Destiny Survival

The March/April, 2013 “Backwoods Home Magazine” (Issue #140) gives you advice on how to put your own storage food in your survival pantry. It’s part of the “Food Security 101″ series. I’ve put an excerpt below for you.

Find vacuum sealers and canning supplies at Pantry Paratus.

Get more info on building your survival pantry in The Prepper’s Cookbook, by Tess Pennington or Meals in a Jar, by Julie Languille.

Which kitchen tool or gadget do you find most helpful for preparing and storing food? Leave a comment and help others build a survival pantry.

With the growing interest in simpler, back to basics living, there’s a thirst for knowledge about canning and making things like bread and cheese. Wilson and his wife Chaya saw that need. A couple of years ago they started Pantry Paratus to help you build your survival pantry.

For yesterday’s DestinySurvival Radio I interviewed Wilson to find out more about Pantry Paratus and bring them to your attention. Whether you’re new to prepping or have been at it a while, consider Pantry Paratus as a helpful resource.

 

What’s in a name? One of my first questions was where the name came from. We all know what a pantry is, but what about that word “paratus”? It so happens it’s latin for “ready” or “prepared”. By the way, paratus is pronounced with emphasis on the second syllable, which has the short a sound.

 

Who is Pantry Paratus? They’re a small family owned and operated company with a desire to see you and me think seriously about what our families are eating, where that food comes from, and how we can preserve any surplus we may have. The goal is to prepare our pantries for the lean times, whether you go through unemployment or we experience a catastrophic crash.

Wilson says customer service is important because they want you to be able to get the help you need. If you buy a pressure cooker at a big box store, that store likely won’t be able to answer your canning questions. Why not be in touch with people who can walk you through your journey?

With much knowledge lost over the generations, Pantry Paratus offers beginner kits and supplies for skills like canning, bread baking and cheese making. They also sell heirloom seeds and encourage you to grow your own food wherever you live.

 

What do you need to know for survival? Pantry Paratus puts their focus on four core competencies for homesteading.

Wilson and Chaya strive to offer you survival supplies they’ve used and can believe in. Also, if you want items that will work when there’s no electricity, they have hand cranked grain mills and grinders, as well as gravity fed Berkey water filters.

 

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What about ready-made storage food? Have it in your survival pantgry, but be careful to buy food that doesn’t have GMO products in it. You don’t want to eat something in times of stress that would make you ill.

If you know how to grow or raise your own food, you’ll have an ongoing supply. You’ll also put greater value on what you produce yourself.

 

What about a traditional food diet? Wilson and Chaya are very careful about what their family eats. They avoid foods with long lists of ingredients no one can pronounce. They eat meat, so they’re not vegetarians. They also enjoy whole wheat bread with no worries about gluten or bad carbs.

 

What about special needs diets? If you’re diabetic or have other dietary concerns, the best thing is to avoid as much processed food as possible.

 

Find out more. Hear my interview with Wilson when you listen to DestinySurvival Radio for May 9, 2013. Check out what the company has to offer at www.pantryparatus.com.

 

For further reading… Two books you may find of interest are:

In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve recently become affiliated with Pantry Paratus because I like what they have to offer you. . That means when you buy products from them, DestinySurvival gets a small commission. And that helps keep the site going. Click on their link above or find their ad on the Food Storage & Preserving page in the Prep Mart.

Your thoughts? I’d love to know what you have to say concerning what you’ve read here or what you’ve heard in my interview with Wilson. Share any comments you have with me and other readers.

Build your survival pantry with meals in a jar. It’s really a way to make your own MRE’s (meals ready to eat).

Commercially available MRE’s (meals ready to eat) taste better than in times gone by, but they contain a lot of preservatives. If you’d like to be more self reliant when it comes to food storage, why not make your own MRE’s?

They don’t have to be just for camping out or survival during the aftermath of a major storm. These MRE’s you make yourself are convenient for everyday use at home. And not all of your meals ready to eat would have to be in a foil pouch. Why not put meals in jars, too?

You can make your own meals ready to eat, naturally. In Meals in a Jar, by Julie Languille, you’ll find step-by-step instructions for 125 natural breakfasts, lunches, dinners and desserts. For example, you can make biscuits and gravy, braised short ribs, turkey pot pie, breakfast burritos, and white chocolate cranberry cookies, to name a few.

The recipes are good for meals you can take when you go camping or on other outdoor oadventures. They can also be lifesavers in times of disasters like fires, blackouts or hurricanes. But they’re also good for everyday use, such as quick nightly dinners for the family or when Dad or the teenagers are on the go and need a fast meal.

Julie Languille was my guest yesterday on DestinySurvival Radio. She’s pleasant to talk to and sounds like she’s smiling and happy. And her passion for what she does is quite evident.

Here’s her bio info.

This is a paperback book of 175 pages. There’s a wide variety of recipes–everything from breakfast to soups, main courses, desserts, beverages and more. Most recipes are on a single page. It’s easy to get around in, thanks to the Table of Contents and index. And there are several helpful charts and tables.

Meals in a Jar is meant to take the stress and guesswork out of cooking. All you have to do is pull your meals off the shelf, mix with water and cook. Meals are easy and convenient, but they’re not store bought. Instead, you’ll be eating meals you’ve made from scratch.

Here are just a few of the meals you can make–ready to eat for you and your family.

Putting together many of these meals calls for canning and dehydrating. If you’re an experienced cook or have never canned before, what you see in Julie’s book may seem overwhelming. Start small and work into it. More below about making all of this easier.

Julie feels comfortable having a pantry full of food at the ready in case of trouble. She’d like to have a hundred meals prepared ahead of time–about a month’s supply. Living through the Northridge earthquake in California woke her up to the need to be prepared.

While commercially available storage food is good, Julie has higher standards for nutritious, delicious meals for her family. She had other families in mind, too, when she put together Meals in a Jar.

It’s clear Julie puts a lot of thought and planning into her meals, and, thus, her cookbook. She’s very methodical. Some of the recipes are for dry ingredients such as soups or stews. Others are for home pressure-canned meals like braised dishes, such as pulled pork, or brisket.

Meals are packaged in either jars or vacuum sealed bags. Some meals are packaged with what she calls a sidekit, which is a side dish of mashed potatoes, polenta, noodles, tortilla makings, etc.

Variety of nutritious, filling meals in times of hardship is important to Julie. Her family’s favorites include braised ribs, pulled pork, pancakes and cowboy cookies.

I’m not a kitchen whiz, and my first impression upon going through Julie’s book is that following many of the recipes involves a lot of work. So I asked her about this.

One way to take a shortcut is to buy freeze dried and dehydrated ingredients, such as freeze dried meats. In doing so, you’re giving up greater control for convenience.

Another way to make things easier is to get together with other women, as Julie does, and have food packaging parties where they put meals together for one another’s families. Think of it as a good way to build your survival pantry and prepper community at the same time. Get children involved in meal preparation, too.

As the old saying goes, “Many hands make light work.” It’s apparent that Julie enjoys making these meals for her family and has a desire to see others do so as well. Love and enjoying the task at hand can also make things easier.

We talked about some key ingredients you’ll want to store as well as where to get equipment for dehydrating and canning. Once you’ve made up your mind to can with a pressure cooker, Julie offers assurance that the task isn’t as daunting as it might seem at first.

Are you concerned about how you’d use a whole #10 can of diced celery, chopped onions or pepper pieces? Julie says you’ll go through the cans faster than you might expect, especially if you mix ingredients together and set them aside to include in recipes. We also discussed butter alternatives.

Julie desires to see families get prepared. Her book is evidence of this. And she’s actively involved in preparedness activities through her church.

We talked about more, but I’m only able to share highlights here. Hear my whole interview with Julie Languille when you listen to DestinySurvival Radio for April 4, 2013. Julie has a Web site at www.dinnersinaflash.com.

Meals in a Jar is a DestinySurvival Amazon Pick. Order your copy by clicking on its image below. You’ll be taken to the Amazon.com page where it’s featured. Add the book to your cart to start the order process. Her book is worth having if you’re serious about building your survival pantry from your home cooked meals.

I attempted to give away my gently used review copy of Julie’s book. I solicited comments from readers and used Random.org to choose a winner three times over nearly two weeks, but didn’t get responses to e-mails when sending notices to the winners. So good intentions fell flat.

However, in the interest of fairness to all those who left comments with the intent to win Meals in a Jar, I opened up the contest to all 11 who had commented by mid April. Whoever e-mailed me first would get the book. I heard from Kelly, and we’ve made the arrangements for sending the book to her. Congratulations, Kelly.

You’re always welcome to leave a comment any time on anything you’ve read in this post or on my interview with Julie. I look forward to seeing what you have to share.

Ham is often served at Easter time. But have you wondered what goes into making a good ham? Or have you considered how you might cure and smoke ham yourself?

Don’t rule out that possibility. Meat may be hard to come by one day. But plenty of wild hogs are a food source, and they roam the countryside. You might want to include them in your prepping endeavors to keep your family fed.

The first two videos below demonstrate how ham is cured and smoked. Take a few minutes to watch. And try not to drool on your computer.

The third video is just for fun. It features Ricky Skaggs singing, “You Can’t Hurt Ham.” It makes a telling point about why you should think of ham for survival.

Is it time for you to take up smoking meat? Click here for more info.

When Ulysses Press contacted me to see if I’d review The Prepper’s Cookbook, by Tess Pennington, I wasn’t sure about it. My first thought was, “This isn’t my area of expertise.” But I thought you and other readers might be interested. Besides, I was curious to see what goes into a cookbook for preppers.

After working my way through the book and interviewing Tess Pennington for yesterday’s DestinySurvival Radio, I can tell you why you should have The Prepper’s Cookbook in your survival library.

Have you been setting aside canned food items from the grocery store in your survival pantry, but you don’t know how you’ll use them creatively? Or have you purchased dehydrated and freeze dried foods, but you don’t know what you’ll do with them when the time comes to feed yourself and your family in a grid down situation?

It’s The Prepper’s Cookbook to the rescue.

Tess says she’s always been around people with a readiness attitude, but she took preparedness more seriously after 9/11, when she was involved with the Red Cross. Then the declining economy a few years ago was a further motivator.

She’s the founder of ReadyNutrition.com, which is a popular prepping website with over 160,000 readers a month. Her site promotes disaster preparedness, homesteading and, ultimately, self-reliance.

She has a simple mission–to introduce easy to understand concepts and strategies for dealing with disasters and emergencies, be they man-made or natural. She believes that through knowledge, skills development and family-based preparedness, we can learn to live a more sustainable lifestyle.

Her site offers a popular web-series called “52-Weeks to Preparedness.” It’s free and has helped thousands get ready for life’s unexpected disasters.

This cookbook contains more than recipes. Tess introduces practical prepping concepts and teaches you how to make the most out of your food supply. She uses low-cost ingredients found in many homes, and she shows you how to use your food pantry to make a variety of meals during emergency situations. Tess gives you guidance on…

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As you would hope for in a cookbook, there’s a handy conversion chart in the back as well as a helpful index.

As with any useful skill, it’s important to practice now to be prepared for trouble. Start using the recipes and techniques called for in The Prepper’s Cookbook. You don’t have to be limited to freeze dried meals or MRE’s. Turn shelf-stable, freeze-dried and dehydrated foods into delicious, nutritious dishes your family will love eating.

Besides, the more you prepare ahead of time now, the less fuel you’ll need for cooking later when it’s in short supply or not readily available.

Tess has recipes to help avoid appetite fatigue and make certain foods associated with survival more appealing. There’s no need to dread them. If you’re going to store what you eat and eat what you store, make the most of the investment you’re putting into your survival pantry.

For example, we talked about things you can do with…