Provisioning List for one month, plus recipes

[skylark]

Provisioning List for one month

Staples
quick brown rice 4 lbs
kidney beans 2 lbs
split peas 2 lbs
lentils 2 lbs
navy beans 2 lbs
spaghetti 2 lbs

Dehydrated Vegetables
dried celery 1 #2.5 can
dried peppers 1 #2.5 can
dried carrots 1 #2.5 can
dried mushrooms 1 #2.5 can

Fresh Vegetables
potatoes 40 lbs
onions 10 lbs

Beverages
tea 4 oz
dried milk 4 boxes
coffee 2 lbs

Bread Ingredients
whole wheat flour 4 lbs
rye flour 4 lbs
yeast 2 oz
salt 0.5 lbs
flax seed 1 lbs
walnuts 1 lbs
raisins 1 lbs
cranberries 1 lbs
sunflower seeds 1 lbs
rolled oats 2 lbs

Miscellaneous
dried apples 2 lbs
peanut butter 2 jar
jam 2 jar
baking powder 1 can
baking soda 1 box
corn starch 1 box
mashed potato flakes 1 box
olive oil 0.5 gallon
wine 2 boxes
vinegar 1 bottle

Snacks
peanuts 6 bottle
pudding 4 boxes
popcorn 1 lbs
crackers 4 boxes

Seasonings
tabasco sauce 1 bottle
italian seasoning 2 oz
paprika 2 oz
ground black pepper 2 oz
chicken bullion 1 bottle
worcestershire sauce 1 bottle
cloves 1 oz
chili powder 2 oz
dried chile 2 oz
dried garlic 4 oz
dried onion 8 oz
bacon bits 4 oz
sugar 8 oz

[skylark]

Red beans and rice in a savory gravy

Soak 4 Tbs kidney beans (or similar sized beans) for 4 or more hours in water with the following vegetables:
1 Tbs dehydrated onions
1 Tbs dehydrated carrots
1 Tbs dehydrated green peppers
1 Tbs dehydrated celery
1 tsp dehydrated garlic
1 dried chile
(note, you can use fresh vegetables, simmer them together with the onion in the next step below)

Drain, add a cup of water and pressure cook for 12 minutes under pressure.

While cooking:
Dice 1 large onion
Add 3 Tbs olive oil to a pot
Simmer diced onions until soft
Add 3 Tbs flour, be prepared to stir
Stir every minute or so, the flour will stick to the pot
When flour has browned (about 5 minutes) add a shot of one of the following:
sherry, wine, beer, broth, bean juice or water
Stir and clean off the bottom of the pot
Add another shot if it is drying up, keep stirring and adding small amounts of liquid to make a gravy.
Add spices:
1 tsp Spanish or Hungarian paprika
1 tsp chicken bullion powder
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 Tbs Italian Seasoning (oregano, basil, thyme)
A couple of splashes of worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, Maggi or your favorite sauce
When beans are ready, drain and add to pot.
Add 1 tsp corn starch.
Add 1 tsp salt.
Add bean juice as necessary to make a creamy sauce.
Simmer for at least 15 minutes.
Serve over rice with a bottle of tabasco sauce for individual heat preference.

[skylark]

Split Pea Soup
Pressure cooker method

1 Tbs olive oil
1 diced onion
Heat and simmer.  When onion is soft, add:
4 Tbs split peas
1 Tbs bacon bits
1 Tbs dehydrated carrots
1 Tbs dehydrated celery
1/2 Tbs dehydrated onions
1/2 tsp dehydrated garlic
(or use fresh vegetables and simmer with onion, above)
1 tsp Italian Seasoning (oregano, basil, thyme)
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 clove
1 tsp salt
2 cups water
Bring to boil, simmer 15 minutes under pressure
Add mashed potato flakes to thicken

[skylark]

Lentil Hash
Pressure cooker method
Makes about 3 cups of a thick sauce with a texture and flavor
comparable to ground beef.
No ingredients require refrigeration!

Soak 4 hours:
4 Tbs lentils
1 tsp dehydrated carrots
1 tsp dehydrated celery
1 tsp dehydrated green pepper
1/2 tsp dehydrated onion
1/4 tsp dehydrated garlic
2 cups water

Simmer till brown:
2 Tbs olive oil
1 chopped onion

Add:
1 tsp chicken bullion
1 clove
shake of black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp Herbs de Provence or Italian seasoning
1 splash of soy sauce, Maggi or Worcestershire sauce
splash of wine or sherry
add the soaked vegetables

cook 10 minutes under pressure
If watery, add a tablespoon or two instant rice and simmer 10 minutes
with open top

Serve with fried potatoes, on spaghetti or as a thick soup with dark bread

My apologies to the vegetarians, this meal tastes good "even though"
it is similar to ground beef!

Looking for dehydrated vegetables? Go to http://waltonfeed.com/ and
get the #2.5 cans, they are small enough to pack in a boat but big
enough to hold months of meals. Don't get that much onion or garlic
though, you don't need as much of them. Celery, peppers, corn, and
carrots are great. I think that dried vegetables are actually cheaper
than fresh or canned.

[skylark]

Fried potatoes

A cast iron frying pan, or other heavy pan works best for this because it holds the heat and spreads it out evenly in the pan.

Add 3 Tbs olive oil to the pan, heat it up.

Peel a potato, rinse, and slice thin pieces into the pan. Watch out for hot oil splatters.

Repeat until pan is full or you have enough.

Stir and turn over potatoes.

Cover pan for 5 minutes (no more).  Stir and turn over potatoes.

If you cover the pan longer (for example 10 minutes) the potatoes will turn out more like mashed potatoes.  You may prefer this taste, but watch out that they don't burn on the bottom.

Stir and turn every 2 or 3 minutes.

Use a lot of heat.

It will take about 25 to 30 minutes to fry the potatoes.

When they are crispy and relatively dry, they are done.

Salt to taste and serve.

Boat Chips: If you let some of the potatoes sit in the hot pan (no flame) for a half hour after they are done, they will get crispy like french fries or potato chips, cooking in the pan as it slowly cools down.

[skylark]

Here is a way to make bread without an oven. It turns out much like a
fruit bread. It is a moist bread when it comes out of the pressure
cooker, but let it stand a while and after an hour or two becomes real
bread.

The idea is to make the dough, then spoon it into a small stainless steel
bowl and bake it in a pressure cooker. Other types of metal bowls will
work but stainless is best for health reasons.  A pottery bowl or bread
mold might work as well (I have not tried one).

This recipe is an attempt to get as much healthy, nutritious delicious stuff in
the bread as possible. You can probably make regular flour bread if
you want to, I have never tried regular white bread.

Mix in a bowl with a fork:

1/2 cup whole wheat
1/2 cup rye
1/4 tsp dry yeast
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup warm water

Add:
1/4 tsp flax seed
1 Tbs crushed walnut
2 Tbs raisins
1 Tbs cranberries
2 Tbs rolled oats (oatmeal)
2 Tbs sunflower seeds

Stir it up.
Let rise for an hour undisturbed in a moderately warm place.

Put about 1/4" of water in the bottom of a pressure cooker.
Put the bottom plate or pan in the cooker. This is whatever your brand
of pressure cooker uses to keep stuff off of the bottom of the cooker. You
can also put things like silverware or nuts and bolts on the bottom of the
pressure cooker, anything to keep the bowl off of the bottom of the pot.

Bring water to boil, then turn off the flame.

Stir the dough mix well, and spoon (or fork) it into the metal bowl greased
with butter, margarine or oil. Don't fill the bowl more than 2/3 full.

Put the bowl into the hot pressure cooker.
Close the lid.
Let it stand for 40 minutes. The heat in the water will make the bread rise.

Turn the flame on, bring the pressure cooker up to pressure.
Reduce flame and let it simmer for 40 minutes.
After it cools enough to open, remove bowl.
Let bowl cool down for 15 minutes or so.
Remove the bread by shaking it a bit. The bread shrinks as it cools
so it comes out easily.
Put the bread where it can cool and air dry.
After an hour or so it will be ready.

[skylark]

Tips on using dehydrated vegetables

Dehydrated vegetables are great for people who don't have refrigeration or
whose food goes through freeze/thaw cycles.  They are very lightweight, so
backpackers can carry many days worth of food easily.

In every case I can think of, fresh vegetables, if available, have superior
flavor to dehydrated vegetables.  So dehydrated vegetables are recommended only
for those times when you have no access to fresh vegetables.  Advantages of
dehydrated vegetables are storage space and no need to chop the vegetables.

Dehydrated vegetables go well with legumes because they both benefit from being
soaked in water for a few hours before being cooked. They also both benefit
from pressure cooking.

When dehydrated vegetables are soaked, they reconstitute to something different
than the original fresh vegetable.  They tend to be harder and do not fall
apart when cooking the way fresh vegetables do. 

It probably does not work to stir fry reconstituted celery, green peppers and
onions for example.  (I may be wrong about this, there may be a way to do it). 

You are probably not going to want reconstituted vegetables in a salad.  They
will likely be too tough.

If you make a soup with only dehydrated vegetables as ingredients, the pieces
will stay together and you will have a semi-clear broth with pieces floating
in it, even after cooking for hours.  They will soften up but not break apart
into a sauce-like broth.

When you cook dehydrated vegetables, for the best flavor, you have to use them
together with some other ingredient which gives a nice texture to the dish.

My favorite way to improve dehydrated vegetable meals is to use a fresh onion
sauteed in olive oil to start the recipe.  The onion will break apart and
become a broth, giving soups or sauces a better texture that works well with
the dehydrated vegetables.

It is best to add a generous amount of olive oil to improve the texture of the
dish.

You can make a savory gravy sauce with flour and/or cornstarch, and add cooked
reconstituted vegetables and other ingredients to it, or cook the vegetables in
the sauce while carefully watching water levels.  Making gravy is very tasty
and works well.

You can use an ingredient like split peas, which cook down to a rich soup and
add a nice texture to the vegetables.

Adding yesterday's leftover soup or other dish is a good way to add flavor and
texture to a meal.

Most of the successful dishes that i have made using dehydrated vegetables have
been cooked in water.  Sometimes with a lot of water, as in a soup.  Sometimes
with a minimal amount of water, and the water is then used to make a sauce or
rice is added to absorb the water.  Sometimes the cooked vegetables are drained
and used in a gravy or other dish.

I typically will use a dried legume as the protein companion to the vegetables.
It may give better results to cook things like kidney beans or other beans
separately from the vegetables, however once you get cooking times worked out,
there is no reason why beans and vegetables can't be cooked together.  You
might be losing some vitamins when you drain the bean juice, so it may be worth
it to try to use some of the bean juice in things like gravy or soup.

I usually use a pressure cooker because of the savings in time and fuel.  It is
important not to run out of water when pressure cooking.  A scorched pressure cooker is
an awful thing.  However, I find that the food I like best is cooked to a
certain sauce consistency which means there is not much liquid left. 

It is best to do the pressure simmering under the lowest possible flame that
will keep the cooker under pressure.  Heat it up on high, but turn down the flame
or use a flame tamer to reduce the heat when it simmers.

To thicken the sauce, you can simmer with the top off for 10 minutes or so.  Or
add instant rice, soup alphabet pasta, or bread crumbs, and simmer 10 minutes. 

If there is a small amount of wetness left in the sauce, try adding a small
amount of cornstarch.

So those are my words of wisdom.  I am not a professional chef, or even a good
cook.  But I have discovered how to make some tasty meals using dehydrated
vegetables.

[Manannan]

I have nothing against dehydrated vegetables. They have greatly improved in quality over the years and are very useful. But on a provisioning for one month, I would give priority to fresh vegetable. Even without refrigeration, most of them can keep for 2 weeks, almost enough for a crossing. The  good old cabbage may be the last to survive... Of course, they take room, but food is so important for the moral...there is plenty books on this matter, and I won't even go there, but well stored, you will be surprised how much you can keep. Most of us, now have a tendency to store everything in a refrigerator at home, so when we do not have one, all the sudden we think that nothing can keep out of one. I am not a vegetarian, but over the years, i have discovered thousands of way to enjoy meatless meals. Most of all, is to use your imagination. I do not work with recipes, so most of the time never make the same thing twice since I do not remember how I made it the first time, but if it comes out different, all the best as long as it tastes good and the rest of the crew does not complain ! ;)

[psyche]

Paul Have you ever made the bread you shared the recipe for in and oven and not in a pressure cooker? If  you made it in the oven did you alter the recipe and do you have suggestions for baking time or changes in the recipe to make it in the oven. It sounds like a very nourishing, tastey bead.

[nick]

I'm doing my one month provision shop tomorrow, and I've taken a few ideas from this post! I'll attach a photo tomorrow so you can see what a month of food and water looks like ;)

[skylark]

Paul Have you ever made the bread you shared the recipe for in and oven and not in a pressure cooker? If  you made it in the oven did you alter the recipe and do you have suggestions for baking time or changes in the recipe to make it in the oven. It sounds like a very nourishing, tastey bead.

My wife bakes this bread at home, I eat this bread for breakfast and lunch every day. It is excellent and seems to be healthy.

Pretty much the same recipe but sized to fit two bread pans.

She won't pass on her "secret recipe" but its pretty much the same as the one I posted. She doesn't use cranberries.  I like them so I added them.  Actually the recipe gets changed a little bit every time it is baked.

I think it is baked at about 350F for 40 minutes.

[Bubba the Pirate]

Nice, informative post.   Thank you.   I'll try some of those ideas. 

TrT

[CapnK]

Grog, Paul! Great postings, and thx for the dried veggies link.

For a month, I'd probably try to use both dried and fresh like Manannan suggests. A question: do dried veggies lose much of their nutritional value, or just their water?

Hey Nick - did you get that picture? That would be neat to see. :)

[Godot]

Hey Nick - did you get that picture? That would be neat to see. :)

We may have to wait awhile for that pic.  According to his website, he has set sail across the Atlantic yesterday.  I don't think we'll hear from him for a few weeks.

[skylark]

Tips on using dehydrated vegetables
...
In every case I can think of, fresh vegetables, if available, have superior
flavor to dehydrated vegetables.  So dehydrated vegetables are recommended only
for those times when you have no access to fresh vegetables.  Advantages of
dehydrated vegetables are storage space and no need to chop the vegetables.

I agree that one should use fresh vegetables and foods whenever possible.  And the "one month" is not intended to mean that this is all you would eat for a month, rather that you could store one month's worth of "emergency" food by putting together this list of ingredients.

On the Walton Feed site, it states somewhere that dehydrated vegetables were tested in comparison with canned vegetables, and dehydrated vegetables generally had better results for vitamin and food values.  However note that that is likely before cooking the dehydrated vegetables, while the canned vegetables have already been cooked.  In any case, dehydrated vegetables have good food value.

[psyche]

In the end of Skylark's post on march 21 he was talking about thickening sauces or gravy by using cornstarch. I often use dehydrated or dried potatoes (Flakes) to thicken soups, sauces or gravies. Dan