The power’s out, and there’s *no pizza delivery*! Oh, the Horror! O wait, you’re a prepper. You’ve plenty of food on hand. No need to panic. Instead, it’s time for a Prepper’s Barbecue!
How much have you tried eating your preps? Are they actually good, or are they just fuel? Sure, anyone can suck it up and deal with iron rations during a crisis…but we’re people. What we eat matters to us; food affects our moods and our minds as well as our bodies. If we want to really thrive during hard times, part of that is having food that satisfies. We call it comfort food for a reason.
Also, how’s your family stocked for picky eaters? Will everybody actually eat the food if it’s not what they are used to and what they like? Some people won’t; at least until they get pretty desperate. (I’m looking at YOU, toddlers!)
The Prepper’s Barbecue Challenge
Summer is the perfect time for a barbeque! Why not do something different this weekend, and sneak in a prep while you’re at it? Have a Prepper Barbecue. Salty and I talk it over in this podcast:
Your Prepper’s Barbecue might have you rethink your aluminum foil supply: So useful for cooking over a fire!
Here’s the challenge: Have yourself a barbecue. Act as if the water and power are out. Use no food from the refrigerator or freezer, nothing you have to buy. Everything you can pick this time of year, from your garden or legal public space you walk/bike to, is fair game. (See what I did there, rigging it so I could have a fresh blackberry cobbler?)
What are the cooking methods and materials? Suit them to your preps. If you plan to bug in and cook on a propane grill, barbecue on that. If you want to mimic a bug-out, grab the stuff you plan to bug-out with and head to a park. I hope you’ve got a Kelly Kettle in there, as it will do wonders for your food options. Maybe you’ve got a solar oven you’ve been wanting to try out.
Why bother with a Prepper’s Barbecue?
To paraphrase van Moltke: No plan survives first contact with the enemy.
You don’t really know what you’re doing until you’ve done it. Thinking through things is wonderful and absolutely should be a part of the process. Nevertheless, we all make assumptions that don’t turn out to be right or forget details from time to time. Actually doing something points out these problems clearly.
For example, suppose you intend to do your cooking on your propane barbecue grill. You keep it in good shape and have plenty of gas on hand. Great start! Now, how are you set for a pot big enough to cook for your family that will fit under the cover of that grill without melting the handle? Trying to make pancakes over a grill is a Great way to convince yourself that having some canned butter on hand to lubricate the pan would be a great idea. It had that effect on me, anyway. And did you remember to stock some fruit preserves for a topping?
Dutch ovens can be great for those who plan on cooking over an open fire or in a fireplace, but they do have a learning curve.*
What can you eat at your Prepper’s Barbecue that’s any good?
If that question pops up and you don’t have any immediate answers, you’ve already learned something. If you’re storing it, you should figure out how to prepare it in a way you’ll like it.
A few ideas using items commonly found in preps:
- Salmon patties
- Frittata, or similar egg-powder-based food
- Pancakes
- Pasta dishes: Most kits are heavy on these. They make a much better meal with add-ins such as rehydrated TVP and vegetables, so experiment. That canned tuna goes well here.
- Chili: Also abundant in kits. No time like the present to see how the spicing works for your family. (We keep extra dried hot pepper on hand, and often add extra canned tomatoes and/or beans.)
- Soups: Kit makers seem to believe we subsist mainly on soup. Find out how and what you need to add to make a real meal out of it. Read about one of my attempts by clicking here.
- Beanie Weenies: You can make these out of Vienna sausages and canned beans
Don’t forget the extras
Hearty main dishes are important, but since we’re considering the satisfaction of the humans eating the food, let’s not forget the extras.
My Mom made great cobblers in the Dutch oven over a fire when we barbecue with a campfire. This is a good way to use fruit, be it fresh-picked, dehydrated, or canned. Sugar has a nearly eternal shelf life if you keep the ants out of it, ditto for honey. Real bakers can do wonders with a solar oven (but I’m not one of those people).
How are you set for drink? Pure water’s a beautiful and necessary thing, but perhaps a bit bland for a festive barbecue.
Mint grows like a weed; I planted it once (from a sample found growing feral by the roadside) and have been stocked for a decade. It really freshens up water. Other herbs like lemon balm or an addition of some mashed fruit (from can, rehydrated, or fresh) are also very nice when you’re tired of plain water. Tea stores very well if you vacuum seal it. I sealed some and let it sit for five years before opening it and using the tea bags and noticed no degradation. Coffee drinkers, sorry, you’re on your own. I’ve no expertise to offer. We do stock some of those little envelopes for single serving drinks. They don’t last forever (a year or so under ‘kept in the car’ conditions), but we rotate them as we use them and it can be a great change of pace.
There’s no reason to forgo a nice cup of tea just because of some silly power outage.
Give it a go and have fun!
We’re not really prepped unless we both have what we need and know how to use it. Practice is essential, so why not make it fun with a nice summer barbecue?
* By AntiCompositeNumber [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], from Wikimedia Commons