DIY Survival Food

Flavor your pemmican with your favorite dried fruit.

Making homemade survival food is one way to simplify food preparation and storage during camping or hiking excursions. Good survival food must meet basic nutritional requirements to provide adequate calories and energy during your adventure. Another important component of survival food is durability. If your homemade survival food rots in your backpack, it won't be of much use. Pemmican is one food that meets all of these requirements.

Things You'll Need

• Beef jerky
• Food processor
• Rendered beef fat
• Saucepan
• Dried fruit
• Chopped nuts
• Baking pan
• Plastic wrap
• Knife

Instructions

1. Arrange eight oz of beef jerky in a single layer on a baking sheet. Cook the jerky in an oven set to 180 degrees Fahrenheit for approximately eight hours, or until the jerky is dry and stiff.

2. Place the jerky in a food processor and chop the jerky until it resembles coarse crumbs.

3. Melt eight oz. of rendered beef fat in a medium sized saucepan over low heat until the fat is liquefied. Rendered beef fat is also called tallow and available at butcher shops and some grocery stores.

4. Remove the saucepan from the heat.

5. Stir the jerky crumbs into the melted fat.

6. Add a cup of dried fruit to the saucepan and stir everything together. You can also add up to half a cup of chopped nuts, if desired.

7. Empty the mixture into an eight-inch square baking pan. Press down the pemmican firmly with your hands to pack it into the pan.

8. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and allow it to cool at room temperature. The rendered beef fat will become solid again and hold all of the ingredients together.

9. Cut the cool pemmican into approximately nine bars with a knife.

Tips & Warnings

• Store the bars in a resealable plastic bag in the refrigerator to keep them cool until needed.

• You can add honey, molasses or sugar to the pemmican mixture if you prefer sweeter bars.

• Grind the dried fruit and chopped nuts in your food processor if you want your pemmican to have a smooth texture.

References

• University of Minnesota: A Recipe for Making Pemmican
• Missouri Department of Conservation: Frontier Foods