I wanted to find an easy and practical recipe for a survival bar that would reach an impressive 3,000 calories. However, that was a bigger challenge than I expected! I found a few options for high calories, but nowhere near 3,000 calories for an average size bar. And what was even less appealing, the ingredients were expensive and not necessarily items found in the average pantry.
I then decided to combine a couple recipes that were higher than the average caloric bar, and tweak it by adding additional high-calorie ingredients. You can also determine the amount of calories for each bar by the size you make them. For example, the recipe I am going to share has over 3,300 calories for the entire batch.
If you make 8 bars out of that, it would be just over 400 calories for a bar. That isn’t exactly low calorie, if you are able to have other meals with it.
However, if you are looking for a survival bar in emergency situations, that’s not much at all. In order to maintain your current body weight, a woman requires 1,600 to 2,400 daily calories. And, an adult male requires 2,000 to 3,000 calories a day. This is assuming you are active.
Even so, if you are in survival mode without a hearty meal anywhere in sight, having high-calorie ration bar would not just be helpful, but could save your life. It really doesn’t matter if you eat one large bar throughout the day, or 6-8 small bars.
So if you are looking for an option for a high-calorie ration bar(s), the following recipe is a reasonable option. It’s not expensive or difficult to make, has a decent shelf life, and actually tastes good.
The Recipe
Most of the ingredients are low in cost, and easy to find. You can adapt the recipe to your liking, such as use a different flavor for the gelatin, or add raisins…which will also add some calories.
The ingredients for the batch I made are as follows:
- 5 cup dry milk powder
- 2 cup dry oats (standard or quick will work)
- 1 cup granulated sugar (could use brown sugar also)
- 3 T honey
- 3 T water
- 1 3-oz package gelatin (I used lemon)
- 1 cup peanuts, crushed slightly
- 1 cup dried cranberries
Tip for More Calories or Protein: If you want more protein, you can add more peanuts, or substitute the dry milk with a protein powder.
Related: How To Choose, Use & Store Protein Powder for Preppers
For more calories, use whole dry milk in place of non-fat, which would increase the calories for the batch by about 400-500 calories. Or, add raisins, dates, or other dried fruit.
#1. Preheat the oven to 350°.
#2. Mix together the powdered milk, oats, and sugar in a bowl.
#3. Next, mix the jello, honey, and water in a small pan, and bring to a boil. Here is where I struggled, believing that 3 tablespoons of water with the honey wouldn’t be nearly enough to boil, especially with the gelatin powder added. But, it IS. Trust me, I doubted enough for all us!
#4. Add the boiled mixture to your dry ingredients, slowly, and blend the contents well. Here is where you can add more water, if the dough is too dry. The ideal texture would is somewhat dry, but can be formed into a bar without falling apart. I added an additional 3 tablespoons, because it was too dry to form any shape.
This was most likely due to adding peanuts and cranberries. Just make sure to add only a teaspoon at a time. It’s much easier to add water slowly, than to work with the dough if it’s too wet.
If the bars are too wet, it will lessen their shelf life, which I will address more in depth a bit later.
Just a head’s up: You might start out with a spoon, or mixer.. But, digging in with your hands might be the best option. It was for me.
Another tip? I put my hand into a baggie, so the mix didn’t stick to my hand, especially when I was shaping the bars.
Once you have it mixed, form the dough into a bar of whatever size you prefer. I chose to do 8 individual and relatively flat bars, because I wanted to seal them in an airtight manner per serving, rather than an entire batch.
Related: 13 Survival Foods You Should Always Have at Home
This way, I could use them for survival in an emergency…or send one to soccer camp with the kiddo. He could definitely benefit from a high calorie bar before practice, but obviously wouldn’t need the entire batch.
My individual bars amount to approximately 412 calories, with 11 grams of protein.
#5. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, and place the bars on it. Or, place it all on the pan, press into one big bar, then gently cut the size you want out of that, which is how I did it.
#6. Bake the bars for about 20 minutes. They browned slightly, but overall looked and felt very similar to when I placed them in the oven. After cooling, they became firm and crisp.Storing is where diversity can also come in to play.
Some people swear by simply wrapping them in aluminum foil, while others use mylar bags. Me? I use a foodsaver for everything, so that’s how I will be storing them.
There are claims that these will keep indefinitely. I’m not convinced about that, but I know they will keep for at least a couple years if I vacuum seal them with my foodsaver.
I will be keeping them right on the pantry shelf, minus 1 or 2 that I will keep in my survival kit for the car, and 1 in my bag in case I forget to eat breakfast!
You may also like:
Survival Lessons from the Old Army C-Rations
Cheap and Easy to Build Root Cellar in Your Own Back Yard (Video)
How to Make Bannock the Survival Food Rich in Vitamin C
There’s like 10 of these articles on here already. Do something actually new. Like how to make leather for boots.
How about you take what’s offered and be happy someone is even offering that.
Leather making btw is not a one article thing. Do you want to know how to make raw hide or dry scrape tanning or wet scrape tanning or brain tanning or vegetable tanning or what. If you make a request you should be more specific especially if your going to start off with a criticism.
Btw to follow my own advise I would use either raw hide for the sole of a survival boot or a vegetable tanned cow hide for a nicer moccasin or boot.
I’m saying offer something different instead of repackaging the same shit over and over again. You aren’t offering anything now, it’s the same shit. Offer something useful or shut the hell up.
And just exactly what have you offered? You can offer this: take your own advice and shut the F up yourself. Now run on home to mommy and have her change your diaper. You stink little girl.
fuck you city boy
Runs when the going gets tough – I’m sure you would love to do that but NASA would have to loan you the Hubble Telescope and a microscopic tweezer for you to find your penis little girl. And besides, that would anger your boyfriend if you fooled around with another man.
Most of these recipes call for powdered milk which is very frustrating for someone like me with lactose intolerance. What can be used in its place? Can I use vegan protein powder? Why use dry milk at all? Does it help it stick together? And is the gelatin simply a preservative or is it to make everything stick together? Thanks in advance for responding
Where did you learn that kind of language, from your mother.
Tony,
You are correct and having done this more than a few times, I would recommend:
”Deerskins into Buckskins: How to Tan with Natural Materials: A Field Guide for Hunters and Gatherers” by Matt Richards
It has to be something you enjoy, since proper fleshing of the hide is very important; but, can be a bit tedious.
So, upon researching this, I feel like I can answer some of y’alls inquiries on alternative ingredients. Alternatives for powdered milk, I found:
Powdered potato milk
Powdered coconut milk
Powdered rice milk
I’m actually very interested in the powdered potato. I’ll be experimenting with that. Jello is something that can bring fats to the system (which is needed) and I believe creates a slow release of these fats. It also helps holding the bar together.
Peanuts are for your protein. You can supplement cashews or another nut. For the folks that have hard time eating hard items, you can always crush the nut or even powder it. One mentioned powdered jerky. I think that would be fine, honestly. Also look for dried bananas for your potassium. In a survival situation, you may be walking a lot, producing sore legs.
I’ll also suggest pumpkin seeds and even pumpkin pie mixtures. (Either canned or homemade) which also may be a good alternative for the milk. Different settings on the oven and timing may apply of course. So do small batches until you figure it out. Packaging is key as well.
We all know the body needs key things. In Afghanistan, there were missions we didnt get resupplied on. We had to ask people back home to send us a few things. We asked for basics. Canned tuna for the protien, ramen noodles for carbs and salts (we ate those dry). Gummy bears for the sugars, and beef jerky… peanut butter jars with a hole in the middle of the peanut butter, where we put honey in it. That was a big thing a lot of guys brought.
So, be creative. Test things out. ?
Hide tanning has already been addressed on this site: https://www.askaprepper.com/tan-hides-egg/
It only takes a moment to do a site search, but a lot of effort and dedication to fully adapt to a prepper lifestyle.
I, for one, appreciate ALL of the articles, and most of the comments on this site. Even if there are multiple articles on one subject, it is just another recipe or another way of looking at all sides. Some valuable insight can be gained by reading the comments section. We have some highly knowledgeable people sharing their wisdom and “past mistakes”. You may not like the arrogant tone, or the childlike writing, or the newbie question or input, but each person here, is here for camaraderie and education.
There is no magic pill. Old farts know that you have to learn the basics in order to perform the more difficult tasks. You cannot teach someone who is unwilling to learn.
You nailed it prepped. I read all of the articles. I may or Mau not learn a while lot but sometimes this old brain gets a workable idea jumpstarted by something some one has written about.
I like the comraderie here.
How about replacing the nuts with powdered beef jerky? Just in case someone doesn’t have good teeth.
Would these still work without the peanuts for people with peanut allergies?
I think they just added those to the recipe so they can be left out with no problem. I believe they were just trying to get the calorie and protein levels up.
I was thinking that you could use peanut butter powder, since I always keep some on hand but, shredded jerky would add some calories an needed protein.
I’m gonna guess that you don’t hunt. tanning a hide is part and parcel to hunting. So go and ask any of your hunting friends and they can point you in the right direction and/or have you help them on the next hide. Tannings not an easy process but the use of cat brains has always sped up the process
Tony, sorry that you dont like this like suggestion. Like there is like no like law that like forces you to like read any of the like suggestions offered like on this blog. You like gnomesain brah?
Hacksaw,
What an odd nom de plume for like a valley girl.
Ohio prepper. Hacksaw is a bit odd, I thought it was unusual when that crackho that you refer to as your mother called me that when she gave me back change from the quarter that I gave her for polishing my helmet one night.
Hacksaw,
It wasn’t like the name like; but, the like, valley girl like statements; but, I was evidently wrong, since your attempt at disrespect is clearly something only a little10 year old boy would think was either funny or harmful, and since my momma has been gone for that long, your imagining things, except perhaps the fact that you have to pay for it.
I still however don’t know what this has to do with preparedness, at least for those of us really engaged in that activity.
LOL!!!!!!!!
Whose yer mama homeboy. LOL and ROTFLMAO. Whose yer. Sounds a lot like loser. Whose yer loser? Why it’s yoosier. ?
Guess what? Everyone needs this info! Not everyone has it. Does a Barista shut down a coffee shop because she has sold one of each type of coffee? Or course not! They stay open for Everyone to get a coffee if they want. It’s a new world out there since internet revenue became a thing!
This sounds great. You put a lot of work into this. Thank you. I will try this. You can never have to much food. If you have only one kind you can get tired of it after a few years. I plan to have many different kinds.
Other than trying recepies I have a hunch new ideas are harder to come up with. For me high calories is a pocket full of dried sweet fruits. I’ve made fruit leather since the 70s and dried fruits since the 1950s helping my folks.
I like the added milk and oats for the protein and fiber. Both are important.
Adding oils will add calories and make the bars seem somewhat moist and chewey instead of crunchy.
My kids loved a baggy of dried fruits, nuts, and homemade granola. Some added mm candies made it special as a treat. When I was the kid mom pitted moist chewy dates and put an almond inside then rolled it in fine shredded coconut. I loved a few to carry when we went exploring. Dad was exmilitary so we always had a canteen of water for each of us.
How about adding some peanut butter to the recipe? Then bake. Oils will go rancid but bars like any Other food should be used up and replaced. I’d rather have several bars to nibble through a busy day than one too intense bar that wouldn’t be something I’d want to eat to rotate stock.
We also made a bar with coffee crystals that we chilled then simply covered in melted med dark chocolate. Chilling the crystals kept them from dissolving in the chocolate. They were both good and a real shot of caffeine. Wrapped in foil they kept a long time. Like any chocolate they were heat sensitive and would melt easy. I thought about a candy coat like m&ms. But hadn’t tried it.
If it’s calories you’re after how about adding a homemade hot cocoa mix with powdered creamer instead of all powdered milk in that bar mix. Stir in crushed peppermint candy as well to change it up.
I’ll be happy with a baggy of home dried fruits with dried pineapple and sweet banana chips added and a handful of nuts. Throw in coffee chocolate for a boost and I can go all day with just some water.
Thanks, posts are no longer missing.
Have you tried home made musli? It used to be available commercially in the 70’s, (probably still is) but basically it’s oatmeal, nuts and dried fruit bits combined with powdered milk. It was considered a “health food”, but it’s super easy to make. Combine the ingredients either ahead of time or as you need it, add milk or water (hot or usually cold) and eat. Good fast breakfast.
Will the oil go rancid even afte4 the cooking process thereby shortening (pun intended) the shelf life?
if you are aiming for 2 years, which was mentioned, oil may degrade somewhat. and maybe make the bar less likely to hold together. shortening such as crisco (which i think would survive nuclear war) might be better and should last that long. coconut oil is a solid at room temp and long lasting–if you like the flavor/texture.
Ding, ding, ding, ALARM . Posts are missing in action. Help!
I’m very appreciative of all the contributions on this site. Thank you for taking your time to share!
RLB, disabled Vietnam veteran
What does the capital T next to honey and water stand for? Tablespoons or teaspoons?
Some of you were rude and crude and those comments were not appreciated. Clean up your mouth before you make comments that you will regret!
Reinactor, Thank You for your post.
T or Tbl for tablespoon and t or tsp for teaspoon
Capital T is tablespoons, lower case t is teaspoons.
Thank you for explanation. Some of us need a little explanation once & a while.
Okay the article states tablespoons
P.I.T. : I heartily agree. Nobody hits a home run every time. OTOH, I think this is one of the most valuable preppier sites on line. Even if the main article sort of misses the mark and this one doesn’t, the discussion that usually follows many times is more enlightening or substantially supplements the article.
On that note, NHK, my favorite TV channel ran a series on Ninja. I learned that Ninja also had emergency rations and NHK provided the recipe (I think) it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me and I have been otherwise occupied so haven’t tried to make it myself. I will try it and forward it to Claude when I have actually tried to make it.
This recipe appeals to me more than pemmican. I definitely intend to try this, perhaps along with my Ninja emergency rations.
Hello left coast chuck. Is what your talking about called Natto? It is mentioned (along with a recipe) in “The Lost Ways 2” Book. It may be fermented soy beans.
Not by a long shot. Natto IS fermented soy beans and while many Japanese love natto, an equal number of Japanese despise natto. Personally, I fall in the latter group. Natto is nasty looking to start with. It is slimy to the mouth and has an indescribable taste. HOWEVER, if you want to try it, please do not let my disdain for natto preclude you from trying a dish that several millions of Japanese consider a delicacy. I don’t know if it is available in Japanese food stores in the U.S. as I have never shopped for it but I suspect that it is. In years gone by, most Japanese families produced natto at home. Nowadays, I suspect that most natto is purchased at the convenience store. Unless one has a mother or mother-in-law from the Showa era, the modern housewife probably has as much idea how to make natter as I have. Maybe that should actually be grandmother or grandmother-in-law.
I can’t imagine anyone recommending it to western tastes. But in its defense, it is highly nutritious, lasts a long time without refrigeration (I don’t know how you could possibly tell if it is bad) and is apparently easy to make. I would eat it if I were starving, but then there are a lot of things I would probably eat if I were starving that I wouldn’t touch as long as anything else was available.
Thank you for taking your time to write this. Sounds good and I look forwatd to trying it.
Definitely going to give this a try and see how they do on a week end hiking/camping trip.
I’m very grateful for all your articles you provide, I have put several to use and have not been disappointed once
How about a survival energy bar for diabetics
Would these still work without the peanuts for people with peanut allergies?
This type of recipe can be changed to meet your needs. Change the nuts or don’t use any.
Diabetic would need to be high proteins without so much starch or sugars. Soy flour could replace a good portion of the oats but you’d loose the good fiber. Rice flour could be used for anyone not wanting gluten. Use Steviea for sweetener. It has a zero glicemic index. Use plain gelatin or sugar free. Milk powder and soy are good proteins as would be commercial protein powders.. Egg white, a bit of water, some oil or shortening all work as binders to hold the shape of bars when baking. Even for a diabetic your allowed a fruit exchange. The dried cranberries aren’t too sweet but are quite a healthy fruit. Nuts can change to any cracked or chopped nuts. I’d think walnuts or hazelnuts would be good. Do your own experiment. The basic bar reads like it could be tasty. Honey was added as moisture and sweetening. You could use the Steviea which is a dry powder and just tweek the water as needed in forming bars. You just need enough to hold the mix together. It doesn’t need to be very wet at all.
Have fun with it.
Thanks a lot I’ll give it a try some time
GMO ingredients that are heavily sprayed with glyphosate. I can appreciate your knowledge in prepping but clearly you know nothing about quality ingredients and nutrition.
That honey is HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup), not raw honey. Powdered milk from Dairy cows kept in confined spaces with pus on their utters.
Please consider supporting free range and/or organic farmers, not confined animal operations and junk food corporations.
Tina: In an end of the world situation, you are going to either be scarfing up whatever is available, GMO or artificial number 5 red dye, slightly rotten meat, slightly rotten vegetables and whatever else you can find to eat. All of your prohibitions and inhibitions will go out the window. You will be happy to dumpster dive and delighted to find brown celery, brown gooey lettuce with some good parts left and mushy tomatoes. Either that or you will be very quickly dead.
Now LCC, you KNOW the gubment or AOC will ALWAYS come to the rescue. Why do you persist in painting doom and gloom. We live in a world where make-believe actually comes true.
Dumpster diving is something that only happens in the movies, and Venezuela is not real. The grocery stores will always be full, and if not, we’ll just use the 3D laser printer to print more food.
I love the dedication that health-conscious (sometimes called nuts) people have. If you cannot eat healthy in an end of world crisis, why eat at all? It is far better to die of starvation while holding onto your principles, than to eat something that is GMO, or inhumanely raised.
Let the health-conscious live in their make-believe world. When food is scarce, only those that truly want to survive will make the necessary sacrifices. People like you have the perfect attitude – face the day with a healthy dose of reality, and be prepared for what may come your way.
I appreciate your input on a lot of the posts. You have a way of cutting through the BS while trying to wake people up.
I wish folk who have nothing to offer except a very limited vocabulary would take their bickering to another site. Most of the followers of this list avoid offensive language and while they may disagree with another poster, at least try to offer a differing viewpoint. No one has ever changed their viewpoint by being called a nitwit or suffering other insults.
P.I.T.: After I posted my reply to Tina I though about the siege of Leningrad and Moscow during WWII when the Russians trapped in those cities by the Germans were reduced to scraping wallpaper paste off the walls, boiling their belts and parts of their shoes, eating grass, eating dead people they found in the streets (and rumor has it some not so dead people too). They didn’t have to worry about a lot of rodents. Those were long gone along with dogs, cats and whatever other pets folks might have had before the Germans showed up on the horizon.
An account I read of the famine in Ukraine and Kazakstan after the Bolshevik Revolution had people actually eating their children. That is how hungry people can get. If you are hungry enough to eat your kids, maybe even rancid peanuts will taste good. Hope I never get that hungry.
Lol LCC. Try drinking tadpoles in a cup of water. Been there. Done that. Hope to never again be so hungry but if SHTF I know I survived when I was afraid I couldn’t.
I grew up vegetarian but that was out of the window very quickly.
Clergylady,
I’ve had small tadpoles and minnows and used to catch crawdads (crayfish); but, we would clean them up and boil them like little lobsters. The hardest thing to eat at least from a mental perspective was blowfly maggots, on my first survival trading some 54 years ago. They were washed in a pail of water, dried, and then toss ”on to” a hot cast iron plate. They puffed up like puffed rice and really had no flavor at all.
Ohio: Someday soon I’ll tell the story but when I was 21, I spent 10 months alone living off of the land. Believe me I ate anything. If I couldn’t eat it I made a tea and drank it. Pickyness was set aside instantly and I started learning by thinking about how to do something. When tadpoles in a tiny stream, down streem of an old cattle ranch look good, they’d better watch out. I drank the water and tadpoles or minnows as is, no life straws in 1968.
I tried one racoon roasted in the coals of my fire. Without seasonings it was greasy and I didn’t care for it but I picked the bones clean. It fed me for three days. That was three more days for figuring out how to catch those cute cottontail rabbits that were beginning to look like little roasting hens with fur coats.
Those bars posted here would have been a treasure. I had nothing but a change of clothing, a somewhat dull 3″ pocket knife and half a book of matches.
That was 51 years ago.
I have bug out bags packed today that can be grabbed in a hurry. One is even a full surgical kit with internal and external alcohols and more plus essential oils sealed in half ounce bottles. From 100 scalpel blades to prethreaded curved suture needles. Always each bag has some hard candy. A shot of energy, taste good, and it will quiet and sooth even the tiniest camper. Another is all food items. Some to eat as is and a lot that require water to prepare. Another bag is all items for winter survival. Another has two changes of clothing and lots of extra socks! Another is important papers. Some originals and some photo copies. Which ever is acceptable to appropriate institutions. Another bag holds extras of food, a machete, a book on local wild plants. There is a battery operated radio in one and a hand cranked radio in another bag. Everybag has sharp knives and two have hatchets. All have a bottle of alcohol and some tea tree oil. All of them also have lighters. In the winter pack I packed a homemade paracord belt that could carry fanny packs and the holster for my old double action 38 pistol. That’s 5 back packs for 2 people. Too many, but all good things to have. Fire, take it all in the truck. War, hide them out of sight outside of the home. Hope the pit room root cellar is done. It could be camped in. And it’s planned to be out of sight with two exits well conceiled. Mostly that’s intended for long term food storage. We could eat for months on what’s in the kitchen and a cabinet set in the hall.
Pemican and some energy bars would have made any short or long term “camping” trip more pleasurable. I hope you know Pemican is consumable more than one way. Cold you can nibble on it. Throw a bit of it in a tin can of water and let it heat in the coals of your fire and it’s not bad as a broth with bits of meat in it. I bet it could be used as a great soup base for seasoning stinging nettles or lambsquarters.
By the way bear meat is really good. It’s like a fatty fresh pork. A bear wondered into hunting camp where a bunch of native men were cooking dinner. I guess he wanted their dinner. When it went after the brave guy who tried to shoo it away, someone shot the bear. They always eat the organ meats quickly after the kill. Next they roasted the ribs with just salt and dried green chili. The hind quarters were cut up and divided among the group to take home. Even the head was saved for consumption by the medicine person that was in camp. He got the head and a first choice of a cut of meat from the hunt. He blessed the animal with corn meal and cattail pollen before it was cut up. Just gutted quickly as are all kills. Certain parts were saved for elderly relatives so each could make a large put of chili stew. It’s an ago old way of caring for the community. If it’s a deer they have a feast of a stew made with meat from skinny parts of the legs, the backbone with a lot of meat on it, and the thin under belly meat. Nothing is wasted. That stew has whole unpeeled pinion nuts, salt from a salt lake, wild greens, wild celery, wild onions, and chopped yellow onions, cilantro leaves and stems finely chopped, roasted, peeled, green chili finely chopped and chicos(roasted, dried corn). Everyone is invited to come and eat.
The bear hunter got both forelegs and a shoulder. Lots of meat on them. He shared with some relatives but his family didn’t care for it so I was given most of his share. They had cut it off of the bones and frozen it. We ate for a long time on that meat. Some cut thin and cooked over a juniper fire to season it. Some as red or green chili stews and a lot of it to season pots of beans.
I still like my food cooked outside over a wood fire the best. I’ve been known to cook outside on a wood fire, while standing in the snow. Charcoal is ok but I like the flavors from real wood. I saved a pile of apple pruning from a neighbor that was going to haul them to the dump. Little goes to waste here. Habbits and tastes learned during that 10 months are still with me.
I changed from quiet to verbose after talking to no one for so long. But I also love solitude. My diet changed drasticly. I’ve never gone back to the lacto ovo vegetarian diet I was raised on. You don’t think of the work as work. You just do what’s needed and keep going.
Forraging here wouldn’t get you to far. The native people here survived by being hunter, gatherer, farmers. Its high mountain desert with water to be found near the base of mesas and small streams flowing from the mountains. Less easy to get water out on the flat country. Most hunting for deer, elk, and turkey is up in the higher elevations. Wild fruits and a native dent corn, an old variety of Hubbard squash, cilantro, green chili, a spotted bean, et are all grown near mountain streams or areas that collect rain water after the summer monsoons. Forraging is for lambs quarter, amaranth leaves then seeds, wild celery, wild onions, many seasonal parts of cattails that grow in rain fed basins in the nearby lava beds. Fall brings rose hips, gooseberries, and black raspberries up on the mountains. Most gardening was communal areas where each family could have a spot. There are too many for every family to now have a spot there So many extended families have started new gardening area. Most grow fruits on seedling trees. Wild plums multiply by fruit and on spreading roots. Given time they make a thicket.
About 500 years ago Spaniards settled many landgrants across the area. They brought precious apricot seeds. I have an old Spanish apricot tree in my yard that is immense. At nearly 200 years old, by core sample, it still blooms and if frost doesn’t kill the fruit it bears small sweet fruit. There are always a few hidden deep in the leaves. On a good year the tree is filled with fruit. I can and dry and we eat our fill of fresh fruit every time we walk near the tree. One son especially likes my homemade pineapple apricot jam. A 2 gallon bucket of apricots, take out the seeds, add a full can of crushed pineapple, juice and all, and slowly cook down till it’s a thick spread. (If it isn’t sweet enough when the apricots are cooked tender add sugar to taste.) Most old-fashioned jams were equal parts sugar and mashed fruit cooked down till thick. Nothing else added. Jelly does require pectin to thicken the fruit juice.
You should learn the survival skills fitted best to You’re part of the world.
Each place has different foods and different climate. Different ways that will work. Here it took community all hunting, gathering, gardening, some making pottery to cook and store food in. Others making baskets. Mocasin makers and hide tanners. Scattered family groups had survived earlier but survival was more of a struggle. Most tribes moved around for forraging different items in scattered areas. Same with hunting. Different areas were better for different animals.
Survival is a hard thing even in a rich food area with mild climate. If you get in that situation you’d appreciate anything edible that you can find or carry with you. I bet no one would turn up their nose at the bars if they were hungry. If you were nearly starving you’d trade anything for a few of them.
Ohio I like crawdads just fine. Used to play with them as a kid. Easy to draw them close with fish guts or what have you. Easy to cook. Just boil till they change color. Pretty tasty little morsels. If you have a bit of rice, some wild greens, a few boiled and peeled crawdads and some seasonings you could have a pretty descent gumbo.
Clergylady, you need to write for your own blog or write your memoirs into a survival book! I am new here and don’t know you well at all, but your experiences and ability to express stories and mix in recipes is wonderful! In my experience, if I feel that way about somthing, a lot of other people do too. You would be doing everyone a favor by sharing your knowledge, and God knows there are a lot of people who need it now!!! Just a thought…. Thanks for your input in what ever way you see fit to share it❤️
I agree with supporting free range / organic farmers when possible. No need to attack the contributer. Not everyone can access free-range/organic. I didn’t know honey is HFCS unless it’s raw.. thank you for that bit.
Tina,
Well said prep. I have raw honey from a neighbor. My chickens are really free range on my 3 acres but they do come in before dark every night. The only real questionable food item in my kitchen is some unbleached white flour and a 4 lb bag of granulated cane sugar.
The Ohio Prepper, my daughter didn’t like when my grandkids wanted my fresh cow milk instead of the milk she bought. I asked , where do you think that milk you buy comes from? She said, BILO.
Lol Linda, I had someone call me a cannibal because I butcher my home raised rabbits and eat them. It really makes one question modern education. There was a time everyone used raw milk. If it wasn’t raw, at least we knew where it came from.
Clergylady, I love rabbit, squirral(sp), deer. I love wild game. I have never had possum or raccoon but I have a WWII recipe book so I can cook them if I have to. If it comes down to it I’ll eat them too. Rich people eat squab. I wonder if they know what they are eating.
Linda H, Raccoon is OK but greasy and gamey like possum from what I have read (though I have never eaten possum myself). Woodchuck ain’t too bad either. Back in the ’70s, my grandmother in KY made me pick up one that was road kill and she made it for dinner. And as for squab, that was poor people food back in the late 1900s. That is where the phrase “Dime a dozen ” came from. As in you could get a dozen homing pigeons for a dime. Before commercial hunting, homing pigeons were the most plentiful bird in North America (40% of all the birds in North America). By the time Teddy Roosevelt outlawed commercial hunting, it had wiped out the homing pigeon to the point of extinction.
Ohio Prepper…Thank you for your rebuttal to Tina. Obviously she has an agenda against modern agriculture with her lame “puss on the udders” remark. There are no agriculture enterprises’ cleaner than the Milking Industry.
Spike, My late husband worked for a man one time that bought 3 cows at an auction to keep a pasture clear. He didn’t want them for milk. When he got them home he had the Vet. come out to give them a checkup. She found one that had a badly infected udder. The Vet. gave her antibiotics and I milked her twice a day for a week to keep the milk flowing. It had to be poured out.. They sent her to auction to be sold for meat. Dairys do that quite often. My husband bought one of those big black and white dairy cows. When he brought her home I noticed that one of her eyes was closed tight. I called our Vet. and he checked her out and said she had cancer of the eye. It was full of big black maggots. We had to have her put down and disposed of. Don’t worry about people with dairys. They sell the sick ones off at the auction. Most goes to meat packers. I bought my little Jersey from a man that I knew and he had all of the paperwork and I talked to her Vet. I knew what I was paying for. So Tina has a point. I guess I just made her a vegetarian. That is why it is always best to grew your own or know who you are buying from.
Linda H,
So a man who potentially knows nothing about cows, purchases three cows for use as mowers and you had a bad experience. Had he known more and checked or had they been purchased for milking perhaps you would not have had the issue. Caveat emptor still always applies, and stating that ” Dairys do that quite often” based on one experience is I think a bit prejudicial.
So your husband purchased a Holstein and failed to inspect it before purchase. Once again caveat emptor applies since you were able to see the obvious problem before calling the vet. If you look at a house and the back door and some of the windows are broken and you still make the purchase, you have no one to blame but your own inattentiveness.
On what do you base this assertion? We are surrounded by dairy cows, mostly Holsteins and since they are a money making asset they are well taken care of, and the occasional sick one that cannot be cured by the owner or the vet, are often put down and disposed of. Sick cattle, unless being sold to some unsuspecting individuals like you, are tested and rejected by meat packers, since not only are there standards, there are laws and punishments for such dealings.
I agree that you should raise your own or know your supplier; but, that in no way makes Tina’s assertion any more valid.
The word “vegetarian” BTW comes from a native American dialect that translates roughly to “Lousy hunter”. LOL.
Ohio Prepper, I lived for 10 years 4 houses below a dairy farm. I knew the people well. I learned a lot from them. That is how I know it happens quite often. The owner told me to never by cows at an auction. That is where the old and sick goes. That man didn’t lie to me. I never bought any thing at an auction. When the old man died his kids closed it and got rid of everything. I tried to tell both of them not to buy cows there. But being men they thought they knew it all I knew nothing. You are not allowed to go to the back were they are kept at that auction. When they run them through that’s when you see them. l milked that cow because it had to be done. And the two mr. know it alls didn’t know how. I checked out where that cow that my husband bought came from. The dairy was owned by the state Vet.. So never say never. Any thing can happen.
TheOhioPrepper: YOU are correct: HONEY is not High Fructose CORN syrup. (HFCS), which is made from GMO corn. It is a good idea to get only raw honey. If you heat honey over about 109* it kills all of the beneficial enzymes that make it slightly better than sugar. (healthier)
The pus in the udders relates to the gvmt regulations that there can be so much of it in processed milk..it IS written so. And the confined animals is relating to CAFO’s : Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, Where all animals are given only a few feet of space while alive in which to live and ‘grow’ the meat. Cattle, chickens and pigs are raised like this. Almost all commercial meat is raised this way. Of course there ARE small operations like the ones you mention, but most commercially raised meat is raised in CAFO’s.
I too, try to eat only organic, but realize in a SHTF scenario, will most likely eat anything! And I truly appreciate these posts that help me prepare. Right now I can choose to sub organic ingredients for non, and be happy. Later, when things go to h3ll, I’ll have to do with whats available, and be happy to get it.
Thanks to all of you who provide great ideas, food for thought, and incredible information that add to these posts…
those who bicker, not so much.
These sound amazing and easy! Can’t wait to try making them for myself. May wind up tweaking it a bit – if it turns out well I’ll be back to let you know.;)
I’ll be interested to see your post Miss Kitty.
Probably be a couple of weeks before I get around to it, but (heavy Austrian accent) “I’ll be back”. I’m looking for something easy and filling to take to work for a quick lunch, and commercial meal replacement bars are crazy expensive. Plus, as the article pointed out, you really don’t know what’s in them. I’ll try it, and keep you updated. 😉
I question the shelf life of this recipe because it contains peanuts. Tree nuts and peanuts are prone to molds that produce aflatoxin, which can cause liver failure or liver damage in sufficient quantities. Almonds are usually ok up to a year after the use by date(at room temp), 6 to 9 months for cashews and peanuts, 6 months for pecans and walnuts. I make nut butters regularly and some can go bad(oils become rancid) in just a few weeks if not refrigerated. If you want to use almonds in place of the peanuts I would suggest not keeping any past 1 year.
HDD: I ate some rancid peanuts a few months ago — not deliberately, I was not trying to commit suicide the hard way or anything like that, but they smelled okay in the jar. However, one bite was all it took. Even in an end of the world situation, I don’t think you will be able to force down rancid peanuts. Maybe, just maybe, but you are going to have to be really really really hungry. The taste is overpowering and instantly recognizable that the nuts are bad. It’s like having a broken leg. You are never in doubt, “Hmm, I wonder if my leg is broken.” You know instantly when you feel the bone snap that that is not a good sign. You don’t need the bone sticking out of your skin or anything. You KNOW. Same with rancid peanuts. You KNOW. So, while the peanuts may turn rancid after a year, you will not, I repeat, not take a second chomp on the nuts. I don’t think I would have swallowed them even if I were drunk. Perhaps you might eat them if you had ingested some hallucinogenic drug. I don’t know. No experience in that field. We use walnuts in baking that have been in the freezer for a long, long long time. I overlooked dating them when I put them in the freezer. We have been using them up for the last eight months without any adverse effects, so it would appear from my limited experience that freezing may delay loss of taste. I would think if I ate a thawed frozen walnut against a fresh crop walnut I could detect a difference in the taste, but standing alone, I cannot detect a difference in the taste of the frozen ones.
Sorry but the perfect survival food was invented a long time ago and can last more than 50yrs. Its called Pemmican. See: https://www.offthegridnews.com/how-to-2/how-to-make-pemmican-a-survival-superfood-that-can-last-50-years/ Pemmican has higher nutritional value and contains needed fats. Also fats leave you satiated for a longer time than that of a carb heavy ration bar.
You could tweak the recipe to something your kids like and have a useful emergency ration that would be a good change for them. But the only way I could survive these survival bars is to toss down a shot of cheap white Tequila after every bite.
It is said that after the 1st day of Chancellorsville Lee and Jackson plotted the next day’s tactics sitting on cracker boxes in front of a campfire.
Antique cracker boxes I’ve seen almost all have a claim on the label to be the World’s Whitest Cracker.
Workin on the railroad
Sleepin on the ground
Eating Saltine crackers
Ten cents a pound.
Lyrics from a great old Bob Will’s Depression era song, Big Ball’s In Cowtown. Really.
Saltines and a can of Sardines, my survival bar.
Ivy Mike: I think the title might have had a different meaning in the depression years form nowadays. I know some other words have had significant meaning changes. Intercourse used to mean dialog. If you said “I had interesting intercourse with Miss Jones yesterday,” it didn’t mean some kind of kinky sex. It meant that you had an interesting discussion.
Can you imagine writing a Christmas carol containing the words “now we don our gay apparel” selling well anywhere but in San Francisco these days?
From the “whitest crackers” to “Big Balls in Cowtown” to “Me and Miss(us) Jones’! Lol!
I’m going to have to try doing these. I think I’ll add peanut butter powder instead of the chunky peanuts though and maybe even throw in a little cocoa! Probably need to add a bit more liquid then as well. OH! Coconut flour!!! Cattail pollen? Acorn flour? Need to do some experimenting with different things and flavors.. if it turns out wrong, the chickens will get a good feeding! NOTHING goes to waste around here.
OOOH! HORSE TREATS!!!!
Yep, the creative baking juices are flowing now!
Well I made it. I can’t eat peanuts so I left them out. I didn’t have dried cranberries but I did have dried tart red cherries. I used them. I used cherry jello. I put 1 up and dated it to see how long it would last. The rest didn’t last but a few hours. The grand kids came over. They loved them. I’ll be making more. Different flavors.
Thanks for the report Linda.
I’ll have to save the recipe and try them when I have a working oven. What I have was a used stove given to us three years ago. The electronics controlling the oven and pilot lights has gone out.
I’d like to try these with different flours and fruits. Probably Steviea instead of honey and a sugar free jello. My neighrs that help us a lot are both diabetic. We like nuts but I’m partial to filaberts, pecans, and even sunflower or pumpkin seeds. M6 husband loves walnuts. Lots of room to experiment. Might try pineapple jello with dried pineapple.
Clergylady, Thanks, pineapple sounds great. I love pineapple. I’ll have my taste testers try it. I was thinking. I love oatmeal cookies with raisins. Oatmeal, raisins , brown sugar and plain jello. My mind is racing with ideas.
KJ Barber, Many, many thanks for this one . I can give the grandkids healthy treats that they like without chems. In them. Thanks again!
Brown sugar with oatmeal is a great combination. The jello and bit of honey is enough sweet for me. Trading for Brown sugar should be good. I think I’d add a sprinkle of nutmeg. Plenty of calories in there but good ingredients. When dry they should keep quite awhile but the fruit, unless candied, may not keep so long. For storage I think I’d leave out the fruit. For use in current time add all the fruit you want.
Either way enjoy.
Right now I try to eat healthy (organic, non GMO, no bad fats, etc). So when I try to make these I’ll try to make it healthy. However, when it comes to a SHTF situation I think it’s safe to say we’ll all eat anything that sustains us once we’ve gone through all of the healthy stuff. We’re all here for info. Be Polite.
I know this recipe is wide open for adaption modification as anyone chooses or sees fit. It sounds great and a lot better for people to eat than similar items ready for purchase full of items most of us cannot pronounce let alone spell correctly.
Reading this article and replies and all of the various suggestions…..and Clergylady mentioning Brown Sugar and Nutmeg I am surprised no one mentioned Cinnamon. All Three taste GREAT and compliment each other IMNSO!
Up close to the top Clergylady mentioned peppermint as additive…. what about Spearmint or Butterscotch or Vanilla or…? Just something to consider. I am just making suggestions….something to consider.
A couple of other dried fruits to mention are Mangoes and Papaya.
Among other fruits (dried or otherwise) I have not seen mentioned are Blueberries, Huckleberries, Raspberries, Strawberries, Blackberries. There are numerous others. Then again the recipe is open to the user to decide.
As for nuts there are many out there BTW Peanuts are not really a nut,, not that such changes their taste. Among other nuts there are Almonds, Pecans,Hickory nuts,Cashews, Walnuts,Hazelnuts, Chestnuts,Pine Nuts, that I can think of off the top of my head.
Put in a food processor or a blender or crushed in a mortar and pestle or between a couple of rocks if nothing else.
Why not use more than one type of nut? Some flavors would work well together and complement each other…or so I think.
Perhaps some dried corn added as well? I am asking because while I THINK it could be a good additive I am not sure so I am tossing it out there as a thought.
Also another thought is dehydrated potatoes or potato flour?.
Others have mentioned peanut and protein and other powders…….
Rabbits are mentioned while I am not a big fan of eating rabbit the are usually tough and/or stringy. BUT they are meat.
No one mentioned armadillos. IF they are in your area they are an easy critter to find. Bad part is they can carry leprosy…
While cattle were clearly discussed ….no one mentioned goats..Goats can pretty much lie off anything and are a good source of meat and milk.
They do and the milk taste better when eating grain/goat feed than they do eating wild weeds an brush, But having a few around and staked out can and will keep an area clear of brush.
Yosemite,
I prefer cinnamon to others; but, mixed with white cane sugar it makes a good all around topping.
Butterscotch can be made using a mixture of brown sugar, butter, and a bit of vanilla.
You can also pulverize rice and add rice flour. That’s a lot easier to make than potato flour.
Pretty much any nut or dried meat pulverized in a blender or mortar & pistil would add protein and nutrition.
Here’s a link to a recipe for Anzac biscuits:
https://www.kyleecooks.com/authentic-anzac-biscuits/
Enjoy
Won’t the peanuts become rancid over time?
Im allergic to milk. Anyone have any ideas what i can swap out and get the same results?
Lori: There are so many nut milks available in powdered form. Oat, Almond, Coconut, even hemp seed..oh, that may only be available in the full ‘wet’ version… Just look on Amazon for whatever suits your fancy. You could always even make your own, just make the ‘milk’ and dehydrate it, but already made ones are out there.
Canned or powdered milk does not have a shelf life of years. Why would this be safe?
I’ve made these bars and they are tasty!