# Self Sufficiency/Living off the Land or Off the Grid > Gardening >  Protein

## Chris

It is very easy to store enough food to last a long time and have enough calories to live on, the problem would usually not be about total calories, but necessary nutrients. 

For instance, without enough protein your muscles and connective tissues could suffer. You can get protein from dried beans and other plant sources, but they aren't complete. Milk eggs & meat have complete proteins.

Jerky can last a long time, packed fresh around 2 years (judging by the sell by date on some I have), I'm not sure about frozen.

I read that, per acre, cod will provide you with more protein than beef, and you do not need to worry about providing winter shelter. So if you have a pond keeping it well stocked and fishing it wisely could work.

I don't know how long whey protein powders last either.

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## tinystar

Interesting topic.  So if we were to turn to some ideas for being disaster prepared, considering your other post, you would recommend jerky and cod for protein, plus sweet potatoes and asparagus?

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## Chris

Its about having long term survival prospects if you had to provide your own food for months or years. Its not that you'd go out and buy cod. If you were thinking about raising some sort of animal so that you had your own private source of meat, then a fish like cod would actually give you the most bang for your buck.

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## trick-r-treat

If it were just about calories, I could probably go for a year without eating.

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## echos

I do raise my own animals. I am a vegatatian, but my family eats the meat we butcher. It a great way to make sure that no chemicals reach your table,

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## mamab

I'm pretty sure that jerky of any kind would last almost indefinitely as long as it was kept dry. At least that's what I've been told. Has anyone tried drying their fruits and vegetables? That would probably help in keeping them for long periods of time, as well as cutting down on the amount of storage space needed.

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## Minwaabi

Drying fruits and vegetables does cause them to last for longer periods of time, but without refrigeration you are still only looking at keeping them for a month at a time usually.  Of course that depends on what you dry.  I've been reading up on it but I've yet to get started.  It will make my hiking and kayaking trips easier (lighter) and tastier.  A decent food dehydrator runs about $50 last I checked.

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## echos

Nuts. I store tons of nuts of all kinds, Great protein there.

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## vicki2

Isn't cod a saltwater fish, or are there freshwater types too?  I got confused!
Thanks if you can explain that one to me!

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## arppt01

> Nuts. I store tons of nuts of all kinds, Great protein there.


Nuts not only have great proteins, it is easier to store them too. So in emergency though one cannot only survive on Nuts but it will be helpful.

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## mamab

I think my husband wouldn't mind trying to survive on nuts for a week of two. I don't think it would be good for long periods of time. But I think if all you  had was nuts to begin with, until you could find other food, I think it would be okay.

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## the edge

im pretty sure some bugs give you protein and fish to

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## the edge

and if you want to catch bugs dig a little hole big enough for a billycan to fit in it then put 2 rocks at the edges and a piece of wood across the rocks and over the can bugs will go in for shade and if you add water to your can it would be even better

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## marberry

i make my own jerky and pemmican its awsome , i usually eat it before its been a year old because im always making more. its a great survival food. i usually pack 6 Lb's of it when i go survival training, plus its rly easy to make whyle your camping. just cut the meat into slices and leave it hanging above a fire (tast changes depending on what wood you use) for 6-8 hours and its redy to eat/store

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## RobertRogers

Beans and rice, when eaten together, are complete proteins.  That means you can use them in place of meat.  The great thing about beans and rice is that they are quite easy to store for long periods of time and they are inexpensive.

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## Tony uk

If you have a gym you go to then they should sell you protein bars and protein powder to mix with water

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## ryaninmichigan

I think I would just kill anamals as needed. I can not go with out meat. fish is a good idea. Codd is a cold water species. Not sure how they would like a pond. Perch are good eating though and will do well in a pond

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## trax

> I think I would just kill anamals as needed. I can not go with out meat. fish is a good idea.


See? Now we're thinking exactly alike and I'm comfortable with that. Perch is always a good idea as far as the pond thing goes, so are goldeye.

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## wareagle69

i like the idea of fish farming a house that i put an offer on this week has a swimming pool also about 68 acres so i could build a pond easy access although i do live in an area surrounded by hundreds of lakes. i think that time and effort would be the issue if i could go out to my stock tank and get food instead of the lake i could spend my time and calories more efficiently

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## owl_girl

> i like the idea of fish farming a house that i put an offer on this week has a swimming pool also about 68 acres so i could build a pond easy access although i do live in an area surrounded by hundreds of lakes. i think that time and effort would be the issue if i could go out to my stock tank and get food instead of the lake i could spend my time and calories more efficiently


That would be cool, is that the same house you were talking about earlier with the solar panels?

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## WildGoth

> Nuts not only have great proteins, it is easier to store them too. So in emergency though one cannot only survive on Nuts but it will be helpful.


yeah you would probaly go nuts  :Big Grin:   *sigh* bad pun

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## owl_girl

Nuts dont have whole protein by them selves, if you put peanut butter on whole grain bread I think that = whole protein.

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## wareagle69

no owl girl we really liked the house but it still needed work and the guy was asking allot for a house that needed finishing so we went west an hour instead of south more where i would like to be put an offer in should hear tommorow

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## owl_girl

> no owl girl we really liked the house but it still needed work and the guy was asking allot for a house that needed finishing so we went west an hour instead of south more where i would like to be put an offer in should hear tommorow


Well I hope you get it.

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## HOP

I think Robertrodgers has a good idea,beans and rice throw in some cornmeal and such and use a sourdough leavener stuff it will store long term and you can hunt/ forage to add varity or supplement.

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