Survival foods you can make yourself

When going out into the wild it’s always nice to stop for a good meal, and what better way to enjoy it than with survival food you’ve made yourself? Here are some of the easiest-to-make survival foods you can make yourself to support you on the longest of hikes.

Pemmican

Pemmican is recognized as the ultimate survival food because when made correctly, it can last for well over 10 years. It was the number one trade item between the native Americans and the settlers for many years and the main food store for them to make it through the winter. It is a mixture of dried and powdered meet combined with an equal amount of fat from the same animal and formed into bars, but when kept in an air-tight container can last for a very long time. Isn’t the tastiest of things to bring on a hike but has a very high protein and fat content, making it a great choice for cold-weather adventures.

You will need:

Any kind of dark red meat that is darker than standard beef can be used, such as bison, elk, or moose, but beef still works if you don’t have access to the preferred choice.

An equal amount of fat for your chosen quantity of meat.

Standard kitchen utensils

Method

Slice the meat as thin as you can and lay the strips on a drying rack and leave it in the sun or in front of a fan for a couple of days until it’s completely dry. You can speed up the process by putting it in the oven on a very low heat for several hours, but if you do this make sure it doesn’t cook as you only want to remove the moisture. When the meat is dry, grind it up into as fine of a powder as you can. It’s possible to do this with a mortar and pestle but you’re better off just blending it.

Cut up some fat and heat it gently in a saucepan until all the liquid fat has melted out, but be careful not to have the temperature high enough for it to start frying, then strain through a cloth and add the liquid fat in an equal quantity to the ground-up meat. Mix them together as well as possible and form into bars no more than an inch thick, then set aside until the fat has become solid.

Place in an airtight container until ready to use. This recipe is good for its high calorie and fat content and works as a great flavoring to melt in a saucepan before frying other things.

Short-term potted meat

Potted meat is simply pulled meat mixed with fat and salt and squashed into a container with no oxygen in it, with an air-tight seal over the top. Good as an ingredient for any liquid dish or even for spreading on things.

You will need:

Beef, Pork, or duck works best

A small container such as a non-see-through jar or something to protect it from light.

Animal fat or you can render some fat from the meat of the animal you’re using
Salt

Method

Roast a chunk of your chosen meat and pull it apart with dinner forks after it has cooled. Render some fat in about a quarter of the amount of meat you have and mix it with the pulled meat, adding a good pinch of salt to the mix as you go.

When it has cooled, stuff the mixture into your container as firmly as you can, with it being very important to remove all of the air from it. When the mixture comes to the top of the container take some more liquid fat or melt some butter and pour it over the top, making sure it covers the whole surface to form an air-tight seal.

This one is spreadable and is a good choice if you have some bread with you, or it can be boiled in water to make a high-fat, salty meat stew.

Fruit Leather

One of the few Survival foods you can make yourself by gathering all the ingredients. Fruit leather is just a dried flat piece of fruit mush, but it has a high sugar content and makes a good choice as a snack food.

You will need:

3 cups of fruit makes 1 cup of finished product

Sugar, lemon, honey, or any other sweet flavorings you like

Method

Clean the fruit of your choice and mash it to a pulp, then cook over medium heat until it gets to around 90°C. Add the honey and lemon juice and however much sugar you want for your required sweetness. When adding the sugar it will depend on the sweetness of whatever fruit you have, so add a small amount at a time.

When the mixture has cooled put it in a blender or food processor and blend until it’s completely smooth. Pour the mixture onto a baking tray no more than half a cm thick. At this stage, you can either put it in front of a fan for about 24 hours, transfer it to a drying rack when it’s strong enough, and flip it every few hours. The other method is to put it in the oven on low heat, about 55°C for between 6 and 12 hours.

The time it takes to dry will depend on the type of fruit you are using, the sugar content, and how thick it is. If you go for the oven method then check it every couple of hours or until it’s hard but bendy. Keep it in an airtight container and use it as a tasty sugar boost.

Hardtack

This may be one that some people would consider a food you wouldn’t eat unless you have to, but if you only want to make some for a particular hike as opposed to a long-term survival situation, then you have the option to spice it up a bit.

(A couple of very old and crusty-looking pieces of hardtack. It may not look the best, or have the best flavor, or be easy to eat, but it sure does last a long time)

Hardtack is just a piece of flat bread that’s been baked for so long that all the moisture has gone out of it, which makes it last for a very, very long time. They are rock-hard and don’t taste particularly good, but this version is my own soup hardtack, an instant soup dish that only requires boiling water.

You will need:

4 cups plain flour (you cant use self-raising or any flour that contains yeast for this one)

2 cups of water

2 tablespoons of butter

1 tablespoon of dried spice/herb mix (Anything dried can be used in this recipe, so use whichever flavorings you like, I find that powdered onion, garlic, mustard, and chili work very well)

4 teaspoons of salt

Method

Preheat the oven to 190°C and add all of the ingredients to a bowl, mixing them well. The dough should be very thick, almost to the point where you need to add more water, but as long as it’s all mixed and in dough form it will work fine.

Roll the dough into a sheet about 1cm thick and cut into squares. Poke holes all the way through the squares so the moisture can escape when cooking. Transfer onto a baking tray and cook for 30 minutes before flipping them and cooking for a further 30 minutes. The biscuits should be completely dry and shouldn’t have any spring to them, if the inside feels a little soft or flexible then cook for a further 10 minutes per side. The reason they last so long is that they have all the moisture removed, so you should keep cooking it until it’s too hard to eat without soaking it first.

Eating these as they are isn’t very nice, as they are simply too dry and crunchy to enjoy. The best way to eat this recipe is to crush up a biscuit into as fine a powder as you can and pour it into boiling water. The bread content helps to thicken up the water while the herbs, spices, and butter give it a nice flavor, sort of like a pre-made soup biscuit.