DIY Survival Rations

In today’s post I will be sharing a recipe for hardtack. It is relatively inexpensive to make and lasts a long time and it can make a good addition to your food storage. I have eaten it and it’s kind of tasteless and tough. So I recommend eating it soaked in liquid, crumbled into soup, or fried with other foods. It makes a good filler to go along with other foods.

Hardtack

Ingredients and Equipment needed

• 3 cups of white flour
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 1 cup of water
• A cookie sheet
• A mixing bowl
• A knife
• A skewer

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 375°.
2.  Mix the flour and salt in a bowl.
3. Gradually mix in the water until you form a dough that doesn’t stick to your hands.
4. Use a rolling-pin to flatten the dough into a square. Make sure it’s no more than half an inch thick.
5. Cut the dough into 9 squares.
6. Take the skewer and make a 4×4 grid of holes in each piece
7. Put the pieces on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes.
8. Turn the squares over and bake for another 30 minutes.
9.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Ideally, the hardtack should be just a little brown on each side. Adjust the baking time if necessary. Once cool, it should almost be hard as brick.

Each piece is about 150 calories.

The great thing about hardtack is it lasts a long time without any special storage techniques. I would put it in Ziploc bags and add it to your bug out bags and vehicle survival kits. It makes a great source of energy in emergency situations.