Discover simple recipes that make use of foods that can be stored on the shelf year-round.
By Janet Groene, F47166
January 2013
In our family, campfire yarns usually are filled with tall tales about how lucky we were to have emergency foods on hand. My brother’s Boy Scout troop survived a long rainy weekend by eating cheese and crackers while sheltered under their canoes. During a trip in our early camping days, Gordon and I woke up in our van surrounded by water, our campfire drowned. We didn’t go hungry. We’d planned a backup breakfast consisting of instant oatmeal and coffee made with thermoses of hot water prepared the night before.
Today we have an RV with a real kitchen plus wheels to take us to food sources, but we continue to keep extra food on hand. It has paid off during delays of many kinds, including a bout of flu that left us both too sick to go to the store. There are also times when we enjoy a campsite so much we simply want to stay longer than we’d planned.
In preparation for times when you need to fall back on an emergency food supply, here are recipes to help with planning, stowing, and cooking. If you have fresh foods on hand you can, of course, substitute them in these recipes. For more recipes that require no fresh ingredients, see my Pantry Recipe of the Week posted each Friday at www.BoatCook.blogspot.com.
Hot ’N Zesty Clam Slam
This creamy, rich dish is versatile. You can serve it as a dip with crackers, bread, or tortillas, or turn it into a hot main course by spooning it over instant grits, mashed or baked potatoes, rice, or crisp Chinese noodles. Cheeses that don’t require refrigeration are one of the many staples kept in my pantry.
1 10-ounce can minced clams
2 tablespoons dried onion flakes
2 tablespoons dried green pepper flakes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 8-ounce package of processed cheese such as Velveeta (check the “use by” date)
1/4 cup ketchup or tomato paste
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Hot sauce to taste (optional)
Drain the clams and save the juice. Soak the dried vegetables in the clam juice. Put the olive oil in the top of a double boiler, a heavy-bottom saucepan over very low heat, or a microwave-safe container. Add the cheese (diced), soaked vegetables, and clam juice. Cook over boiling water or low heat, stirring as the cheese melts. (In a microwave oven, cook on high, turning and stirring every 30 seconds until the cheese melts.) Stir in the ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and clams. Add hot sauce to taste. Serve warm.
Sea Dog Bully Beef
Chipped beef is salty, so opt for low-sodium broth and soup. Don’t add salt to the recipe.
Water
1 can or carton of low-sodium beef broth
4 cups uncooked instant rice
1 jar dried chipped beef
1 small can evaporated milk (2/3 cup)
1 can low-sodium cream of mushroom soup
1 6-ounce jar Old English cheese spread
Freeze-dried chives (optional)
Add water to the broth if necessary to make 4 cups, and bring to a boil in a deep skillet or 2-quart saucepan. Stir in the rice; cover; and let stand until the liquid is absorbed. Tear up the beef into small bits and stir it into the cooked rice. Whisk the canned milk into the soup. Using two spoons, distribute the cheese over the rice, and then pour the soup mixture over all. Cover and cook over very low heat, stirring occasionally, until the cheese melts and everything is heated through. Sprinkle with chives. This recipe makes four main-dish servings.
Chipped Beef Corn Chowder
1 jar or package chipped beef (3 to 4 ounces), cut up
1/4 cup dried onion bits
1 15-ounce can no-salt cream-style corn
1 can condensed low-sodium cream of potato soup
1 12-ounce can evaporated milk and ½ cup water or 2 cups reconstituted dry milk
Freshly ground pepper
Dried parsley flakes
Stir everything together in a saucepan and heat gently, stirring to prevent burning, until everything is creamy and hot. Add pepper to taste and sprinkle with parsley flakes. If the chowder is too thick, add more water to taste. This recipe serves four as a hearty main dish.
Apple Pan Dowdy
No matter what challenges the day brings, this hot and bracing breakfast will get you going.
1 can Boston brown bread, crumbled, or 3 cups diced bread
1 can pie-sliced apples (not apple pie filling)
1 small can chunk ham, broken up
1 6-ounce jar Old English cheese spread
½ cup eggs (or equivalent in reconstituted dried eggs)
1 small can evaporated milk
Put the bread in a well-greased casserole dish and distribute the apples and ham. Using two spoons, dot the casserole with bits of cheese. Whisk together the eggs and evaporated milk, and pour the mixture over the casserole. Tip the casserole dish to make sure the egg mixture soaks into the bread base. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees until it sets, as for custard. This recipe makes four servings.
Bean ’N Berry Bulgur
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/4 cup dried onion bits, soaked in a little water and well drained
1 tablespoon curry powder
4 1/2 cups water
4 chicken, beef, or vegetable bouillon cubes
1 teaspoon garlic granules
2 cups bulgur
1 cup dried cranberries
2 19-ounce cans white beans, such as Great Northern
Heat the oil in a nonstick skillet or saucepan and stir-fry the onion to coat. Stir in the curry powder until fragrant. Stir in the water, bouillon cubes, and garlic and bring to a boil. Stir in the bulgur and dried cranberries. Cover and let stand for 15 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed. Fluff with a fork. Drain and rinse the white beans and fold into the bulgur. Serve warm or at room temperature. This recipe serves eight.
Mashed Beans
This recipe is easily doubled. It works well in a vegetable plate, hot or cold, or with canned meat or fish.
1 15- or 16-ounce can cannellini (white kidney beans)
½ teaspoon chicken base (powder or paste)
1/4 teaspoon each garlic powder and dried thyme
Olive oil
Dried parsley (optional)
Drain the beans, saving the juice. Using a potato masher, mash the beans with the chicken base, garlic powder, and dried thyme until well-combined. Add juice as needed to make a creamy, but lumpy, mash. Put a scoop on each plate, drizzle very lightly with olive oil, and sprinkle with dried parsley. This recipe serves two as a main dish or four as a side dish.
Cook’s note: To make up a cold vegetable plate with other pantry ingredients, add pickled beets or sweet-and-sour cabbage (sold in jars), and perhaps a mound of corn relish or chutney to add color to the plate.
Planning Emergency Provisions
- Shop for foods that provide the most nutrition per dollar, per ounce, and per cubic inch. These include rice, dried fruits, bulgur, peanut butter, unpopped popcorn, skinless and boneless meats, nonfat dry milk, dried beans, dried chipped beef, and whole grains such as barley or oat groats (hulls removed) and whole-wheat berries. Tomato paste also is useful on the emergency shelf, because it’s highly concentrated and can be turned into tomato sauce or even tomato juice.
- Whenever possible, buy pantry foods that are low in sodium, fat, and sugar. Many canned and packaged foods are high in these dietary no-nos, so combining them can result in dishes that are far too salty, sweet, or fatty. You can always season to taste just before serving.
- Have at least some foods on hand that don’t require water or cooking, such as canned beans, canned stew, or ready-to-eat cereal. Some emergencies involve a shortage of fuel, water, or time.
- Don’t forget nonfood supplies such as at least one alternate cooking source.
- Group together ingredients for some emergency recipes and keep them in a separate box or bag.
- Watch “use by” or “best by” dates on cans and packages and rotate food supplies as needed.
- When buying dried eggs, read labels. Some require the addition of hot water and turn into ready-to-eat, scrambled eggs. Others are reconstituted with cold water and can be used as raw eggs.
Books For Cooks
Two new titles from publisher Robert Rose are must-haves for motorhome travelers who keep stowed provisions on board for convenience or emergencies. The first is 200 Best Canned Fish & Seafood Recipes by Susan Sampson. The second is 250 Best Beans, Lentils & Tofu Recipes by Judith Finlayson. Published in sturdy paperback form with appealing color illustrations, they are priced at $24.95 each.
Both books are recommended for short- or long-term food-savers. Seafood keeps longer than almost any other type of canned food, so the first book is a lifesaver for home and travel emergency planning. The beans book is of special interest to vegans and vegetarians (although not all recipes adhere strictly to these diets). Beans and lentils are compact and keep well over the long haul, but they require water and long cooking times. Seafood, by contrast, can be eaten right out of the can if necessary.
New in the magnificent American Antiquarian Cookbook Collection is American Cookery ($19.99, Andrews McMeel), written by colonist Amelia Simmons and first published in 1796. Bound in red cloth with gold on the cover, back, spine, and page edges, it joins a collection that includes more than a dozen books based on the life of Colonial America.
On the plus side for the motorhome cook, the book is a sturdy hardback in a compact size that travels well. On the minus side, it is based on historic cooking techniques, not always the way we shop and eat today. For armchair reading, a look at our ancestors’ cooking methods, and the start of a lifetime collection, American Cookery is a prize.
300 Sensational Soups by Carla Snyder and Meredith Deeds ($24.95, Robert Rose) is more than a soup-lover’s bible. It’s an exciting guide to international soups. If you’ve ever wondered how to make Middle Eastern harira, African peanut soup, or authentic cock-a-leekie, this book will send you down a road of culinary adventures. It’s a comprehensive tell-all covering broths and stocks, comfort soups, chowders, cold soups, and vegetarian soups. The chapter on toppings and garnishes is a welcome bonus.
Sweet nostalgia makes A Return To Sunday Dinner ($27.99, Thomas Nelson) an enticing read as well as a specialty cookbook. This hardback by Russell Cronkhite is beautifully illustrated and filled with culinary inspirations from soup to nuts. The do-ahead tips are a special treat for cooks who need extra time to turn out an elaborate meal. Discover regional feasts such as Swedish-style meatballs or Southern traditions starring baked ham, peach chutney, and scalloped potatoes.
Another nostalgic cookbook is Come Home, It’s Suppertime ($9.95, Bookstand Publishing). Author LaVerne Martin Littleton was born in rural Kentucky in 1923, and she writes that the first sliced bread sold in her hometown arrived in 1928. Her ancestors include Europeans and a Cherokee great-grandmother. The recipes are historic if not always useful; the lore is priceless.
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