Avoid Appetite Fatigue - "Gift Wrapped" Food For Everyday And Emergencies

I just commented on another survival or prepper blog. They were talking about food fatigue from eating the same thing all the time. I am probably not one of those "picky eaters" who die young that were mentioned in that blog post. :-)

I have been through too many bad times where I did not have much choice or variety in what I ate. It is a lot easier to take the same food if you vary it, however. I already posted on the importance of having spices and herbs in your food storage for this reason.

During one of my difficult times, I had not much else to eat besides rice. I saved my pennies to buy one bottle of spice and then another, so that I could make the rice taste different. 

I also learned to do urban foraging. I found all kinds of fruit trees and bushes even in shopping centers where the fruit was left rotting on the ground. I always asked before helping myself. 

I was often told that the owners of the fruit were not aware that it was edible! lol. I sometimes gave them a taste of the fruit as a thank you. Other times I cooked it and gave them some.

Many people who had not been aware that the fruit was edible did not want to harvest it even when they knew it was edible, because they thought it was too much trouble.

I already posted about ways to vary your food by how you prepare it. It is possible to even make it taste quite different by using another way of preparing it. An example that I used was crispy rice. I would spread it out on a sheet or flat pan and slightly burn it, not black just brown. That would give it a nutty taste and a nice crunchiness. 

In the comment on the other blog I mentioned something that I have not posted about here. I have mentioned it, however. I like to collect recipes that "package" foods in special ways. 

This is probably due to some of my hard times when I did not have much variety in my diet. I still especially enjoy different food packaging. Tortillas are not a new thing to me because I grew up in California where they were common.

I usually include pita bread in with tortillas, but they do taste different and are made differently as well. You can use the same fillings as you do with tortillas. I like to use Middle Eastern fillings, condiments and spices for variety some of the time. 

Naan, or Persian flat bread is very easy to make and you can use nothing but flour and water to make it. You can even cook it in without oil, if you have to. A small amount of water in the pan can help to reduce burning.

Pot pies were not new during my lean times either. I just got more creative about what I put in them. You can even use them for dessert. Rice and fruit ended up as pot pies when I didn't have much else to eat.

Egg rolls and other dim sum are pleasant ways to gift wrap food and make it special. There are some wraps in Asian stores that do not need refrigeration to store. These would be very good for storage foods.

I also make my own little pies that are similar to pop tarts. I make them thin so they don't fall apart easily and defrost quickly when frozen. They are good for food storage in a freezer and are very handy for busy times without a particular emergency. 

There are quite a few other gift wraps that I like to use for food, but these ideas should be good enough to get you started watching for more of your own favorites.