The Importance Of Emergency Food Storage For Any Kind Of Situations

Several weather changes, natural calamities and volatile economic conditions have been reminding us constantly that unfortunate events can take place any moment. Thus the question arises that are you prepared for handling these kinds of situations? There are a large number of people who are not prepared for handling these kinds of emergency situations. But emergency preparedness is of utmost importance to devise a good emergency plan that can help you in times of unforeseen circumstances. If any disaster takes place, it takes a minimum of three days before any kind of help reaches you and your family. Therefore it is very essential for you to prepare yourself for these days so that you can feed yourself and your family.

You need to have adequate food storage for emergency that can lasts for a longer time. These foods do not even require any preparation and you should select foods according to the needs and preferences of your family. 

It is extremely essential for you to select food items that are complete meal and provides you with proper and balanced nutrition. You should have food storage that can keep your health and bodies intact during long term crisis and emergencies. Food bars are the best non preparation foods that are high in calories and do not make you too much thirsty. Camping meals like light weight food and meals ready to eat can also be stored for a long period of time and these foods can last for up to two years in the shelf. If you are planning to prepare your own food then preserving and canning is the best option as these methods are the most cost efficient way of storing food. The canning process is very easy to learn and perform but for this you will need to have the right equipment and supplies.

You need to have pressure canners that are very important for home caning which is ideal for pressure canning the vegetables with low acid content. You can use boiling water canning process for preparing high acid vegetables. This method is carried on in a boiling water canner or a cooking pot where the jars are put in with adequate water for covering the jars. Food dehydrator is also important equipment for emergency food storage as it helps in drawing the moisture from the food so that spoilage can be prevented even if the food is not refrigerated.

There are a large number of emergency food kits and food items that are available in the market that is very essential for helping you to survive for three days. These kit need to be easy to grab and portable so that it can help you in case of emergency situations. These kits have dehydrated foods, freeze-dried foods and meals ready to have for providing you with enough healthy food for emergency situations. There are some food kits that even include supplements and vitamins for you and your family when you are going through any disasters, emergency situations or crisis in your life.

Posted By Carrie R. Butler

Dried Food Recipe – An Overview

Drying food, also known as dehydrating is a method of food preservation that is carried out by eliminating water from the foodstuff thus hindering bacterial growth. Drying of food goes back in time and was still used for preservation. Then it was a very popular way of keeping food edible for very long periods of times. Though it was not always efficient it very much served the needed purpose.

In this modern day, a lot of food is used in its dehydrated state to lengthen its shelf life and make it easier to handle. Some of the most common dried foods include:

• Instant coffee
• Powdered milk

• Freeze-dried ice-cream


• Oatmeal
• Instant noodles etc


Fruits and vegetables may also be dehydrated and eaten in the dry state or soaked in water or alcohol to reconstitute them. Food may be dried for purposes such as camping or going on long road trips or even for emergencies.
Methods of drying food

There are modern and traditional methods of food preservation some of which are still being used. The most common techniques include, but are not limited to:

I. Drying- water is removed via evaporation by being exposed to sunlight or wind. It is a traditional method hence takes time before the desired result is achieved.

II. Smoking- this is mostly done on meat hung over a fire place. It was used by hunters to preserve meat.

III. Salting- salt has a dehydrating effect and sprinkling it over meat or vegetables essentially removes the moisture and conserves it.

IV. Spray drying-it is a modern method of producing a powder from a liquid such as milk by use of very hot air.

V. Household oven- this is a thermal furnace that can cook as well as dry food.

VI. Food dehydrators- they basically eradicate moisture from food by blowing warm air over the food.

VII. Freeze drying- it is a method of drying food by exposing it to extreme cold conditions then sublimating the frozen water to gas immediately.
VARIOUS RECIPES THAT CAN RESULT FROM DRIED FOOD

• Tuna fish soup
• Vegetable soup
• Dry onion soup
• Hamburger rocks

• Cooked beans etc

Here is an interesting fact- you may cook a whole meal and dry it the all you have to do is boil it in some water to rehydrate it. How convenient.

An example of a great dried food recipe is:

Chicken noodle soup

Ingredients; (all dehydrated)

• A slice of well ground garlic
• 3 cups Egg noodles

• 3 tablespoons Olive oil

• Half a cup of Carrots
• 1 lb Previously cooked dehydrated chicken

• 5 cups Chicken stock
• A quarter a cup of Onions

• Seasonings and salt and pepper to taste

METHOD

i. Rehydrate all the items above by dipping in cold or boiling water until

ii. Adequately succulent.
iii. Add olive oil to a medium heated pan.

iv. Add onions and cook till golden brown.
v. Add the chicken stock, the garlic, carrots, egg noodles and the chicken and cook

Posted By Carrie R. Butler