Having a survival food stockpile is essential for preppers and other like-minded folks who want to be ready in the event of a large-scale emergency. In fact, it’s usually one of the first steps people take towards living a more prepared life.
Most people agree that having “all your eggs in one basket” isn’t practical. For this reason, relying on one backup food source alone doesn’t provide a person with the best chance of survival.
Keeping plenty of canned, jarred, or otherwise preserved food in the home food bank is a smart setup.
But, having “bug-out bags” or “get home bags” with emergency MREs in several locations—such as in the vehicle and home—is your best bet in having enough sustenance to survive almost any situation.
Related: 10 Awesome Food Ideas for Your Bug Out Bag
What are MREs?
MRE stands for “Meals, Ready to Eat”. These are portable, shelf-stable, and calorie-dense food portions that will provide a person with enough protein and nutritional content to keep them healthy and energized throughout a high activity day.
Sometimes MRE’s are jokingly referred to as “Meals Rejected by Ethiopians”, “Mr. E’s”, or “Meals Rarely Edible”, by servicemen who still have not-so-fond memories of clunky tin cans or brown paper packages filled with mystery meat and questionable sides.
While these rations might not have been the best-tasting food in the world, they got the job done. Plus, most people would probably agree that in a survival situation—or after an all-day hike while camping for that matter—even the most finicky eaters become a lot less picky and a little more concerned with getting something in their stomachs.
The good news is that MREs you make yourself are cheap and easy to prepare and will likely taste a bit better than more expensive pre-packaged options. Plus, they’re light and take up very little space in a bug-out bag compared to cans and other bulkier food items.
DIY MRE Supplies
Although most military-grade MREs come in thermally protected mylar pouches — using vacuum-sealed bags or a strong Ziplock freezer bag will work just fine.
They may not have the same shelf life or stay as fresh for as long as military MREs, but they should still last at least 2 to 5 years when properly stored.
It’s also worth mentioning that not all of the items on this supply list are absolutely critical. Feel free to add or omit anything you feel is necessary for your MREs.
- Vacuum sealer and vacuum bags (Ziplock freezer bags will work in a pinch, as long as you can push most of the air out to ensure your MRE’s stay fresh)
- Gallon sized Ziplock freezer bag to further protect your MREs
- Plastic fork, spoon, thermos, and napkins (if desired)
- Alcohol wipes for cleaning hands (if desired)
- Water: Although a lot of military-grade MREs are ready to eat right out of the pouch, making DIY MREs make it a little harder to conform to that standard.
So, make sure you have plenty of water in your bug-out bag.
What Food Items Should You Include in Your MREs?
Even though I believe in the old adage “you get what you pay for”, I still like to get as many shelf-stable food supplies as I can from the dollar store. After all, processed food is processed food whether it’s purchased from a big grocery chain or a thrift shop.
I live relatively close to a Mexican dollar store so I was able to find a lot of unique, shelf-stable, high-calorie items to include in my MREs for very cheap.
When purchasing food items for your MREs, there are a few things to keep in mind:
- Each MRE should be around 1000 calories or more.
- Make sure you pick items with enough protein, fat, carbs, vitamins, and minerals.
- Supplement meals with energy bars or similar items to increase calorie content without adding too much extra weight.
- Avoid cans or heavier items, as they pose the risk of slowing you down.
Prepping Your MREs
These steps will be completed in the same way with each MRE recipe.
1. Measure ingredients and pour them into individual vacuum seal bags (or double-seal sandwich-sized Ziplock bags)
2. Seal or push air out of bags after filling.
3. Label contents of bags and instructions with a permanent marker or label maker.
4. Organize and place smaller bags of food into a gallon-sized Ziplock bag, eliminate air, and seal.
5. When you’re ready to dig into your MRE, simply remove the smaller food pouches from the larger 1-gallon Ziplock. (You can reuse the larger Ziplock as a storage or trash container if you’d like.)
Related: What Happens When You Eat Nothing but MREs
MREs Recipes
Breakfast MRE (Oatmeal, Fruit Mix, and Barley Drink)
- 1 cup instant oats, any flavor
- ½ cup trail mix/ hikers mix
- 2 packets of sugar or honey (if desired)
- Cinnamon stick or honey (if desired)
- 1 tbsp. “Cebada” barley powder combined with 1 tbsp powdered milk and 1 tsp sugar, stored inside of a sandwich bag or vacuum-sealed bag.
- Around 2 cups of water
Calories: 1,100
Instructions
- Open 2-3 paper packages of instant oats. Pour the contents out of the packaging and into the Ziplock sandwich bag you stored them in.
- Add 1 cup of water.
- Wait a few minutes and allow oats to hydrate to the desired texture, add extras like cinnamon, dried fruit, or sugar if desired. Then, eat your oats straight from the bag.
- Hydrate the high-calorie “Cebada” powder and powdered milk mixture inside of the bag by adding 1 cup of water. Drink straight from the bag or pour into a cup or thermos.
- Supplement the meal with ½ cup of trail mix or an energy bar.
Fact: Sweetened barley water is a vitamin-rich, high-protein drink that has around 300-1000 calories per serving depending on the size and flavor add-ins like sugar, cinnamon, and milk.
It’s a cheap and powerful food item to have in your food bank.
Related: How To Make A Gluten-free Emergency Kit
MRE Lunch (“Tuna salad” and Crackers)
- 1 cup tuna in tuna packs (avoid cans to save space and weight)
- Dehydrated vegetables
- 1 sleeve of (5) saltine crackers
- Mayonnaise and mustard packets
- Salt and pepper packets
- Dried fruit and nut mix
- Energy bar
Calories: 900
Instructions
- Open pouches of tuna and combine them into one pack.
- Add dehydrated vegetables, mayonnaise, mustard, salt, and pepper to create a “tuna salad”
- Dip crackers into tuna salad and enjoy.
- Supplement the meal with an energy bar and a handful of trail mix or mixed fruit and nuts.
Related: Meal In A Bag: Sweet And Spicy Meat And Rice
MRE Dinner (“Cottage pie” in a Bag)
- 1 cup dehydrated carrots and peas
- 1 cup of small-cut beef jerky pieces (to rehydrate)
- one cup instant mashed potatoes
- 2-3 ketchup packets
- Salt and pepper packets
- 1 teaspoon tomato or beef bouillon powder or cube
- 1 pack of (5) crackers
- ½ cup trail mix
- ⅓ cup powdered milk to ½ cup water for a glass of milk with dinner, otherwise, save your water.
Calories: 1,200
Instructions
- Open pouches of dehydrated vegetables and beef jerky, combine ingredients, and add enough water to barely cover the food.
- Wait 10-15 minutes to hydrate—body heat will speed hydration time.
- Add bouillon, salt, pepper, and ketchup packets to the meat and vegetable mixture and shake to combine.
- Add water to instant mashed potatoes and shake until the powder looks similar to mashed potatoes.
- Cut a hole in the corner of the potato bag and squeeze potatoes on top of the meat mixture to create a cottage pie in a bag.
- Add crushed crackers if desired.
- Supplement the meal with an energy bar and a handful of trail mix or mixed fruit and nuts.
These three recipes will provide you with everything you need for a high-activity day in the field or in an emergency.
If the need for emergency food rations occurs or you need to leave your home in a hurry because of a disaster or emergency event, you’ll be glad you took the time to prepare your MRE’s.
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Love the great ideas Claude, thank you very much for the hard work you do in keeping people alive. One more thing, thank you so much for the great books also, they have inspired me in so many ways, also giving me great knowledge for surviving.
Thanks, Shawn G
The canned field rations were C-rations (C for canned), not MREs. They had a packet of 4 cigarettes and a book of matches. In most of the ones I had, the cigarette paper had turned spotted brown. I had one from 1945 that the can seam had rusted out. The peanut butter was inedible, having settled into oil and concrete. It was useful because the oil is flammable and kept mosquitoes away for almost an hour. The P-38 can opener was included and was an ever so useful tool. You can get them for about $1 each these days.
Serious question. I always wonder about the bug out bag. When SHTF, where are we going? Will people need to be constantly on the move? I guess I need a scenario so I can wrap my mind around it because I’m more prone to want to shelter in place. Also I live in the country.
TW
Some times I fill like I need to shelter in place. for the reason is that how can I pack up all my stuff. I have way more then a bug out bag. I have several places that I can go, But can I move when the SHTF. Maybe, Maybe not.
I also live in the country and all ways have.
I think that there will be lots of people moving around until they start to get picked off by other people. So in time people will start to decrees, opening up places that were before occupied.
My plan, is stay as long as I can and stay alive as long as I can.
Good luck
“Bugging out” is mostly for folks in densely populated areas. Those of us way out in the country are living in a bug out zone. Be aware of lines of travel into and out of your area. When SHTF some might make it out to where we are and come looting. Figure out how to secure your perimeter and establish a fall back area in case you are overwhelmed. Use lots of natural camouflage to hide in plain sight. Get rid of the big yard lights that advertise you are “right here, come get it”. Keep the long driveway unmanicured so it looks like a pasture access instead. Gate it too, like a pasture. Don’t keep the mailbox near your drive-100 feet down the road is,confusing to those looking. Gobs of other ideas, just keep researching…
Linda, have you hacked my plan? LOL. We here in bugout country have the same mentality. Regarding “the long driveway?” Very unmanicured and on the rough side. I live on high ground so that’s an advantage. Fall back areas are abundant and have been set. I doubt that I will be willingly going anywhere. This is my last stand ! Good post ! ps there are many booby traps that can be fashioned also when the SHTF just remember where they are when you set them. Stay strong !
For most people the power lines running to their homes will be the worst tell tale.
Light and noise discipline is difficult unless you actually DO IT before things get weird.
Do black out exercise and walk around your home at night checking to see if your actually blacked out. Think hard how your going to keep that generator quiet. A Automobile Muffler, Rubber vibration pad for the feet-wheels helps a lot, a sand bag wall around it we used in the Sandbox to redirect the screaming generators of our hospital upwards so we didn’t have to yell all the time. But then again ours could power a small village so a more home sized generator should be easier to mute.
Always have a fall back plan if you find yourself in a scoot or die scenario.
Some bugout situations you can experience now:
1. House fire
2. Flood
3. Tornado
4. Hurricane
5. Earthquake
It doesn’t need to be an end-of-the-world situation to need and use a bugout bag.
“Bugging out” is for people who can’t sustain themselves in place.
The decision on when to decide to bug out or stay and the circumstances that might cause you to bug out are many. See the K2’s list for some events other than the end of the world that might cause you to temporarily bug out.
Four years ago this December I was awakened at 0300 by the smell of smoke in my house. I have described my adventures in that bug out situation in an article I wrote about that after I was back home. Look in the archives around January or February of 2018 for my extensive article.
What you might need to take in a temporary situation will vary to some extent compared to what you might take if the bug-out was going to be permanent. In a temporary situation, your motor vehicle might well still be running. In a permanent situation it might be that your motor vehicle is not running nor are most other motor vehicles. That entails a whole other amount of gear.
An author on survival whom I have followed recommends preparing for the situations most likely to occur where you live. For me, that is wildfires and earthquakes. I live in SoCal, so blizzards are not a concern. Where I live floods are not much of a concern either. Mud slides might be, but this area is pretty stable and while elevated, not extremely so. Every once in a while there is a small water spout that comes off the ocean and does some damage to buildings close to the shore. Again, that is a not a concern as I haven’t heard of any homes that were red tagged after such an incident.
We do have wind storms but not hurricane strength. The biggest danger during the windstorms is wildfire. Having had to bug out during one such incident, I think I am better prepared to bug out in the event of another wildfire. The one thing I urge everyone to do is prepare a list of what you want to take if you have to evacuate and where in the house it is stored. It is important to keep the location list current. If you move an item from its location, change your location list. Always put the item back in the location that is on your list. If you always keep your car keys by the front door, make sure that is where you ALWAYS keep them. In an urgent situation, you won’t remember that you left them on the kitchen counter because you thought you were going to go back out to the vehicle. As you are packing, keep track of the number of suitcases and parcels that you pack. When you think you have the car loaded, count the number in the car. If the number doesn’t match that means you have left something behind.
Before you start to load your vehicle, stage everything by the door that you are going to use to pack your vehicle. Count the parcels before you start moving them to the car. I thought I was cool, calm and collected during our packing to bug out but found I had left my wallet behind and my wife’s suitcase with her undergarments and cosmetics behind together with our daily meds. Because it wasn’t an EOTW situation, it was only a minor problem, plus my wife was happy to get a whole new set of underwear and cosmetics. I was able to use her credit cards and luckily was not stopped for a motor vehicle violation.
If you have some special item that needs special packing, get it now and keep it handy to the item that needs special packing. I am thinking of the treasured framed photograph of your parents or perhaps a child. You don’t want to just chuck it in the trunk of your car and more particularly, you don’t want to be running around trying to scare up packing for it as the flames are bursting out of the house across the street.
After you are all set for a temporary bug out situation, depending upon which of the natural disasters K2 suggested, then you can address the potential End of the World situation. Take care of what is most likely to happen first.
I agree with you about taking items that you need/want when you are bugging out for a hopeful temporary situation. In case of a fire or other home destroying catastrophe, then yes, I would include some sentimental belongings in my rush to bug out. But, if I am bugging out to what will probably land me in a FEMA camp or other fun camp, then knives, bats, canes, bug spray or other potential weapons, defensive or offensive, will take the place of my feel-good items.
Whether we face zombies, little green men from Mars, UN “peacekeepers’, or our own neighbors, they won’t care about our feelings, so do the best with what you have. Like others on the board, I am not planning to bug out when all hell breaks loose. Even in the course of a fire I will do my level best to remain on location and survive in alternate dwellings.
I have moved enough in my lifetime, and in each move, my sentimental attachment to objects dwindled. I read a question that was asked by someone.. “If you had to leave your home, but could only take ONE item, what would you take?” I have yet to answer that question in my own mind.
my Bible. yes sir…
Just In case, I keep the “5 P Emergency Checklist”. on my fridge. List consists of things one normally doesn’t have prepared and ready to go, so it’s a reminder what to grab if time permits!
Papers
Plastics
Prescriptions
Photos
Priceless items
Having identified these things, I have made a note of both their location in the house, what it would take to get it secured and how much space needed to take it with me and how much time it would take. Sort of a feasibility rehearsal.
What is the “special ingredient” related to your gut flora? It is mentioned in the email, but I didn’t see anything about it in the article.
Take DOWN the mailbox in a major event. The mail isn’t coming anyway. The people who NEED to find you, or were meant to find you, should already know HOW.
One of the top tips I have read so far. A simple task that would not occur to many folks. It’s these little gems that make this list so helpful. Makes complete sense. Why advertise who you are when you aren’t going to be getting mail anyway. That will eliminate the casual buddy who has accidentally discovered that you are a prepper and who figures he will come share with you if he needs stuff but isn’t sure where you live. By share with you, I mean share YOUR stuff with him.
I have a relative who just moved close to a very small town. His family’s new home is a few miles out of town. Yesterday, when he was in town, he had three separate people ask him if he was the one who moved into the house he had just moved to. No secrets in some areas.
Yes, that is one of the blessings and curses of a small town. You don’t have to show ID to cash a check. On the other hand, if you drove home inebriated last Saturday night probably the whole town knows. Folks wave and say “Hello” when you pass them on the street and if you have a family member very ill, folks will bring by their favorite dish to help out. Or offer to help out in other ways without being asked. They may even cut your grass or milk your cow without asking if you are occupied with a family crisis.
On the other hand, if you don’t fit in, life can be miserable. Don’t complain about the way they have always done things. They don’t care how it is done in the big city. If you want to really get on the wrong side of everybody, start every conversation with, “Well, in (insert big city name) we used to do . . .” Nobody in Small-town USA gives a rat’s about how things are done in SanFrancisco, Noo Yawk, Joisey City, or other large, rotten to the core, major cities.
All we have on our mail is the house number. No name. We also have an electric gate that stays closed. You can’t get in unless w open the gate or you know The code to get in.
@Deborah Unless the Rock comes along and tears the gate off its hinges. LOL!
I was going to suggest the road sign as well as the property number, anything that identifies the property or area.
I agree 100% Ginny. No need to advertise that there is a house nearby. No need for house numbers, names or any other identifying marks. A blank stretch of road with what looks like a little used dirt trail off to the side is much preferred in my book. Might even cut some trees and lay them in the driveway with the tops of the trees pointing toward the road like a rural palisade. That makes it more difficult to penetrate as opposed to the trunks to the direction you want to block.
Road sign is a good thought in a rural area too. That’s another one that hadn’t occurred to me. Thanks, Ginny.
UH OH….Solid metal mailbox planted with concrete….Maybe just remove the numbers…there is no name.
They just announced the GREAT REST has began. That pervert talibiden is going to talk about global warming.
Which is a DAM LIE!!!!
One world government. coming now…
This is what y’all wanted. better get your shit in gear, to get all that you can. ASAP.
These demons are on the move.
As my area is no longer experiencing super hot days and my car is no longer one big oven, I packed up the a couple of bags to keep in my car yesterday. One winter, I became stuck overnight at a rest stop in the mountains when a blizzard whipped through and there was zero visibility. The state patrol shut down the highway. Fortunately, I had a couple of blankets in the car and enough gas to turn on the heater every few hours. I have no idea what scenario might necessitate my needing some supplies in the car but along with supplies for me, I added some for the cat and dog. I suppose there might be a scenario that is dire enough to have to leave them behind but, just in case that isn’t the case, I did add pet food and a pet water bowl. If things are really serious in our world, it might be more kind to end their lives but I don’t know if I am tough enough for that.
As Red Ant noted, things are getting more serious but I have the solid hope that in the end God wins. “Greater is He that is within you than he that is in the world.”
Amen. Your solid hope is right on the mark.
GOD “will” win…
During the fire of which I spoke, many families had to abandon their pets because they let them roam at night and they couldn’t find the pet or the pet became frightened by the fire and ran away. There were a lot of abandoned pets that died in the flames or wandered around later lost because the family that sustained them had to leave the home or it burned to the ground. The real problem lay with folks who had large animals. That entailed getting the traIler hooked up and the animal, who might have been highly nervous with the smoke and flames into the trailer, in addition to getting their own stuff into a vehicle.
If you have large animals, plan ahead how you are going to get them to safety, especially in the event of wildfire. Get the supplies you need for that purpose gathered together in one constant spot. When the fire is roaring up the hill toward your house you don’t want to be running around trying to get halters and whatever else you need to load your animal. If there is news of a fire in your vicinity, hook up the trailer before you must leave. Park the tow vehicle and the trailer so that you can just drive away without backing the trailer.
If you have news of a hurricane and have large animals, make sure you have a secure location where you can leave them. Take them at the first news of a hurricane, don’t wait until it is 50 miles away and the winds are picking up. So the hurricane veers and doesn’t hit your area. Better to have spent a couple hundred on protecting your horse than to lose an animal worth thousands of dollars.
Regarding your comment, Left Coast Chuck, about moving to an area and learning to live with how things have always been in the new area. A few years ago, I moved from the “left coast” to an area with a more traditional population. What I needed to learn is to be much more polite and compliment more. Each conversation needed to become sweeter and nicer. Much of my life had been with the construction industry on the west coast. I needed to stop and listen to myself more and understand how I sounded to the locals. The change was so easy because the people in this area are so very nice and always helpful.
You are lucky you were able to leave the communist coast. I only wish my circumstances allowed me to leave here and move back to the U.S.
Last winter all the weathermen started warning all of Texas that a week long winter storm was 4 days off. Since even a 1/16th inch of ice or 1/4 inch of snow paralyzes any city in Texas when it hits I thought I’d better get out early and get everything ready. I did, but almost nobody else did. Really surprised me that so many suffered so much and almost 200 died. If a nationwide shutdown ever occurs I’m afraid it’s going to be even worse than we imagine.
We were blessed. Not one prob with my place. Last winter. Heard people were in bad shape.
I agree that no one got ready for that storm. I did and we had one thing that happened.
My neighbors old rotten tree fell on my truck. Scratch it up and creased the hood. Not even I’m sorry and had to cut the tree up my self. Now that’s a neighbor.
But I’m ready this years winter. Hope there ready for this winter…
Hey miss kitty what is winter going to be like. She is good at that type of information.
Way to close to the neighbors if a tree hits your truck. Sounds like he will be a liability in hard times.
I don’t think “pushing the air out of ziplock bags” will work with oatmeal, for long term food storage. I happened to bed my Darkling beetles and mealworms in oatmeal, and BEHOLD! Grain mites hatched out after a few months. Millions of them! That’s why long term food storage calls for mylar bags, dessicants and oxygen absorbers. The “air” isn’t important, but the oxygen must be eliminated to prevent spoilage and prevent little unwanted BUGS from hatching out. Oxygen is approximately 22% of air. So a bag can appear not to have the shrink wrapped look, still contain air, but with absence of oxygen, moisture, and light, you can preserve your food just like the expensive survival food companies.
Posts like this cause me a little concern about following directions!?
Lisa nothing wrong with freezing your dry packaged Ziploc’s to kill off those unwanted “Guests”.
Right now GETTING Mylar bags and such is getting *interesting*.
I’ve been saving and cleaning my Plastic Peanut Butter Jars for Soup in a Jar style portable meals. They’ve worked in my Deer Camp for decades.
Yeah the dangerous side of mythical prepping. You at least need vaccum sealed and O2 asobers in the bag
Quote the Raven “Nevermore”
Buddy what did folks ever DO with out your so “Expert Advice”?
How did GENERATIONS of people EVER SURVIVE with our Refrigeration, or Mylar or Vacuum Sealing or GASP HORRORS O2 Absorbers???
Wake up and smell the coffee, time is coming where Amazon will NOT be delivering you bundles of Mylar and O2 absorbers (All made in China BTW).
I buy Mylar bags and they are made in U.SA
Michael let’s stay on the topic. If you’re making MREs. The yes o2 absorbers are critical. A harvest right freeze dryer would be a good investment as well.
If you want the old way. Well thy starved to death or got fatally I’ll from improper food preservation.
Do it right the first time and you won’t waste your time.
Yes Raven they died off that’s why we are really not here.
BOOOOO Happy Halloween.
Meals Ready to Eat in the article are anything pre-made and given the cooking instructions some require cooking.
Pemmican and Jerky fit the articles seems to fit in WITH OUT Mylar and O2 absorbers.
Your self selected screen name is as an Prepper Expert. Where is your Website so this old Soldier-Medic might gain your wisdom?
Good ideas and will keep a person from getting tired of what they eat. I like smoked pemmican but then, none of mine have an LDL cholesterol problem. It’s not genetic, but that we avoid anything with gluten in it. Gluten actually stops a person from absorbing all nutrients in anything it’s eaten with. niio
Red, could you explain how you smoke the pemmican? Is it that you make it then smoke the whole she and, or do you smoke the fat then make the pemmican?
Mbl: Pemmican is a sausage. Dried fruit, chopped timpsula (on the prairies), and so on absorb a lot of the fat, but not all. Pemmican was always packed in bungs, but now other things are used. By tradition, bungs were hung from the ridgepole of the longhouse or teepee, and ‘aged’ there in the heat. When marrying white, women added a smokehouse and did the same thing. In any case, the fat was caught and used. Because of soot, it should be refined by melting and allowing ‘dirt’ to settle out. That’s used to coat leather. niio
OhOh. This article is of interest to all Preppers so that means that it’s time to hear from Illini Weirdo.
As Matrix stated … the canned food of which you spoke was C-rations / C-rats. In the Navy during nam … I know most people seem to think the Navy is well fed (and compared to some branches of service that may be true … but aboard my ship … That I commissioned, so it wasn’t an old ship … and we made several west pac cruises, carrying fresh marines to Vietnam and tired ones back to Okinawa. For Your Information … Roast Beef … a staple of Navy cooks, gets old, after eating it 3 times a day. roast beef and eggs for breakfast, roast beef sandwiches for lunch, and roast beef with mashed potatoes and gravy for dinner. The roast beef was not particularly tasty, the eggs powdered, the bread stale, and the mashed potatoes powdered, the gravy lumpy … it didn’t take too long for us to find a store room in the bowels of the ship, which carried C-Rats. We pilfered cases of the stuff, stashing it in after steering, and used it for snacks. Most was WW2 vintage, and I frankly loved it … preferring it to roast beef ….
Had the same problem with chicken on Okinawa. We had chicken for six meals every week for the two years I was on Okinawa. Fortunately, we could go out in town and get civilian meals. There was a fried rice stand outside the main gate and it did a land office business every evening. They relaxed the rules about going ashore in civvies or class A uniforms to go to the fried rice stand, so we could go outside the base perimeter in utilities. After two years of six meals of chicken every week I was not a big chicken fan for a long time. I sure liked eating aboard Air Force bases. My goodness, it was almost like not being in the service. They weren’t Michelin five star but they weren’t Marine Corps mess halls either. Or the messing compartment on board a troop ship which wasn’t close to even a single star.
This is not MRE related, but I need DIY help. This year most, of our nieces and nephews are 18 or older. And my $500 Christmas club is not going to buy much for the nine of them with inflation and all. I was thinking gift baskets. I mean we are homesteaders. We make great jerky, and jam, and hard cider. We have enough peaches jarred. What do you think? Will we be thought to be too cheap?
@ TEE
Cheap. NO WAY… never…
Better to get a rock, then to get nothing.
I would love to just have what they have. A loving and caring family. Today that alone is a wonderful gift.
That would be a good gift. LOVE
. Take a mason jar and fill it with things that they might of had when they were small or right messages to them, or Wright recipes, old family photos. then put them in the jars.
Things to remember.
It dose not have to be from a store. Let it come from your heart store. YOU…
Good luck with that.
When my nieces and nephews started complaining about the presents they were getting, I quit getting presents and started giving cards. Now, they just get warm greetings or maybe a phone call. Christmas (and now Easter, Halloween, and just about every other commercialized celebration) is another form mind manipulation tool for TPTB to control you and your money. Do you celebrate the birth of Jesus, or do you give Santa gifts? Are YOUR nieces and nephews “entitled” to the presents they want, or do you give presents because you think it will get you a better seat at the table?
Like Red Ant said, write out recipes or useful information that you believe they will need. Shortages of food, electronics, and other stuff will make this year a very strange holiday season.
Tee: Good homemade food is a premium for holiday gifts. Honey scented homemade candles are very popular. About 1 tablespoon honey per pound of wax. niio
Or, just make beeswax candles. They smell slightly of honey are healthy to burn and last a long time.
Harry and David sells beautiful gift baskets with just the same type of items as you have created. What they do is fill the bottom of the box with something fluffy, wrap each item in color co-ordinated tissue and then add a matching bow. The dollar store has tissue, ribbons and such. Or, if you have some fabric remnants from another project, you could even make a matching fabric bag for the cider bottle. Look at Harry and David’s site and you will see that your items are actually quite high end.
TEE,
I’m with Red Ant. Anything homemade is a great gift.
I really.liked the idea of adding photos and or family recipes.
Ther are relatives on my list that ask if need jars, whatever so they get their homemade gifts…
I’m not much of a baker, but I always make my Bubbe s cookies and I make Carme corn and almond Roca. Huge hits and not very expensive when ya make up a batch and split it.
It’s the thought that counts and home made means ya really care.
And if ya get the stink eye from anyone, BAM!! NO TREATS FOR YOU!!( channeling the soup nazi from Sienfeld) lol
Peace
MadFab
I am reading a biography of Putin currently. The authors of the biography state that Russia has three month’s of supplies for the whole country put away in giant warehouses all around the country. That includes not only foodstuffs but clothing, military supplies, machine parts, minerals and other natural resources. The boast that they are the only country in the world so prepared.
In addition, any Russian with any plot of land at all is growing vegetables, mainly potatoes and cabbage. They remember Leningrad and the over a half million people who starved to death. That figure doesn’t include those the Nazis managed to kill. That was starved to death.
That was the first I had heard of that. If true, sounds like we have a long ways to go to catch up.This year was the first year I tried potatoes. I must say I was underwhelmed with my “success”. I got some, but if I were relying on my crop it would be a long, cold, hungry winter.
At least L C Chuck you Actually TRIED and put in dirt time Learning about growing potatoes:-).
Beats “Internet Experts ” that are only repeating what they read online.
As you live in California are you going to plant a winter garden?
I’ve put my garden to winter rest but have onions, garlic, kale and a First for me winter potatoes as I live in New England.
Always Learning, keeps me young.
LCC: Like Michael said. Best summer crop is sweet potatoes. Tops and tubers are good to eat. Right now, stick some regular potato pieces in and see how they do. Each eye should be about 3 ounce. Bigger means fewer potatoes to dig, and the same with less. I like sunchokes and have a 25 foot row of them. They’re dying back now, but won’t be dug for 3 months to make them sweet. Carrots, not doing well, but one from last year the javelina chewed down to the ground decided to bloom, so free seeds. It’s time to plant peas, now that the tepary beans are done. Loan me some energy, kid. 🙂 niio
Red, are the sunchokes the same as Jerusalem artichokes?
If so you got a life time food source with those, you’d have a better chance of killing a plastic plant then those things
Yeah, the same. These are a white rooted variety bred for high sugar content. They’re not as good here (south Arizona) as red rooted (wild) types, but man, when the monsoon storms hit, they went from 4 feet tall to almost 12 in weeks. They are tough, but to get them out of a field, run cattle and horses to keep the tops mowed off, and in the fall, feeder pigs. If any survive and sprout, the pigs will root them out fast. Same with chicory and so on. niio
Thanks so much for the encouragement red ant, red, and PIT. I really appreciate it.
2 things mentioned…
Depending on how you store them will affect how long they are good + storing in your vehicle.
I don’t quiet remember how the rest of the world is, but here in Florida, storing food in your vehicle ain’t the best option. Alot folks down here do “dashboard cooking”. I know almost every day For roughly 10 months outta the year I went to work I’d park around 9 am facing south/east, place my lunch in an aluminum lined triangle shaped box, slid up to the front of the windshield. 2.5 hours later I’d come out to a perfectly grilled / cooked lunch.
With that said I’m not for sure how long term vehicle storage of most foods would be viable down here.
But I love the recipe ideas for around home, or even buried airtight container caches all over.
@Michael,
Hello neighbor. We are also New Englanders. We gave up growing potatoes a few years back. We like carrots, turnips, and parsnips for late yields. Winter squash is so easy to keep that we rely more on that. We have also started turning summer squash into flour. It is VERY easy. We attempted an indoor, winter garden. We grew veggies indoors for three years. The cost was way too high (added heating) and the yield was minimal. We also tried a green house. We could not heat it enough. For us New Englanders, storing and canning seem to be the way to go. The squash we shelf this time of year 8s still tasty in May. Then we can rely on the canned veggies.
Tee could you explain how you made flour out of summer squash please:-)
Was it a wheat flour extender or a make a loaf of bread?
Recipes Please
Thanks
Tee might have a better method than what I did but a couple of years ago I had a bumper crop of Cuarzo Zucchini. I peeled them and ran them through the grating blade of the food processor. I then spread the shreds out on the dehydrator trays. Once they were dry, I ran them through the chopping blade of the food processor so that the shreds became like flour. Just to make sure that everything was perfectly dry, I put the flour in the dehydrator for another half an hour or so.
Thanks Lin but what did you use the resulting flour for?
A sample recipe perhaps?
Tee: Summer squash, erk, but I like winter squash. We have calabacita, which looks like a small pumpkin but you need a hatchet to open them. Favorite use to winter squash is, cut and dried, then roasted. Peeling can wait till this is done. It can be eaten like this or, Mexican style, boil in syrup and then dried again. You can add spices–pumpkin pie spice is good–then use the last of the syrup to make rock candy. Mexico allows kids all the candy they want, but Mexico also has some excellent pediatric dentists 🙂 niio
When my relative was living in Costa Rica, her neighbor’s children had horrible teeth. Even the neighbor’s 5 year old had a mouth full of cavities. He grew up drinking powdered drinks because they couldn’t afford a frig nor a vehicle to transport heavier items home. My relative took him to the dentist and paid for the costs. After getting all his teeth fixed, the child was amazed that he could actually chew on foods. He was not aware that was a possibility. I don’t know how he could chew the iguana meat from the iguanas they caught off of my relative’s roof.
The Cuarzo Zucchini has more flavor than the usual zucchinis available. It often costs a touch more at the grocery store.
The powdered cuarzo zucchini flour works best with just some added to regular wheat flour when baking or making pancakes.
I came across this. Never knew making corn starch was that easy! niio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTp3_WlyNxs