Make the most of prepared foods during an emergency by using any type of grill!
Make the Most of Prepared Foods During an Emergency:
Bagged Boxed or Canned
If you have one or more grills at your home then likely, without even knowing it, you have prepped for emergency situations. I’ve been encouraged to see while social distancing is in place, people are reaching out to their grills to cook family meals. It is simply fabulous!
Don’t limit the use of this cooking equipment to the traditional items like animal proteins and thick-skinned vegetables like peppers, onions, and corn. Embrace the concept that nearly anything can be cooked on the grill.
Bagged Food Items
Common bagged food items that are considered perfect for storing as emergency food rations include: rice, dried pasta, dried beans, oats, quinoa, trail mix, dried fruits, candy, snack foods like chips and cookies, cornmeal, granola, and more.
Any of these items can be used in food preparation on the grill as long as you have cookware that can tolerate the heat of the grill or even use disposable foil pans or aluminum foil that you can mold into your own cookware.
Starting with common items like rice, dried pasta and beans, and quinoa, these items can be cooked in water or broth using cookware placed directly on the grill grate. Generally, direct heat works for these items, since you need to reach a boil and then simmer these items for a relatively long period before they are tender. Trail mix, oats and dried fruits work great as breakfast items to cook with milk or milk substitutes, again using a saucepan directly on the grill. Snack foods, candy, trail mix and more work well for making desserts on the grill. Cookie crumbs work for making tart and pie shells, crushed chips for crusting animal proteins, and candy for those special treats that may just include some type of chocolate candy and prepared phyllo dough sheets, which I always keep available in my freezer for spur of the moment needs.
Boxed Food Items
Although some of the items listed above such as dried pasta, rice, and beans also come in box packaging, I want to address some of the other boxed foods that you may not think of cooking on the grill. As life has become busier, many food manufacturing companies maximized the need for ready meals by providing meal prep in a box that just may need the addition of a protein or liquid to bring the meal alive. Don’ forget to use the grill for these items. For example, macaroni and cheese often comes in a box with the packaged ingredients that only require the addition of milk. Here’s where you can take these items and step the up. Cook the boxed item in a saucepan on the grill while also grilling some meat or poultry that can be added to the boxed item for more nutritional value. Knorr® is another company that makes many main entrées in a packet or box that can easily be cooked and modified on the grill. Other options to cook on the grill: Stove Top Stuffing, Chef Boyardee Pizza Maker, Near East rice blends, Hamburger Helper, Miracle Noodle packets, and more.
Canned Food Items
Without question, this is a large concentration of foods that are packaged in cans. When you can cook these items on the grill with a bit of wood for added flavor, you’ll bring this from an ordinary food to something with greater flavor depth. Dinty Moore stews, Chef Boyardee pasta and meat items, Hormel items like tamales and hash, Campbell’s soups, and even some upscale items like Duck Confit are available in cans and ready for the pot located on the grill.
Make the Most of Prepared Foods During an Emergency- Final Tips
We often have considered the grill as a “summer” or “good weather” item only to be used when we feel like it. Turn your thinking around and start to view the grill as a true extension of the kitchen that should be used frequently. If you’ve never considered owning a charcoal grill, bring one in as the ultimate prepper item. You will no longer be dependent on propane or gas to operate it, just charcoal or other plant based combustible material. That type of grill could truly save you in a pinch. Or, consider doing a safe set up of an outdoor self-made grill, which just requires some fire-safe material like stone, brick, sand, or metal. Use a grill grate you already have or high heat cookware to do the cooking by hot coals and fire.
I always recommend you keep an inventory of disposable foil pans around for outdoor cooking as well. This is an easy method of cooking foods without breaking out a ton of pots and pans that will require cleaning. Although I still like to clean some of my foil pans for re-use, know you always have the option to use and discard. This is particularly helpful when utilities may be down.
If you’re quarantined, what type of foods are you cooking and how? Leave us a comment and subscribe to get our latest tips, techniques, recipes and the science behind the fire and smoke, for all live fire cooking methods. That’s SmokinLicious!
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More related reading on how to make the most of prepared foods during an emergency!
Additional reading
-CUTS OF MEAT THAT GRILL & SMOKE WELL & PROVIDE MORE THAN ONE MEAL
-HOW TO KEEP FOOD INTERESTING, PRESERVED & SAFE DURING QUARANTINE
-Thermal Heating Process is Why You Shouldn’t Be Concerned About Receiving a SmokinLicious® Package
-THE SMOKER WATER PAN EXPLAINED!
Dr. Smoke-Bagged boxed or canned foods can be made interestingly flavorful on any grill