Survival foods and the Chuck Wagon recipe

By Joseph Parish

One of the best feedbacks associated with any bug out exercise is evaluation of the end results. In the case of our current mobile bug out situation we have discovered that much of the food which we so carefully stored away for an emergency is essentially useless to us under these conditions.

By useless I don’t mean that one could not eat it but rather it is bland and completely unappealing, as well as difficult to prepare sometimes. In view of this we have been forced to sit down and reappraise our food storage goals. We realized that it was time to make some serious reconsideration in what food items we stored up on. Canned foods are fine in the sense that you need veggies and other basic necessities and may not have the means to obtain fresh varieties but ready made meals tend to be more consistent with bug out activities.

You are not always assured that you have the proper condiments and added ingredients to make complicated meals for your family and although in my current case I could easily rush off to the local Food Lion market and grab what I need this is not an option under actual emergency conditions.  

To help in this respect we have discovered some valuable hints for use in cooking and preparing food while in a camper. Cooking time needs to be adequately taken into consideration when planning family meals. Dried beans of any kind are great under normal circumstances but when you are cooking from a small 20 pound propane tank similar to those employed in home BBQ grills certain problems tend to develop.  

On an average our propane tank lasts about one week. I do not view that as bad when you consider that it is winter time and we use the propane for not only cooking but for heating hot water used for bathing and for heat in the camper. If we were to extend the amount of cooking time necessary to prepare meals such as dried beans then it is very likely that you would greatly shorten the life expectancy of your 20 pound propane tank.

We ended up with many foods which alone were not the tastiest of items. I would highly recommend that each family decide what recipes they will be using while in a bug out status and concentrate upon building up their food supplies accordingly. I stocked up on things like sardines, etc but one simply can not have these tasty fish at every meal.

Some items that we found to be very versatile have been certain canned items such as canned baked beans. You would be surprised at the number of different meals that can be made with a can of baked beans. The canned vegetables can be skillfully combined into an excellent vegetable soup as can the cans of peas into a delightful pea soup.

These experiments will tell you if you are choosing the proper recipes for the stored foods you have as well as the various techniques of using what you have effectively. After all that is essentially what a bug out exercise is all about. We've quickly learned that foods which are easily prepared are the best in these cases. My suggestion to all survivalists and preppers is to try these foods at home before you really need to use them.

As an extra treat I have enclosed a meal that my wife has made for our family for many years. This recipe is quick to make and actually very tasty. It’s called chuck wagon.

Several slices of bacon

1 lb. of ground beef

3 tsp. dried chopped onions

2 beef bouillon cubes

2/3 c. boiling water

1 tsp dried minced garlic

1/2 cups of tomato sauce

1 tsp. of salt

1/2 tsp. of pepper

2 cans of baked beans

½ cup of Worchester sauce

This recipe can be prepared on top of your stove and does not require to be baked in the oven. Fry up the bacon until it is crispy and then set it aside. In the same pan with the bacon fat cook the ground beef. Add the various spices such as onion, salt and pepper. Cook until the meat is brown. Chop up the meat as it cooks so that you have small ground beef sections in the pan.  Dissolve the two bouillon cubes in a little bit of boiling water and stir them into the meat mixture. Add the beans and the Worchester sauce to the meat. Cook until beans are hot then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Crumble the bacon over the beans.

Copyright @2009 Joseph Parish

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