A good way to steer your kids toward eating right is to teach them to cook. While hunger is generally the best sauce in the outdoors, a few good recipes can make the outdoor culinary experience even more fun.

And when it comes to stocking up on survival food, the best, cheapest and tastiest option may be to make your own. This is particularly true when it comes to energy bars. While the idea is to get a quick energy boost, some of the commercial products taste downright institutional!

Here’s a simple recipe for a whole grain energy bar that is quick, easy to make, and tastes good!

Easy Energy Bar

Ingredients

• 9 cups oats
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/3 cup light corn syrup (or maple syrup)
• 2 cups sugar (not refined, but raw cane sugar)
• 2 cups margarine, melted (butter, if preferred)
• 1/2 cup peanuts
• 4 cups chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In a large bowl stir all the ingredients together.
3. Press 1/2- inch thick onto a 9×18-inch cookie sheet.
4. Bake at 250 for about 15 minutes, until the mixture is bubbly,
5. Remove from oven and let cool (this is very important, it will become very crumbly if not allowed to cool completely)
6. Cut into small pieces and enjoy.

For more related SurvivalCommonSense.com tips and stories, click on the highlighted words:

• STOP: Use this exercise to reduce stress and focus your thoughts.
• Take your Ten Essentials on every outing.
• Simple flour recipes for your survival gear.
• Multi-grain bannock – a great survival food.
• Hardtack: A great emergency food
• Tasty foil wrap food for outdoor cooking
• About Leon Pantenburg

In the wilderness, food is the  fuel your body burns to keep you warm and provide energy. You must be able to carry enough calories with you to offset those you’ll burn up. It’s like putting gas in your car: Without fuel, you won’t be able to go far. When your energy “tank” runs dry during an emergency, you will feel weak, cold and not have enough energy

Take healthy, high nutrition snacks along whenever you go into the wilderness.

to save yourself. Food, like your survival knife,  is one of the  Ten Essentials, and should be included, in some form, in your survival kit.

There are essentially three catagories of  wilderness cooking. My  hard-core foodie friends in the Central Oregon Dutch

Oven Society represent one extreme. Their idea of a good time is to take their Dutch ovens Lodge Logic 8-Quart Camp Dutch Oven
and related gear, find a beautiful spot outdoors and cook meals that would please a gourmet. At the other extreme is the hunter or backpacker. When I’m doing either of those activities, all I want is fuel. Taste is secondary to calories. Meal Ready to Eat (MRE), 12 Pack Case, Ration

When it comes to backpacking or survival food, most of us want to be somewhere in the middle. We want high-calorie, good-tasting food that doesn’t weight much. Cost and long shelf life is also a consideration. There are many excellent commercial energy bars, Clifbar Builders Protein Bar – 12 Pack
but you can make your own much cheaper. An added benefit is that you can tweak the recipes to your tastes, and you know where the ingredients come from.

Even if you don’t go camping or backpacking (If that’s the case, you have my sympathy!) tasty energy bars, with a good shelf life, are great additions to your prepper supplies. Good taste and variety in survival food can be very important in survival situations. Anything you’re forced by circumstances to eat day-after-day will get really boring.  Small children may refuse to eat at all unless the food tastes good. Short of force-feeding the kids, there may be no other way to get them to eat. Clif Bar Clif Kid Z Bar – Box of 18

Here are some homemade energy bar recipes that are  full of good ingredients and will help supply that needed energy

Hardtack is easy to make, has a long shelf life, and the texture of a fired brick! It is definately a survival food for times when enough calories are the big concern!

boost. Wrap the bars individually and make extras for tucking into school backpacks, survival kits and daypacks.

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• l tsp. vanilla extract
• l cup granola
• 1/2 cup raisins (or any chopped dried fruit)
• 1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts (or your favorite nut)
• 1 1.69-oz. pkg. M&M’s chocolate candies (or you can substitute carob chips)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter or oil an 8- x 8-inch square pan (preferably nonstick). Crack the egg into a medium-sized bowl. Add the sugar and vanilla extract and mix thoroughly. Stir in the granola, raisins, hazelnuts and M&M’s and mix until combined. The M&M’s can be replaced with carob chips, which will cut down on the sugar content.

Transfer to the pan and distribute evenly over the bottom, pressing firmly with your hands. Bake for 25 minutes. Cool and cut into bars or squares. Serves 8 to 12.

The trick here is to let the homemade energy bar cool! Getting those “hungry peddlers” in your home to wait long enough might be a chore! Your chances are better if these are made when they’re not around, but only if you can resist the temptation yourself.

Emergency Ration Recipe

By: various survival sites

• 3 cups rolled oats, barley, or wheat
• 2 1/2 cups nonfat milk powder
• 1/2 package Jell-O powder, citrus
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoon honey
• 3 tablespoon water

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Heat together water and honey, stir in Jell-O powder. Stir dry ingredients together, stir in Jell-O water, mix well. Then add additional water 1 tablespoon at a time, just until mixture can be formed into two bars. Dry in oven, wrap in foil to store. Each bar is 1000 calories. May be eaten as is, or cooked in a pint of water.

Apricot Bar Recipe

Chop in a food processor:

• 1 cup apricots
• 3/4 cup almonds
• 3/4 cup walnuts
• Mix fruit and nuts with:
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup wheat germ
• 2/3 cup flour
• 2 tablespoons oil

Add: Enough liquid (2 to 4 tablespoons juice) to form thick batter.

Mix well. Press into an 8-by-8-inch square greased pan. Bake 30 minutes or until firm. Cut into 12 bars but leave in the pan to cool. Later, package individually and store in a refrigerator or freezer. Makes 12 bars with 220 calories/bar.

No-bake power bites recipe

• 1/2 cup chopped dates
• 1/2 cup figs (stemmed)
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup wheat germ
• 5 tablespoons nonfat dry milk powder
• 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

In food processor, combine first five ingredients. Process until dough forms a ball. In small bowl, mix the crumbs and lemon juice. Roll dough into 1″ balls and coat with crumbs. Store in an airtight container for up to two weeks. Makes 4 balls. Nutritional info per ball: 240 calories; 54g carbohydrates; 2.5g fat; 5.5g protein Dried fruit provides the bulk of the carbohydrates and calories in the bites. Because it contains a significant amount of fiber (more than 8 grams per serving), they are best eaten before and during sports that do not stimulate the gastrointestinal tract. These sports would include cycling, swimming, and hiking.

They may not settle in your stomach if you’re going to participate in high-impact types of activities such as running or aerobics. So in order to keep it all in, these would not be a good idea when participating in a triathelon!

Recommended Reading:
Surviving a Wilderness Emergency
Smart Cookies: 80 Recipes for Heavenly, Healthful Snacking (Jane Kinderlehrer Smart Food Series)
Cooking the One Burner Way, 2nd (Cookbooks)

For more related SurvivalCommonSense.com tips and stories, click on the highlighted words:

• STOP: Use this exercise to reduce stress and focus your thoughts.
• Write a note to let people know where you went, before you left.Take your Ten Essentials on every outing.

• Dress with the right fabrics.
• Have a plan to make a tarp shelter.
• Carry lightweight, compact firestarter.
• Find the most effective fire ignition system.
• How to make charcloth, a material that can catch a spark from any source.
• Use charcloth as an effective method of catching a spark to make a fire.
• It can kill you: Hypothermia
• Hardtack: A great emergency food
  
• About Leon Pantenburg

When my son Dan moved to his first apartment, it seemed like my parental duty to provide him with an “urban survivalkit” that included some basic kitchen tools. These necessities included several good “survival manuals” (cookbooks)
some sharp kitchen “survival knives” and a well-seasoned cast iron Dutch oven.

Dan’s urban “survival training” came from Boy Scout Troop 18 in Bend, Oregon. He, along with most of his buddies, earned the cooking merit badge. The requirements included learning how to cook outdoors over a campfire, using aluminum foil or a cast iron Dutch oven,

Dan’s oven is a cast-iron, 10-inch Lodge-brand oven that can be used both indoors and outside. It is the same brand, make, model and size of oven I have used at least weekly for nearly 30 years. When I bought my new oven, it seemed expensive.Lodge Logic Pre-Seasoned Cast Iron 4-Quart Dutch Oven with Iron Cover

But Dan’s oven was free because it was slightly rusty and dirty from being stored in an old garage for years. A little elbow grease restored the cast iron to like-new condition.

If you’re a recycler (like many preppers  and survivalists are) and you frequent garage sales and thrift stores, then keep an eye out for good, useful cast-iron cooking implements. Somebody’s rusty, dust-covered survivor of a failed camping trip may end up becoming a valuable addition to your cooking tools.

In a survival situation, a Dutch oven is a useful tool for baking, boiling, sautéing or frying. You can use virtually any

After: Dan's seasoned cast iron Dutch oven is ready to be cooked in.

heat source, including a campfire, charcoal, a propane burner or  barbecue grill. And talk about something with barter or trade value – a few days without electricity, and everyone will be clamoring for a Dutch oven.

You can also save money. Just keep a list of the cast iron items you need or want when you go garage sale-ing, because you never know when a treasure will pop up.

If you don’t need any more cast iron, you can always upgrade what you have, or buy duplicates. Re-seasoned cast iron also makes a great, unique gift that will be used and appreciated for years. Nobody re-gifts a good cast iron Dutch oven!

My Dad, sister Karla, brother Mike and I all collect cast iron, and the older and more obscure the brand, the better. In our informal competition, the only rule is that cast iron can only be acquired using fair chase methods. That means no eBay, or advertising. A special find or acquisition is always good for a flurry of emails!

But aside from the fun of searching and looking, cast iron implements are heirloom tools you can use regularly. And cast iron, combined with a little knowledge, can be used both indoors and outside, making a cast iron Dutch oven a multi-purpose survival tool.

When properly seasoned, cast iron can be virtually nonstick. The even heating and heat-retaining ability make cast iron a good choice for frying, searing, baking and cooking stews, gumbos and soups.

But buy quality pieces, because your cast-iron cookware can be with you for generations. I still regularly use the skillet my grandmother reportedly got in 1918 as a wedding present. My Mom got it in 1950 and used it for decades, until the skillet got passed along to me. Today, grandma’s skillet is good for at least a few more generations of regular use! Lodge Logic 10-Inch Chef’s Skillet

My daughter, Mary, already has dibs on an 80-year old, 6-inch skillet she cooks eggs in. And Dad’s old oblong cast iron Dutch oven that he used back in the 1960s is still in fine shape and could be used at the family reunion this year in Colorado.

This pile of rusty cast iron could yield a great vintage cooking implement.

When it comes to quality, experts know that some experienced iron may be superior to what’s on the store shelves. But a potential buyer of used cast iron had better beware. A cheap piece of cast junk is never a good deal, because it will end up being replaced at some point.

Although I own several different brands of cast iron implements, I prefer Lodge cast iron for competition cooking because of the uniform quality. It’s also the only cast iron made the USA. All the iron ore used for casting at the Lodge foundry goes through a Geiger counter screening before being used. The cast iron made overseas has no such requirement that I’m aware of.

Before buying any used piece, look it over carefully. Dirt, dust and light rust are generally not a problem, but deep rust pitting might be. If the piece has been painted or had motor oil in it, or has any cracks, pinholes, warps, scratches or signs of abuse, don’t buy it.

Then check the quality of the casting. Look for uniform thickness in the sides, bottom and lid, because variances in thickness could cause hot or cold spots. Make sure lids fit tightly, with no gaps or rocking. A properly-fitted lid forms a seal that creates pressure while cooking and helps retain moisture.

Once you buy a used piece, it will probably need to be seasoned. Seasoning is the black patina that protects the metal and makes it nonstick. If the seasoning looks even, with no flaking or rust spots, then a good cleaning may be all that is needed before using.

But most likely, you’ll have to re-season, and there are different ways to accomplish that. My brother, Michael Pantenburg, salvaged a badly-mistreated oven by soaking the cast iron overnight in regular Coca Cola, then scrubbing it with a steel wool pad. When he was done, the cast iron looked brand new.

An antique gumbo pot my Dad got at a farm sale decades ago was severely rusted. I took a crack at cleaning it with steel wool, but gave up. It was used to haul ashes from my fireplace for a while. Then, I took it to an auto body shop and had it sandblasted for $5. Once it was re-seasoned, the pot went back to work. When my mother-in-law visits from Mississippi, she uses it to make seafood gumbo.

Avoid cooking any tomato or bean products in a newly seasoned cast iron for the first few times, because the acid will

After brushing or the dust or dirt, remove the rust and old patina with a steel wool pad.

remove the seasoning. After that, use your new, experienced cast iron whenever possible. The more you use it, the more seasoned it gets and the better it will work.

How to season cast iron

The Central Oregon Dutch Oven Society recommends this seasoning method:

Scrub off any dirt or dust. A stiff fiber or wire brush works well for this initial cleaning.

Remove the old seasoning so bare metal is visible. Start by rubbing the iron with steel wool. If necessary, use light sandpaper. In extreme cases, take a particularly challenging piece to an auto body shop and have it sandblasted.

Once you get to shiny metal, wash and dry the piece. Then lightly coat the surface with vegetable oil so it is shiny but the oil doesn’t puddle. I prefer solid shortening for seasoning, but there are also commercial products available.

When the cast iron is clean and polished, coat the surface with shortening. Only use enough to make the cast iron look wet.

Place the cast iron in a 350-degree oven and bake for about an hour. This is going to be smelly and smoky, so if you have a gas grill, do this outside. Put the piece upside down on the grill and lower the hood. Shut off the heat when the smoke stops, and let the grill and cast iron cool completely. This technique can be repeated until you get the preferred shade of black and level of nonstick.

Re-seasoning can be done whenever you feel like doing it. I periodically re-season some the scout troop’s Dutch ovens,  just because I like them to look really black and shiny. And they look really cool when we stack them!

(Leon Pantenburg is a charter member of the Central Oregon Dutch Oven Society, competitive Dutch oven cook and two-time finalist in the International Dutch Oven Society’s World Championship cookoff. He teaches the Boy Scout cooking merit badge, and is a freelance writer, who loves to expound on outdoor cooking.)

Dutch oven info on the Web:

For more information on cast-iron cooking, contact the International Dutch Oven Society:

www.idos.com

Interesting and useful Dutch oven cooking items and cookbooks:

http://www.dutchovenstuff.com/

Lodge cast iron: http://www.lodgemfg.com/

The only item on the lunch menu the first day was a three-inch square of Hudson Bay Bread gobbed with about two tablespoons of peanut butter. I’d worked up quite an appetite paddling and portaging that morning, and privately wondered where I’d get the energy to last the rest of the day.

My oldest son, Dan, and I, along with seven other members of Boy Scout Troop 18 of Bend, Oregon, had just started on a nine-day canoe trip through the Boundary Waters in northern Minnesota. We left from the Boy Scouts Northern Tier High Adventure base at Ely, Minn., and all the food, cooking gear and a guide were supplied.

To my surprise, the Hudson Bay bread was so rich, filling and full of calories that I could barely finish it. I had ample energy to paddle, portage and hike until that evening. There’s no question that the folks at the High Adventure base know how to fuel hungry paddlers!

Since that canoe journey in 2004, Hudson Bay bread has been put on my short list for high-energy, low-weight outdoor activity fuel. But being a freelance food writer, as well as somewhat of a health nut, I tweaked the recipe to make it a healthier food item.

Regardless of the recipe, one way to use the bread is to cut it into three-inch squares and put it into individual sandwich bags. For convenience, get peanut butter in one-ounce packets or fruit jam, and use that as a topping.

I assume the bread would last for several months, but don’t really know since it gets eaten too soon to find out!

Here’s the recipe for the bread given out by the High Adventure base at Ely. My suggestions for substitutions may change the flavor somewhat, but you’ll still get the nutritional punch needed for hiking, biking or any activity that burns a lot of calories.

HUDSON BAY BREAD

1-1/2 lbs. margarine or butter (Butter, always!)

4 cups of sugar (substitute raw, unrefined evaporated cane sugar)

2/3 cup Karo syrup (use maple syrup or blackstrap molasses. Get rid of the empty calorie refined corn syrup and add extra iron with molasses.)

2/3 cup honey

2 tsp. maple flavoring (If you use pure maple syrup, you don’t need this artifical additive.)

Cream together the above ingredients.

Add while mixing:

1-1/2 cups of ground nuts (Almonds can supply additional potassium)

19 cups of oatmeal (use steel cut or the kind you have to cook. The less refined the grain, the more nutrition).

Spread in a large sheet pan. Press it down into the pan. Bake at 325 degrees in a wind (or convection) oven for 15-18 minutes. As soon as the bread has been taken from the oven, use a spatula to press it down again. This presses the bread together to keep it from crumbling.

Cut it while still warm. For home-size preparation, cut this recipe at least in half. A conventional oven requires a longer baking time.

Any time you go into the wilderness — no matter how long you plan on staying — there’s a chance that you may be out there for the night, or longer.

For his friends and family, it’s a miracle that Travis McMahan survived his two-week stint in the backwoods. But from what he’s said to officials and to the Star-Tribune, he’s alive today also because he kept his wits about him and made several good decisions.

For anyone venturing into the woods, there are basic rules to keep in mind, said John Gookin, the National Outdoor Leadership School curriculum and research manager. But the most important thing is to keep your head.

“Stay calm, stay cool, enjoy the evening, enjoy the stars,” Gookin said. “Do what you can to stay calm because it expends less energy.”

Prep work

Before you set out, be ready for the worst, Gookin said. He brings a day pack on any trip out of camp, no matter how short.

Gookin spends a lot of time in the woods, so his pack is always ready to go. Here’s what’s in there now:

• Light waterproof jacket and nylon wind pants: These are great for cutting the wind and helping to keep other layers dry. They also don’t take up much room.
• Spare socks: Nothing is worse than wet feet. In a pinch, they double as mittens.
• Thin ski mask: It’s more efficient to bring items that cover exposed skin than extra insulation, Gookin said. Protecting your face and hands does more than adding another shirt or sweater.
• Gloves: Most of the time, a thin pair is all you need, Gookin said. When it gets super cold, he packs a thick pair of mittens, or gloves with a shell for when it’s snowy.
• Lighters: The electric kind. They hold up well when they get wet and are easier to use than matches or flint.
• Map, or mapping GPS.
• Seasonal hat: In the summer, this means something to keep the sun off his neck. For the fall, a baseball cap because it’s lighter. In the winter, a thick wool hat.
• LED headlamp: Headlamps are easier to use than a flashlight, and the LED models last longer and are lighter.
• Always, always water.
• Maybe food: Gookin packs it more as a luxury. Often this means a soda pop because “it’s basically a can of sugar water and it’s collapsible.”

Food is the last thing Gookin packs because it’s the least essential. You can survive for a few weeks without food, he said. But without water, in a few days “you quickly risk losing your most important survival tool: your mind.”

Making camp

If you’re forced to spend a night in the wilderness, here are Gookin’s tips for staying alive. Once you’ve established a good camp, stay put. During the day, look for signs of civilization or searchers, but it’s best to return to the same base camp, Gookin said.

• Put on as many layers as you can without sweating because it will cause you to lose moisture and get your insulation wet.
• Take a cool-down walk after heavy hiking so your body heat cooks off moisture before you stop.
• Stop moving well before dark. This way, you have time to find the best place to camp and aren’t trying to orient yourself in the dark.
• The best campsite is out of the wind and has overhead cover to trap heat. Bedding down under a tree is good idea. Having water nearby is a bonus.
• Nap when you can. Try to nap before it’s cold at night. Though the idea of being up when it’s dark out may not seem appealing, you’re more likely to sleep when you’re warmer, Gookin said.
• Keep yourself comfortable. Relax. Stress clouds judgment and after a few days of heavy stress, your white blood cell count drops and you’re more prone to infection.

Fire

If you can build a fire, it will help make you comfortable and signal for help.

Fire-starting techniques vary, and most of them work. The important thing is that you’ve had some practice, Gookin said.

In an e-mail, Gookin gave this description of how he starts a fire.

“It’s easy to light a fire, but you have to get good at it in advance. A lot of people have books that lead you through how to start a fire by rubbing two sticks together. If you haven’t done it before, the book might be really helpful because you could burn the pages.

“Fire building is like painting a room — the most important work is the prep work. I gather a bunch of wood in various sizes and then I build either a teepee or a log cabin. The structure is to help air get mixed with the fuel. A common mistake is to light the little stuff before you have enough gathered to heat the next-size wood.”

Signaling

Once you have a base camp established, make yourself easier to find.

Gookin has spent a lot of time in search planes trying to spot lost hikers. Bright colors are easier to see than dull ones, but from an airplane they’re still hard to spot, he said. Reflecting light and large geometric shapes stand out. Big straight lines are a really good way to get searchers’ attention, he said.

A signal mirror is an easy-to-carry and sure-fire way to increase the odds of being spotted.

Gookin was in the backwoods with some people who had a big Air Force-issue signaling mat — the kind used to mark helicopter landing sites in the wilderness. As a test of how well it worked, Gookin hiked to a distant ridge and set up the mat.

When the others turned around and tried to spot him, it took about 30 seconds of scanning the tree line.

Then he put the mat away, hiked to another spot and took out his signaling mirror. This time, when the others turned and started glassing the ridge, they immediately called into the walkie-talkie, “Cut that crap out! You’re blinding us.”

Using a signal mirror isn’t hard, but it takes some practice, Gookin said. And like building a fire, you don’t want to be learning it under stress.

• Extend your arm and hold up two fingers.
• Put the mirror to one of your eyes, and reflect light at your finger tips.
• Use your fingers to sight and direct the light at the plane or search party.

In the plane, searchers can see glinting light from 10 miles away, geometric shapes and vehicles from a mile or two away, Gookin said. They see people and colors only when they’re right on top of them.

“Some people are big on whistles, but in the big country, a whistle is kind of a joke,” Gookin said.

The smell of smoke from fires carries a long way, and will help show searchers on the ground where you might be.

Gookin also recommends that if you’re camping near a trail, but not on the trail because it wasn’t the best place to camp, leave a marker of some kind for anyone who might hike by.

Safety tech

There’s one other great way to increase your chances of being found, Gookin said: Carry a satellite phone.

Barring a very possible technological failure, it’s the only guaranteed way to let people know you need help and to ensure that you can help them find you.

Buying a satellite phone is expensive, but there are several retailers who rent them out.

A satellite phone has one huge advantage over the cheaper GPS signaling devices. “You can order pizza on a satellite phone. Having the ability to talk to people is a whole lot better than just sending out a beep,” Gookin said.

Sheriff’s offices do not treat GPS locator signals like 911 calls, Gookin said. Because there’s no way to tell what’s wrong or why the person pushed the button, search teams do not immediately respond to every call from the devices.

If you’re going to use one, talk with family and friends before you leave. Let them know in exactly what circumstances you’ll push the button and what to do if they get the signal.

The most important thing to keep in mind with a GPS locator, satellite phone or any other safety device, is that they do not make you more safe unless you’re just as careful as you were without it, Gookin said.

Gookin cited studies that showed that when anti-lock brakes were first introduced, people who had them installed in their car were more likely to get in an accident because they drove more recklessly. The same thing has been shown to happen with guardrails and other highway safety equipment, Gookin said. According to the studies, once people realize the new addition isn’t a silver bullet, accidents come back down.

For people going into the woods, be cautious, no matter what safety equipment you’re using

Contact Samuel J. Baldwin at samuel.baldwin@trib.com or 307-266-0524.