Full transcript
0:00In August 2003, a software glitch in
0:03Ohio helped knock out power to 55
0:06million people in a single afternoon.
0:08Refrigerators went warm, stoves went
0:11dead, and millions of Americans stood in
0:13dark kitchens realizing they had no idea
0:16how to eat without electricity. Number
0:1916 on this list is a trick backpackers
0:21use to cook noodles with no heat at all.
0:24Number one costs under $2 and beats a
0:27$12 survival pouch. Hit subscribe and
0:31let us countdown 25 filling blackout
0:33meals. Number 25, peanut butter and
0:36honey tortilla roll-ups. This is the
0:38meal that proves you do not need a
0:40bunker to survive a blackout. You need a
0:42jar, a bottle, and a bag. A flour
0:45tortilla, a thick smear of peanut butter
0:47from edge to edge, a drizzle of honey
0:49down the middle, then roll it tight like
0:51a sleeping bag. That is it. That is
0:54dinner. And it will hold you longer than
0:56you think. Two tablespoons of peanut
0:58butter carry close to 200 calories, most
1:01of them from fat and protein, the two
1:03things your body burns slowly. Honey
1:06adds quick energy on top, so you get the
1:08fast lift and the long burn in one bite.
1:11Here is why this works so well when the
1:14lights go out. None of these three
1:16ingredients needs a refrigerator.
1:18Commercial peanut butter keeps for
1:20months after opening. Tortillas last
1:22weeks in the pantry far longer than a
1:24loaf of bread. And they do not crush
1:26into crumbs in the back of a cabinet.
1:28And honey is one of the most
1:30spoilerresistant foods humans have ever
1:32found. It is so low in water and so
1:34acidic that bacteria simply cannot live
1:36in it. A jar that crystallizes is not
1:39bad. It is just honey doing what honey
1:42does. Parents during the 1965 Northeast
1:45blackout when 30 million people lost
1:47power on a cold November evening reached
1:50for exactly this kind of food. Bread,
1:52peanut butter, whatever did not need a
1:54flame. A jar of peanut butter runs about
1:56$35 today. A pack of 10 tortillas about
2:00the same. Add a bottle of honey and you
2:02have 10 filling meals for under $10.
2:05Kids will eat it without complaining.
2:07Adults will eat it without admitting how
2:08much they like it. And nobody has to
2:10light a single match. One more trick. If
2:13you have a banana on the counter, slice
2:15it right into the rollup. Bananas do not
2:18need a fridge, and they turn this from a
2:20snack into something that tastes like a
2:22real breakfast.
2:23Number 24, cold soaked overnight oats.
2:27Around 1900, a Swiss doctor named
2:29Maxmillian Burcher Benner started
2:32feeding his patients raw oats soaked
2:34overnight with fruit and milk. He
2:36believed uncooked food was healing food.
2:39The dish became known as bircher muesli.
2:41And a century later, Americans
2:43rediscovered it, called it overnight
2:45oats, and started paying $7 a jar for it
2:48at coffee shops. But here is what
2:50matters for a blackout. Oats do not need
2:53to be cooked. Rolled oats are already
2:55steamed and flattened at the mill, which
2:57means soaking alone makes them soft,
2:59creamy, and completely safe to eat. You
3:01pour half a cup of old-fashioned oats
3:03into a jar or a bowl. You add shelf
3:06stable milk from one of those boxed
3:07cartons that sit on the grocery shelf or
3:10powdered milk mixed with water. You stir
3:13in a spoonful of peanut butter, a pinch
3:15of cinnamon, and some raisins. Then you
3:17walk away. By morning, or even in 2
3:20hours, the oats swell and turn thick and
3:22pudding-like. A big canister of oats
3:25cost about $4 and holds 30 servings.
3:28That is roughly 13 cents a bowl.
3:30Powdered milk keeps for a year or more
3:32in the pantry. Boxed milk keeps for
3:34months unopened. One important rule,
3:36once you mix powdered milk with water or
3:38open a carton of boxed milk, treat it
3:41like fresh milk. Without a fridge, use
3:43it within a couple of hours. So mix only
3:45what you will eat. The fiber in oats
3:48digests slowly, which means a bowl at
3:50breakfast keeps you steady until the
3:52afternoon. In a blackout, when you are
3:54hauling water, checking on neighbors,
3:56and [music] trying to stay warm or cool,
3:58that steadiness is worth more than any
4:01fancy meal. Dr. Bircher Benner thought
4:03he was inventing health food. He was
4:05also inventing the perfect power outage
4:07breakfast. Number 23, tuna and crackers
4:10with mustard packets. In 1903, a canery
4:13owner in San Pedro, California named
4:15Albert Halfhill had a problem. The
4:17sardines his company depended on had run
4:20short. So, he started canning albaore
4:22tuna instead. [music]
4:23A fish most Americans at the time did
4:26not even want. Within two decades,
4:28canned tuna was in pantries across the
4:30country, and it has been saving hungry
4:33people ever since. Here is the blackout
4:35version. One can of tuna, drained, a
4:37sleeve of saltine crackers, a few
4:39packets of yellow mustard, the kind you
4:41grab from a hot dog stand, and toss in
4:43the kitchen drawer. Stir the mustard
4:45straight into the tuna with a fork, pile
4:47it on crackers, [music] and eat. The
4:49mustard does the job mayonnaise usually
4:51does, adding moisture and tang. But
4:54unlike mayonnaise from an open jar in a
4:56dead refrigerator, mustard is acidic
4:59enough that it does not become a gamble.
5:01A 5 ounce can of tuna delivers somewhere
5:04around 25 to 30 g of protein, which is
5:07more than many of those expensive
5:09[music] freeze-dried survival pouches
5:11that cost $10 or $12 each. The can of
5:14tuna costs about $1.50. Crackers about
5:17$3 a box with four sleeves inside. Some
5:21people add a packet of relish. Some add
5:22a squeeze of lemon from a shelf stable
5:24bottle. Some crush the crackers right
5:26into the bowl and eat the whole thing
5:28with a spoon like a cold tuna casserole.
5:30Every way works. The one thing to
5:32remember is that once you open a can, it
5:34becomes perishable food. Without
5:37refrigeration, eat it in one sitting
5:39within about 2 hours. That is why the
5:41small cans are smarter than the big ones
5:43in a blackout. One can, one meal,
5:46nothing left over to spoil. Albert
5:48Halfhill just needed something to put in
5:50his cans. He ended up creating the most
5:52reliable emergency protein in America.
5:55Number 22, three bean pantry salad.
5:58Every church potluck in America from the
6:001950s through the 1980s had a bowl of
6:03three bean salad sitting next to the
6:05deed eggs, green beans, wax beans, and
6:08kidney beans in a sweet vinegar
6:10dressing. It was so common that people
6:12stopped seeing it. But that humble
6:14potluck salad happens to be one of the
6:17smartest blackout meals ever invented
6:19[music] because every single ingredient
6:21comes out of a can and nothing needs
6:23heat. You open a can of kidney beans, a
6:25can of green beans, and a can of
6:27chickpeas or wax beans, whatever you
6:29have. Drain them, rinse them if you have
6:31water to spare. Dump them in a bowl.
6:33Then you make the dressing right on top.
6:35A splash of vinegar, a splash of oil, a
6:38spoonful of sugar, salt, pepper. If you
6:40have a jar of Italian dressing in the
6:42pantry that has never been opened, even
6:44easier. Stir. Let it sit 15 minutes so
6:47the beans drink in the dressing and you
6:49have a salad that tastes like it came
6:50from a deli case. Here is why it
6:53matters. Beans are fully cooked inside
6:55the can. The canning process heats them
6:57well past the point of safety, so you
6:59can eat them cold straight out of the
7:01tin with nothing more than a can opener.
7:03A can of beans costs about $1.20.
7:06Three cans feed a family of four as a
7:09side. or two hungry adults as a full
7:11meal. The fiber and protein keep you
7:13full for hours. And unlike a lot of
7:15blackout food, this one actually tastes
7:17fresh. The vinegar brightens everything
7:19and makes you feel like you are eating
7:21something green and alive, not just
7:23surviving on crackers. The dressing also
7:26helps the salad hold up in warm weather
7:28for a short while. Still, the rule
7:30stands. Make what you will eat and eat
7:32it the same day. Number 21, sardines on
7:37saltines. In 1875, the first American
7:40sardine canery opened in Eastport,
7:43Maine. Within a few decades, dozens of
7:45caneries lined the main coast, packing
7:48tiny fish into flat tins by the
7:50millions. Lumberjacks ate them. Coal
7:53miners ate them. Men working the
7:54railroads in the middle of nowhere
7:56pulled a tin from their lunch pail,
7:58peeled back the lid with a key, and ate
8:00sardines on crackers standing up. The
8:02last sardine canery in the United States
8:05in Prospect Harbor, Maine, closed its
8:08doors in 2010. But the tins are still on
8:11every grocery shelf in America, and they
8:14are one of the most underrated emergency
8:16foods you can own. Here is the meal. One
8:19tin of sardines and olive oil or mustard
8:21sauce, a sleeve of saltines, hot sauce
8:24if you have it. You lay a sardine across
8:26a cracker, add a drop of hot sauce, and
8:28eat it in one bite. Sardines are packed
8:31with the soft bones still inside. And
8:33those bones are so tender you never
8:35notice them, but they are full of
8:36calcium. The fish themselves carry
8:39protein and omega-3 fats, the same fats
8:42people pay good money for in fish oil
8:45capsules. A tin costs about $2. The pull
8:48tab lids on most modern tins mean you do
8:51not even need a can opener. And the oil
8:53the sardines come packed in is flavor,
8:56not waste. Dip your crackers in it. Some
8:59people turn their noses up at sardines.
9:01They have never been hungry in a dark
9:03house on the third day of an ice storm.
9:06The old railroad men knew something. A
9:08tin of sardines weighs almost nothing,
9:10lasts for years, and turns a box of
9:12crackers into a real meal. There is a
9:15reason working men carried them for a
9:17hundred years. And if sardines are still
9:19too much for you, try the ones packed in
9:21mustard or tomato sauce first. The sauce
9:24softens the flavor, and a lot of people
9:26who swore they hated sardines end up
9:28keeping a stack of tins in the pantry
9:30for good. Number 20, canned chicken
9:33salad wraps. For most of American
9:35history, chicken salad meant boiling a
9:37whole bird, pulling the meat, and
9:39chopping everything by hand. Then canned
9:42chicken showed up on grocery shelves,
9:44and suddenly chicken salad took 4
9:46minutes instead of 4 hours. In a
9:48blackout, those four minutes are all you
9:51need. Open a can of chunk chicken
9:53breast. Drain it. [music] Tear open two
9:55or three single serve mayonnaise
9:57packets, the kind that come with takeout
10:00orders, and pile up in kitchen drawers.
10:02Here is the thing most people do not
10:04realize. Those little packets are shelf
10:07stable until they are opened. They are
10:09made to sit in a delivery bag or a
10:11restaurant [music] bin at room
10:13temperature. So, in a blackout, they are
10:15far safer than the big jar of mayonnaise
10:18sitting in a warm refrigerator. Mix the
10:20chicken with the mayo, a packet of
10:22relish, salt, pepper, and whatever
10:24crunch you have. Dried cranberries,
10:27chopped nuts, a handful of crushed
10:29crackers. Spoon it onto a tortilla, roll
10:31it up, eat. One 12oz can of chicken
10:34costs about $4 and makes two very
10:37filling wraps with more than 50 g of
10:39protein in the whole can. That is the
10:42same protein as a restaurant chicken
10:44breast for a fraction of the cost.
10:46Canned chicken is fully cooked. It needs
10:48no heat at all. The texture is soft and
10:51a little shredded, which is exactly what
10:54you want for chicken salad anyway. Start
10:56saving those mayo packets now. Put them
10:58in a zip top bag in the pantry next to
11:00the canned chicken. When the power goes
11:03out, you will have a lunch that tastes
11:05like normal life. And in the middle of a
11:07crisis, a meal that tastes normal is
11:09worth [music] more than you would
11:10believe. Number 19, black bean and corn
11:14salsa bowls. Here is a meal that looks
11:16like it came from a food truck and costs
11:18less than a gallon of gas. One can of
11:20black beans, drained and rinsed. One can
11:23of whole kernel corn, drained. One jar
11:26of salsa, the kind that sits [music] on
11:28the shelf until you open it. Stir them
11:30all together in a bowl. Squeeze in some
11:33lime juice from a shelf stable bottle.
11:35Add a pinch of cumin or chili powder if
11:37you have it. Then grab a bag of tortilla
11:39chips and scoop. That is dinner for two
11:42people for about $5. The black beans
11:44bring protein and fiber. The corn brings
11:46sweetness and crunch. The salsa brings
11:48acid and heat and makes the whole bowl
11:50taste alive. And the chips turn it from
11:52a side dish into a meal with real
11:55calories behind it. Across the [music]
11:57southwest, families have eaten some
11:59version of beans, corn, and chile for
12:02centuries. Long before refrigerators
12:05existed, those three ingredients were
12:07the [music] backbone of the region's
12:09food because they could be dried,
12:11stored, and kept through hard seasons.
12:13The canned versions just skip the
12:15soaking and cooking. In a blackout, this
12:18bowl has one more advantage. It is
12:20cheerful. That sounds like [music] a
12:21small thing. It is not. When the power
12:24has been out for two days and everyone
12:26in the house is tired, hot or cold, and
12:29short-tempered, a colorful bowl of chips
12:31and salsa feels like a party instead of
12:33a punishment. Kids who will not touch a
12:36can of cold beans will eat three bowls
12:38of this. If you have a can of diced
12:40green chiles, throw that in, too. If you
12:43have a shelf stable avocado dip or a jar
12:46of queso that has never been opened,
12:48even better. Just remember the jar rule.
12:50Once it is open and there is no fridge,
12:53finish it. First pattern break. Here is
12:56where most people get blackout food
12:58completely wrong. They panic about the
13:01pantry and forget about the
13:02refrigerator. According to [music] the
13:04USDA, a refrigerator keeps food safe for
13:07about 4 hours if you keep the door
13:10closed. A full freezer holds its
13:12temperature for about 48 hours. A
13:15[music] half full freezer about 24. That
13:17means the first meals you eat in a
13:19blackout should not come from cans at
13:21all. They should come from the fridge.
13:24Eat the fresh stuff first in the first
13:26[music] few hours, then the freezer food
13:28as it thaws, and only then do you open
13:31the pantry. Every can you save by eating
13:33what would spoil anyway is one more meal
13:36you have on day four. The single biggest
13:39mistake people make is opening the
13:41refrigerator door over and over to check
13:44on things. Every time that door opens,
13:47the cold air falls out onto the floor
13:50and your four hours gets shorter. Tape a
13:53list of what is inside to the front of
13:55the fridge. Decide what you want before
13:57you open it. Grab it fast. Close it. And
14:01here is the rule that settles every
14:02argument. If perishable food, like meat,
14:05milk, eggs, or leftovers has been above
14:0840° for more than 2 hours, throw it out.
14:11Do not smell it. Do not taste it. The
14:14bacteria that make people sick often do
14:16not change how food smells at all. When
14:19in doubt, throw it out. That is not
14:21being wasteful. That is being smart. A
14:25hospital bill costs more than a pack of
14:27chicken thighs. Number 18, fork smashed
14:30chickpea hummus. Walk into any grocery
14:33store today and you will [music] find a
14:34whole refrigerated case of hummus,
14:37roasted red pepper, garlic, everything
14:39bagel. 8 o for $5. But hummus is one of
14:43the oldest foods in the Middle East,
14:45eaten for centuries in places with
14:47blazing heat and no refrigeration. It
14:50was never meant to need a cold case. And
14:52you can make it in a dark kitchen with
14:54nothing but a can, a bowl, and a fork.
14:57Open a can of chickpeas. Drain [music]
14:59them, but save a few spoonfuls of the
15:01liquid. Dump the chickpeas in a bowl and
15:04mash them hard with a fork or a potato
15:06masher. They will not get perfectly
15:08smooth like the store-bought kind, and
15:10that is fine. Rustic hummus has more
15:13texture and more personality. [music]
15:15Now, add a spoonful of tahini if you
15:17have a jar. If you do not, here is the
15:20trick. Use peanut butter. It sounds
15:22[music] wrong, but it works. Peanut
15:24butter gives the same nutty richness and
15:26the same creaminess that tahini does.
15:29Add a splash of olive oil, a squeeze of
15:31lemon juice from the shelf stable
15:32bottle, a pinch of salt and garlic
15:34powder. Loosen it with the saved
15:36chickpea liquid until [music] it
15:38spreads. Scoop it up with crackers, pa
15:40tortilla chips, or rice cakes. A can of
15:42chickpeas cost about a $120. Olive oil
15:45and lemon juice are already in most
15:48pantries. The whole bowl costs less than
15:50$2 and has more protein and fiber than
15:53most snack foods you could grab in a
15:54hurry. Chickpeas are one of the most
15:56filling foods on this list because the
15:58fiber and starch digest slowly. A bowl
16:01of hummus and crackers at lunch can
16:02carry you all the way to evening. And
16:05every single ingredient lives happily on
16:07a pantry shelf until the moment you need
16:09it.
16:10Number 17, pilot bread with peanut
16:13butter. There is a cracker most
16:15Americans have never heard of. It is
16:17round, thick, pale, [music]
16:19and hard, about the size of a saucer. It
16:22is called pilot bread, and it is a
16:24direct descendant of the hard attack
16:26that fed sailors and soldiers for
16:27centuries. [music] In most of the
16:29country, you will struggle to find it,
16:31but in Alaska, pilot bread is
16:33everywhere. For generations, it has been
16:35a staple in rural Alaskan homes, fishing
16:38camps, and bush villages, where a trip
16:40to the grocery store might mean a plane
16:43ride. The best known brand, Sailor Boy,
16:46is baked on the other side of the
16:47country in Richmond, Virginia. And most
16:49of it gets shipped north. Alaskans eat
16:52it with butter, with jam, with smoked
16:54salmon, and most of all, with peanut
16:56butter. Here is why that matters for
16:58you. Pilot Bread was built [music] for
17:00exactly the conditions a blackout
17:03creates. It lasts for a very long time
17:05in a sealed box. It does not go stale
17:08the way regular crackers do. It does not
17:10crush into dust in the back of a
17:12cupboard, and it is dense. One cracker
17:14is closer to a slice of bread than to a
17:17saltine. Spread a thick layer of peanut
17:19butter across it, maybe a little honey
17:21or jam on top, and you have a meal that
17:24fills you up the way a sandwich does. No
17:26bread going moldy on the counter. No
17:28loaf squashed flat [music] in a storm
17:30kit. If you cannot find pilot bread
17:32locally, you can order it online or use
17:35the thickest, sturdiest crackers you can
17:38find. The principle is the same.
17:40Alaskans figured out long ago that when
17:42the nearest store is 100 miles away, you
17:45want food that waits patiently for you.
17:47A blackout just brings a little bit of
17:48Alaska to your kitchen. Number 16, cold
17:51soaked ramen noodle salad. [music] This
17:53is the backpacker trick I promised you.
17:55Long-distance hikers on the Appalachian
17:57Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail
17:59figured out something clever. Carrying a
18:01stove fuel in a pot adds [music] weight.
18:04So, a lot of them left the stove at home
18:06and started what they call cold soaking.
18:09They put their food in a jar with water
18:11in the morning, screw on the lid, and by
18:13lunchtime, it is soft and ready to eat.
18:15No flame, no fuel, no heat at all.
18:18Instant ramen is perfect for this. And
18:20here is why. Those noodles are already
18:23cooked at the factory. They are steamed
18:25and then fried or dried before they ever
18:27go into the package. So, soaking them in
18:29room temperature water for about 15 to
18:3120 minutes turns them soft and
18:33slurpable. They will be a little chewier
18:36than hot ramen closer to a cold noodle
18:38salad. And that is exactly how you
18:41should treat them. Soak the noodles,
18:43drain off most of the water. Now, skip
18:45the salty flavor packet or use just a
18:48little of it and make a peanut sauce
18:50instead. A big spoonful of peanut
18:52butter, a splash of soy sauce from those
18:54little takeout [music] packets, a
18:56squeeze of lime, a pinch of sugar, and
18:58hot sauce if you like heat. Stir it into
19:00the noodles until every strand is
19:02coated. Toss in a drained can of chicken
19:04or a handful of peanuts for extra
19:06protein. Now you have something that
19:08tastes like cold sesame noodles from a
19:11Chinese takeout menu. A pack of ramen
19:13costs about 50. Some stores sell them
19:16for a quarter. A whole case of 24 costs
19:19[music] less than a single freeze-dried
19:21survival meal. Some people eat raw ramen
19:24straight from the bag as a crunchy
19:26snack, which also works in a pinch. But
19:28cold soaked with peanut sauce, it
19:30becomes a real filling dinner. Number
19:3315, spam [music] and cracker stacks. In
19:371937, the Hormal Company in Austin,
19:40Minnesota, introduced a canned pork
19:42product and held a [music] contest to
19:44name it. The winning name was spam.
19:47Nobody has ever fully agreed on what it
19:49stands for. What everyone agrees on is
19:52what happened next. During World War II,
19:55Hormal shipped more than 100 million
19:58pounds of spam overseas to feed American
20:01and Allied troops. Soldiers ate it so
20:03often [music] they joked about it
20:05constantly. And yet, when the war ended,
20:08millions of them came home and kept
20:10eating it. In Hawaii, Guam, and across
20:12the Pacific, spam became part of the
20:14local food culture [music] so deeply
20:16that Hawaii still eats more spam per
20:18person than anywhere else in the
20:20country. Here is the blackout version.
20:23Spam is fully cooked in the can. You can
20:26slice it cold straight from [music] the
20:27tin and eat it with no heat at all. Cut
20:30it into thin slices. Lay each slice on a
20:33cracker. Add a smear of mustard, a
20:35pickle slice from a jar you have not
20:37opened, or a thin piece of hard cheese.
20:40Stack them on [music] a plate and you
20:41have something that looks surprisingly
20:43like a party tray. Cold spam is saltier
20:46and firmer than fried [music] spam and
20:48the crackers balance that perfectly. A
20:5112 oz can cost [music] about $4 or $5
20:54and feeds two to three people. It is
20:56dense with fat and protein which is
20:58[music] exactly what your body wants
21:00when you are cold, stressed, or working
21:03hard to keep a household running. Spam
21:06gets laughed at. It has been laughed at
21:08for almost 90 years, but the people
21:10laughing usually have never had to feed
21:13a family in the dark. Millions of
21:15soldiers did not laugh at it on a cold
21:17[music] night in 1944.
21:19Neither will you on day three of an
21:22outage. If the power went out tonight,
21:24would your family actually be ready? We
21:27put together five complete preparedness
21:29manuals covering blackouts, emergency
21:31stockpiles, home security, shelter,
21:34water, and food preservation. Scan the
21:36QR code on the screen or click the first
21:38link in the description to get the
21:40complete forgotten American Survival
21:41Library while the launch offer is still
21:43available. Now, back to the video.
21:45Number 14. No cook bulgar tabulle with
21:49chickpeas. Across Lebanon and Syria,
21:52tabul [music]
21:53has been made for generations with a
21:55grain most Americans walk right past in
21:57the store. [music]
21:58Bulgar wheat. Bulgar is wheat that has
22:01been boiled, dried, and cracked into
22:03small pieces. And because it has already
22:06been cooked, fine bular does not need a
22:08stove at all. Traditional tabula cooks
22:11simply soak the bular in cold water
22:13until it softens. That is the whole
22:15secret. [music] In a blackout, that
22:17makes bulgar one of the most useful
22:19grains you can keep in your pantry. Here
22:21is the meal. Put a cup of fine bular in
22:24a bowl. Cover it with room temperature
22:26water about an inch above the grain. Let
22:29it sit for 30 to 45 minutes until it is
22:32tender and chewy. Drain off any extra
22:35water. [music]
22:35Now add a drained can of chickpeas, a
22:38big splash of olive oil, lemon juice,
22:40salt, and pepper. If you have dried
22:42parsley, or mint, crumble it in. If you
22:45have a jar of roasted red peppers or a
22:47can of diced tomatoes, add those, too.
22:50Stir, and you have a hearty grain salad
22:53that is filling enough to be a full
22:55dinner. A one-p bag of bular costs about
22:58$3 and makes several meals. Combined
23:01with chickpeas, it gives you a real
23:03balance of protein and slow burning
23:05carbohydrates, the kind that keep you
23:08going for hours instead of leaving you
23:10hungry again in 40 minutes. Couscous
23:12works in a similar way, though it
23:14softens best with hot water. Bular is
23:17the true cold water champion. The
23:19families who invented tabul lived in a
23:22hot climate without modern
23:23refrigeration. They built a dish that
23:25needed nothing but water, oil, lemon,
23:27and thyme. That is not a coincidence.
23:30That is centuries of practical wisdom
23:32sitting in a $2 bag. Second pattern
23:35break. [music] Now we need to talk about
23:36the thing that kills people in
23:38blackouts. And it is not hunger. It is
23:40carbon monoxide. Every major power
23:43outage in America comes with the same
23:45tragic headlines. People bring charcoal
23:47grills inside to cook. They run camp
23:50stoves in the living room. They put
23:51generators in the garage with a door
23:53cracked open thinking that is enough
23:55air. It is not. During the Texas winter
23:58storm in February 2021, when millions of
24:02homes lost power in freezing
24:04temperatures, hospitals in the Houston
24:06area alone treated hundreds of people
24:08for carbon monoxide poisoning. [music]
24:11Some of them did not survive. Families
24:13died trying to cook and stay warm.
24:15Carbon monoxide has no smell and no
24:17color. You do not know it is happening
24:19until you are too sick to get out. That
24:22is exactly why every meal on this list
24:24needs [music] no stove, no grill, and no
24:27flame. You do not need to take that risk
24:29to [music] eat well. Never use a grill,
24:32camp stove, or generator indoors or in a
24:35garage, ever. Now, here is the second
24:38part of this. The survival food industry
24:40would love for you to believe you need a
24:4225-year bucket of freeze-dried meals to
24:45get through an emergency. Those buckets
24:47can run from a hundred to several
24:49hundred dollar. [music] And most of them
24:51need boiling water to be edible, which
24:53means you need a stove, fuel, and a way
24:55to heat water. The very things a
24:58blackout takes away. Meanwhile, the
25:01canned goods aisle of any American
25:02grocery store sells fully cooked, ready
25:04to eat food for a dollar or two a can.
25:07The survival food companies are not
25:09selling you safety. They are [music]
25:11selling you fear with a long shelf life.
25:14Number 13, canned corned beef on
25:17crackers. There is a strange little tin
25:20on the bottom shelf of most grocery
25:22stores. It is shaped like a trapezoid,
25:25wider at the bottom than the top, and it
25:27comes with a metal key soldered to the
25:29side. Inside is corn beef, cooked,
25:33pressed, [music] and packed so tight it
25:35slides out in one solid block. Most of
25:38it today comes from South America where
25:40cattle are plentiful and the canning
25:42tradition runs deep. British soldiers in
25:44the First World War called it bully beef
25:47and ate it by the ton. American soldiers
25:49ate it, too. And for generations,
25:52working families across Appalachia, the
25:54Caribbean, and the Pacific Islands kept
25:56a few tins on the shelf for exactly the
25:59kind of day when nothing else was
26:01possible. Here is the thing about canned
26:03corn beef. It is fully cooked. You do
26:06not need to fry it into hash, even
26:08though that is how most people eat it.
26:10Cold, it slices like a firm pate. It is
26:14rich, salty, and deeply savory. Cut thin
26:16slices and lay them on crackers with a
26:18dab of spicy brown mustard. Or crumble
26:21it into a bowl. Mix it with a spoonful
26:24of relish and a mayo packet and spread
26:26it on tortillas. Some people add a slice
26:29of onion if they have one. Onions keep
26:31for weeks without refrigeration. and a
26:33bite of raw onion with cold corn beef
26:36tastes like an old-fashioned deli
26:38counter. A 12 ounce can runs about four
26:40to six dollars depending on the brand
26:43and it is one of the densest sources of
26:45protein [music] and fat you can find on
26:47a shelf. It feels heavy in your stomach
26:50in the best way. When you are cold,
26:52tired, and hungry in a house with no
26:55heat, that heaviness is exactly what you
26:58want. The soldiers who ate it in muddy
27:00trenches did [music] not complain about
27:02the flavor. They were grateful something
27:05so small could hold them up so long.
27:08Number 12, blackout shuderie board.
27:11Somewhere around the late 2010s,
27:13shakutoie boards became a whole
27:15personality on social media. Wooden
27:17boards covered in fancy meats, cheeses,
27:20crackers, olives, and dried fruit
27:22arranged like artwork, priced like
27:25jewelry. Here is the funny part. Almost
27:27every single thing on a shutoerie board
27:29was originally invented to survive
27:32without refrigeration. Cured sausage,
27:34hard cheese, dried fruit, pickles,
27:37crackers. Before there were
27:38refrigerators, these were not luxury
27:40foods. They were how people made food
27:42last. So the blackout shuderie board is
27:45not a gimmick. It is a return to what
27:48these foods were built for. Here is how
27:50you build it. A summer sausage, [music]
27:52the kind sold in the shelf stable
27:54section of the store, not the delicates.
27:57Many summer sausages and dry salamis are
28:00made to be stored at room temperature
28:02until opened. Check the label. A block
28:05of hard cheese like parmesan or a
28:07well-aged cheddar. Hard, aged cheeses
28:10have so little moisture that the USDA
28:13lists them among the foods that are
28:15generally safe to keep after a power
28:17outage. Even when softer cheeses like
28:20brie or cottage cheese have to go, waxed
28:23cheeses like those little red wrapped
28:25rounds [music] hold up even better. Add
28:27a sleeve of crackers, a handful of dried
28:30apricots or raisins, a jar of olives or
28:32pickles, and a few nuts. Slice
28:35everything onto a cutting board and set
28:37it in the middle of the table. A summer
28:39sausage costs about $5 to $7. A block of
28:42cheese, four or five. Together, they
28:44feed a family of four a genuinely
28:46filling dinner. And there is something
28:48about a board in the middle of the
28:50table, everyone reaching and sharing by
28:52candle light that makes a blackout feel
28:54less like an emergency and more like an
28:57evening you will actually remember.
29:00Number 11, canned salmon with lemon and
29:02crackers. Before canned tuna took over
29:05America, canned salmon was king. By the
29:08early 1900s, caneries along the rivers
29:11of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska were
29:14packing salmon by the millions of cases
29:16every year. Working families from
29:18Seattle to Boston ate it as a cheap,
29:20reliable protein. It showed up in salmon
29:22patties, salmon [music] loaf, and on
29:24crackers at supper time. Today, most
29:27people walk right past it, which is a
29:29mistake because canned salmon may be the
29:32most nutritious ready to eat protein in
29:34the entire grocery store. Here is the
29:36meal. Open a can of pink salmon. Drain
29:39it. You will notice soft bones and
29:41pieces of skin mixed in. Do not pick
29:43them out. Mash them right into the fish
29:45with a fork. The bones have been
29:46softened completely by the canning
29:48process. They crumble to nothing and
29:50they are loaded with calcium. The skin
29:52carries healthy fats. Squeeze in some
29:54lemon juice. Add black pepper, a pinch
29:57of dried dill if you have it, and a
29:59spoonful of mustard or a mayo packet.
30:01Pile it onto crackers or roll it inside
30:03a tortilla. Most canned salmon is wild
30:06caught since salmon caneries have
30:08historically relied on wild fish from
30:11Alaska. A standard can runs about $4 to
30:13$6 and feeds two people. It has protein,
30:16omega-3 fats, vitamin D, and calcium. A
30:19combination that is hard to find
30:21anywhere else for the price. In a
30:23blackout, you are not getting sunlight
30:25on the porch if a storm is raging
30:26outside and you are not eating fresh
30:28vegetables. Canned salmon quietly fills
30:31in some of what you are missing. Your
30:33grandmother probably served it on a
30:35Friday night with saltines and a little
30:36lemon. She was not thinking about
30:38omega-3s. She was thinking about feeding
30:41everyone for $4. She got both. Number
30:4410, cold baked beans straight from the
30:46can. This one might sound like giving
30:48up. It is not. It is one of the oldest
30:51ready to eat meals in American history.
30:54During the Civil War, a company called
30:56Vancamp supplied canned pork and beans
30:58to Union soldiers. Men who had spent the
31:01war eating hardac and salt pork suddenly
31:04had something rich, sweet, and hearty
31:07that came ready in a tin. After the war,
31:10those soldiers went home still craving
31:12it. And canned baked beans became a
31:15fixture in American kitchens for the
31:17next 150 years. Here is what matters.
31:21Canned baked beans are fully cooked.
31:23They are safe to eat cold, straight from
31:26the can with a spoon. And cold, they are
31:29honestly not bad at all. The sauce is
31:32sweet, a little smoky, a little tangy,
31:35and thick enough to cling to everything.
31:37But you can make them much better with
31:39almost no effort. Spoon them into a
31:41bowl. Add a splash of hot sauce or a
31:43squeeze of mustard to cut the sweetness.
31:46Slice in a few pieces of summer sausage
31:48or a couple of Vienna sausages. Serve
31:51them with a thick slice of cornbread
31:53from a bakery bag or scoop them up with
31:55tortilla chips. A large can costs about
31:58$2 and holds three or four servings.
32:01Beans bring protein and fiber. The sauce
32:04brings sugar for quick energy. Together,
32:07they will hold you for hours. [music] In
32:09the Boston area, baked beans have been
32:11tied to the city so long that Boston is
32:14still nicknamed Bean Town. New
32:17Englanders slow bake them all day in
32:19pots buried in brick ovens. The can just
32:21did the work for them. And when your
32:23stove is dead, that is exactly the kind
32:26of help you need.
32:29Number nine, Trail Mix Breakfast Bowl.
32:32In the late 1960s and early 1970s, trail
32:35mix became the unofficial food of
32:38American hikers, campers, [music] and
32:40hippies, peanuts, raisins, and maybe
32:43some chocolate. It was cheap. It did not
32:46spoil, and it gave you energy on a long
32:48climb. People have been mixing nuts and
32:51dried fruit for travel for thousands of
32:53years, but Americans made it a pantry
32:55staple. In a blackout, trail mix becomes
32:58something more than a snack. It becomes
33:00a breakfast bowl that rivals anything
33:02from a cafe. Here is how it works. Pour
33:05a big handful of granola or unsweetened
33:08cereal into a bowl. Add a scoop of trail
33:10mix, peanuts, almonds, sunflower seeds,
33:12raisins, dried cranberries, whatever you
33:15have. Then pour in shelf stable box milk
33:17or powdered milk mixed with water. If
33:20you have a single serve cup of
33:21applesauce or a can of fruit cocktail,
33:24spoon some over the top. Now, it is not
33:26just a bowl of cereal. It is a real meal
33:29with fat from the nuts, protein from the
33:31milk and seeds, fiber from the granola,
33:34and natural sugar from the fruit. A big
33:37bag of trail mix costs about $8 to $10
33:40and lasts for weeks. [music] Granola
33:43about $4. This is one of the most
33:45calorie dense meals on this list, and
33:47that is exactly the point. When you are
33:49dealing with a blackout, especially in
33:51winter, your body is burning extra
33:53energy just to stay warm. The Texas
33:56storm in 2021 taught millions of people
33:59how fast a house turns cold without
34:01power. Nuts are one of the best ways to
34:04pack serious calories into a small
34:06space. A single cup of mixed nuts can
34:09carry more than 700 calories. That is
34:11not a snack. That is fuel. The hippies
34:14had it right. They just thought they
34:16were going camping. Third pattern break.
34:19Here is what nobody tells you about
34:21blackouts. The food matters, but the
34:23routine matters more. During the New
34:25York City blackout of July 1977, the
34:29city lost power for about 25 hours in
34:32the middle of a brutal heatwave. What
34:34people remember most about those hours
34:36[music] is not what they ate. It is the
34:38chaos, the fear, the not knowing when it
34:41would end. Every emergency psychologist
34:44will tell you the same thing. [music]
34:45When normal life breaks, people crave
34:48structure. Regular meals at regular
34:50times give a family something to hold on
34:52to. Breakfast at 8, lunch at noon,
34:55dinner at 6:00. Even if dinner is tuna
34:57on crackers by flashlight, children
34:59especially notice when they see a parent
35:01calmly setting out bowls and making a
35:03meal, even [music] a simple one, it
35:05tells them everything is under control.
35:07That is why the meals on this list are
35:09not just about calories. They are about
35:11dignity. Sitting at a table and eating
35:14something that feels like a real meal is
35:16completely different from grabbing a
35:17handful of chips in a dark kitchen. One
35:20tells your brain you are surviving. The
35:22other tells your brain you're [music]
35:23still living. And here is the practical
35:25side. Filling meals prevent bad
35:28decisions. Hungry people get irritable,
35:30careless, and impatient. They drive on
35:33icy roads to find an open restaurant.
35:35They take chances with food that has
35:36been sitting in a warm fridge. A
35:38household that eats well on a schedule
35:40stays calmer, safer, [music]
35:42and smarter. The food on your shelf is
35:44not just food. It is peace of mind in a
35:47can. So, here's a simple habit. Write a
35:50meal plan for 3 days of blackout eating
35:52and tape it inside a pantry door. When
35:54the lights go out, nobody has to think.
35:57You just open the door and follow the
35:58list. Number eight, cold chili nacho
36:01plates. Most people have never thought
36:03about eating canned chili cold. They
36:05picture it bubbling in a pot, steaming,
36:07maybe with shredded cheese melting on
36:08top. But canned chili is fully cooked
36:11when it is sealed. The heat is just for
36:14comfort. The food itself is ready the
36:16second you open the lid. And when you
36:18spread it over tortilla chips, the cold
36:20does not matter nearly as much as you
36:22would think. Here is how you build it.
36:24Lay a big handful of sturdy tortilla
36:26chips on a plate. Spoon cold chili over
36:29the top straight from the can. Chili
36:31with beans is best because the beans
36:33make it thicker and more filling. Now
36:35add everything else you have in the
36:36pantry. A spoonful of jarred salsa,
36:39pickled jalapeno slices from a jar, a
36:41drained can of corn, a few spoons of
36:44shelf stable nacho cheese sauce from a
36:46jar that has never been opened. Top it
36:48off with hot sauce. [music] What you end
36:50up with is something that looks like
36:51stadium nachos and fills you up like a
36:53full dinner. A 15oz can of chili costs
36:56about $2 or $3. A bag of chips, about
36:59four. For under $10, a family of four
37:03can share two big plates. The chili
37:05brings protein and fat. The chips
37:07[music] bring crunch and carbs. The
37:09toppings bring flavor. Chili has been an
37:12American comfort food since the chili
37:14queens of San Antonio sold bowls from
37:17open air stands in the 1800s. Canned
37:20chili followed in the early 1900s and
37:22went everywhere from cattle ranches to
37:24college dorms. Here is one extra [music]
37:26tip. If it is summer and the power is
37:29out, cold chili is actually better than
37:31hot chili. Nobody wants a steaming bowl
37:34in a 95°ree house. The cold version
37:36suddenly feels like the smart choice,
37:38not the desperate one. Just finish the
37:40open can in one sitting. And if you have
37:43a can of chili with no chips at all,
37:45spoon it over crackers or roll it inside
37:47a tortilla. Chili is the rare food that
37:50works with almost anything you have
37:52left.
37:54Number seven, jerky and dried fruit
37:56[music] plate. Long before Europeans
37:58arrived in North America, native peoples
38:00of the plains and beyond were drying
38:02meat in the sun and over smoke to make
38:05it last through winter and long
38:06journeys. Some of that dried meat was
38:08pounded and mixed with fat and berries
38:10into pemkin, one of the most calorie
38:13dense foods ever invented. Fur traders
38:16came to depend on it so heavily that
38:18pemkin essentially fueled the North
38:19American fur trade for decades. The
38:22Spanish word chi, borrowed from the
38:25Ketwa language of South America,
38:27eventually became the American word
38:29jerky. Today, jerky sits in bags at
38:32every gas station in America, and it
38:34remains one of the best blackout foods
38:36money can buy. Here is the meal. A few
38:39strips of beef jerky, turkey jerky, or
38:41meat sticks. A handful of dried fruit,
38:44apricots, raisins, dried apples, dates,
38:47prunes, whatever you like. a handful of
38:49nuts, maybe a few squares of dark
38:51chocolate if you want to make it feel
38:53like a treat. Arrange it on a plate.
38:55Chew slowly. Drink plenty of water
38:57because jerky is salty and dried fruit
39:00is concentrated. What you get is a
39:02modern cousin of pemkin. Protein from
39:04the meat, fat from the nuts, quick
39:06energy from the fruit sugar. Jerky has
39:09one big problem. The name brand bags are
39:12expensive, often $8 to $10 for a few
39:15ounces. So buy it on sale or look for
39:18larger bags at warehouse stores. Dried
39:20fruit is much cheaper, especially
39:22raisins and prunes. Unopened jerky keeps
39:25for months. It weighs almost nothing. It
39:27does not crush and it does not need
39:29anything at all. Not a can opener, not a
39:31fork, not a bowl. When the power goes
39:33out in the middle of the night and you
39:35are too tired to make anything, this is
39:37the plate you can put together in the
39:38dark in 30 seconds. Number six, Tuscan
39:42tuna and white bean salad. In
39:44Tuscanyany, there is a dish so simple it
39:47barely counts as a recipe. And Italians
39:50have been eating it for generations. It
39:52is called tono aphagioli. Tuna and
39:55beans. Canned white beans, good canned
39:58tuna, raw onion, olive oil, salt and
40:01pepper. That is it. It is served in
40:03trateras across Florence as an appetizer
40:06and in home kitchens as a quick lunch.
40:09And it happens to be one of the best
40:11nocooked meals in the world. Here is how
40:13you make it in a blackout. Open a can of
40:15cantalini beans or great northern beans.
40:18Drain and rinse them if you can spare
40:20the water. Open a can of tuna, ideally
40:22the kind packed in olive oil because the
40:25oil becomes part of the dressing. Put
40:27both in a bowl. Slice a little red or
40:29yellow onion as thin as you can and toss
40:31it in. Onions keep for weeks on the
40:33counter, so they are one of the few
40:35fresh things you can count on during an
40:36outage. Add a splash of olive oil, a
40:39splash of red wine vinegar or lemon
40:41juice, salt, lots of black pepper, and
40:43dried oregano or parsley if you have it.
40:46Stir gently so the beans do not all
40:49break. Let it sit for 10 minutes so the
40:51onion softens in the dressing. Then eat
40:54it with crackers or bread or straight
40:56from the bowl with a fork. A can of
40:58beans costs about $120. A can of tuna
41:01about $1.50 to $3. For under $5, two
41:05people eat a meal that tastes like it
41:07came from a cafe in Italy. It is high in
41:09protein, high in fiber, and genuinely
41:11satisfying. The Italians did not invent
41:14this dish for emergencies, but they did
41:16invent it for the same reason it works
41:18now. It needs no stove, no fridge, and
41:20no fuss. Number five, no baked peanut
41:24butter oat balls. Every American school
41:26bake sale in the last 50 years has had
41:29some version of these. Some people call
41:31them energy bites. Some people call them
41:33no- baked cookies. Whatever the name,
41:36the idea is the same. You take
41:38ingredients that do not need an oven,
41:40mix them together, roll them into balls,
41:42and suddenly you have something that
41:44tastes like dessert, and eats like a
41:46meal. In a blackout, that is a small
41:48miracle. Here is how to make them. In a
41:51bowl, mix one cup of rolled oats, half a
41:53cup of peanut butter, third of a cup of
41:55honey, and whatever mixins you have.
41:57chocolate chips, raisins, shredded
42:00coconut, crushed nuts, a spoonful of
42:02powdered milk for extra protein. Stir
42:04hard until everything sticks together.
42:06If it is too dry, add more peanut butter
42:08or honey. If it is too wet, add more
42:11oats. Then roll it into balls about the
42:13size of a walnut. That is it. No heat,
42:15no chilling required, though they firm
42:17up nicely in a cool spot. One batch
42:20makes about 15 to 20 balls, and three or
42:23four of them make a genuinely filling
42:25breakfast or lunch. The whole batch
42:27costs about $3. The oats bring slow
42:30burning carbohydrates. The peanut butter
42:32brings fat and protein. The honey brings
42:34quick energy. This is roughly the same
42:36formula that commercial energy bars use,
42:39except those bars cost $2 or $3 each.
42:41Here is the hidden benefit. Making these
42:44is something kids can do with you. When
42:46the power has been out for 2 days and
42:48everyone is bored and restless, giving
42:49children a bowl, a spoon, and a job
42:52changes the whole mood of the house.
42:55They get to make something. They get to
42:57eat what they made. And for 15 minutes,
42:59nobody is thinking about the dead
43:01refrigerator.
43:02Number four, smashed chickpea salad
43:05sandwiches. Here is a meal that sounds
43:07strange until you taste it. And then you
43:10wonder why you ever bothered with
43:11anything else. Take a can of chickpeas,
43:14drain them, dump them into a bowl, and
43:16smash them roughly with a fork, not into
43:18a paste like hummus, but into chunky,
43:21uneven pieces. Now, treat them exactly
43:24like you would treat tuna or chicken for
43:26a salad. Add a couple of mayonnaise
43:29packets or a spoonful of mustard. Add
43:32relish or chopped pickles from a jar.
43:34Add a pinch of salt, pepper, garlic
43:36powder, and if you have it, a squeeze of
43:39lemon. Some people add a spoonful of the
43:41pickle juice, too, which gives it a
43:43bright, tangy kick. Stir it all
43:45together. Spread it thick on bread,
43:47crackers, or a tortilla. What you end up
43:50with tastes remarkably like a deli egg
43:53salad or chicken salad. Creamy, tangy,
43:56and filling. Vegetarians have been
43:58making this for years as a meat-free
44:01option. But in a blackout, it matters
44:03for a different reason. Chickpeas are
44:06one of the cheapest, most reliable, most
44:08shelf stable proteins you can buy. A can
44:11costs about 120. Two cans make four big
44:15sandwiches. That means a family of four
44:17can eat a filling lunch for under $5
44:20with no meat, no cooking, and no
44:23refrigeration. The fiber in chickpeas is
44:26the real secret. It slows digestion and
44:29keeps you feeling full far longer than
44:32white bread and lunch meat ever could.
44:34If you have a bag of sunflower seeds or
44:36chopped nuts, toss some in for crunch.
44:39If you have dried cranberries, add a
44:41handful for sweetness. This is one of
44:43those meals that people try once during
44:45an emergency and then keep making long
44:48after the lights come back on. It is
44:50that good. Number three, ready rice and
44:53bean bowls. You have seen them in the
44:55grocery store. Those little pouches of
44:57pre-cooked rice meant to be heated in
45:00the microwave for 90 seconds. Here is
45:02something most people do not realize.
45:04The rice inside those pouches is already
45:07fully cooked. The microwave just warms
45:10it up. So, in a blackout, you can tear
45:12open the pouch and eat the rice at room
45:15temperature. It will be a little firmer
45:17than hot rice, so crumble it apart with
45:19your fingers or a fork before you mix
45:21it. And once you add beans and sauce,
45:23you will barely notice. Here is the
45:25bowl. One pouch of pre-cooked rice. One
45:28can of black beans or pinto beans,
45:30drained, a few spoonfuls of salsa, a
45:33drained can of corn if you have it, hot
45:35sauce, a squeeze of lime. Stir it all
45:38together and you have a burrito bowl
45:39with no burrito shop anywhere in sight.
45:42Rice and beans have fed more people
45:44across more centuries than almost any
45:46meal on Earth. From Louisiana to Mexico
45:49to the Caribbean to Brazil, some version
45:51of rice and beans has been the everyday
45:53meal of working families for
45:55generations. Together, they form a
45:58complete protein, meaning the two foods
46:00fill in each other's gaps. A pouch of
46:03ready rice costs about $2. A can of
46:06beans about $1.20. Salsa a few cents per
46:09serving. For under $4, you get a
46:12genuinely filling meal that could carry
46:14one hungry adult through the rest of the
46:16day. Or split into two lighter meals.
46:19Store a few rice pouches in your pantry
46:21the way you store canned goods. They
46:24keep for months on the shelf. When the
46:26power goes out, they turn a can of beans
46:28into a real dinner. And the families who
46:30have eaten rice and beans for centuries
46:33would tell you this is not emergency
46:35food. This is just food. Number two,
46:38Vienna sausages and soda crackers. In
46:41September 2017, Hurricane Maria tore
46:44across Puerto Rico and destroyed the
46:46island's power grid. Some families went
46:48weeks without electricity. Some went
46:50months. A few communities went nearly a
46:52year. It became one of the longest
46:54blackouts in American history. And
46:57across the island in hurricane kits and
46:59pantry shelves, one food showed up again
47:01and again. Vienna sausages. Those tiny
47:05canned sausages packed in broth have
47:07been a fixture in American pantries for
47:09generations. They are especially loved
47:11across the South, the Gulf Coast, and
47:14Puerto Rico. Which is to say, they are
47:16especially loved in exactly the places
47:19that know hurricanes best. People make
47:22jokes about them. People who have lived
47:23through a hurricane usually do not. Here
47:26is the meal. Open a can of Vienna
47:29sausages. Drain off the broth. Eat them
47:31cold, straight from the can with soda
47:34crackers. Add a squeeze of mustard or a
47:36dash of hot sauce. That is the whole
47:38meal. And it is exactly how millions of
47:41people have eaten it through storms,
47:43power outages, and long hot days without
47:46electricity. Vienna sausages are fully
47:48cooked. They need no heat. The small
47:51cans hold one meal, so nothing is left
47:53over to spoil. Most have pull tab lids,
47:56so you do not even need a can opener. A
47:59single can costs about a dollar,
48:01sometimes less. Buy them in packs, and
48:04they get even cheaper. Are they gourmet?
48:06No. Are they going to win any awards?
48:09Never. But they are protein, fat, and
48:11salt in a can that costs less than a
48:13candy bar. And they will be sitting on
48:15your shelf ready to eat on day 1, day
48:1710, or day 100. The families of Puerto
48:21Rico did not have the luxury of being
48:23picky. They had the wisdom to be
48:25prepared. And here is what people who
48:27lived through it will tell you. On the
48:29hardest days, when the heat was brutal
48:31and the lines for water and gas
48:32stretched for blocks, it was not a fancy
48:35meal that mattered. It was knowing that
48:37something, anything, was waiting on the
48:39shelf at home. Number one, the pantry
48:43burrito. At the top of this list is the
48:45meal that ties everything together.
48:47every principle we have talked about. No
48:49stove, no fridge, no expensive survival
48:51food. Just a tortilla, a few cans, and
48:54about 3 minutes. Here is how you build
48:56it. Lay a flour tortilla flat. Spread a
48:59thick layer of reffried beans straight
49:01from the can across the middle. Canned
49:03reffried beans are fully cooked and
49:05cold. They spread like a savory paste.
49:08Now add a layer of drained canned
49:10chicken. Top it with salsa from the jar,
49:12a handful of drained corn, a spoonful of
49:15shelf stable cheese sauce if you have
49:17one, and hot sauce. Crush a few tortilla
49:20chips inside for crunch. Fold in the
49:22sides, roll it tight, and eat. Here is
49:24the math. A can of reffried beans cost
49:27about $1.50 and covers four burritos. A
49:30can of chicken, about $4, also covers
49:33four. Tortillas, about 35 cents each.
49:36Salsa and corn, a few cents more. That
49:39puts each burrito at roughly a $1.75
49:42to$2. And each one delivers a serious
49:44dose of protein, fiber, [music] fat, and
49:47carbohydrates. Enough to fill a hungry
49:49adult for hours. Now, compare that to a
49:52single freeze-dried survival pouch that
49:54costs $10 to 12 and still needs boiling
49:57water. The pantry burrito is cheaper,
49:59faster, and needs nothing but a can
50:01opener. It is the meal that shows
50:03everything this list has been trying to
50:05say. Survival food does not have to come
50:07from a catalog. It does not have to
50:09arrive in a bucket. It is already on the
50:11shelves of every grocery store in
50:13America, a dollar or two at a time. The
50:16families who got through the 1965
50:19blackout, the 1977 blackout, the 2003
50:23blackout, Katrina, Maria, and the Texas
50:26freeze did not need anything fancy. They
50:29needed a full pantry and a little
50:31knowhow. Now you have both. Here is my
50:34challenge this week. Build a blackout
50:36shelf. [music] just one shelf, a few
50:38cans of beans, tuna, and chicken, a jar
50:41of peanut butter, tortillas, crackers,
50:43and a manual can opener. Then pick one
50:46meal from this list and eat it for
50:48dinner with the lights off. See how it
50:50feels. I bet it feels a lot less scary
50:52than you expected. Tell me in the
50:54comments which one you are making first.
50:56I want [music] to know if the pantry
50:57burrito beats the Tuscan tuna salad and
50:59whether anyone out there is brave enough
51:01to defend Vienna sausages. Because being
51:03prepared was never about fear. It was
51:05about taking care of the people you
51:07love.