Can You Have “Off-grid Gourmet Food?”

The big one is coming. What you’ve made all your preps for.

At some point, the stores are going to close, or the electronic banking system is going to go down. A weather event or high gas prices are going to price you out of the food market. You’re going to be among the few people prepared to survive.

Part of why you’re reading this is because you know this. But you can’t handle eating crappy food. You’re not alone. Take a look at all these great foods for survival gourmet.

Sure, you could do like everyone else and order pre-packaged food limiting your sustainability and flavor palate. Or you could order a ton of bulk grains and beans that will have you crying out for flavor in a matter of days.

Either way: you’ll be ok for a little while, but you’ll never get back to the standard of living you’re used to. You’re not going to have within your grasp, the flavors and food items you crave. Do you want to know what is going to make your survival situation pleasurable instead of painful? If you’re looking for survival food gourmet, you’ve come to the right place.

Let’s start small here, because the assumption cannot be made, that all of you have a deep freezer full of game meat running on solar panels. Noone knows if you’ve got 200 cans of high quality freeze dried chicken breast. It’s not a foregone conclusion that you’ve got hunting acreage and a good game management plan for your property.

{adinserter emp}It’s a novel thought to think that all the readers of this content are establishing a robust aquaponics program for their family. Let’s be realistic though. In all honesty, you should be looking into aquaponics and traditional gardening. Raising small livestock (think chickens, goats, turkey, or other) can also serve as a base for your overall food preparation and planning. Maybe you’re not there quite yet.

Looking for the biggest impact? Wondering what is going to bring a smile to your face, or that of your children? What types of food do you crave? What types of food instantly bring you comfort with their bites? What items would you miss if you couldn’t just drive to the grocery store and grab some whenever you felt like it?

Would the following be on the list?

High end seafood?

How about duck, or cured meats, like pepperoni, salami or chorizo?

What about warm bread with butter?

Fresh milk?

Bright fresh condiments?

Fresh bread, eggs or cheese?

Bacon?

Surprise, surprise, all item listed can be stored for a long time on the shelf, WITHOUT having to learn pressure canning. You won’t even need expensive preparation methods and won’t have to spend an arm and a leg to get these foods in your pantry.

Yes, these items enjoy both a long shelf life and widespread availability. It’s this knowledge that’s going to bring you some survival food gourmet, when beans and rice just won’t do it all the time.

This isn’t the end of the road though. While you’ll be grabbing some great ideas here in this article, new stuff is constantly being uncovered. Great new additions for other survivors stashes should be able to help you uncover a few of your own for yours.

You can rest assured, there will be a great flow of food prep ideas in the future through Survivopedia.com . You know you’re not the only one who’s going to be craving some foods if the grid or market system goes down.

A note: If you cannot find these brands of preparations, you should be able to find them with competitive pricing on amazon.com, or even at other e-tailers, especially internet based food stores.

Bacon

Bacon can be bought as a fresh product suitable for freezing, or it can be bought as a “precooked” product (which can actually be cooked again or heated up for different applications) in a can. This stuff is awesome with a really long shelf life (try 4 years+).

If you don’t have a freezer for bacon, but you absolutely must have it, look for the following brands: Yoder’s or CMMG. In future articles, we might touch on the curing process and how you can also cure your own meats for storage without canning or having to buy it. It’s pretty easy to pressure-can your own bacon though, so if you have the desire…

Condiments

Sure standard ketchup and yellow mustard can last in the pantry for a few years, but they are culinary lightweights when it comes to flavor. Whole grain mustard seeds can be reconstituted with a bit of water and provide an excellent variation to your mustard needs. Another item you would be glad to have is chili paste.

Chili paste gives a hot and sour flavor to just about anything. It won’t overtake the whole dish; it works in beans, soups, noodles, meat preparation and eggs. It will serve you well as a basis for other sauces, dips and marinades. The vinegar helps to soften meat proteins and the chili gives a huge boost in flavor. The shelf life isn’t listed but they’ll last for more than 4 years without significant degradation of quality.

Vinegars are also good things to have: White, Red Wine, Apple Cider and balsamic vinegars are all shelf stable for extensive periods of time and can help you make dressings for salads. Great meat marinades can be made easily and vinegar can even serve as a medical option in some cases. Vinegar can be used as a preservation agent for other items like cucumbers, onions, garlic and tomatoes, for short term and long-term storage.

Seafood

It’s no secret that a tuna fish sandwich can be made to taste great, even if it does come out of a can. But did you know there are thousands of different canned seafood with incredible shelf lives? Would you be surprised to learn that they taste much better than your standard Bumblebee brand tuna?

You can get whole tuna steaks preserved in oil or water, which taste almost as good as restaurant quality. In many cases (like in Spain and Portugal) canned tuna steaks are used as tapas and appetizers because of their specific flavor and quality.

You can also get super high quality whitefish (like herring) with light marinades in cans that taste like fresh fish. Clams, oysters, mussels and even conch can be bought in easy to open cans packed in oil. A fan favorite is octopus by the Vigo brand, it tastes tender, doesn’t overpower you with a fishy flavor and is substantial enough to add to pasta or rice.

You could even make soup or eat the octopus with bread or crackers as a meal. Add in a bit of whole grain mustard and chili paste (as above) and some fresh herbs from your indoor or indoor garden and you’ve got an excellent small meal or a great snack, full of protein and flavor.

No joke, some of these canned fish and seafood taste better than some of the stuff you can buy “fresh” in many grocery stores.

There’s a bunch more to share with you about off grid or survival food gourmet, but not enough room here. Check the labels of your favorite unique foods and you might be surprised to find that they’ll be able to join you in an off the grid food situation.

P.S. In my next article you’ll get more brand names, specific items and a bunch more comfort foods you probably didn’t think would last on your pantry shelves. The best tasting foods will surprise you with their shelf worthiness; they don’t have to be in a can to be shelf stable either.

This article has been written by Ben Worthen for Survivopedia.

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