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The year is 2003 and a pipeline is being constructed that runs through the nation of Georgia. Ceramic jars are found while digging and they are filled with honey. Old honey! Once it was analyzed it was found that this honey was 5,500 years old, and it was still edible!
Not all ingredients are created equal. There are some shelf stable foods that are so stable you might even refer to them as forever foods. This is because they can basically sit on the shelf, well, forever. There is a very good chance you own many of these forever foods and don’t even know it.
Things like salt, honey, sugar, and vinegar have multiple uses and can be stockpiled without concern of them ever going bad. These are incredible utility ingredients that are not only good in recipes but play a role in the preservation of foods.
There are 7 incredibly tasty recipes below that all take advantage of different forever foods. I encourage you to give them a try and use this aspect of your food storage to help you better prepare for hard times.
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List of Important Forever Foods
- Biltong
- Bouillon
- Chocolate
- Corn Starch
- Corn Syrup
- Dry Beans
- Freeze Dried Vegetables
- Ghee
- Hard Liquor
- Hard Wheat
- Herbs & Spices
- Honey
- Lard
- Maple Syrup
- Salt
- Soy Sauce
- Vanilla Extract
- Vinegar
- White Sugar
1. Forever Stew
This is a long-lasting stew that can be mixed up in its dry state and stored for a long time until you are ready to prepare it.
Ingredients:
- 1 ½ Cups Dried Black Beans
- 1 ½ Cup Dried Navy or Great Northern Beans
- 1 Tablespoon Dried Onion Flakes
- 2 Teaspoons Garlic Powder
- 2 Tablespoons Cumin
- 1/2 Teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
- 2 Bay Leaves
- 1 Tablespoon Chili Powder
- 4 Beef Bouillon Cubes
Directions:
- Soak your beans in water overnight. Drain them when you are ready to cook the stew.
- Combine all the ingredients in a large sauce pot with 6 cups of water and bring to a simmer.
- Simmer for 1 ½ hours or until the beans are tender.
- Take the stew off the heat and let it cool on its own before serving.
2. High Calorie Survival Bars
The reason that survival bars have such a long shelf life is because they are made up exclusively of high calorie forever foods! This is a simple but effective recipe for some high calorie survival bars.
Ingredients:
- ¼ Cup of Lard
- 2 Cups Maple syrup
- 4 Tablespoons Raw Honey
- 1 Cup Sugar
- 4 Cups flour
- ¼ Cup of Corn Starch
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Heat the first 4 ingredients in a saucepot until they are all melted and smooth. Set the pan aside to cool a bit.
- Mix your flour and cornstarch together.
- Slowly stir the wet mixture into the dry ingredients.
- Work this mixture until you get a soft dough that can be rolled out.
- Roll the mixture out on parchment paper about 1 to ½ inch thick.
- Use a pizza cutter to cut your bars to the size you would like.
- Bake in a 350-degree oven till they are firm, around 20 minutes. They may bake together a bit. If so, simply break them apart.
3. Vanilla Honey Butter
Any survivalist or prepper should know how to make bread. Stockpiling things like whole wheat and having a grinder are great steps for this. Knowing how to harvest yeast from the air is another skill necessary to make good bread when we no longer have access to the supermarket.
This vanilla honey butter is a forever food that can be slathered on fresh or toasted bread and enjoyed thoroughly.
Ingredients:
- 1lb of Ghee
- 1 Cup of Honey
- 1 Tablespoon of Vanilla Extract
Directions:
- Place all the ingredients in a saucepan over a low heat and let them warm together.
- Once stirring the mixture is easy, simply pour the mixture into a mason jar, cool, and cover with a lid.
4. Rabbit Rillette
This is a classic French preparation that can turn fresh meat into something of a forever food. It uses the preserving power of lard to extend the shelf life of cooked. I chose the classic rabbit for this article, but you can also use pork, duck, beef or other meat.
Ingredients:
- 4 Cups of Lard
- 2lbs of Fresh Rabbit Meat
- Salt
Directions:
- Lightly salt your rabbit meat the night before.
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
- Place the rabbit meat and the lard in a deep baking pan. The goal is to slowly cook the meat in the lard. This imparts lard flavor, but the fat also cooks the meat down to an incredibly tender state and that is what you need for this recipe.
- Cook for about 2 hours covered with foil.
- Remove the meat from the fat and place it in a large bowl. Set the fat aside for a few hours till it begins to harden or place it in the fridge.
- Once the lard is hardening again you are going to add some of it back to the meat, about a cup.
- Using a wooden spoon, you are going to bash up the rabbit meat and cream it together with the fat. You want something that looks almost like a tuna salad in consistency.
- Spoon this into a mason jar and then heat up just a little more lard.
- Add 2 Tablespoons of liquid lard to cover the rillette mix in the jar.
- Place the mixture in the fridge or in a root cellar to harden completely. This fat cap will protect your meat from oxygen and spoilage.
5. Rice Pudding
Rice pudding has been a very popular dessert through the ages. I think one of the biggest reasons is because the ingredients are cheap and last a very long time! If you store powdered milk in your food storage, then include it for a better taste and texture. It is not necessary though.
Ingredients:
- 6 Cups Water
- ¾ Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 Cup of Short Grain Rice
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- (1/4 of Powdered Milk Optional)
Directions:
- Place all your ingredients into a large saucepot and bring the mixture to a simmer.
- Let the mixture simmer uncovered for about 35 minutes.
- You can stir the mixture regularly to release the starches from your short grain rice. This will make the mixture creamier.
- Once the rice is tender pour the rice pudding into a serving bowl and let cool to just above room temperature or serve cold.
6. Biltong, Beans and Rice
It is very important for any survivalist to know how to cook beans and rice.
Ingredients:
- 1 Cup of Rice
- ¼ Cup of Dry Beans
- 1 Tablespoon of Chili Powder
- 1 Bay Leave
- 1 Tablespoon of Beef Bouillon
- 1 Cup of Diced Biltong
Directions:
- Soak your black beans overnight.
- Cook the black beans in water for 1 to 1 ½ hours until they are tender.
- Rinse your rice and then add two cups of water, your beef bouillon and beans. Also add your bay leaf.
- Simmer the rice until it becomes the consistency of oatmeal. Then turn to the lowest setting and cover.
- Steam the rice until it is tender.
- Serve your rice and bean mixture topped with some diced Biltong.
7. Candy
Candy making is actually very simple. You just need a candy thermometer to temp the mixture and you are ready to go.
Ingredients:
- 3 ¾ Cups White Sugar
- 1 ½ Cups Light Corn Syrup
- 1 Cup Water
- 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
Directions:
- Stir together all your ingredients in a small saucepan.
- Simmer until you reach a temperature of 300-310 degrees using a candy thermometer.
- Then simply dump the hot candy into a sheet pan and allow it to cool before breaking it up into pieces.
Conclusion
What are some of your forever foods? I would recommend that you buy a pack of index cards and start creating your own cookbook style index of recipes that can be whipped up using these forever foods. While it might seem daunting just remember that you are only about 150 years removed from a time without refrigeration or climate control.
People lived for thousands of years in societies that thrived without plastic packaging and refrigeration. You are more than capable of surviving this way, too. Lucky for us, we have the information from the peoples long passed to refer to.
Give some of these recipes a try. I think you will be surprised how tasty forever foods can be.
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