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Two Letters Re: Storage Foods for Vegetarians?
Mr. Rawles,
Just a quick note which may be of interest to your recent correspondent who
inquired about long-term storable vegetarian meal options... please pass
this along and/or publish it, or not, as you see fit.
There are indeed vegetarian MREs in the standard army-surplus offerings, but
there have also been been some specialized vegetarian long-term shelf-stable
rations developed under the names of (among others) "Meal, Alternative
Regionally Customized" (MARC) and "Humanitarian Daily Rations" (HDR).
The MARCs were designed to feed prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, and the HDRs were
designed for emergency feeding in natural disasters; neither contain animal
products or byproducts, in an effort to make them, by design, as acceptable
as possible to end-users with belief-based food taboos.
See, e.g., these web pages MARC and
HDR.
Some judicious Googling will turn up some purchase opportunities for surplus
MARCs, such as this
supplier.
(Where MARCs are [euphemistically] described as "Vegetarian Indian Food
MRE Entrees."
I've sampled a couple of these, and while they will not make you forget your
favorite Indian restaurant (to put it mildly) they're pretty damned good for
what they are.
Standard disclaimers apply: I have no affiliation with any vendor of MREs,
including anyone who's linked above... I am just trying to pass along some
possibly useful information to vegetarian/vegan readers of the blog.
I enjoy SurvivalBlog very much, by the way. I grew up in the country but
have been living in New York City for many years now, and as a man whose only
currently viable plan is "hunker down and shelter in place for anything
that's short-term survivable" (working on it!) I'm learning a lot, and
I appreciate the calm, sane, rational approach you take to the subject matter.All
best, - Barry C.
Dear Mr. Rawles,
First thank you for "Patriots",
your excellent blog, and your leadership.
Second, I have to laugh at the current blog discussion regarding preparing and
vegetarians, with most input coming from non-vegetarians.
I'm 44 years old, have been vegetarian for over 15 years, and hold a first class
FAA medical. Furthermore, my cholesterol has been routinely in the 130-150 range
for years. To clarify, I'm probably the least "picky" eater I know.
Basically don't feed me anything with chicken, pork or beef in it and I'm happy.
(Anything requiring a .gov warning to burn to a cinder before it's fit(?) for
human consumption.)
To the point: Protein is not an issue and never has been. (B
vitamins and in particular B12 can be, though.) Supplementation with a good multivitamin
is a good idea with any kind of diet.) Complete protein for a vegetarian is as
easy as rice with beans, or corn with beans. Done. American Indians subsisted
and prospered with "The Three Sisters": corn, beans, and squash. Sounds
good to me, and with proper seed selection is even a sustainable menu as well.
As for a stockpile, I'll take rice and beans over cows or chickens any day! And
as you already pointed out, I've been eating the stuff for years. When TEOTWAWKI happens,
basically from a diet, gastric, and menu perspective, I really wouldn't notice
much of a change. That's probably a significant advantage.
Ideas like buying prepackaged vegetarian "meals," though well intentioned
are kinda silly, considering the 50 pound bags of staples/seeds that are already
available, inexpensive, and easily storable for years.
Thanks again and God Bless, - Ed in Oregon
JWR Replies: I agree that at a fixed-site retreat, pre-packed
meals (such as MREs and MARCs) don't make much sense. But when operating in
the field, they save time, obviate the need to carry a stove and cooking
utensils, and reduce the noise, odor, and light "signature" of a campsite.
In my experience, 80% or more of the food supplies that a family needs to store
can
be found
in bulk at very competitive prices at your local "big box" membership
store, such as Costco
or Sam's Club. This sort of procurement is described in detail in my "Rawles
Gets You Ready" preparedness course.
