Who knew?

I did not know until recently that Spam comes with bacon. Remember when I used Spam instead of bacon in my beans and rice recipe because I thought it unlikely that in an emergency situation I would have a pig running around, and even more unlikely that I would know how to make bacon even if I did? Now I can have the bacony goodness without the bacony mess. At least that is the theory. I haven't actually tried it yet, but it is available at a national chain near me. I was reminded about it when I found this article. I am always on the hunt for new recipes, and though some people don't like Spam very much, this is why I would recommend getting some in stock:

1) Even though, as I have mentioned earlier, beans and rice make a complete protein, variety is important in food storage matters. Spam has some protein, but one of the main reasons I want to have some on hand is because it adds the smell and flavor of meat, which is enticing by itself, and only adds to the flavor of something like rice and beans. In my opinion, beans cooking (before adding spices) do not have an appetizing aroma, (an opinion shared by at least one of my children) and it can be important to make your dishes as appetizing as possible during an emergency situation. This article, that I found when I was looking for information on appetite fatigue, makes sense to me. Your choices are going to be limited during emergency/survival situations anyway, so any tasty differences you can make might make the difference between someone in your family eating and remaining as healthy as possible, or compromising their health by becoming weaker by not eating.

2) Spam contains a lot of fat. This may be a downside for some people, but it is my understanding that children need fat for proper development, and we all need some fat in our diet to stay healthy. Rice and beans boiled in water with spices do not have a high fat content. Bread made with some oil does not have a high fat content. The amounts for fat in my posts in May, where I listed how much to store, are survival amounts, so they would be sufficient for survival. Storing extra fat might come in handy, however, when our food storage is our only source of nutrition. I don't think that we would eat Spam every day even if we could, even in an emergency situation. (See #1.) It's just that the fact that Spam and other products that have some fat could be a plus in an emergency situation, and could be one of the ways to help your family do more than just survive.

OK, here come the disclaimers: I do not work for the Spam company, and do not intend this to be free advertising for them (although, as I look back, it kind of looks like a commercial :) ) I do, however, like their product, and so do the majority of the members of my family. I made Spam and rice (flavored package) for lunch for the kids yesterday, and it is always a big hit. This, plus the article I first linked to, reminded me of appetite fatigue and the need for fat in our diets.
And of course, you know that I am not a doctor, or even an expert on food storage, (hence, the "adventure" part of my blog) so what I write is based on what I understand, and not intended as medical advice. I am just trying to think ahead about what would sustain my family through hard times and perhaps even make life a little easier for them in the event of emergency situations.

Soooooo.....if you take anything away from this post, I would suggest the following:

1) Vary your food storage to avoid appetite fatigue.

2) Make sure you are including whatever you can (i.e. extra fat) to make your food storage the best it can be, and customize it to your own needs so that your family can be as healthy as possible in emergency situations.

3) My kids like Spam. I consider myself lucky, seeing as how it is relatively inexpensive right now and can remain in storage for awhile. (Hey, this one is important to me. :)

Don't you wish you had known that you could have just skipped to the bottom in the first place? :). The storage amounts from my posts in May are survival amounts. If you don't have those yet, please get those supplies in first. Survival first. Enhancement second. Priorities, priorities. :) And please feel free to comment, send recipes, etc. I personally find the "Hot Dog Surprise" recipe in the first article especially intriguing....