Food is an important part of the human existence. We spend an eighth of our lifetime, at least, focusing on food. It becomes a social activity, a fashion statement, a social statement, a pastime, an obsession, a way to bring people together and a way to keep people apart. Despite all the bizarre roles food can take on in out society, it remains, and shall continue to remain, an integral part of our existence. Our modern society has seemingly taken it for granted in some regards – with a McDonalds every few miles and gas stations selling foods as nourishing as fruits and vegetables or as miasmic as Twinkies and Mountain Dew. We live in a society where we don’t have to worry about food at all, but when the resources we have wither away, and the undead begin to roam the streets, we may find ourselves in a very different world. There are a few main practices that can be used to keep food available and keep ourselves healthy.
Keep it Fresh
The human body needs fresh fruits and vegetables to function properly. Taking vitamin supplements will eliminate some of this need, but not all. Fresh foods are important and, though they have a shorter shelf life, they will provide you with countless nutrients, vitamins and minerals, some of which you can’t get anywhere else. Know that there are always fruits and vegetables around, no matter the time of year and they can be harvested (though that is another article for another time.) Fresh fruits and vegetables can be kept around fairly easily without any refrigeration if you know what you’re doing. By keeping undamaged produce in a cool, dry place with plenty of padding and no chance of being found by a small rodent, most will withstand many weeks of storage with only a small amount of degradation of quality. Even on long trips where carrying weight is a concern, it is advisable to carry fresh food when at all possible. If you do have livestock or have hunted for meat, it is advisable that you don't try and store the meat unless you must, simply use it up as fast as possible. In some climates this is not always possible and some foods don’t store as well in this way, in which case, other methods must be used.
Preserve What You Must
Meat
With meats, drying and/or curing so as to remove the moisture or make the meat itself inhospitable to bacteria, mold or other organisms is the most common and easiest method. Liberally salting and seasoning the meat will make the flesh itself less comfortable for anything that could cause spoilage, thereby making it less likely that it will occur. Placing the meat in a dry heat for long periods will remove the water and further protect the meat. To preserve meat, there are generally three methods that can be used and these will result in a variety of storage lengths, nutrition, and flavor:
Salt Curing
Salt is a common ingredient when used to store meat, but in the salt or brining method, there is little else used. Salt curing preserves the meat in a way closest to it's original state, but it also has the shortest shelf-life. One method of salt curing is known as the brining methed or the wet method. To do this, you make a simple brining solution of 1 cup salt for every 2 gallons of hot water and add some sugar and vinegar (various recipes call for varying amounts, and in some sugar and vinegar are omitted). Some recipes call for the addition of salt peter or sodium nitrite/nitrate which will help preserve the meat's flavor, color and will help prevent spoilage. If you wish to use such an ingrediant, it is advised that you find an exact recipe with salt peter as it is a chemical that can be fatal if too much is ingested (not to worry, when eating meat preserved with it, you would likely die from sodium overdose first). Once the brining solution has been properly mixed, make sure it is cold (as close to freezing as you can get it without being frozen) and cut the meat into 10-15 pound pieces. Let the meat sit for 6 days in the brining solution and then remove the meat, dry it off and hang it in flour sacks to keep the flies away. Meat cured in this way should last for 6 weeks if stored in a cool, dark, dry place. Meat can also be cured with a dry rub method, in which similar ingrediants are used, but the meat is rubbed with the salt/sugar/salt peter to cure. To dry cure the meat, thoroughly mix 4 pounds salt, 1 1/2 pounds sugar, and 3 ounces of salt peter and rub half of the mixture onto the meat immediately. Place the meat into a container and put this container in a cool, dry place and let sit 2 days per pound, but at least 25 days, repeating the rub every 7 days then remove salt and store in a sack (away from flies) in a cool, dry place for 1 to 3 weeks to let the meat set. The meat can be smoked if desired, and then aged up to 6 months, shoulders should be used at this point, but other cuts of meat will last up to a year.
Canning
Canning meat will allow you to store the meat up to a couple of years if stored properly, but is a slightly more complicated method of preservation than the other methods. Canning meat can be dangerous if done improperly so it is important to follow the procedure exactly and to make sure that your starting product is a clean, disease-free animal that is either being canned immediately after slaughter, or after the meat has been properly chilled. Because of the complexity of canning, you should check out the exact coking times for the meats listed on the NDSU website. Please note that canning meat requires the use of a pressure cooker and that it is the only safe method for ensuring safe canning of the ingredients.
Drying
By far the easiest method, and one of the easiest to store, is simply drying the meat. Nearly everyone is familiar with meat dried into strips, usually after being seasoned, this, of course, is called jerky. There are many other types of dried meat, but suffice it to say, knowing about how to dry the meat should be god enough. Make sure that you get the meat to the proper temperature to ensure that you kill any bacteria that might be growing on the meat. Making sure the meat gets up to 160 degrees F (72 C) before starting the drying process should ensure that the meat will be safe. Drying can be done by simply hanging the meat on racks in a dry area, though using smoke will help to keep flies away as well as give the meat a pleasent flavor if the proper wood is used. When properly stored jerky can last up to two years and there is nothing that travels better. With jerky on hand and by picking a few wild vegetables, you can make yourself a pretty satisfying pot of soup in no time and with almost no effort.
Fruits & Vegetables
Vegetables and fruits can be dried and cured similarly to meats, but the easier method for these is canning. The key thing to remember with fruits and vegetables is this: spoilage is caused by molds, fungus and bacteria being fed by the sugars in the produce, but the only way the mold/fungus can take hold is by having moisture. If one were to leave sugar in a nice warm container, with ample exposure to mold, one would find the sugar had experienced no change. However, mix just a little bit of sugar in water and leave it out on a counter or outside and in less than two days, mold will have taken over. Drying the produce can remove the water, but should moisture sneak back into the storage area everything will be just as before and the food will be no good. Because of the persistent threat of moisture, the easiest method of storing produce for the long term is to can it, thereby eliminating the exposure to the undesired elements. Canning is done by sterilizing all the containers, placing the produce into an airtight container with a liquid, heating the contents so as to kill all the bacteria (be aware of the difference between heating low acid produce versus high acid produce), and then placing an airtight lid on the container and letting them cool. Once the containers have cooled, they will seal themselves shut and prevent any fungus, mold or bacteria from entering. Some produce can be pickled, which is a similar method using vinegar as the liquid, though this results in a very different product when it is removed later on.
Travel Light, Travel Smart
If you are going to be forced to travel long distances, space and weight is probably an issue. Know your nutritional requirements before you embark on an expedition. As was stated before, having fresh food is a good plan, but also knowing what kind of travel food to carry is a must. Taking some less perishable produce is fantastic, but also consider taking with you travel cakes made of dried meat, dried fruits, nuts/seeds and something that gives you a lot of calories. Today, we see a lot of energy bars on the market, but method that was used long ago (as unappetizing as it sounds) was rendered animal fat. Animal fat provided the high caloric intake that was required when traveling all day and there was very little storage space. Adding to the cake high vitamin plants such as rosehips or dandelion leaves will help keep you well nourished, even if the food is less then gourmet.
Prepackaged, if You Must
Prepackaged food, be it in cans, bottles, jars, bags, wrappers or boxes is often the least good food you can eat. Though many of the prepackaged foods we have come to know and love will provide you with that caloric and fat intake that is needed, they will be short term solutions that won't give you long term energy and will provide little (if any) nutritional benefits. That being said, prepackaged foods aren't all bad and there are some benefits. Many of the MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) that you can buy and that the military uses can survive for 5-10 years and has substantially more nutritive value than the snack cakes or candy bars we often think of when we think of prepackaged food. Similarly, there are some energy bars common in the market that provide much more complex carbohydrates and less sugar which will provide you with long-term energy. Many pre-packaged food, if you know what to look for, can contain a large number of vitamins and minerals as well.
We need to make sure that we are taking in everything our bodies need, not only to survive, but to thrive. That means getting almost equal parts of protein and grain (around 5-6 ounces) as well as fresh fruits and vegetables in nearly equal parts (2-3 cups each). Being aware of all the different ways that food can be stored and all the different ways that our bodies need to take in nourishment will help keep us safe and strong even without a grocery store down the road.
