Eating on the Run: Soup’s Up!

By RC Murphy

Cramming supplies into your go bag isn’t enough. You need skills to back them up. In the age of microwave everything, fast food, and premade box meals, cooking is quickly becoming a lost art form for newer generations. If given a fire, a pot, and whatever supplies you can carry on your back, could you make a meal? Probably not a very tasty one the first time around. Good thing the zombies are moving slow. We have time before the apocalypse to learn some basic recipes, which can be tweaked to utilize whatever you scavenge.

Soup is always a crowd favorite and typically easy to make. Below is a quick and easy barley and bean soup.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup barley
  • 1 1/2 – 2 cups White Beans (Rinsed and soaked in purified water, or use two cans.)
  • 6 cups Chicken or Vegetable Broth

Chop the following into 1/4 inch chunks:

  • 2 Carrots
  • 1 Zucchini
  • 3 Stalks of Celery
  • 2 Medium-Sized Potatoes, skin on
  • 1 Small Yellow Onion

Dump everything in a pot and season with:

  • Salt (To taste.)
  • Pepper (To taste.)
  • 1/8 tsp Cayenne Pepper (More or less, if you like.)
  • 1 tsp Ground Sage
  • 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
  • 1 tbsp Parsley

If everything isn’t covered by liquid, add more broth or purified water. Let it cook over the fire, stirring occasionally. Total cooking time will be about 90 minutes after the liquid begins to boil.

At some point after the beans are cooked through, toss a can of diced tomatoes in the mix. Also at that point, taste and add more seasoning as desired.
No fancy toppings for this soup. Just shove it in a bowl and eat. This recipe should make about 8 servings, depending on the size of the vegetables.

Tip: When fresh vegetables are on sale, grab a few extra to chop and freeze. This way when you are forced to flee, you’ll have the base for numerous healthy meals that’ll keep you moving.
Cornbread would go good with this soup. We’ll attempt that recipe next time around.