Stored Emergency Food: Double Your Calories for Pennies a Meal

This is really easy and it is cheap. I do this all the time. This works whether most of your stored non-perishable emergency food supply is dehydrated or canned food. What is it? Noodles / pasta.

I decided to quantify how this works at breakfast this morning. I decided to deviate from my standard non perishable breakfast which is oatmeal. You know, the dirt cheap kind in the 2 pound 10 ounce box ($2.88).

I decided to have a can of Progresso rich and hearty steak and roasted russet potatoes. One can contains 260 calories and has a volume of 2 cups. I boiled 1 cup of “shells” which contains 400 hundred calories. After cooking, the 1 cup of noodles has become 2 cups of noodles. The brand shown which is the one I used today is not the brand I usually buy. One cup of El Mexicano noodles cost me about 22 cents. So for 22 cents I have greatly increased the volume of food and increased the calories by 2-½ times. I can extend about 90 cans of soup or other canned vegetables for $20.00. What a deal.

After draining the shells I added the soup right out of the can to the shells without cooking the soup. If this had been a real emergency situation I would have made a couple of cups of instant coffee with the water that was drained off. I only ate half for breakfast.

Anticipating possible questions / objections:

Q. Hey sister, what if I don’t like noodles?

A. First of all I’m a dude. So how about rice? You may be able to get away with instant mashed potato flakes or oatmeal in some cases. I just really like pasta.

Q. Like you know, Pasta like twice a day is you know like not that good for you and like I am going to be really sick of noodles after a week… Gag me.

A. You will probably be really sick of how you smell after a week with no running water also. But fortunately most emergencies don’t last forever. You may want to mix things up a bit like cutting back on the noodles and adding a can of diced up Vienna sausage (50 cents a can). You will probably be going stir crazy with no cell phone or internet so you can have fun with the extra noodles by throwing them one by one across the room to see if your significant other can catch them in their mouth. This also adds distance which cuts down on the perceived smell.

Q. Hola hombre. Why didn’t You say anything about beans? I love beans and I add beans to everything. I even add beans to my rice and beans.

A. You’re right. I should have mentioned beans as an extender. I am so ashamed of myself right now. I am planning on extending with beans of various types but I am going to sprout them first and then cook them with the soup. This accomplishes 3 things. Dried beans can be very energy intensive to cook. Sprouts can be eaten raw but I am planning to boil mine in the very unlikely event there will be anything harmful growing along with the sprouts. Sprouts take a few days so I will be doing the noodle thing non stop for a while. Sprouts also adds some fresh greens to your meal as well as adding more volume and calories. Check out this link in regard to really easy sprouting:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-This-Sprouter-It-Works-Great/?ALLSTEPS

Thanks for mentioning beans mein bon amigo.

Q. Dude, is eating so many noodles really good for you?

A. Mamma mia. I don’t know. I just don’t have a lot of money to spend on prepping. What I am going to need is calories and I don’t want to feel hungry all the time. I take a multivitamin among other vitamins and herbs every day any way and will continue to do so in a long term emergency.

More prepper shopping ideas here:

/survival/2013/10/wal-mart-prepper-food-run-2496058.html

What? No fuel for cooking? Click here:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Cooking-With-Three-Candle-Flames/?ALLSTEPS

Disclaimer: Food can be a choking hazard. Don’t play with your food.　

See also:

THERMOS COOKING. Drastically Reduce Your Fuel Use:

/self-sufficiency/2017/12/thermos-cooking-drastically-reduce-your-fuel-use-2-2523312.html