What to eat for harsh times

Hello there. With so many stocking up on basics such as flour, sugar, rice, etc. I thought that maybe we could have a thread where we shared simple recipes? I know that my own cooking is limited to shake n bake chicken and flavored rice.

So, is it ok to share recipes here? Would be cool if we could. Some simple and inexpensive things to make during recessions/depressions.

reply to post by Jessicamsa



Learn how to make bread, and stock up on yeast. That's a major thing. Or make unlevened bread/ baking soda bread. There are many recipes online.

How to make your own Yeast...
INGREDIENTS
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
3 cups all-purpose flour, divided
3 cups white sugar, divided
3 cups milk

DIRECTIONS
In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Let stand 10 minutes. In a 2 quart container glass, plastic or ceramic container, combine 1 cup flour and 1 cup sugar. Mix thoroughly or flour will lump when milk is added. Slowly stir in 1 cup milk and dissolved yeast mixture. Cover loosely and let stand until bubbly. Consider this day 1 of the 10 day cycle. Leave loosely covered at room temperature.
On days 2 thru 4; stir starter with a spoon. Day 5; stir in 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Days 6 thru 9; stir only.
Day 10; stir in 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Remove 1 cup to make your first bread, give 2 cups to friends along with this recipe, and your favorite Bread recipe. Store the remaining 1 cup starter in a container in the refrigerator, or begin the 10 day process over again (beginning with step 2).
FOOTNOTES

Once you have made the starter, you will consider it Day One, and thus ignore step 1 in this recipe and proceed with step 2. You can also freeze this starter in 1 cup measures for later use. Frozen starter will take at least 3 hours at room temperature to thaw before using.

Back in the days before you could walk into a grocer and buy little packages this was how it was done... you can also make Yeast from grapes ... that white powder looking stuff on the skin is really natural yeast in its raw wild form

[edit on 17-7-2009 by DaddyBare]

Years back I had to feed myself and my daughter on a sack of soybeans and a sack of rice for a month.

We had milk, tofu, salads of sprouts, biscuits, and cakes as well as the inevitable rice and beans.

I suggest you learn to make soymilk and tofu. Learn to make sprouts.
When you mix the soy-meal left after you've made soy-milk with rice flour, it makes a great cake without needing eggs.

I made Christmas cakes for a totally vegetarian organisation that way. I used a little bitter almond oil, so the cakes tasted like they were made of almonds. Everyone loved them.

There are rabbits and hamsters you can breed for meat, but I couldn't cut the poor things throats.

An Earthworm farm ...even if your in the city you'd need to devote one room of a two bedroom apt.

You just have to start with mail ordered worms so there are no parasites and you'd be fine...

They make a decent kind of chop meat burger and are very high in protein...

You can mulch any kind of leaves or organic compound into the soil and they will thrive... and no one will be eating the leaves off the oak tree outside in a disaster either, material will be plentiful.

Originally posted by DaddyBare
How to make your own Yeast...
INGREDIENTS
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast

Uh...you're not making your own yeast. You're making a sourdough starter, like you stated later in your post. That's a lot different. However, this is a way to keep your yeast going if you only have that single package to start with.

Now that we're done with that...

Obviously beans and rice with various spices is a great staple along with flatbreads made from your favorite grains. Proteins and carbs galore. Make sure to get some oil that won't easily turn rancid, like cottonseed. You'll need to keep your fats up.

Spices are always going to be your friend in a survival situation. Don't forget the salt.

... look for Greens like Dandelion greens, arctic char. Boil em up and drizzle with olive oil... and some salt.

Even the broth, once filtered thru a strainer can make a yummy drink witha bit of lemon and salt.

There's your fat content and vitamins!

I used to go and pick em roadside with a couple of Greek families as a kid... boy was that embarrassing. hahaha

But, in the end, they're pretty good and great for you. I may be back out there soon enough before the summer ends.

Dandelion Greens Recipe

[edit on 17-7-2009 by GioTheGreek]

You can bread dandelion flowers and fry them in oil.

You can soak acorns for a week in water, then use them to make flour.

You can make a very healthy peanut butter alternative with walnuts.

All of those things grow locally for me and are completely free, plus I have access to things like pawpaws and blackberries for free, they grow all over the midwest.

My local Salvation Army food bank has a table by the door where they put bread and produce donated by local grocery stores when it reaches it's sell-by date.

I stop by and get some once in a while; They have fantastic bread, I get the expensive wheat with flax seed and omega 3. I use it for things like french toast and grilled cheese sandwiches, very cheap meals.

With the produce, things like cantaloupe and apples - I get a $1 bag of frozen spinach, put it in the steamer, then the blender with the fruit. Pour it into large popsicle molds (we use wood popsicle sticks, the plastic ones dont cut it), and freeze.

All the kids in my family eat those, they get 2 servings of raw fruit and 2 servings of raw vegetables - spinach even! - in every popsicle.

what scares me most is how deluded and paranoid some people on here are. In 30 years time, long after 2012 has been and forgotten perhaps you will realise this yourselves.

NOTHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN! JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER PROPHECY!

Originally posted by S4murai
what scares me most is how deluded and paranoid some people on here are. In 30 years time, long after 2012 has been and forgotten perhaps you will realise this yourselves.

NOTHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN! JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER PROPHECY!

Did you post in the wrong thread by mistake, or are you hallucinating?

No-one but you has mentioned 2012 in this thread.

Many of us, and many of our antecedents have lived through difficult times.
The ability to survive in difficult times is bound to be important again at some stage in the future.
We are sharing ideas on how to do that.

Now would you like to go lecture some squirrels for believing the stories about 2012 because they are storing nuts?

As a spoof for fun..last case scenario, you could always turn canibal and eat yuor neighbor how about a total stranger!

i can se it now..citizens turnign canibal and exchannging human meatloaf recipies, toenail soups dejuor, and deasoned rump of rump!

reply to post by Jessicamsa


Raman Noodles!

Tastey, filling, about 20 cents a pack that can be bought in bulk!

Originally posted by S4murai
what scares me most is how deluded and paranoid some people on here are. In 30 years time, long after 2012 has been and forgotten perhaps you will realise this yourselves.

NOTHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN! JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER PROPHECY!

It already has. I go sometimes to a place where shelf time-expired bakery, produce and deli is available for free. So I see often these one pound loafs of bread priced at $5.39 with a manager special $2.89 on it. But they still didn't make the shopping cart. So I took five loafs of that gourmet(?) bread wondering what the price would be around 2012.

The delivery of the expired items are not meant for public, but some folks and I can take what the kitchen doesn't store. It kind of comes handy to discover places of this kind.

Think dry stores...

As well as many other causes, someting as simple as a huge EMP from solar activity could be enough to totally fry the worlds electrical power gen systems which would lead to serious food, water and fuel shortages in weeks.

I would suggest the following items to make up part of any emergency larder:

assorted nuts - excellent nutritional value
dried fruits - dates, apricots, bananas, raisins etc
dried beans and pulses
dried meats such as bilton
salt dried fish
rice and pasta

fresh water would be a major concern, you can only store so much so you may want to consider rainfall collection and purification, you can make a mini purification plant easily enough - check out youtube

hope this helps,

PEACE,
RK

There is a really great solar oven selling on the internet (ebay and the like) for about $200 +/-. I really think this would be the key in case of a disaster. Maybe you can scare up something to eat but can't figure out how to cook it. That solar oven cooks even in the winter. But, of course, you have to cook during the daylight hours and not when it's over cast outside.

Originally posted by Kailassa

Originally posted by S4murai
what scares me most is how deluded and paranoid some people on here are. In 30 years time, long after 2012 has been and forgotten perhaps you will realise this yourselves.

NOTHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN! JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER PROPHECY!

Did you post in the wrong thread by mistake, or are you hallucinating?

No-one but you has mentioned 2012 in this thread.

Many of us, and many of our antecedents have lived through difficult times.
The ability to survive in difficult times is bound to be important again at some stage in the future.
We are sharing ideas on how to do that.

Now would you like to go lecture some squirrels for believing the stories about 2012 because they are storing nuts?

hahaha wow

That was awesome actually, and made me laugh.

I really appriciate this thread and others like it.

It feels overwhelming, how bad things are getting. But maybe you can all help me to prepare and when the SHTF I might be alright! Thanks for putting this all in one place, I am going to print it out and hang on to it for sad times when the internet may no longer exist.

As someone already mentioned, seasonings are your friend!

If you can afford it, go to Sams Club and purchase the Large "jugs" of spices. I use alot of Garlic Powder, Onion Salt and Chili Powder (Red Pepper) since my SO has high blood pressure and salt isn't good for him.

It also wouldn't hurt to get the bucket of bullion. They usually carry chicken and beef and if you're lucky you can get tomato and other flavors. Handy for when you don't have meat but want that meat flavor

I imagine if things get hard enough for us we'll be eating a bit of vegetarian chili. (Hope it doesn't come to that though cuz we love our beef!!)

As for inexpensive meals here are some of the ones that my children and I ate alot of when they were little.

Tuna Casserole - 2 Boxes Mac & Cheese, 1 or 2 Cans Tuna (in oil for best flavor) and 1 Can Sweet Peas. Just cook the Mac & Cheese and mix it up. (water and the oil from the tuna works if you don't have milk & butter!) If you're using the oil from the tuna, don't even worry about draining it. Drain the Peas and mix all ingredients well. It's very inexpensive and filling.

Chili & Spaghetti Noodles - You can make a pot of chili and spoon it over spaghetti noodles to stretch it out and make it last longer.

Ramen Noodles and Veggies - Ramen is cheap and if you add canned veggies it helps to cut down on the salt content a bit. Just use your favorite veggies. To add an extra bit of flavor, add some left-over chicken/turkey/beef you may have.

And something we ate alot when I was a kid ... "Pot Luck" ...

Any veggies, pasta, potatos, meat, etc. never got thrown away. It was thrown into a stock pot that was kept in the freezer. Once the stock pot got close to full it was pulled out of the freezer and put in the fridge where it was allowed to thaw for a few days (while new stuff was added!). Then it was put on the stove and cooked for a couple hours.

Hope some of these idea's help during the lean times.

Originally posted by S4murai
what scares me most is how deluded and paranoid some people on here are. In 30 years time, long after 2012 has been and forgotten perhaps you will realise this yourselves.

NOTHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN! JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER PROPHECY!

Suuuurrrreee,

It has been confirmed by other news sources now that the
$134 billion in US bonds were likely real, and the japanese
men sneaking them around were likely japanese ministry of finance.

If that is true and they are trying to quietly dump them on the
market and other countries start doing it, we don't have long and
it is likely the trigger event for the Wall street journals mentioned
upcoming nationwide bank shutdown.

*** The two below say that the two japanese men stopped
with supposedly fake bonds were released...And if they
had been fake they would have broken the law and be
held on counterfeiting charges.
This says the japanese are dumping US bonds secretly
to get off the ship before it goes beneath the waves...

www.freerepublic.com...

market-ticker.denninger.net...

*** Below says US foreign Embassys are being told to horde
1 years worth of non-US currency due to a possible
lengthy banking shutdown.

www.marketwatch.com...

Speaking of shutdown, 7 banks in one day went poof...

www.fdic.gov...

FDIC top level official says bank closures to increase 10 fold.

moneynews.newsmax.com...

The unofficial troubled bank list as of 30 march 2009 ( 4 months old )
It is worse than the march list at this time.

bankimplode.com...