Food for thought

Could the Dust Bowl Come Again?

The Dust Bowl was the name given to the Great Plains region devastated by drought in 1930s depression-ridden America. The 150,000-square-mile area, encompassing the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles and neighboring sections of Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico, has little rainfall, light soil, and high winds, a potentially destructive combination. When drought struck from 1934 to 1937, the soil lacked the stronger root system of grass as an anchor, so the winds easily picked up the loose topsoil and swirled it into dense dust clouds, called “black blizzards.” Recurrent dust storms wreaked havoc, choking cattle and pasture lands and driving 60 percent of the population from the region. Most of these “exodusters” went to agricultural areas first and then to cities, especially in the Far West.

The American agricultural system came close to ruin during those perilous years; in fact, some contemporary experts began warning that the American family would soon have to start spending nearly 40% of their income just to get enough to eat. Fortunately, they were wrong; today the average American family spends only 7% of their income on food.

But even so, there are many scenarios in which your food budget could skyrocket, either temporarily or for a long time -- such as natural disasters or civil disturbances that disrupt the food supply chain. Hikingware.com suggests that you should keep on hand a full supply of nutritious and long-lasting emergency rations for your family.

Can the Dust Bowl happen again? Historians tell us that, to a lesser extent, it can happen again at any time:

In response to the original emergency, the federal government mobilized several New Deal agencies, principally the Soil Conservation Service formed in 1935, to promote farm rehabilitation. Working on the local level, the government instructed farmers to plant trees and grass to anchor the soil, to plow and terrace in contour patterns to hold rainwater, and to allow portions of farmland to lie fallow each year so the soil could regenerate. The government also purchased 11.3 million acres of submarginal land to keep it out of production. By 1941 much of the land was rehabilitated, but the region repeated its mistakes during World War II as farmers again plowed up grassland to plant wheat when grain prices rose. Drought threatened another disaster in the 1950s, prompting Congress to subsidize farmers in restoring millions of acres of wheat back to grassland.

With global warming and continuing drought in many parts of the United States, the day may come sooner than expected when your food budget will double or even triple.

So having an ample supply of basic food stuffs on hand, as well as emergency rations for the whole family just makes sense.

As Groucho Marx once said: "Food for thought doesn't do you much good when you're hungry for a hamburger!"

THE BENEFITS OF FREEZE DRIED FOODS FOR YOUR EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS

Freeze-dried foods aren’t just relevant to you when you buy Astronaut Ice Cream for your kids at the amusement park. This is a food preservation process used for removing the moisture from foods, such as fruits, vegetables, meat, and almost any other ingredient, food item, or meal. Because these foods are lighter and much less likely to rot or spoil, they are used for emergency preparedness, quick-prep meals, and backpacking.

Hikingware.com offers a fine selection of freeze dried items on our food storage website page.  

History

Modern freeze-drying was developed during WWII. Blood serum being sent to Europe from the US for medical treatment of the wounded required refrigeration, but because of the lack of simultaneous refrigeration and transport, many serum supplies were spoiling before reaching their intended recipients. The freeze-drying process was developed as a commercial technique that enabled serum to be rendered chemically stable and viable without having to be refrigerated. Shortly thereafter, the freeze-dry process was applied to penicillin and bone, and lyophilization became recognized as an important technique for preservation of biologicals. Since that time, freeze-drying has been used as a preservation or processing technique for a wide variety of products.

How it works

If a freeze-dried substance is sealed to prevent the reabsorption of moisture, the substance may be stored at room temperature without refrigeration, and be protected against spoilage for many years. Preservation is possible because the greatly reduced water content inhibits the action of microorganisms and enzymes that would normally spoil or degrade the substance.

Freeze-drying also causes less damage to the substance than other dehydration methods using higher temperatures. Freeze-drying does not usually cause shrinkage or toughening of the material being dried. In addition, flavors, smells and nutritional content generally remain unchanged, making the process popular for preserving food. However, water is not the only chemical capable of sublimation, and the loss of other volatile compounds such as acetic acid (vinegar) and alcohols can yield undesirable results.

Freeze-dried products can be rehydrated (reconstituted) much more quickly and easily because the process leaves microscopic pores. The pores are created by the ice crystals that sublimate, leaving gaps or pores in their place.

Can I freeze dry my own food?

You can purchase a home freeze dryer -- but they are pricey, and you'll need to spend a goodly amount of time prepping your food, and then sticking around for several hours to make sure the process goes smoothly. If you have a large family and a strong wallet, plus plenty of free time, it might be worth your while.  A good freeze dryer will run you anywhere from four-hundred to twelve-hundred dollars.

But again, you needn't invest a lot of time and money in freeze drying; you can purchase quality freeze dried food items from companies like Hikingware.com. Once the items are placed in a cool, dark, and dry place, you can forget about them until you need them. 

How Well Will You Eat During the Next Disaster?

MREs or “Meals, Ready to Eat” have long been used in the military but it wasn’t until Hurricane Katrina, the threat of Y2K and other natural disasters that a civilian demand for MREs was known. Unfortunately, companies that produce MREs are not allowed to publically sell them which create a demand that we at Hikingware are happy to fulfill.

We are proud to announce that we now have civilian MREs, with many different varieties of meals to choose from. There is no need to add water and the meals can be eaten anywhere at any time. Each meal contains the complete calories and nutrients of a regular meal. Here is an entertaining look back at the history of early efforts to provide meals for our military while they were out on the battlefield. It should bring back some memories (and perhaps a touch of indigestion!) to our older veterans. Reserve Ration: This early 1900s MRE was a field ration that included one pound of dehydrated meat (i.e. jerky) and hard tack biscuits. Yum.

C-Ration: Because the Reserve Ration had such low nutritional quality, in 1938, the C-Ration took its place in the military. Where the Reserve Ration composed of dehydrated meat and hand biscuits, the C-Ration was a canned, pre-cooked “wet” ration. C-Rations were meant as a worst case scenario type food and were intended for limited consumption like when there was no access to a camp kitchen (A-Ration) or to unprepared, pre-packaged (B-Ration). Unfortunately they ended up being pretty popular, and we’re using the term popular lightly, during World War II. Just like their predecessor, they lacked variety and consisted of only M-units and B-units; known to civilians as meat and bread.

MCI: In 1958, C-Rations were replaced by another wet ration type of food called MRIs aka the Meal, Combat, Individual Ration. Unfortunately for the soldiers subject to these rations there was little improvement made in the transition from C-Rations. They were used in the military until 1975 when the first MRE was developed.

MREs: Even after the MRE was created, they did not taste very good and were given a range fo nicknames by soldiers. Some of them were “Mr. E” (mystery), “Meals Rejected by Everyone”, “Meals, Rarely Edible”, “Meals Rejected by the Enemy”, “Morsels, Regurgitated, Eviscerated”, “Meal, Ready to Excrete”, “Materials Resembling Edibles”, and even “Meals Rejected by Ethiopians”. An individual meal that received its own personal nickname was the frankfurter. They came in packages of four and were referred to as the “four fingers of death”. Although quality has improved over the years, many of the nicknames have stuck.

One of the number one complaints about these older MREs was that they had a very low dietary fiber content which caused constipation and even more nicknames. Some of the examples of the nicknames are “Meals Refusing to Exit”, “Meals Refusing to Excrete” or “Massive Rectal Expulsions”. It has been quoted that in December 2006 comedian Al Franken (on his 8th USO tour at the time) joked to troops in Iraq that he’d had his fifth MRE so far and “none of them had an exit strategy”.

All joking aside, MREs have come a long way since their initial creation as the Reserve Ration. Now MREs come in a variety of flavors and with many different menu options helping to break up the monotony of mushed up meat and bread every time a soldier sits down to a meal. Our civilian MREs offer up to 1,300 calories a meal and can be eaten any place, any time.

Do you have any nicknames for MREs or any experiences eating the newer civilian MREs you’d like to share? Let us know in the comments below!

Tim Torkildson is a nationally-known writer and editor whose work has appeared in the New York Times. He currently works as an editor for Tork Media.