Food: I don't want you to be hungry.

I'm starting a series of blogs about how I've gotten along in the world. I'm doing it because I think there's a need in the various Pagan communities and amongst the solitary practitioners to transfer easily digested practical knowledge. I'm old enough now to see that what I've accumulated in simple living skills should be posted for anyone who has the need of this knowledge to access it and do what they will with it; even modify, add to it, ignore it, or argue points endlessly with gleeful abandon. Hey, it's all good Bubba!

The topics I'm going to cover are:

Food. Cooking. Heating. Shelter. Friendship.

So, about food. Not all people are well off enough to eat their fill. Situations are fluid, one day everything's fine, the next can be utter destitution. I've been there and done that. I'd say I got the t-shirt but I've walked away naked from some of my more foolish adventuring. In hind sight it's funny, sort of scary but surviving hard times can make you chuckle if only because you cheated death.

If money's tight, or you're straight up broke here's a way to keep from starving to death. We're looking way back to days before refrigeration, when fresh food wasn't available year round. 

Recipe:

1 pound white flour. ( Metric users 454g )

1 and a 1/4 cup ( 10 ounces ) water. ( 321ml. )

1/2 teaspoon salt ( optional ). ( Fuck! Is there a metric equivalent to a teaspoon? No way! )

Mix it all up till it's doughy. Use your hands, it's fun!

flatten it out to around 1/2 inch ( 1.75cm ) and cut it up in squares, poke holes in the surface like a saltine cracker.

On a plain cookie sheet place the cut out dough pieces and put it into a preheated oven for 1/2  hour at 375 degree F. ( For you Euro people and Canadians that's 190C ). Turn the squares and bake another 1/2 hour.

Remove and eat, surplus should be allowed to continue drying for several days before packaging in airtight container. Keeps forever, literally.

It's hardtack. This batch has over a days value of calories in it. Using it to supplement other foods it could last five days easily and only costs 40 cents, depending on what you pay for flour. I buy mine on sale and in bulk, never letting my supply get under 20 pounds. I'll put that into perspective. I can make enough hardtack at any given time to last 2 weeks, if my wife and I had nothing else to eat. It would be up to me and her to start finding other sources quickly, but we wouldn't starve.

I think this is an excellent way to keep the wolf off your door dudes and dudettes.

Think 20 days ahead all the time, even if you're out of doors, think 3 weeks ahead for everything food related.