Monday, May 27, 2019

Healthy Survival Cooking

I find survivalism very fascinating. Its useful when you go camping or just to save money. But what about when a disaster really strikes? Here's some tips from a reader on how to prepare healthy food when there is a disaster that affects your food prep abilities.

Image Source: www.gonescamping.com

When disaster strikes, you may not have the luxury of going on with your everyday cooking methods. Power and natural gas may not be available as a safety precaution. At this point, starvation is not an option. Instead, it is time to go back to the basic “primitive” meal preparation methods, also known as survival cooking. These are foolproof methods that will ensure you get something healthy in your tummy to push through the tough times. Let’s look at survival cooking tips you can adapt without compromising your health.



Fire up a Makeshift Grill 

Starting a fire is crucial in any situation, where you are fighting to survive. It is best to do this outside. However, if the outside situation is not ideal, you can still do this under your chimney or any other safe place in your house. Be careful not to make the situation worse by setting the house on fire. For this, you can either use wood or a pile of coals for your fire. Find a matchbox or lighter to start the fire, and let it burn for a while until it turns orange. From here you can look for a grate that will act as your grill. A chain-link fence or chicken wire are examples of options to explore. You can then rummage through the fridge to find the best meats to smoke and cook this before they go bad.

Use a Camping Stove 

Outdoor lovers know the importance of camping stoves for off-grid living. They are lightweight, and will not give you a headache when it comes to storage. Some will use charcoal briquettes, pieces of wood, solid heat tables, or even Canned Heat. Keep in mind that this will not help with the preparation of a lot of food for your family because of capacity. They are a gem when it comes to boiling water, making small meals, and warming ready-to-eat foods. This way, you can look forward to hot meals without going through too much trouble.

Go Raw 

When there is power outage for one reason or the other, your vegetable bin can be a lifesaver to get you the nutrition you need. The best thing about this is that you don’t even need to cook them. You can make salads adding homemade dressings to make them tastier. If available, mix in seeds and nuts to give the body proteins. You can also add fresh fruits. It is advisable to go through the fresh and frozen foods stock first before the canned goods. A pro tip when preparing your emergency kit is to purchase canned goods that are free from BPA in the linings.

Make Cooking Easier 

There are some tips that can help make surviving cooking a lot easier. These include things like:
  • Keep the lids on the pots and pans – This helps by cooking the food faster and also ensuring it stays moist. If you have crockpots this is the best time to use them because they assist in the preservation of cooking fuel.
  • Use potatoes on canned food – Unfortunately, most canned foods come with very high sodium levels. Eating this on a daily basis can lead to health problems such as high blood pressure, something you do not want to deal with in a survival situation. To help reduce the sodium in the food, you can use potato slices when warming up the food. The potatoes help to draw out salt making your meals a little bit healthier.
  • Boil your eggs in salt water – this will not only help them cook faster, but they also become easier to peel.

Conclusion

In the absence of your oven or microwave, it is important to know how to use old fashioned cooking methods. Learn the tips above by heart so that when faced with an emergency situation, things become a tad bit easier because you will have something hot and healthy to eat.

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