What's for dinner, and how are we cooking it?

Meal prep and fine dining at the end of the world.

Our lives, for the most part, are filled with many modern conveniences that make cooking simple and easy.  Pop something in to the microwave to heat it up.  Four burner stove, two ovens, you've got that holiday feast covered.  But what happens if all that stops working?

Food.

Food is one of the Big Three.  Shelter, Water, Food.  You can go days without eating, and maybe some of us could stand to shed a few pounds.  But in adverse conditions you don't want to not eat.  You will be burning calories just from stress, so you're going to want to eat.  Eating makes you feel better.

Many in the prepper community will tell you about the assorted emergency food stuffs that you should have on hand.  There are a lot of options, some of which I will touch on here.  I want to focus on cooking though.

A hot meal will boost morale, make you feel better both physically and mentally, and keep you from starving to death.  But what sorts of things do you need to make a hot meal?

Many of the survival type of food items can be eaten cold.  Making them hot does not improve their nutritional value.  Some items, such as Cliff Bars and ration bars, really don't qualify as a hot meal item but some of them such as the MRE (Meal Ready to Eat) and other military style food items can be improved by making them hot.

Beans and Rice.

More people in the world live on beans and rice than you might think.  It's a good, filling, meal and it can keep you going.  They are dry and require water, heat, and time to make into a meal.  On the plus side they are fairly inexpensive and last a long time.

Freeze Dried Meals.

These foil packet meals require hot water and a few minutes to steep to become food.  They are light and surprisingly good (I'm not a food critic) but they are also on the expensive side.  they have a very respectable shelf life.

MRE.

Meals Ready to Eat are a staple in the diet of soldiers.  They are healthy foods that are easy to carry, can be eaten hot or cold, and if you do it right you can eat it right out of the pouch.  They last a long time, are easy to use, but a bit on the expensive side.

Canned Foods.

Most canned foods can be eaten cold or hot.  They are heavy, but durable.  Shelf life is decent, but you will need either a can opener or some ingenuity to get them open.

The idea is to have things in your bag.  It should be ready to jump.  Everything I mentioned here as far as food can be packed and ready to go.  Remember to check your food supplies, rotate and replace as needed.  It's that pesky check it twice a year sort of thing.  A Jump Bag is not a set it and forget it sort of tool.

Why make it hot?

Making hot water is a good thing to be able to do.  This requires a container and a heat source.  I have talked about camp cups and metal water bottles as ways to boil water.  But it might help to have a bit of a cook kit, something made for cooking.  Hot water can be used to warm the entree in an MRE (trust me, they're better hot) or those microwave bags of rice you might have in the pantry.

With a pot and a way to it hot you can heat up canned soups, make ramen noodles, mac & cheese, and a whole host of other things if you've got a little skill.  You can even make coffee and tea, and thus make yourself a hero to many.

Cook Kits.

This is one of those things where the rule "The more you know the less you need" can come into play.  If you're a rugged outdoorsman you can probably do a lot with a single pot, or billycan as they are often called.  If you're not as skilled you might want something that has a few more bits so you can do things you're more comfortable with.  A simple kit should handle most things.  A pot to boil water in and a skillet to fry in.  This can also double duty in that you might cook something in one pot and then split the meal into the two vessels for eating.  I went with the Emergency Zone Lightweight Anodized Aluminum Outdoor Mess Kit.  It was more than I needed so I pared it down to just the essentials.  I kept all the parts though, because if I decide to do a little tent or car camping it might be nice to have all the bits.

You are going to want to test your gear and see if it fits your needs.  Even if you don't plan to leave your home, you should have some portable gear you can put in your Jump Bag in the event you have to go.  Remember, a Jump Bag is there for unexpected situations.

Fire!

You will need a way to cook if you intend to.  You should have a way to boil water even if you plan to live off of granola bars and local greens.  Boiling water will require heat, and in situations like the ones we are envisioning that usually means fire.

You can find a lot of different camp stoves on the market.  Alcohol stoves, propane, white gas, esbit, the list is pretty long.  Again, this goes back to your level of skill, weight, and space.  The idea of the Jump Bag is a kit of supplies that can keep you going for three days.  Here we are again at the crossroads of "The more you know the less you need"  I carry a lot of fire starting tools, because my skills are bad.  My knowledge isn't, but my practical application is.

Open fires are certainly an option, but often not easy to pull off sometimes.  Finding all the components to make a fire can be a challenge in certain environmental situations, and those same sorts of conditions can make starting and maintaining a fire equally difficult.  Try and make sure you understand the fundamentals of fire building.  If you can, practice them in the backyard or at a campground.  It's a good skill to have, even if you don't plan to do your cooking over an open fire.

Stoves come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and prices.  Lightweight hiking options are a good choice.  Fairly simple to operate, efficient, and many are in a decent price range for those who need to prep on a budget.  The fuel they require is a finite resource in most cases, so that needs to be a consideration when deciding on what one to put in your Jump Bag.

Tiny alcohol stoves are popular.  They can be made out of a couple of small cans if you need to improvise and do a decent job of heating water. I have one for my office bag, which I will discuss in another post.

I went with something a bit heavier, but that could use wood as a fuel source and could be used to charge electronic devices such as mobile phones.  The Biolite Wood Burning Camp Stove.  I originally got involved in the Kickstarter campaign for this stove because I was excited about what they were trying to do for families in less developed parts of the world.


Once I got the stove and started to play around with it I realized that it would be a good device for my Jump Bag.  The stove is designed to burn wood super efficiently, and you can get it going fairly easily, which were both in line with my less than outdoorsman skill level at fire starting. The fact that once it's up to temp it's excess energy can be used to charge electronics was a nice side benefit.  Assuming the world isn't completely dark this option will allow you to keep a mobile phone alive so that you can keep track of family outside the effected zone and stay up to date (assuming the networks are still working).  This power can also be used to recharge portable battery packs or run small LED lights.  And a fire, even a tiny one in a metal can, can be a morale booster in a tough situation.

So I've covered a few things here, in my usual rambling sort of way, about food and cooking.  When presented with a wall of information, boil it down (no pun intended) to the most basic things.  I need food.  Is it food that needs to be heated.  Will I eat it?  That last one is the trick.  Think about it.  Try various arrangements and see what works for you.

Do you have a favorite stove or cooking kit you keep in your Jump Bag?  Share with us in the comments.  Knowledge is only good if it's shared.  Thanks for reading.