[A Blast from the Past and slightly updated…..Here’s a rare post by The Maine Prepper Girl.] I consider myself a prepper in training. I can remember back in the early 2000’s wanting to be prepared for winter time in Northern Maine. The year after that my awareness for the need to be prepared for other situations grew. It was a sixth sense of sorts that is hard to explain.  Wanting to keep my family safe, I thought about potential situations that I could face and need to be prepared for. Each fall time, without fail, I would feel the need to prepare for the winter ahead.

Planning for the winter ahead included, stocking up the extra freezer I had in the basement with half of a beef from the local butcher. Furnishing the basement with shelves to put extra canned goods to keep was another. I had a camp stove with some small cans of propane to prepare food. Having extra coolers to keep my food cold and safe outside in a snowbank was also an option for food storage if needed.

Knowing there was a big hole in my plans because I had no secondary source of heat I needed another plan. Without heat, I would have to go to relatives if that was needed. In retrospect, I would have put in a wood stove in the event of a power outage. I had plenty of wood on my 12 acres and would have kept seasoned wood in the basement for emergencies. 

Many people in Maine put in secondary sources of heat in their homes but both relied on electricity which made no sense to me. Others had generators which was probably what I would have gone with if I had not sold and moved. I often saw generators used to keep the heat on if nothing else during a power outage in winter. My next home will have a wood stove for sure! 

Anyway, back to the creamy chicken rice, my point is that being accurately prepared takes a lot more than just buying stuff. Figuring out what works for you in your environment while considering the needs of those around you and other possible needs BEFORE you need them is crucial. I thought Mr. Rourke was silly for wanting to try some of the freeze dried/dehydrated food. Why would we want to waste good food that can be stored long-term? Well, I am glad that in this instance he was correct. (Rourke: She has since learned I’m always right!)

I learned a few things that I will consider when buying more freeze-dried and dehydrated food.

1. The first thing I learned was how much water you need to make the meals that come in this kit. The creamy chicken flavored rice needed 5 cups of water and a couple of the other meals needed 8 cups and 10 cups.
2. Another thing I learned when making this side dish was that it could have easily been made into a main dish by adding a can of chicken and/or a can of veggies. The container says it is 8 servings so adding more would either feed more or let you have a bigger portion.
3. Also worth noting was that a little garlic salt really made a difference in the taste.
4. The last thing I learned was that although this kit was for 1 person for 72 hours, unless I planned on eating just chicken flavored rice all day, I would need a way of storing the prepared food. You could just make half, but you would still need a way of storing the packet of dried ingredients for another day.  Containers and plastic storage bags would make things easier when trying to store the leftovers.  

The Creamy Chicken Flavored Rice was very simple to make. I did have to stand there and stir quite often to prevent clumping but other than that you only need a few things. You will need a pot, a measuring cup, 5 cups of water, and a whisk.

Here is the container of food, how it looked when we opened it, and all the individual bags that come in it.

Here is the nutrition information of all the packages in the 72-hour food supply. We chose to have the Creamy Chicken Flavored Rice. It has 240 calories for 1/3 cup and says it is 8 servings.

The only thing we had to do was boil five cups of water and add the contents. 

As stated previously, I had to tend to the dish by stirring occasionally to prevent any clumping.

The final product was very good alone, however, we did add some garlic salt and pepper for a little more flavor. The consistency was a little thicker than what you would expect from a rice dish, but again, very good.

Anyone have any experience with freeze dried or dehydrated food that you could share? I would love to hear about them!

To purchase the Augason Farm 72-Hr Emergency Food Kit mentioned in this article, follow THIS LINK. Current price is less than $25 with Free Shipping.

Maine Prepper Girl

Augason Farms Creamy Chicken Flavored Rice 

I consider myself a prepper in training. I can remember back in the early 2000’s wanting to be prepared for wintertime in Northern Maine. The year after that my awareness for the need to be prepared for other situations grew. It was the sixth sense of sorts that is hard to explain.  Wanting to keep my family safe, I thought about potential situations that I could face and need to be prepared for. Each fall time, without fail, I would feel the need to prepare for the winter ahead.

Planning for the winter ahead included, stocking up the extra freezer I had in the basement with half of a beef from the local butcher. Furnishing the basement with shelves to put extra canned goods to keep was another. I had a camp stove with some small cans of propane to prepare food. Having extra coolers to keep my food cold and safe outside in a snowbank was also an option for food storage if needed.

Knowing there was a big hole in my plans because I had no secondary source of heat I needed another plan. Without heat, I would have to go to relatives if that was needed. In retrospect, I would have put in a wood stove in the event of a power outage. I had plenty of wood on my 12 acres and would have kept seasoned wood in the basement for emergencies. 

Many people in Maine put in secondary sources of heat in their homes but both relied on electricity which made no sense to me. Others had generators which was probably what I would have gone with if I had not sold and moved. I ofter saw generators used to keep the heat on if nothing else during a power outage in winter. My next home will have a wood stove for sure! 

Anyway, back to the creamy chicken rice, my point is that being accurately prepared takes a lot more than just buying stuff. Figuring out what works for you in your environment while considering the needs of those around you and other possible needs BEFORE you need them is crucial. I thought Mr. Rourke was silly for wanting to try some of the freeze-dried food. Why would we want to waste good food that can be stored long-term? Well, I am glad that in this instance he was correct.

I learned a few things that I will consider when buying more freeze-dried food.

1. The first thing I learned was how much water you need to make the meals that come in this kit. The creamy chicken-flavored rice needed 5 cups of water and a couple of the other meals needed 8 cups and 10 cups.
2. Another thing I learned when making this side dish was that it could have easily been made into a main dish by adding a can of chicken and/or a can of veggies. The container says it is 8 servings so adding more would either feed more or let you have a bigger portion.
3. Also worth noting was that a little garlic salt really made a difference in the taste.
4. The last thing I learned was that although this kit was for 1 person for 72 hours unless I planned on eating just chicken-flavored rice all day I would need a way of storing the prepared food. You could just make half but you would still need a way of storing the packet of dried ingredients for another day.  Containers and plastic storage bags would make things easier when trying to store the leftovers.  

The Creamy Chicken Flavored Rice was very simple to make. I did have to stand there and stir quite often to prevent clumping but other than that you only need a few things. You will need a pot, measuring cup, 5 cups of water, and a whisk.

Here is the container of food, how it looked when we opened it, and all the individual bags that come in it.

Here is the nutrition information of all the packages in the 72-hour food supply. We chose to have the Creamy Chicken Flavored Rice. It has 240 calories for 1/3 cup and says it is 8 servings.

The only thing we had to do was boil five cups of boiling water and add the contents. 

As stated previously I had to tend to the dish by stirring occasionally to prevent any clumping.

The final product was very good alone, however, we did add some garlic salt and pepper for a little more flavor. The consistency was a little thicker than what you would expect from a rice dish, but again very good.

Anyone have any experience with freeze-dried or dehydrated food that you could share? I would love to hear about them!

To purchase the Auguson Farm 72-Hr Emergency Food Kit mentioned in this article follow THIS LINK. The current price is less than $25 with Free Shipping.

Maine Prepper Girl