Today's project was to make a healthy, shelf-stable food that I could eat every day, and take care of meals for the rest of the month. In the process, I realized my initial goals didn't quite make sense, and I also (again!) ran out of time. But I made a little progress.
First, I spent a couple hours researching foods like what I wanted to make. I started with "survival" foods -- hard tack, military rations, disaster food, pemmican and wasna. Commons themes I saw were:
- The foods lasted a long time
- They were cheap to make (then, not now)
- They were dense (physically compact) and could stand being thrown around
- They were high-calorie.
- They didn't need cooking, and often you could get by with no heat or utensils if needed.
- They were something people would eat (and often, the bare minimum standard)
- They contained some reasonable macronutrient balance, although usually not an ideal one
- They were often meat-heavy
Then I branched out a little to other calorie-dense foods:
- Trail mix
- Fudge
- Energy bars, meal squares, and granola bars
- Biscotti
I started realizing my goals didn't quite align with what I was seeing. I didn't really need my food to last years -- one month outside a fridge would be fine. I cared a lot more about taste. And eating calorie dense food was not really a great idea, as someone mostly sitting in a chair rather than than hauling gear cross-country all day.
I did a circuit of local stores -- a grocery store, a restaurant supply store, an indian grocer's. I also picked up enough frozen food at Trader Joe's to last me most of the month, rather defeating the point. Oops!
I came home with a lot of flours and flour-adjacent things. Very carb-heavy. I had several flours: corn, chickpea, and wheat. I ground up a few more.
At this point, I had a wide variety of cheap ingredients. I went to the USDA food database and wrote some notes about macronutrient balance, and did the math on how much things cost.
Then, I started experimenting. I had previously made hard tack, which I found kept forever and I liked pretty well. So I started by experimenting with hard tack, using non-wheat flour recipes. I was worried (rightly so) that non-wheat flours would not hold together as well.
I tried ratios of quinoa and wheat flour, and also tried adding a few ingredients. I found that 1 part in 3 of wheat flour was plenty to hold things together--it just wouldn't be puffy any more. That seemed fine. I also discovered that it was really important to aim for a consistent thickness, because some of the pieces ended up soft and some hard or burnt. Luckily, non-wheat flours are a lot springier, so this was easier in the second batch.
In the second batch, I kept the same 1:2 ratio, but tried a wide variety of flours, as well as the rest of the additives.
My findings, and my ending point for the night:
- A 1:2 ratio of wheat flour to another flour seems to consistently hold together well. The amount of water needed varies just a little. The squares cook with 20 minutes per side.
- Quinoa, green pea, oat, and chickpea flours are neutral to good. Corn and wheat flours are excellent. Lentil flour smells too strongly. I forgot to test pigeon pea or make rice flour.
- Coconut (un-powdered) is also excellent. I like the smell and a little fat. Shortening was not as good, and I didn't test other fats.
- Adding extra salt didn't change the flavor.
- Adding fat (via coconut or shortening) makes the wafers a little messier.
- Sugar is great. Whether a dusting on top, a little added, or chocolate chips, it's a definite winner. Sugar mixed in should improve shelf life.
I was originally trying to invent a single food I could eat every day, which if you know me was a very stupid mistake. Instead, I'm going to have the final version be something more like my experiments--a wide variety to pick from.
If I continue another day (and I likely will), I'm going to further optimize taste. The most compelling result of all is that I didn't eat the leftovers--I went for frozen food instead.