If the recent lockdown should have shown us anything, it is how fragile our “just-in-time” distribution system is. This time it was some minor inconvenience with toilet paper and household bleach. What will you and your family do the next time?
We can learn much from the American pioneers. From the pioneer provision list, to seed saving and their cooking equipment and recipes, we are wise to take note of techniques and tools used by the pioneers who “bugged out” West from 1840-1890 along the Oregon Trail.
Mormon pioneers were the emergency preparedness and food storage masters of their time! Author Caleb Warnock, in his book, The Forgotten Skills of Self-Sufficiency Used by the Mormon Pioneers, shows you the first hand skills you’ll need. Learn to cultivate the pioneer’s independence to provide against lost wages, harsh weather, economic recession, commercial contamination and shortages, as you strengthen your family’s self-reliance.
Pioneer Lesson #1: Make a provision list.
Pioneers bring many survival lessons, starting with their provision list. Pioneers knew they could not depend on foraging for food or hunting alone along the trail, so before heading on the journey, pioneers relied on the knowledge of fur trappers to guide them on foods and supplies to bring.
Pioneer women didn’t write much about food along the trails, as they felt food was a rather mundane topic. Thankfully, however, men found food a worthwhile to write about, so we know pioneers packed plenty of dried goods, including dried meats, sugar, molasses, salt, and spices, as well as flour, cornmeal, oats, dried apples, coffee and tea. The following is an actual provision list modified to take into account modern provisions:
Enough highly portable, long term food storage, to last an entire winter. Long term explorers, miners, and trappers would pack in 600/lbs per man, and they would include dried fruits, veggies, and salt pork.
A modernized list would include freeze dried components, and run more to 450 lbs. This could be stretched an entire year if you add wild fish and game.
One year Grub Stake List (450 lbs),
60 lbs Flour,
40 lbs Bisquick mix,
50 lbs Oatmeal,
25 lbs Corn Meal,
100 lbs Rice,
25 lbs Pinto Beans,
50 lbs Pasta (Spaghetti Noodles, Elbow Mac),
25 lbs Coffee,
25 lbs Salt,
10 lbs Sugar,
1 gal Honey,
1 gal Maple Syrup,
12 lbs Jam (Strawberry/Grape/Berry),
1 Gal Crisco,
3 L Olive Oil,
1 lbs Baking soda,
1 lb Baking powder,
4 lb Yeast,
1 lb Corn starch,
Vanilla, 1 Bottle,
Ketchup 2 Bottles,
Spices-Garlic/Pepper/Chilli/Oregano,
Hot cocoa mix
Tea bags,
365 Multi/Vitamin C,
4 #10 Cans Entrees, 1 ea, Beef Stew, ChiliMac, Lasagna, Spaghetti.
4 #10 Cans Freeze Dried (Onions/G Peppers/Tomato paste/Potatoes),
4 #10 Cans Freeze Dried milk/Butter/Cheese/Eggs,
THIS IS PER PERSON
Lesson #2: Fire and cooking.
Cooking over an open fire was dangerous for pioneer women and the children who gathered around the fire. Pioneer women, and the girls who tended the cooking, wore their hair tightened in a bun. Additionally, pioneer women wore bonnets not only to keep their unkempt hair as orderly as possible, but also to cook over an open flame. They also wore heavy wool clothing to protect themselves from flying sparks.
With luck I will continue this topic next week.
You can discount this information if you choose, but consider what the consequences would be for you and your family if the local supermarket was barren like those in Venezuela.