Good gluten free emergency kit food

[Soybomb]

I've been meaning to put together some sort of 72 hour type kit for a while. In southern illinois there really aren't alot of natural disasters I worry about and I figure I could live off the food in the house for quite a while but I figured that hey it can't hurt.

Anyway my problem is I have celiac disase, I can't eat any foods containing gluten. This includes wheat (remember this includes breads, pastas, and gravy usually), oats, and barley. Alot of the really good long term foods like those pilot's biscuits, power bars, granola bars, and mre's seem to be largely wheat or oat filled. What sort of food would you suggest that should last a long time and not ruin my digestive system when I eat it? Rice is fine but I was hoping for something that didn't have to be cooked. I'm guessing thats mostly going to leave me with like canned meats, fruits, veggies, and peanut butter. Any other ideas for something with a bit higher calorie count like the pilots crackers that I might be able to eat?

 

[skidmark]

Make yourself a batch of survival food based on the following - delete any items that are on your "forbidden" list.

3 parts peanut butter
1 part honey
1 part crisped rice or corn flakes
1/3 part brewers yeast
1/3 part chopped nuts (think cashews, walnuts, others high in oil)

You can add things like Nutella or jellies/jams for extra flavor, or throw in bakers chocolate (although the now impossible to find tropical chocolate would be better).

Honey and brewers yeast tend to have a shelf-life of several millenia, and crisped rice/corn flakes once coated will keep for a few decades. Peanut butter, other nuts, and Nutella are going to go stale on you in about a year unless you store the mixture under a commercial vacuum or cold canning process.

Except for the Tang powder (which I leave out for what I think are obvious reasons) the above is the basic recipie that Natick Labs came up with for a military survival ration. It was pressed into silver-dollar sized cakes about 1/2inch thick, and vacuum-packed in a plastic-over-foil wrap. The first several trials tasted like poop, and one with too much brewers yeast could swell up & obstruct your throat if you drank while chewing or soon after swallowing. However, it does provide all the basic nutritional needs.

stay safe.

skidmark

<edited to correct spelling>

 

[Soybomb]

Wow thats a ton of yeast and it sounds like the crisped rice or corn flakes may get sort of powdered during mixing but its sure worth a try, thanks!

 

[sumpnz]

Oats are actually a non-gluten food. They are often milled in the same equipment as wheat and so can have contamination, but you should be able to find a source of non-contaminated oats.

My wife is a celiac so we've had deal with much the same issues.

 

[Tom Bri]

Snickers. No more need be said.

 

[Soybomb]

http://www.csaceliacs.org/InfoonOats.php
It seems like the jury is still out on oats, and it could go either way. I've thought about including some bob's red mill scotch oatmeal and seeing if I get a rash but its just not worth it.

Snickers isn't a bad suggestion actually.

 

[stevelyn]

Atkins bars. AFAIK they don't have anything containing gluten in them.

 

[sumpnz]

Soybomb - My wife reacts to the smallest amount of wheat, but doesn't have any problems at all with oats, especially the old-stlye that has to be cooked for 30 minutes. FWIW.

 

[Kingcreek]

If you don't already have a food dehydrator, you need one.
I'm not gluten intolerant but I avoid it. I also avoid any processed food or artificial food-like substance.
I dry fresh fruit and vegetables in season. store in vac-pacs (Food Saver) in freezer and they last forever. I dry pineapple, apples, pears, peaches, berries, mushrooms, etc. just about anything. I smoke fish and make lots of jerky too.
We had a really crappy experience with an outfitter on an elk hunt and if I hadn't brought my own dried food, nuts, and jerky, I think I might not have made it. He brought Chef-Boy-R-D spaggetti, raviolios, and Pop Tarts. Yuck! I can't hump the mountains for 5 days on that.
Eat totally healthy for 1 month and you will realize how crappy that processed junk makes you feel. I haven't touched fast food in 7 years.

 

[Mannlicher]

One thing for sure, those folks with 'special needs' are not going to be 'accomodated' in times of extreme upheaval. Best of luck............

 

[Soybomb]

I still haven't whipped up the skidmark recipe yet (man that just sounds bad)

I did see this though:
Survival Ration Bars From Linda In In
3 c. oatmeal, barley flakes, wheat flakes, etc.
2 1/2 c. powdered milk
1 c. white sugar
3 T. honey
6 T. water
1/2 pkg citrus flavor Jell-O (orange, lemon-lime)
Mix together all dry ingredients except Jell-O. Bring to boil the honey and 3 T. of the water. Dissolve Jell-O in the honey-water mixture. Add this liquid mixture to dry ingredients. Mix well and add remainder of water one teaspoon at a time until moist enough to mold. Shape into 2 bars the size of a kitchen match box. If you wish to dry for food storage, heat in oven at 200 degrees for two hours and turn, then heat on the other side for two hours. (I bet these could be put in the dehydrator as well.) Wrap in foil and store on shelf. These bars will keep a long time. (Don't know how long that is) Each bar contains 1000 calories. Eat dry or cooked in 2/3 cup water (or more). Each bar could be 1 day's food ration.

And while I can't eat the grains in it, it did make me wonder if you could put something like powdered milk into skidmark's recipe. Without a box of powdered milk in front of me it seems like a decent way to whip some additional protein in the food. Will the moisture from something like the honey make it more susceptable to spoilage?

It may of course just taste horrible with it too. Thought it'd be worth trying to refine before I make a big mess.

 

[skidmark]

non-epicurian survival ration

make me wonder if you could put something like powdered milk into skidmark's recipe. Without a box of powdered milk in front of me it seems like a decent way to whip some additional protein in the food. Will the moisture from something like the honey make it more susceptable to spoilage?

It may of course just taste horrible with it too. Thought it'd be worth trying to refine before I make a big mess.

Soybomb,

The Natick Labs recepie can be manipulated at will. As I recall, the basic premise for long-term stability was to 1) reduce moisture and 2) avoid oils turning rancid. Peanut oil is fairly stable over most environments, and the honey has very good antioxidant/preservative qualities.

From a personal experience standpoint I recommend any manipulation that enhances flavor. You may not like the taste, but I once "refined" the recepie by adding dutch cocoa powder. Ended up tasting vaguely like a cross between Capt'n Crunch & Reeces Pieces.

AFAIK, honey acts as a spoilage retardant as opposed to anything else.

stay safe.

skidmark

 

[texascarl]

1 can red, great northern or kidney beans - drained & rinsed well
1 can olive oil packed tuna (don't drain)
1/2 red onion (or sweet white onion)
1 garlic clove
splash of italian dressing
spices (I like thyme, cumin, crushed hot pepper, black pepper)

mix well, let beans and onions marinate in the oil for 10 minutes or so and eat @ room temp. Keep a dozen cans of kidney beans, a dozen cans of oil-packed tuna and you're good thru most midwest power failures.

 

[Davo]

Good organic steel-cut oats, protein powder and even certain protein bars are gluten free.
Protein bars are expensive, but are great for emergencies (better than "energy bars"). You can also make your own for a little less money.