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.


Tasty Survival – Prickly Pear Jelly

This recipe from Yellow Brigade Commander Jinxie G works great in the southwest where Prickly Pear cacti are abundant!

PRICKLY PEAR JELLY 6095716446_a913849ddd

You’ll need a pot to cook over a fire, tongs, gloves, a bowl and an instrument to mash like a potato masher.

tunas 018Pick fruit with gloves and tongs. You don’t want to prick yourself with those needles! There’s a reason it’s called Prickly Pear.

While holding the fruit under running water with the tongs, brush off the needles with a wire brush. Yes, a wire brush.

Prickly pear fruit choppedPlace them in a pot. Cover with water and boil until tender (about 1 hour). Cut them in half after cooking, as they will mash easier. Drain and mash with a potato masher. Strain with double thickness cheesecloth (juice should be clear, no needles, etc.).  Put pulp in garbage, not disposal (if indoors).

Measure 2 cups prickly pear juice with 1 ¾ oz. pkg. pectin, assuming you’ve got some with you. If not, raid a local grocery store because let’s face it, no one’s going to be yanking pectin off the shelves during an apocalypse. Bring to boil, stirring constantly.

Add 3 ½ cups sugar and 3 Tbsp. lemon juice. Boil—rolling boil—for 3 minutes . . . stir constantly.

Remove from heat and skim off foam.

Pour into glass jars and seal.

Mmm mmm good! Now you have jelly to go with whatever your apocalypse breakfast will be!

prickly pear jelly

You’re welcome.

Jinxie G

PS: Jinxie would like to thank her wonderful Aunt Pat for this recipe! =)


Tasty Survival – Smoked Jerky on the Run

stock pic of jerkyAs part of our collective efforts to prepare for the z-poc, ZSC command has undertaken a mission to bring you a series of recipes to keep the body strong and the spirit lifted during dark times. Now, don’t go thinking you’ll be cooking these up in the early days of the infection. You’ll be too busy slaying walkers on the move for this kind of fare. But once the initial dust settles and you’re in the fight for the long haul, you’re going to want something other than the beef jerky, energy bars and chocolate you’ve got stashed in your Go Bag.

Speaking of jerky, this week’s survival recipe comes from the desk of Yellow Brigade Commander Jinxie G!

Smoked Jerky on the Run!

Angry Javelina with TusksBeing on the run from the shambling horde doesn’t leave a lot of time for cooking every day, so a good way to get that protein you’ll need is to make some jerky out of whatever large game is in your area when you can’t loot any from surrounding stores any longer. Heck, you could probably even use this for javelina (native to the Southwest and quite the nasty beast in temperament).

Most people don’t realize that Arizona and the Southwest have deer and elk, along with the mountain lions and javelina, so this very basic recipe really goes a long way. I haven’t tried this using javelina, and that’s a different type of meat, but hey, it’s worth a shot. Either way, the meat from a javelina is good to eat. Have a pig roast, if anything.

Was2728591We’ll just go with the deer/elk/buffalo recipe. I’m also assuming you know how to skin these animals. If you don’t, that should be on your “Top 10 Things I Need to Know for the Zombiepocalypse” list.

First, you’ll want to trim off all visible fat from the meat because it becomes rancid. Cut the flank steak lengthwise with the grain into long thin strips no more than ¼ inch thick. Rub it aggressively with salt cover for 10 to 12 hours so it’ll absorb the salt and release some of its natural juices. At this time, you can add additional spices, fruits, liquids, etc. This is why I require spices in the Yellow Brigade Go Bag (you’ll have to be logged in to view that link).

300_557291Next, you’ll need to build a scaffold to support the meat over a slow fire beneath it; the heat and the smoke completes the process in half a day, and with an occasional sunning, the meat will keep for months.

Not too hard, right? Just get yourself somewhere safe for a couple of days so you can do this and you’ll have that protein you need for a good long while, depending on the size of the animal, of course.

Happy hunting!

Z-poc recipes 3

I’d like to thank my ex-husband, the bow hunter from Wyoming, for helping me with this.


Tasty Survival – Macaroni And Cheese

dutch_oven_campfireWEBAs part of the ongoing effort to keep our loyal members well fed during the Z-Pocalypse, we’re taking a look at a very important aspect of daily nutrition – comfort food. Whether standing alone or as a side dish with your favorite post-apocalyptic meal, macaroni and cheese is the ultimate comfort food. As long as fresh milk, cheese, butter and eggs are still available, this long-time favorite of Blue Brigade Commander Norman Reedus can be easily prepared almost anywhere.

If you’re fortunate enough to have found safe haven in a place with a working kitchen, this one is a snap. But even with a simple wood stove or an outdoor campfire, this recipe can also be prepared in a deep skillet or in a Dutch oven.

Ingredients:

1 lb macaroni, cooked
4 tbsp butter
2 eggs, beaten
3 cups milk
2 tbsp flour
½ tsp salt
6 cups grated cheddar cheese

Directions:

Melt the butter in the bottom of the Dutch oven, then stir in the flour to make a light roux. Add the salt.  Mix milk with beaten egg and blend in until thick and bubbly then add in 5 cups of cheese, stirring until melted.  Stir in cooked macaroni noodles then top off with balance of cheese.  Set dutch oven over campfire until heated through and slightly browned on top.

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It certainly goes without saying that as daily survival gets tougher, items such as fresh milk and cheese may no longer be easily available. In preparation for this stage, you might want to stock up on dry goods. Boxed macaroni and cheese dinners can be made with powdered or evaporated canned milk.  You can also use macaroni and cheese sauce mixes. If available, canned tuna or chicken and canned vegetables can be added for extra fuel and nutrition.

Enjoy!