preparednessblog

In many parts of the world, lack of electricity is an everyday fact of life. In hot climates, it means that food spoils fast, and much of it is lost.

A Nigerian teacher came up with a solultion that uses evaporation to keep items cooler. It means that produce that used to last only a day can be kept for a couple of weeks instead.

The zeer pot is made of two unglazed pots with wet sand in between and a wet cloth over the top. As the water in the sand evaporates, it makes the inside of the pot colder.

A zeer pot will not work as well in humid climates, so, experiment with it to find out if one is right for your situation. Besides keeping produce and other items fresh, it can be used to keep drinks cold when you are away from sources of electricity.

There are complete instructions for making one here .

After my post on the nutrition and economics of Spam, I received some emails and comments on a blog where I linked my entry, asking  whether I’d ever even tried Spam, and accusing me of being a, ahem, “Spam elitist”.

Now, if you read back, I never called Spam trashy food, never said it was disgusting. I merely pointed out that it’s both expensive and high in fat and sodium.

However, as it happens, I had, in fact, never eaten Spam. And, to be honest, that was bothering me, since one of my pet peeves is people who hold opinions without getting the facts. So, I’d been thinking that a taste test was in order.

Luck was with me, as my local grocery store had Spam Singles on clearance, 89 cents for a 3 ounce pack. I picked up two. One of those packs, in fact, wound up being free, because they rang up at the register at the normal, pre-clearance price. I suppose if you are going to eat Spam, free Spam would be the way to go.

I decided on a very basic prep, and pan-fried the slices until crispy, then served them along side fried grits and some collard greens.

They smelled good cooking, kind of bacon-y. I don’t typically eat pork, so, cooking bacon is a very rare scent in my kitchen. Curious children wandered in to the kitchen to inquire.

I plated up the food and tried my first bite.

UGH.

The taste is more salty than anything else. None of those nice smoky notes you get with bacon or ham. And the texture… I guess hotdogs, or perhaps very firm playdough, would be the closest comparison. It’s definitely not anything I associate with meat.

The younger kid, who is usually the healthiest eater, surprisingly, liked Spam a lot. The older one deemed it merely okay.

So…. I cooked. I ate. I gave Spam a chance.

Verdict: not likely to be added to my repertoire this side of the apocalypse.

The things I do for you people….

A lot of people recommend keeping non-fat powdered milk in your pantry stores for emergencies when fresh milk, or power to refrigerate it, may not be available. I’ve never kept much on-hand because I just can’t stand the taste of powdered milk. I’ve tried chilling it for 24 hours, I’ve tried it in recipes. And, it just has a rank, powdery taste that I can’t get past.

However, a friend recently introduced me to powdered whole milk. Nestle sells it under two different names, Klim and Nido.  I bought some and mixed up a batch. The taste is absolutely indistinguishable from fresh milk.

Around here, it’s a bit more expensive than fresh milk, so, I would not rely on it for day to day use. It is very handy to have in the cabinet for tiny disasters like forgetting to buy milk on your regular shopping trip. I save a bit of money by not having to make an extra trip to the supermarket, or, pay inflated prices at the convenience store.

Plus, in a situation where we did not have electricity, I’d be able to mix it up in small batches to use immediately. The kids like it over cereal. Having the chance to keep the same breakfast meals for them is another way to keep things stable and keep them happier through any sort of disaster situation.

We got into town too late to stay at the campground we’d planned (long story involving the rental company giving us an SUV instead of the compact we wanted) so we’re in a cute little motel, instead. There’s wifi, so I thought I’d throw up a quick post about what we’re eating while we’re away.

S. has a small cooler that plugs into the cigarette lighter in the car. We filled it with drinks and some cheese, homemade hummus and roast vegetables from home. It’s handy when you are in the car, but we’ll be switching to the traditional cooler and ice when we are not mobile. Our regular cooler is an Igloo MaxCold, and it’s pretty fantastic. I’ve used it for three day long trips, and still had solid ice from the first day it in. In Florida in the summer, that’s pretty impressive.

The hummus is a recipe made entirely from shelf stable foods, and I could easily make it on the road:

 Pantry Hummus

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 tablespoon peanutbutter (tahini is traditional, but I don’t always have it on hand. Trust me, you can’t taste the difference)

1 clove mashed garlic

vinegar

olive oil

good curry powder

I soak the garlic in the vinegar for a few minutes to cut down the pungency a bit. Then, I add all the other ingredients and mash with a potato masher. This makes a chunkier hummus than you get with a food processor, but a bowl and masher are easier to clean, and don’t need any electricity. I like to make it a day ahead of time so the flavors have time to meld, but it’s good just after preparing, too.

These, plus a tin of sardines and a bag of tortilla chips made a nice, light dinner last night.

Yahoo News is reporting that sales of Spam are rising as more being feel pinched by increasing food prices. This caught my eye, as many people advocate Spam as a storage/disaster food, based largely on the food’s much-touted eternal shelf-life.

However, I cannot recommend Spam as any sort of mainstay in your diet. First off, it’s horribly high in both saturated fat and sodium. A two ounce serving contains 23% of the RDA of saturated fat, and 32% of the the RDA for sodium. And, I’m going to bet that few people actually only eat two ounces.

A whopping 78% of the calories in Spam come from fat.

Plus, besides the ghastly nutritional profile, Spam is not an inexpensive food. Around here, a 12 ounce tin costs $2.79. That’s $3.72 per pound, which I consider pretty expensive. Canned tuna, even at the current high prices, is still less than $3 per pound for chunk light tuna. Salmon is only a little more expensive than that. Canned beans can be had for less than a dollar a pound, and dried, once soaked and cooked, can be less than 25 cents per prepared pound. All of these foods have a far better nutritional profile than Spam.

Now, if you are a diehard meat and potatoes eater, I suppose that Spam could have a place in your pantry stocks as a change of pace or comfort food.

However, it is not a cheap alternative. There are many, many less expensive foods out there that are better tasting and better for you, too.

Like it? Digg it!

How much food do you need?

Many people, particularly members of the Mormon Church, believe that you should stock one full year’s worth of food. There is even a calculator here to help you decide how much to have on hand to satisfy a year’s nutritional needs.

Obviously, this is not a one-size-fits-all solution. I, for one, am not at a point where I would even know what to do with 600 pounds of wheat berries. It makes no sense to stock food that you do not know how to prepare or will not eat.

But, I will say that the calculator is a good way to start thinking about how much is enough, and what sorts of foods you would like to keep on-hand for your family.

If there is ever an event that damages the water supply in your area, making sure that you have access to clean water is a must.

The best option is to have potable water stored. The minimum you should have is one gallon per person per day, enough to get you through three days.

If you do not have that on-hand, you will need to find other water sources and make those safe to drink. Most bacteria can be killed by boiling water for five minutes. After boiling, pour water back and forth between two pitchers to re-oxygenate it and take away the flat, boiled taste.

Water can also be purified by adding small amounts of bleach – a couple of drops per gallon. Let it sit for several minutes before drinking.

A third, less well-known option is solar water purification. This method uses nothing more than PET plastic bottles and the sun’s light to kill germs. Exposure time needed ranges from 6 hours in warm climates and bright light to as long as two days in cloudy conditions.

There is a great step-by-step tutorial here . It’s a good option if you are in a situation where fuel is limited but water needs to be purified to drink, cook and wash.

One of the most basic disaster preps that you can do is to keep a well-stocked pantry. The most lax recommendations are for three days worth of food, water and any medicines you take on a regular basis. More cautious approaches recommend anywhere from a few weeks to a full year of stocks on-hand.

I personally think that three months worth of stocks is a good, secure amount that will get you through most situations.

It pays to carefully consider what to stock for your pantry. It’s easy to run out and grab fifty pound bags of beans and rice and call it done. But, after a few weeks of those two staples, I can pretty much guarantee that you and your family will be suffering from serious food fatigue. This is not a trifling concern. Food fatigue can hurt morale, and even lead to malnutrition and starvation, particularly in children.

A better approach is to consider the foods that you currently eat that can be prepared from shelf-stable staples. In a disaster situation, familiar foods will be easier to prepare and help keep spirits up.

There is no need to rush out and buy three months worth of food all at once. It’s much more financially prudent to stock up as items go on sale. This way, you spread out your spending, but also get items at the lowest price. So, next time canned tomatoes go on sale, buy a case instead of just a few cans.

Also remember to rotate what you stock so that everything is of optimum freshness. If you are stocking up on foods you normally eat, this is as simple as putting new items in the back of the pantry, and using older ones for current meals.

A few of the items that I keep on-hand for nutrition and variety:

• canned beans (usually black beans, garbanzos, pintos and kidneys)
• dried lentils, mung beans and peas (both split and whole)
• canned tuna and salmon
• shelf-stable tofu
• tomatoes (diced, sauce, juice and prepared marinara)
• canned vegetables (corn, peas, green beans)
• dried vegetables (broccoli, soup greens, tomatoes)
• peanutbutter
• other grains (oatmeal, grits, cous cous, quinoa, millet, wheat berries)
• pasta in ever shape that I can find
• rice (brown, white, arborio and jasmine)
• ramen and boxed macaroni and cheese

With these supplies, I can make a wide variety of nutritious and easy meals for myself and my family. Your list will almost certainly vary from mine.

Several times a week, I’ll give you a challenge to make your family just a little better prepared for any possible disaster. TODAY’S PREPAREDNESS CHALLENGE: Carefully wash an empty 2-liter bottle and fill it with water. If you have room in your freezer, stash it there. If you don’t, put it under your kitchen sink. You now have half a day’s water rations for a single person.