In a survival situation, you’ve got to make the most of what you have. If society as we know it comes to a grinding halt, grocery stores will quickly be picked clean and mass-production of food will cease. That’s why we recommend stockpiling survival food for emergencies — but what happens if this dire situation continues for months or years? Sooner or later, your supplies will begin to run out, and you’ll be left with some not-so-appetizing food options.
AMC’s popular TV series The Walking Dead has addressed the topic of survival cooking with limited ingredients, and zombie apocalypse notwithstanding, this is a very real and interesting survival conundrum. How creative can you get when all you have is a pantry full of undesirable canned items? Fans of the show may recall that Carol whips up a batch of cookies from acorns and beets. Specifically, analyzing the episode revealed that these cookies contain at least the following ingredients:
- Canned beets
- Foraged acorns, ground into acorn flour
- Canned water chestnuts
- Arrowroot (a natural leavener)
- Cacao nibs (a form of crushed and roasted cacao bean, also a precursor to chocolate)
Mouth watering yet? Those aren’t conventional choices for baking cookies, but again, you work with what you’ve got.
One creative YouTube chef, Binging with Babish, has built his channel based on replicating food seen in movies and TV shows. He has previously tackled iconic meals like the Big Kahuna burger from Pulp Fiction, and the prison pasta sauce from Goodfellas. Most recently, he tried his hand at Carol’s acorn and beet cookies — both the original recipe from the show, and his own improved version. You may also recognize the cameo from the host of satirical survival channel Ashwin Enjoys Nature, who we previously featured here.
“They look terrible, they taste terrible, and I hate them” isn’t a ringing endorsement of Carol’s cookies, especially considering the host’s evident culinary experience. However, the revised recipe seems like a substantial improvement. In fact, the ingredient list sounds just funky enough to make it onto the menu at an avant-garde restaurant.
Have you come up with any unconventional recipes that make the best of a sparse pantry? If so, let us know in the comments.
