Food Replenishment | Robert Wayne Atkins, P.E.

Introduction
Nobody can store enough food to last a lifetime.

And if the temperature where your food is stored rises above 80°F (26.7°C) then the shelf life of that food will be 5 years or less.

Therefore every family should seriously consider how they will replenish their food during a long-term hard times event.

Discussion
One of the things that most of us should have learned from Hurricane Helene in the year 2024 is that our government will not take care of us if we should suddenly and desperately need help. (Note: Most of us learned that from Hurricane Katrina in the year 2005.)

Therefore each family should have a reasonable plan on how they will acquire some food during a long-term hard times event and that plan should not be based on being able to buy food at a store or restaurant.

Most of the families in the USA, and in many other prosperous nations around the world, have probably never eaten any type of wild game (such as deer or rabbits) or game birds (such as duck or quail). And some people may never have picked and eaten wild blackberries or wild blueberries.

And most people probably do not know how to correctly cook wild game so that it is safe to eat, and so that it is tender and delicious. And most people probably do not know how to preserve wild game or fresh fruit so that it will be safe to eat six months from now.

Any family that correctly understands how to do the above would have a significantly better chance of surviving a long-term hard times event compared to a family that has decided that they really don't need to know the above stuff.

Except for God, nobody can predict the future. None of us can predict what may happen to our home or our community during the next 12 months. Things may stay the same, or life may get better, or our home may be destroyed in a way that we cannot anticipate at this time.

If we are forced to evacuate our home for any reason, then we may or may not be able to take all of our stuff with us. Each one of us should give this some serious thought before it becomes necessary. And we should make a list of the really important things that we will take with us, such as our birth certificates and our other important legal documents. A portable water filter should also be on our list.

Whatever food we take with us will eventually be consumed. Therefore we should have some option for replenishing our food that does not depend on food being delivered to a store or a restaurant. Instead we should have the knowledge about how we could live off the land if that was the best (or only) option for the survival of our family.

In February of 2023 I wrote and published the following book (646 pages):

Grandpappy's Campfire Survival Cookbook.

The above book is available in English and in Spanish (Recetas del Abuelo para la Supervivencia al Acampar).

In my opinion, if a person had the above book in their possession, then that person would have an excellent chance of being able to survive if there was any type of wild game, or game birds, or fresh fish, or edible wild plants, in the area that they were forced to evacuate to.

Most people are not interested in the information in the above book because there are not any wild game, or fresh fish, or edible wild plants in the area where they currently live. But if a hard times event forces them to relocate, then they may discover that the area they move to has a lot of wild game, fresh fish, and edible wild plants.

The above book clearly describes how to hunt with a bow and arrow and with a firearm, how to catch wild game and birds using snares, how to skin and process wild game and birds, how to fish and process fresh fish, how to find and identify the most common edible wild plants, and how to cook all of those foods so that they are safe to eat and delicious. There are more that 270 recipes in the above book that can be cooked over a campfire. The above book also has very clear instructions on how to process meat and vegetables and fruits by drying the food so that the food will still be safe to eat six months later. Drying food can be done anywhere and it does not require glass canning jars or canning lids.

The above book is 6" x 9" by 1.5" and it only weighs 31 ounces. If you had the above book with you when you reached your new location then you would have options that very few other people would have.

Conclusion
The Holy Bible tells us that "true wisdom" is rarely recognized or appreciated by most people.

In my opinion most people will not understand the importance of the information in the above book unless their life depended on that information one day in the future. If that should happen then the person would give almost anything if they had purchased the above book when it was available and when it could have been easily acquired.

Respectfully,
Grandpappy.

Grandpappy's e-mail address is: RobertWayneAtkins@hotmail.com