off-grid cooking techniques!

Getting Started With Off-Grid Cooking

An off-grid cooking system can start out as simply as getting a propane turkey or fish cooker and a Dutch oven.

Does this sound familiar? Somebody finds out you are a prepper or survivalist, or that you believe it is prudent to have some storage food, and they assume you’re somehow…a little strange. 
But once they learn a few facts, they may change their minds. The next question may be: “What do I do to get started?”
Here’s some good advice from Ann Gawith of  OfftheGridCooking @blogspot.com

Survival Food: Southwest Chicken Corn Chowder

Survival food is sustenance that can be made easily during a survival or emergency situation with simple, long-term storage food items, cooked outdoors, using off-the-grid methods. This chowder recipe was featured as the weekly Survival Recipe on the SurvivalCommonSense.com Radio program of  Feb. 11, 2011. Host Leon Pantenburg interviewed Jan LaBaron about her new food storage cookbook: ” Jan’s Fabulous Food Storage Recipes: Converting Stored Foods Into Usable Meals.” To read the story, click here.
To listen to the entire radio show interview, click here.

How to Make Apricot Energy Bars

Food is the fuel that keeps you warm!

Your stored food is an investment. But it’s always a good idea to rotate the stock.

Another thought is to make full use of those stores. Rather than spending upward of a dollar or so for a commercial energy bar, try making your own! Here's a good recipe!

Survival Recipes: Healthy, Homemade Energy Bars

This natural beauty must be earned!

When it comes to stocking up on survival food, the best, most inexpensive and tastiest option may be to make your own. And while the idea behind an energy bar is to provide a quick dose of get-up-and-go, some of the commercial products can taste downright institutional!

But who says an energy bar has to be bland and yucky tasting? Try this recipe!

Hardtack: A Great, Traditional Survival Food and Emergency Ration

Hardtack is a traditional survival ration, and is easy to make.

Looking for a way to use up surplus flour, or make a cheap trail food or durable survival ration? One answer may be hardtack, a baked, unleavened wheat cracker. As a survival food, hardtack has a proven track record.
Hardtack is one of the original trail and emergency foods, and it is worth considering if you are a prepper or are interested in wilderness or urban survival.
The advantage is that hardtack is easy to make, transports easily and will last a reasonably long time if stored in appropriate containers. The disadvantage is the bland taste, and traditional toughness.
Try these recipes and see if you can find one to include in your survival food recipes!

From The Boundary Waters: Hudson Bay Bread

The only item on the lunch menu the first day was a three-inch square of Hudson Bay Bread gobbed with about two tablespoons of peanut butter. I’d worked up quite an appetite paddling and portaging that morning, and privately wondered where I’d get the energy to last the rest of the day.
To my surprise, the Hudson Bay bread was so rich, filling and full of calories
that I could barely finish it. I had ample energy to paddle, portage and hike until that evening. That was lunch for several days, and Hudson Bay Bread fueled many rigorous miles of paddling and portaging!
If you are outside in cold weather, doing vigorous activities, you'll like this recipe!

Easy Wild Game Stir-Fried Rice

This is a great small game recipe!

A wilderness survival recipe should be tasty and easy to prepare under primitive outdoor conditions. This recipe has both those characteristics, and can be made over a fire using one cooking implement! 
My family loves stir-fried rice and this is a great survival meal that takes a minimum of  preparation and ingredients. You can use virtually any game meat, as long as it can be cut into thin strips.
This recipe is a particularly good choice if you don’t have much meat, a store of staples and several people to feed. And it’s easy to stretch – just add more cooked rice, vegetables and/or meat or whatever you have.

Try This Quick, Easy Way to Make Jerky

Preserving big game meat is a real survival skill!

Jerky is the original high energy survival/snack food, and maybe you’re thinking about making your own. Here’s some expert advice about a quick, easy method that uses meat from the grocery store, items you already have in your kitchen, and an oven.

Off Grid Cooking Expert Ann Gawith on Preparedness Radio

Gerald and Ann Gawith

Ann and Gerald Gawith are construction building contractors and remodeling experts, based in Central Oregon. Together with Gerald and business partner Linda Stephenson ( author of “Linda Stephenson’s Wild Game Cookbook” and several other cookbooks) the trio operates a cast iron catering business named “Grub Masters.”
Gerald and Ann, both accomplished off-grid cooks, regularly use a woodstove for heating and cooking.
Ann was recently a guest on SurvivalCommonSense.com Radio on the Preparedness Radio Network, and talked about some of the things you can do to retrofit your home for stormy weather and power outages. You can hear the complete interview here.

Foil Wraps: A Great Choice For Survival Cooking

In a survival situation, food should taste good. When (fill in the acronym) happens, previously-fussy eaters will find that hunger is the best sauce. But the same diet everyday will soon grow monotonous. Really, how many MREs can you eat before all the entrees taste the same?
So food preparation in survival situations is important, and tasty food can start with just a piece of aluminum foil. (I carry a big piece in most of my survival kits!)
Here is how to cook using nothing but a piece of aluminum foil and some hot coals from a campfire.

Venison Meatloaf: A Favorite Comfort Food!

For me, meatloaf  is a comfort food. I love sitting down to a meal of meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, biscuits and some fresh vegetable. This combination is really appreciated after along, cold day outside.
Meatloaf  is particularly gratifying if the meat in it has been harvested by someone in your family! It is a great dish to use up some of the the tougher pieces from a game animal, such as the meat from the neck and lower legs.
Meatloaf can also be is a great wilderness survival food. It can be cooked outside, in a cast iron Dutch oven over coals. Because the length of time the meatloaf needs to be baked is not critical, that means the  meal doesn't require constant supervision.

Restoring a Cast Iron Treasure

Potential treasures!

If you’re a recycler (like many preppers  and survivalists are) and you frequent garage sales and thrift stores, then keep an eye out for good, useful cast-iron cooking implements. Somebody’s rusty, dust-covered survivor of a failed camping trip may end up becoming a valuable addition to your cooking tools.
In a survival situation, a Dutch oven is a useful tool for baking, boiling, sauteing or frying. You can use virtually any heat source, including a campfire, charcoal, a propane burner or  barbecue grill. And talk about something with barter or trade value – a few days without electricity, and everyone will be clamoring for a Dutch oven!

Cookbook Review: Linda Stephenson's Wild Game Dutch Oven Cookbook

Linda Stephenson

It’s one thing to have the meat from a game animal. It may be another to cook it! How often have you heard: “I don’t eat venison (elk, antelope, bear, pheasants, etc) because it’s tough and tastes gamey”?
An important part of every survivalist or prepper’s survival kit and tools are outdoor, campfire recipes. You may be able  to collect a squirrel, rabbit or deer, but not know how to prepare it so the meat tastes good. During an emergency or a disaster, your cooking situation might be a campfire, Dutch oven and game meat.  How do you cook a squirrel, rabbit, grouse or piece of venison outdoors?
“Wild Game Dutch Oven Cooking” can answer many of those questions.

Survival Food: A WWII Chicken Dinner Story

I maintain that  hot, tasty food is a survival tool, and should be in every survival kit.With that proviso, here is one of the few stories my Dad told about his service in World War II. It has to do with a hot Sunday morning, somewhere in Louisiana, when a kindly lady invited a complete stranger to eat dinner with her family.

Getting Started With Off-Grid Cooking

Does this sound familiar? Somebody finds out you are a prepper or survivalist, and assumes you're somehow...a little strange. But once they learn a few facts, they may change their minds. The next question may be: "What do I do to get started?"

Here are some tips from off-grid cooking expert Ann Gawith on taking that first step.

Survival Recipe: Re-Fried Beans

One of the staples of long term storage are beans. Here's a quick recipe for enhancing burritos, taco salads and other tasty dishes. As a bonus - the recipes uses only long term storage products!