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| You can buy this book, and others on amazon. com or on www.half.com Keep in mind that you should always have hard copies of recipe books for emergencies, and not exclusively internet or kindle editions. |
Pre-packaged food stores, many of which are freeze dried, often have an abundance of carbohydrates, calories and often entirely too much salt. MREs and camping foods were originally constructed for soldiers and hiking campers where 2800 calories a day or more and abundant carbohydrates were really important to fueling the kind of activity that was necessary. Abundant salt was added not only to enhance palatability but to prevent too much water loss through perspiration.
However, when we are talking about stockpiling freeze dried emergency foods for families, or for family members who are women, or for someone who is Type I or Type II diabetic, then excessive carbohydrate is pre-packaged packets is unwise, and we might need to consider other freeze dried alternatives. (Keep in mind that Type I autoimmune/juvenile diabetes mellitus is a different illness than Type II diabetes mellitus. However both have the same "rash" in terms of glucose regulation difficulties. Although the control strategies for each do differ, there are commonalities in that the regulation of carbohydrate intake needs to be organized, planned and mindful.)
For example, if you, a non-diabetic or active male, are looking for high calorie food, then look to
Expedition Foods which sells a macaroni and cheese freeze dried, reconstituted with water, entree which is 800 plus calories per serving.
However, if you have a family member who must conserve carbohydrates and perhaps enhance protein and vegetables as in diabetics, then perhaps your best bet is not to purchase much of the pre-made entree ready meals, and do what I do.
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| Most of the time our chickens keep us blessed with plenty of eggs. However, there are times when whole eggs which are freeze dried can be very useful. |
I purchase #10 (industrial cans) of Augason Farms freeze dried food which has the calorie counts and grams of protein etc. for each measured serving clearly on the can. This way I can custom construct exactly what my diabetic daughter needs even in emergencies. I can reconstitute chicken, beef, potatoes, vegetables and a variety of fruits and provide exactly the correct diet for her fairly easily. The freeze dried eggs work well and one can make a crustless quiche which works well. There are recipes on the Augason Farm website which you can make using their broad range of meats, vegetables, potatoes, rice, and grains, etc. She can also eat servings of the prepared entrees, but we often need to provide only 3/4 of the adult serving.
Another important strategy is to buy a modern diabetic cookbook which has the calorie counts broken down for each serving, and then to substitute the plain Augason Farms freeze dried origin foods (reconstituted)
Remember if you have diabetic family members after planning their basic meals, to stock nice-to-haves like sugarless chocolate, vanilla, butterscotch, and cheesecake flavored puddings. These are not freeze dried but will last a couple of years in a clean dry cabinet. There are some excellent and very low calorie and carbohydrate controlled hot chocolate mixes. In addition, stock some freeze dried fruits ( I use the large cans Augason farm strawberries or apples) These can be reconstituted as fruit or measured out so you know how many carbs and calories you are ingesting, and eaten as a snack. If you are even moderately creative, you can provide interesting meals with variety which do fit within the confines of even a restricted weight reduction diabetic diet. It's certainly possible to structure interesting meals for diabetics without a need for weight reduction.
In addition to stocking certain emergency freeze dried foods for diabetics, it is important to make use of growing your own sprouts and growing some lettuces when possible in anything from a window or porch garden, where you can not only attend to these items and water them often, but where you can harvest from them, often daily. (The easier your access is, the more likely you will use them in your daily diet.)
If you do grow kiwi, blueberries, blackberries, apples, tomatoes etc., make sure that you use this when fresh especially in diabetic diets, and find some ways to save this bounty for later in the year through either canning or dehydratiing these yourself.
These are some interesting recipes which can be used for diabetics:
Vegan cheese
Gluten free vegan cookies
These are some of our earlier posts which are beneficial in providing emergency food for diabetics:
http://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2011/12/growing-sprouts-at-home.html
This is an earlier post on exactly this subject:
http://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2013/07/assembling-freeze-dried-and-emergency.html
Other Rational Preparedness posts on the subject of preparedness which may well be of interest to
diabetics:
http://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2011/10/for-type-i-diabetics-and-amended-for.html
http://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2012/01/updated-information-on-diabetic-ecase.html
http://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2014/03/strategies-to-keeping-clean-and.html
These are also interesting links:
State of N.J. Disaster Preparedness Pages for Diabetics
Diabetic diet plans for 1200, 1500, or 1800 calories
