When going out into the wild its always nice to stop for a good meal, and what better way to enjoy it more than with survival food you’ve made yourself. Here are some of the easiest to make foods to liven up any hiking experience.
Pemmican
Pemmican is a very long lasting survival food that was first produced by the native Americans who primarily used bison meat. Its basically a 50/50 mix of fat and ground up dried meat but it has a huge calorie content and also works well as a base to fry things in.
You will need:
Any kind of dark red meat such as moose, bison, elk, or beef in double the quantity of the amount you want to end up with, as it loses a good amount of volume during the drying process.
An equal amount of fat for your chosen quantity of meat.
Standard kitchen utensils
Slice the meat as thin as you can and lay it on a drying rack and leave it in the sun or in front of a fan for a few hours until its completely dry. You can also put 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.
Cut up some fat and heat it gently in a saucepan until all the liquid fat has melted out, then strain through a cloth and add it 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 air tight container until ready to use. This recipe is good for its high calorie and fat content, and works as a great flavouring 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, with an air-tight seal over the top. Good as an ingredient for any liquid dishes or even for spreading on things.
You will need:
Beef, Pork or duck work best
A small container such as a non see through jar or something to protect it from light.
Animal fat
Salt
Roast a chunk of your chosen meat and pull it apart with dinner forks after its 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 dishes you can make by gathering 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 flavourings you like
Clean the fruit of your choice and mash it to a pulp, than cook over a 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 its 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, transferring it to a drying rack when its strong enough and flipping it every few hours. The other method is to put it in the oven on a 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 its hard but bendy. Keep in an airtight container and use 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.
Hardtack is basically 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 table spoons of butter
1 table spoon of dried spice/herb mix (Anything dried can be used in this recipe, so use whichever flavourings you like, i find that powdered onion, garlic, mustard and chili works very well)
4 teaspoons of salt
Pre heat 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 its 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.
Eating these as they are isn’t very nice, as they are simply to 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 flavour, sort of like a pre-made soup biscuit.