# Survival Bread



## Spinner (Jul 19, 2003)

I don't remember where I got this recipe, it could have been here even tho I didn't find it using search. This would even make a good "recipe in a jar" by packing the dry ingredients and putting a label on the jar to add the honey & water when you make it. or bake it in a jar, then cap & store on a shelf since it says it will keep indefinitely. 


*Survival Bread*

2 cups oats
2 1/2 c. powdered milk
1 c. sugar
3 Tbsp honey
1 pkg orange or lemon Jello (3 oz)
3 Tbsp water


Combine oats, powdered milk and sugar. 
In medium pan mix water, jello and honey.
Bring to boil. 
Add dry ingredients. 
Mix well (if dough is too dry, add a small amount of water a tsp at a time.) 
Shape dough into a loaf about the size of a brick. 
Place on cookie sheet and bake at 350 f for 15-20 mins. 
Cool. 
Wrap in aluminum/tin foil to store. 

This bread will keep indefinitely and each loaf is the daily nutrients for one adult.


----------



## stranger (Feb 24, 2008)

what do you mean by oats? rolled oats, whole oats,cracked oats?


----------



## bekab (Oct 14, 2008)

do you freeze the loaf? Or just store it in the pantry?

edit: uh nevermind - read the whole post


----------



## Spinner (Jul 19, 2003)

stranger said:


> what do you mean by oats? rolled oats, whole oats,cracked oats?


I would assume it means oatmeal. I just found the recipe in my survival file on my computer. I don't remember where it came from and I've not tried it yet, but I will soon. 

If it tastes good, I'll make up several "bricks" and keep rotating them, maybe put one on the shelf and check it every now and then to get an idea how long "indefinitely" is. 

If anyone has this recipe and has tried it, please chime in to give us your opinion of it. TIA


----------



## beaglebiz (Aug 5, 2008)

when I saw the title of your post, I was thinking of the old time ships biscuits, that stored indefinately a long time ago. 
check out this 
http://www.ladyshrike.com/hardtack.htm#signey


----------



## stef (Sep 14, 2002)

Spinner...have you ever made this recipe?
Seems like a tremendous amount of sugar to proportion of grain.

I've had what they call "Ezekial loaf" and it's wonderful. Full of whole grains and very nutritious. 

Stef


----------



## Oldcountryboy (Feb 23, 2008)

Not sure I'd like the ideal of having Jello in my bread!


----------



## Jim-mi (May 15, 2002)

Only 3 Tbs water for all those dry ingredients . . . ??

Waiting for some one to "try it"..............


----------



## wottahuzzee (Jul 7, 2006)

OldCountryBoy: I'm thinking the jello might be to complement the proteins in the oatmeal, ?although there is powdered milk in the recipe. 

Back in the days when I was more or less a vegetarian, I used the Diet For a Small Planet cookbook (think the author is Frances Moore Lappe but I'm not interested in Googling it right now). In the copy I had which I purchased in the early 70's, there were charts that told what kinds of proteins were in a grain or bean, and then you could combine them with other grains/beans to get a total protein from your grains as well as the author explained the types of protein and how proteins work. It was really a good reference book at the time. About 20 years later, I recommended the book to a person I worked with who was following a fat-free vegetarian diet and she was not real impressed with it (It was a newer edition, and I think the author may have added some religious content that she was not interested in. And to be perfectly fair, I would not buy it again if a lot of religious content had been added. I would be interested in the protein/dietary aspects, not religion.). Of course, this same person following the fat-free vegetarian diet could not understand why she needed some fat in her diet because some vitamins are fat soluble and wouldn't be processed properly without some fat in her diet, but she took a vitamin pill every day so she was okay. OK. 

I will be waiting to hear a report on this bread and if it is good or not. There is a little too much reference to bricks to instill much confidence in me.  But I will be interested in trying it if there are good reports, and I am also going to see if I can find a copy of Diet for a Small Planet again. If SHTF, I may have to ease this husband into it.


----------



## stranger (Feb 24, 2008)

Jim-mi said:


> Only 3 Tbs water for all those dry ingredients . . . ??
> 
> Waiting for some one to "try it"..............


it must mean 2 and 1/2 cup powdered milk after it's made into liquid


----------



## Guest (Dec 26, 2008)

3T water plus 3T honey makes quite a bit of liquid.


----------



## woodsman (Dec 8, 2008)

Well, if it's hardtack we're making we don't want to add too much water to begin with - just enough to moisten the ingredients so they all stick together.

Anyhow - we need to give it to Mikey and see if he likes it


----------



## Pink_Carnation (Apr 21, 2006)

I will try making it when we can get out to the store to get powdered milk. Hopefully we can get out tommorow.


----------



## avandris (Jun 8, 2007)

I have friends who have made this bread. It is called survival bread for a reason! They keep it in their bobs. The sugar is there to act as a high calorie/quick energy source for times of stress. It is not necessarily really nutritious. It is for emergencies when you need energy. It is very dense and can be broken off to be soaked in liquid to eat or can be handed to a small child and they can suck on it for a long time. That is what I was told by some friends. So far it has lasted in their bob's for 5 months without signs of change.


----------



## Spinner (Jul 19, 2003)

Stef said:


> Spinner...have you ever made this recipe?
> Seems like a tremendous amount of sugar to proportion of grain.
> 
> I've had what they call "Ezekial loaf" and it's wonderful. Full of whole grains and very nutritious.
> ...


No, I haven't tried it yet. I went to town today and picked up the jello so I can make some in a couple of days. It's still hectic around here, I am hosting another Christmas dinner tomorrow, then another one on New Years Day. I'm so tired of Christmas I just want it to end. LOL

I'll report back on how it tastes, and will make an extra loaf to put on the shelf to test it's keeping quality.

Do you have a recipe for Ezekial loaf? I tried a recipe I found online and it turned out like a brick. I baked it in a ball shape on a pizza stone at low heat for an extended time as per the instructions, but it didn't work for me.


----------



## Wildwood (Jul 2, 2007)

Here's the one I use:

http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/ezekiel_bread.aspx

I love the taste. It's almost like a quick bread since there is no kneading. I get the grains already mixed from Walton but you could easily mix your own.

While it's good, it wouldn't be something you could put on a shelf for long term storage but it does contain a variety of nutrients that could sustain you in a SHTF situation. Sometimes I will add a little of the grain to my regular bread recipe.


----------



## Tracy Rimmer (May 9, 2002)

While I appreciate the thought given in posting this recipe, there is no way I would make anything that included an ingredient such as lemon jello. I would assume that it was there as a dough enhancer, but I'm instantly suspicious of the nutritional claims of any recipe that would include it.

Ezekiel bread has come to mean several different things in recent years, after commercial bakeries got the idea in their heads that they'd garner a corner on the growing Christian market if they made it and marketed it named as such. Unfortunately, others have taken the commercial loaf as what it "should" be and developed their own recipes for it -- further changing what can be a very nutritious bread alternative. But it's not "bread" as people think of bread -- at least not if it's made the way it's suggested to be made in the Bible.

I have made it, and prefer it in it's adulterated form, a yeast-risen bread -- and with sprouted seeds and pulses rather than grinding them into flour. It's very dense, and the flavor is probably something that one who is used to commercial breads -- or even home-baked "white" or "whole wheat" breads -- will have to become accustomed to. It's got a very different flavor. If you're already used to artisan style loaves of varying density and flavor combinations, you will either love it or hate it.

I originally made it as a trial loaf to see if it might be something that I would add to my bread sales. I bake artisan loaves for the farmer's market and by custom order. Normally, the nuttier and seedier (as my DH said, "nutty granola-head bread") the better -- but this one didn't make the cut. I liked it, but I knew that most people, used to a light, airy loaf that LOOKS like Wonder bread, with more stuff in it to make them think it's "healthy", would not like it. I tried it out on my doctor (who normally enjoys being my guinea-pig) but even he said it was "a bit heavy" 

As for "bread" that will last for a long time in storage in a SHTF scenario, I think I'd stick with homemade crackers -- maybe not satisfying in the same way, but as a product to simply get much-needed carbohydrates into a stressed, hungry body, and to preserve the foodstuff in a ready-to-eat form, crackers can't be beaten -- unless it's by storing whole grains and grinding them as needed, cooking over a campfire if necessary, into a simple porridge.

In a SHTF situation, it will, IMHO, be more about getting nutrients into the body than about having things "almost" like they were before. Yeast-risen bread will probably not be as high on the priority list as simply acquiring enough food to keep life and limb together. In that case, the crackers are, IMHO, the way to go.

Alternatively, I have a recipe for what my kids call "Lembas bread" (read your Tolkien?  ) that is a nutritious, dense, cake-like bread -- almost like gingerbread -- which keeps unrefrigerated for days.

4 cups flour (use a variety of fresh-ground grains in any combination -- I use a lot of spelt in this recipe, but have used rye, barley, wheat, millet, and several others -- all mixed in different proportions -- it's ALWAYS good)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp each cinnamon and ginger
1 tsp baking powder

Mix all of these ingredients in a bowl. Set aside. In a separate bowl, mix:

1/2 cup water
1 cup milk (can be reconstituted from dry, or add equivalent dry milk powder to dry ingredients and increase water to 1.5 cups)
1/2 cup oil
1/3 cup dark molasses

Enough extra water or milk (or juice, if you like) to make a thick batter - thicker than pancake batter, but still pourable.

Mix the liquid ingredients well, and then make a well in the middle of your dry ingredients and dump it in. Mix until well incorporated. Pour into a greased 9X13 baking pan and bake in a 300F oven until it tests done in the middle, as for a cake.

As I said, this is more cake-like than bread-like, but it makes a VERY filling snack -- a 2 inch square piece will fill you for hours, and it keeps very well. My kids and I carried a triple batch of this with us on our trip to Ontario -- it packed flat, didn't take much space, and saved me stopping at every restaurant we saw over the three days' drive. We ate this for breakfast and lunch with a bit of cheese and fruit, and stopped for a proper dinner -- and honestly, I've never felt better upon arrival. Normally, traveling for me means being either reduced to craving fresh food after too many restaurant meals, or feeling bloated from eating and sitting too much -- this produced neither problem.


----------



## Mrs. Jo (Jun 5, 2007)

I'd also be very wary of any bread recipe that calls for baking then capping and storing on a shelf. I think it's pretty likely that it would grow some bacteria after a time. Freezing might be safer. 

For a real survival bread, check out desem bread. It's a natural sourdough and it's only ingredients are fresh flour and water and salt. Desem starter is much more stable than regular sourdough starters, and it is less prone to being colonized by wild yeasties. Laurels Kitchen Bread book has a section about it.


----------



## lorian (Sep 4, 2005)

Read "The Long Winter" by Laura Ingalls Wilder. In it she describes how her family survived for months on a coarse, brown bread. It was a sourdough bread, which is generally much healthier than a yeast risen bread. THe souring makes more nutrients available for the body and it's much easier to digest. I know for certain that I could not digest the OP recipe in a PHTF scenario.


----------



## Wildwood (Jul 2, 2007)

Tracy your bread sounds like something I would love but very similar to the one I posted for Spinner.

You are right...the Ezekiel breads we see lately come in a variety of forms. That aside, the variety of grains and beans in my recipe keep me full for hours and I'm assuming it's due in large part to the protein in all those beans. They also give it a little different taste and a more moist texture to my taste. It is on the heavy side and I'm thinking I would be one of those who would love your sprouted version but I don't see me trying that one. I've bought a version in the grocery store but I'm sure it's nothing like the home made one.

I can't wait to give your recipe a try. I've noticed the one I posted satisfies my craving for sweets...something I need after the holidays.


----------



## WayneR (Mar 26, 2007)

Made a loaf the other day. Used orange gellatine as that was the cheap one the store had. Assume the gellatine holds everything together and the acidic nature of the citrus flavours help to reduce bacterial incursions,coupled with the honey.

Added an additional 1/2 C of water which made it too wet to form into a 'brick' . Used a loaf pan instead. Follow the recepie recommendation about adding water slowly.

The result is a dense block. The flavour is passable, however the quantity of sugar could probably be halved without affecting sweetness. This loaf has a slightly gritty texture and a thin slice (1/2") at a time is enough.

DW tried it, but when advised of the ingrediants, has not eaten any more.

Will vacuum pack the remainder for a long-term test. It does offer a solution to using powered milk past the expiration date.

It is correctly named-


----------



## BillHoo (Mar 16, 2005)

This "bread" is basically a power bar.

If you took the oatmeal and ground it up in a blender and mixed all the ingredients with minimal water and baked it, you've got high fiber, complex carbs, protein and lots of sugar for energy. It's the precursor to the PowerBar! More of a cookie or biscuit than a bread.

All that fiber. Probably not meant to be eaten in large quantities (unless you want to visit the bushes often). Probably meant to be nibbled as you hike the trail, like granola.

Drink lots of water, or expect to get cramps.

I would not make a grilled cheese or tuna fish sandwich with it.


----------



## damoc (Jul 14, 2007)

just wanted to bump this thread up as i made some hardtack today and yesterday and i found it to be very tasty:stirpot:well maybee not very tasty
but very filling and tasty enough that we have made a second batch already.
even the kids are eating it so that is a good sign.

if old reports of 20 and 30 year old hardtack (with simple preservation) are reliable then this is probably an ultimate,cheap,easy survival bread.

i followed a recipe posted on this thread by beaglebiz
http://www.ladyshrike.com/hardtack.htm#signey

went well with a piece of cheese and glass of red


----------



## bekab (Oct 14, 2008)

funny this was bumped. I tried to make this today and it has a really interesting taste.

A couple things: it took about 35 minutes to cook and still wasn't cooked through. I probably should have divided it into 2 loaves and it would have cooked better. Also, I really really should have oiled the pan before cooking. I'll need a prybar to get the bottom half off.


----------

