Best Homemade Survival Recipes That Would Make Your Grandmother Proud

Ready To Discover The Best Homemade Survival Recipes?

Living in the city has its perks, and one of them is easy access to a wide range of food sources. With big supermarkets, small corner shops, local farmers, and food delivery services like Deliveroo and Uber Eats, urban dwellers are spoilt for choice. But the downside of this convenience is that it’s easy to become reliant on fast food and neglect cooking skills due to the stressful pace of city life. The good news is that in this blog I’m going to go into greater detail about the best homemade survival recipes.

Until recently, I was guilty of these sins myself, opting for takeout instead of cooking up a nutritious meal. But I soon realized that I was wasting a lot of money and my very average cooking skills were fast deteriorating. That’s when I decided to limit ordering food in to special occasions and put effort into cooking simple, healthy meals that would make my grandmother proud!

The best homemade survival recipes are simple with basic techniques as well as quick to cook and should include ingredients that are easy to store. It’s important to have a willingness to experiment and improvise and using what’s available to create hearty and flavourful dishes. By focusing on basic techniques and ingredients, and not getting too hung up on following recipes exactly, anyone can develop the skills needed to thrive in challenging circumstances.

Cooking used to be a essential life skill, but nowadays, it’s something that needs to be relearned every generation. While it may seem less intuitive than it was for our ancestors, being creative and adaptable with basic ingredients is a practical skill that we should all learn.

My grandmother – who was born just before the First World War, could cook up a filling meal from scratch – she didn’t need a fancy recipe or gourmet ingredients. And if you stockpile food for emergencies, you’ll have these basics at your fingertips – just remember to keep your supplies topped up.

In this article I have focused on meals that are above all, simple and quick to throw together. So without further ado, here’s my pick of the best homemade survival recipes that would make your grandmother proud.

Best Homemade Survival Recipes – Let’s Get Started

One-Pot Basic Stew

When it comes to survival cooking, few dishes are as versatile and comforting as stew. Not only is it a delicious and filling meal, but it’s also easy to make with just a few staple ingredients that you should have stored if you’ve been stockpiling ahead of time. Stew can be made with any type of meat, vegetables, and broth or stock, making it a flexible recipe that can be adapted to whatever ingredients are on hand. You can cook it up with rice or even pasta and if you cook enough it can be stored to feed you and your family for a couple of days.

This recipe is extremely easy to make and requires only canned ingredients and basic seasoning.

Ingredients:

• 1 can of mixed vegetables
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• 1 can of beans
• Canned beef or beef broth
• Salt and pepper

Add the mixed vegetables and beans to a pot, along with the diced tomatoes and beef or beef broth. Stir all the ingredients together and simmer over a medium heat. Add the salt and pepper to taste, along with any herbs/spices of your choosing.

Chicken Dumplings

Chicken dumplings is an excellent survival dish due to its nutritional value, long shelf life, and simplicity of preparation. Chicken provides essential protein for building and repairing tissues – simply add in a few veg like carrots, onions, and celery provide vitamins and minerals to make a delicious meal.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast or thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 4 cups chicken broth (or water)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil or butter
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 carrots
• 2 celery stalks
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Dumplings:

• 1 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Half a cup of milk

Heat the oil in a large pot, adding the chicken and cooking until brown. Mix in all the vegetables and cook for five minutes. Add the broth and bring the mixture to a boil. For the dumplings, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together, adding the milk until the dough starts to form. Add the dough in spoonfuls into the mixture and then simmer until cooked.

Spag Bol

There’s nothing like a classic Spaghetti Bolognese. Easy to whip up, Spag Bol can provide much-needed sustenance as you go about your hectic city life. It’s a dish most of my friends and family really enjoy because it brings back memories of our childhood. My mother used to cook it for me when I was a young child, just as her mother did for her, so it has comforting memories and I don’t think I will ever get tired of eating it! Plus, the ingredients are widely available and can be easily stored for long periods of time. You can also prepare it in large batches and freeze for later use, which is helpful in times when fresh ingredients are scarce. Here’s a quick recipe for Spag Bol:

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 can of tomato sauce
• 1 onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• Spaghetti noodles or pasta

Cook the noodles or pasta and set to one side. Next, sauté the onion and garlic. Add the ground beef and cook until brown. You can then add the tomato sauce, salt and pepper to a separate pan, simmering it until thick. It can be worth adding in some extra tomatoes at this stage to give your dish a super fresh feel. Add your sauce to your noodles/pasta, add to the beef and serve. For seasoning, basil is nice to bring out the taste of the tomatoes – especially if you can use your own herbs from your windowsill.

Egg And Bacon Pie

During times of scarcity, such as the post-World War Two rations, resourcefulness was key to making the most out of less. And what better than an egg and bacon pie? Especially in Britain! Here’s an easy recipe you can make in under an hour:

Ingredients:

• 5 eggs
• 6 bacon slices
• 1 pie crust

Grease an eight-inch pie dish and lay the crust in the dish. Fry up the bacon, cut it up and sprinkle it on the crust. Whisk the eggs in a bowl and pour over the bacon in the crust. Place the pie in a preheated oven and bake for around half an hour. You will know when it’s ready as the egg will be set and the crust golden brown.

Beans And Rice

Surviving on beans and rice is a good option in a survival situation for several reasons. Firstly, both beans and rice are shelf-stable and can be stored for long periods of time, making them an excellent choice for emergency food supplies. They also tend to be pretty cheap, and combined together, they are an excellent source of protein. Here’s a recipe you can easily throw together using these two staple favourites.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of rice
• 1 can of black beans
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 cups of water

Rinse the rice in a strainer and add to the pot. Stir for a bit until the grains are covered in oil and then add the water and salt. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer until fully cooked. Add the beans and simmer until hot. If you’re a meat fan, you can add chicken or beef to your beans and rice for extra variety.

Best Homemade Survival Recipes – Summary

I have found all the recipes mentioned above to be simple, convenient, and easy to prepare. They may not be fashionable or super health conscious, but these are the kind of meals all of us need to know how to cook in case times of scarcity hit. Nowadays, many individuals struggle with cooking basic meals, and when they do cook, they tend to focus on fancy ingredients and elaborate recipes for special occasions, while struggling to put together a simple meal on a regular day. In situations where access to food is limited, having a set of staple ingredients in storage and a few simple recipes memorised can be a valuable skill that not many possess.