PINOLE
Author Unknown
Much has been made of the inclusion of MRE's or their components into survival kits. During the last years of my military service, about the only use I had for MRE's was that of giving them to people I didn't like. It is my belief that rations of any kind should be ruled out of a survival kit, such a kit being only those things that will keep you alive for the short period until you are rescued or you find your way out. Better to think of emergency food as emergency rations or marching rations, terms that were used several years ago to refer to food that you carried if you were cut off (accidentally or intentionally) from normal supply and better grub. The Army even had such a staple many years ago, the legendary "Lurps," and K-rats before that. For my part I can do no better than to suggest to you the section of Kephart's famous book Camping and Woodcraft called "Concentrated Foods," and also offer my comments below:
Pinole, which is merely shell corn browned in an ungreased non-stick skillet and ground to a coarse powder, makes an excellent marching ration. It's dirt-cheap (a 50-lb bag cost me $3.60* at a local feed store late Dec '99), lightweight (a baggie's worth weighs around a pound and lasts more than a week) and stores indefinitely. Kephart suggests two spoons full (no more) with a swig of water. Although this small amount is quite filling-the dry corn swells in the stomach-and is the most nutritious use of corn possible, experience has shown that eating the stuff dry is less than satisfactory. It has a pleasant enough taste, like unsalted popcorn, but has the consistency of fine sawdust and will gag the diner if not followed immediately by copious amounts of fluid. Instead, a better method is to make a broth of some sort and stir in the pinole. Knorr's vegetable bouillon tablets are best, as they are the only bouillon cubes with any nutritive value.
A week's worth of marching rations need weigh no more than four or five pounds. The following list, used as an example, should keep life in the normal body for a week or so:
| A pound or so of pinole | 1 lb | |
| Half pound of Bisquik or a homemade biscuit mix | 8 oz | |
| Several bouillon cubes | 4 oz | |
| Beef or venison jerky | 10 oz | |
| Tang, Gatorade and instant coffee in single-serving packets (aka Playtex baby bottle bags held shut with a rubber band) |
8 oz | |
| Premix of instant oatmeal and nonfat dry milk | 8 oz | |
| Hard candy | 6 oz | |
| A handful of multivitamins | 2 oz | |
| Salt, sugar, seasonings, etc. | 4 oz | |
|
4 lbs. 2 oz | |
| The total cost of this should be no more than $15.00*. Compare that with one case of MRE's which cost more than $60.00* and weighs around 15 or 20 pounds! Which would you rather carry? There are only two advantages of MRE's over the above list: variety of menu, and no need to prepare anything. But - boiling water on a pocket stove takes about as much time as using the MRE heater anyway, and if you can make it through an entire case of MRE's, you have a far stronger stomach than anyone I know. | ||
| *Double, triple, or quadruple for today's prices? I found a one-pound bag of pinole online for $6.25! A case of MREs will set you back about $100+. | ||