PrepperEats: Chicken noodle casserole

Food preps tend to come in very shelf-stable but not terrible eater-friendly packaging:  5 gal buckets of staples, gallon tins of dehydrated this or that, powdered soups and similar delicacies.  It’s great to have; but we need to think about how to turn these kinds of supplies into meals that will make us feel content as well as provide calories and nutrients.

That’s where this new series, PrepperEats comes in.  I’m going to try some ways to make more pleasing meals out of our prep foods and share with you what does and doesn’t work.  I’m hoping some of you will do the same in the comments — because I know some of you are better cooks than I.

What got me started was noticing how many of the ’30 day buckets’ and similar products rely on powdered soups. We also have a lot of pasta on hand, as it has a very long natural shelf life and is easy to get in whole wheat (much more nutritious that way).  I also have a lot of dehydrated vegetables and fake meats; the veggies because I dry a lot of my own and they provide considerable nutrition, and fake meats for the protein and savory addition.

My first effort for this series then was to combine these stores with the aim of making a decent meal with nothing but prep food, heat, and a single pot. The powdered soup to hand was chicken noodle, so I went for a chicken noodle casserole sort of dish.  

All the ingredients for this experiment except the water. It also required heat, one pot with lid, and a spoon.

I cooked the pasta first, to get 2 cups whole wheat spaghetti.  Dissolved the soup mix in about 2/3 of the water it called for, added the spaghetti, added some ‘chicken’ bits, and then some veggies I already had tins of open:  diced carrots and spinach.  Added about the same volume of water as I had dried chicken and veggies.  Simmered for about half an hour:  That’s about how long it took to get the dried stuff fully rehydrated and tender.  Then left the lid off and heated a few minutes more to cook off the extra fluid (there wasn’t very much) until it wasn’t soupy.  Done.

Here was the final result, or half of it. It wasn’t amazing, but tasted all right and was satisfying and nutritious.

It ended up being two lunches worth of a very passable but not amazing attempt.  Upsides:  Used a variety of ingredients often found in a prepper larder to simply make a satisfying, nutritious one dish meal.  I valued the soup much more as a the base of the flavor ‘sauce’ than I valued the same soup eaten plain.  This kind of dish is a great way to incorporate some vegetables that have some food elements you need but aren’t wonderful by themselves (I’m looking at you, spinach flakes!) because they add some color and don’t do much to the overall flavor.  The chicken bits also are not awesome alone; using them like this adds flavor and protein without making it scream I AM FAKE CHICKEN.  The spaghetti added satisfying bulk and useful calories.  The combo was much less bland than a lot of prep food.

Downsides:  It was too salty (half a day’s recommended amount), most of that coming from the soup powder and chicken bits. I found I need to get some cornstarch or arrowroot; I was thinking it would have been better with a thicker sauce. A little dehydrated celery would have helped with flavor I think; that’s something that can easily be added to the ‘revolving spice preps’.   No one would mistake it for made-from-fresh.  The total heating time was higher than I was hoping for, both from a time and fuel perspective; I think pre-soaking the dehydrated parts in warm water ahead of time would have reduced that problem.

Nutrition estimates (% = % US RDA): Calories: 425 kcal (about 1/4 of a sedentary day’s needs), Protein: 25 g (1/2 my daily need; at least 1/3 even for a big man), Fiber: 12 g (about 1/2 daily need), Vit A 810% (yeah, that’s not a typo, carrots will Fix You Up for Vit A, but it’s non-toxic at the levels you get from food), Vit C: 61% (no scurvy for you, matey!), Calcium 21%, Iron 26 % (more if you use cast iron cookware), Sodium 1295 mg (1/2 recommended limit; the sodium in prep foods could be a problem for preppers with high blood pressure).

This was just the first attempt; I hope to post more articles later on using food stores.  It’s not that I’m a great cook; it’s that I think it would improve life when we’re using these stores if we actually know how and I’m hoping to spark some experimentation on your part. Share your results in the comments!