Here's the original recipe, just as I received it:
Survival Bread
2 cups oats
2 1/2 cups powdered milk
1 cup sugar
3 Tbl honey
3 Tbl water
1 pkg. lemon or orange Jell-O (3oz)
Combine oats, powdered milk and sugar. In a medium pan, mix water, Jell-O and honey. Bring to a boil. Add dry ingredients. Mix well. (If the dough is too dry, add a small amount of water a teaspoon at a time.) Shape dough into a loaf. (About the size of a brick.) Place on cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Cool. Wrap in aluminum foil to store. This bread will keep indefinitely and each loaf is the daily nutrients for one adult.
Well, the ingredients don't sound too bad, but that last line bothers me for some reason. Healthy food should deteriorate, shouldn't it? I have teenage boys and not much goes to waste around here, so I figured it was worth trying out. Even though the recipe doesn't specify, I used quick oats. As for the liquid, that little bit didn't even begin to cover it. It was so dry, I was still stirring mostly powder, so I ended up adding another 1/3 cup water plus more - almost 1/2 cup! It was very stiff, and very sticky. I wonder if I should have added less and got my hands in there and just packed it all together when it was still a lot drier. I don't know, but here's the results:
It doesn't look so bad! AND - it actually tasted pretty good! It has a heavy powdered milk taste, which I'm not a big fan of, but with a little butter, or honey, or butter AND honey(!) I hardly noticed. I'm sure the recipe can be altered. Maybe less powdered milk and more oats? Unless it's formulated to an exact scientifically nutritional specification! :) But I doubt it.
Has anyone else had any experience with survival bread? Or maybe if you have a different recipe you'd like to share, email it to me and I'll post it with your name. My email is naugafarm@gmail.com. I'm always looking for good recipes that are made from truly storage-type ingredients - things easy to store, and nothing out of the ordinary.
I haven't tried it yet, but I saw a similar recipe a few weeks ago and wanted to. I procrastinate...
ReplyDeleteNever heard of it.
ReplyDeleteCould you mail me some so I can try it? It looks delish!
ohh, for me it looks good!! i am sure it would taste fine! i try it, hope the translator names me the right things to take..... maybe if not the elves like it... haha...
ReplyDeletehave a wonderful day!!
It certainly makes a pretty picture! Anything with butter and honey added is good. Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving such kind words :)
ReplyDeleteHi Susan, just stopping by to say hi. And to tell you that I send you an email with some information about how to make a solar cooker maybe it is interesting for you. Saludos desde Panamá. Mhathy
ReplyDeleteIt is certainly a new recipe for me and it does sound interesting. I guess it would be perfect for when one goes camping for a few weeks or goes on a very long hike, as this bread would not go stale.
ReplyDeleteBut only 3 tablespoons of water to 5 1/2 cups of dry ingredients plus a package of Jell-O doesn't sound like nearly enough liquid...maybe that's where we'd need the help of the elves? :D
Hey! Hiking food! That's a great idea too. My family actually really liked this. My 17 yr. old son said it was "addicting". Ha Ha! I didn't think it was THAT good, but I did eat my share. And since the elves weren't around, I just dumped in more than another 1/3 cup water. Whatever works.
ReplyDeleteMhathy - thanks for the solar cooker info! I'll go look at it.
ReplyDeleteJust found your blog. Looks great! The bread looks yummy as well. Looking forward to your postings. :)
ReplyDeleteCould Quaker Oats be used?
ReplyDeleteI would think that apple juice used as part of the liquid would perk up the taste.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious...did it taste decidedly orange or lemon, (whichever Jello you used)?
ReplyDeleteNot sure about the apple juice. That might cut into the longevity...or make portable moonshine :)
ReplyDeleteThis bread sounded intriguing especially adding jello, but I figured that's where the protein comes from. All I had was orange jello. I made it this morning. The dough was extremely sticky. I had to use a metal scrubby to get the dough off my hands. I had heard to shape it like a brick...wish I'd seen your pictures before attempting this loaf because my brick was much thicker. I did use my hands to mix it but would have added more water like many suggested. I ended up baking it for almost 40 minutes and it never did firm up. Most likely because the batter was too thick and I shaped it too thickly. I cut it and served it anyway. All 5 kids (11,12,14,14,16) tried it and liked the taste even though it was doughy. IT WAS VERY ORANGE TASTING but not in an unpleasant way. It was a bit addicting... we just kept taking bites because it was so different. It was very very filling.
ReplyDeleteGlad you tried it! Because of the stickiness, sounds to me like you may have had too MUCH water. The moister it is, the sooner it will spoil, also.
ReplyDeleteThanks to everyone for all your great comments! :)
This article looked interesting but as it says, we don't know the longevity. Would seem to be very adaptable;
ReplyDeleteSurvival Recipe: Tasty Hardtack
By LEON PANTENBURG - Fri Nov 02, 11:00 am
Looking for a way to use up surplus flour, or make a cheap trail food or durable survival rations? One answer may be hardtack, a baked, unleavened wheat cracker. As a survival food, hardtack has a proven track record.
Mark's hardtack recipe is tasty and nutritious!
by Leon Pantenburg
One of the more popular posts on SurvivalCommonSense.com has been how to make hardtack, a basic survival food. I was gearing up for an elk hunt, so I tried this recipe from Mark, who had commented on the post.
“I’ve been making and enjoying hardtack for years,” Mark wrote. “I like to use native pecans in mine.” Immediately intrigued, I made up a batch, using Mark’s recipe as a base. Using only the ingredients that were on hand, I had to make a few substitutions.
And, as is my wont, I can’t resist tweaking a recipe when there is potential to make it more healthy. (I always amend flour: For each cup of white flour, add 1 Tbs of soy meal; 1 tsp of wheat germ, and 1 Tbs of dried milk. This creates a whole protein!)
The result was wonderful! Unlike the traditional hardtack recipes which can be nutritious, but REALLY bland, this recipe is tasty! And it’s kind of like opening a bag of chips – you can’t eat just one!
Here’s the recipe – try it yourself on your next camping trip, or if you have some extra flour you want to put to use. But while hardtack is renowned for its longevity, we’re not sure how long this particular recipe will last.
To quote Mark: “I’m not sure of shelf life as they disappear quickly.”
Mark’s Hardtack Recipe
2 cups organic whole wheat flour
2 cups unbleached organic flour
2 cups whole rolled oats (I had to leave this out, since there was no oatmeal, or an appropriate substitute. Next time, I will be sure to add this, since oatmeal’s health benefits are off the charts!)
2 cups pecans (chopped) – (I used peanuts, almonds, and some sesame and roasted pumpkin seeds.)
1 cup raisins or any dried fruit that you like (I didn’t have raisins, but I did have dried cranberries.)
1 cup organic olive oil
1 Tbs baking soda
1 tsp sea salt
2 cups buttermilk (I had 2-percent milk, so that’s what was used.)
Mix the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients separately, then combine them. Roll out to about 3/8 -inch thick. Cut into squares or rounds, then bake in the oven at about 375 for about 40 minutes. Let cool and enjoy.
This sounds great! I am definitely going to try it! Thanks for sharing it here. :)
ReplyDeleteFrom: Curt - Chico, CA
ReplyDeleteHere is a thought for a slight modification to the recipe:
Instead of using oatmeal, why not quinoa flour? That would increase the nutritional value of the bread immensely! You have your proteins and vitamins all in one! Maybe a little molasses for iron too?
instead of the powdered milk i would try it with buttermilk powder.
ReplyDelete2nd i would try it with plain gelatin??
While I love the idea of a 'survival bread' and am working on my own version, I have to challenge you on your statement that "each loaf is the daily nutrients for one adult". Can you provide some sort of reference to how you determined this? Do you have a nutrient breakdown you can post?
ReplyDeleteHey John! The reference to each loaf being the daily nutrients of one adult, is NOT my determination. You may not have read the whole post. That was part of the quote from what I received. I don't know how that determination was made, but if you look at the post below this one, "Anonymous" gave a very good breakdown of their determination of nutritional content, calories, etc.
DeleteI made this "Survival Bread" tonight using the recipe as it is listed. The only modification I made was to cook it for 30min, which I now think was too long.
ReplyDeleteOver all, it turned out as expected if a bit too hard. Shouldn't have cooked it for so long.
My "brick" was 5in x 10in x 1in thick.
First: I'm not sure "Bread" is the right word for this.
It's very much more like a giant oatmeal cookie.
It (the one I made) is very hard and a bit crumbly. It is hard to cut into portions. Cut it while it's hot, before it cools and hardens.
Suggested modifications:
If I make it again, I will make it into 3oz 'biscuits' about 1in thick. These should be much easier to store, carry, and portion out.
--- Perhaps I can find or make a mold of some kind. Cookie cutter?
It is Very sweet. Too sweet for my tastes.
I think, next time, I will use 1/2 , 1/3 or even 1/4 as much sugar.
The flavor is very good even if the orange is almost overpowering. I might try a different flavor Jell-O (or unflavored) next time.
It is very filling. 2 - 3oz servings (it tasted that good) made me feel a little bloated. Consider, though, that I had eaten dinner an hour or so before.
Even so, I think I would be hard pressed to eat an entire batch of this in one day, even if it was all I had.
It also occurred to me that adding some raisins and/or other dried fruits might be good as would nuts, seeds, grains or bits of chocolate.
Other suggestions:
Seems like a lot of powdered milk. Plus it kicks the sodium and Cholesterol WAY up.
Replace some or all of the powdered milk with:
Protein powder, Powdered buttermilk, Quinoa flour (may go ransid), or some other flour.
Or leave the powdered milk for last and mix it (and/or the alternatives) in slowly until the dough reaches a consistency you can work with.
Needs more fiber. Add some ground flax seed.
Needs more fat. You will need the fat in a survival situation or any high activity situation such as long distance hiking.
Add the nuts. Nuts are "good" fat, but consider they will reduce the longevity as the oils may go ransid fairly quickly.
I calculated the Nutrtion Facts of the original recipe as follows:
Calories 2620
Calories from Fat 100
Total Fat 12g
Saturated Fat 2g
Trans Fat 0g
Polyunsaturated Fat 4g
Monounsaturated Fat 4g
Cholesterol 50mg
Sodium 1430mg
Total Carbohydrate 557g
Dietary Fiber 16g
Soluable Fiber 8g
Insoluable Fiber 8g
Sugar 432g
Protein 108g
Total cost of ingredients $3.65
Wow! That's an impressive breakdown! And lots of good alternate ideas. I haven't experimented with it - just made it as I received the recipe to give it a try. I think you definitely cooked it too long. Mine was pretty soft and cut easily - not "biscuit" like. But like I mentioned before, as moist and good as mine was, the "keeps indefinitely" part seemed unreasonable.
ReplyDeleteI made it yesterday. I mistakenly boiled the sugar with the honey, but it turned out better because it became a clay-like dough instead of dry powder. I took a palm-full of dough, squeezed it into a ball, then formed it into a "fish stick" sized block. The orange flavor was strong, and very sweet. They cooked for about 25 min at 350,and were a burnt orange when they came out. The only thing that I was concerned with was the stickiness, but I caught it in time and removed them from the tray before they cooled. They did cool to rock hard bricks, but they are small enough to worry a bite off. As to keeping for a long time, think candy rather than bread.
ReplyDelete