Survival Rations … 1962 Civil Defense Style©

Picture by the Author

 

In October 2018, I posted a copy and wrote a review of Desert Survival: Information For Anyone Traveling In The Desert Southwest 1962 [HERE], and this weekend I decided to make and test, Mr. Lee Kelly’s “Survival Rations” recipe, which, was featured in this pamphlet.

 

 

Desert Survival: Information For Anyone Traveling In The Desert Southwest 1962, p.16

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I found the recipe to be very complete and easy to use.  I listed, below, the modifications or the things that I did, where the original recipe was not clear.

 

When I made this recipe, I used two cups of rolled oats and one cup of Wegmans brand Oats & Honey Flakes.  I substituted a cup of breakfast flakes for one of the cups of rolled oats that the recipe called for, because breakfast cereal is heavily fortified, and I wanted the ration to have a higher nutritional content. 

 

After mixing the cereal and rolled oats, I crushed the flakes by pressing the bottom of the metal mixing cup into the oatmeal and breakfast cereal; I did this to make the ration bar, denser.  After smashing the flakes, I continued to mix in the rest of the dry ingredients, except the gelatin.

 

When I had boiled the water, honey and gelatin and mixed it into the dry ingredients, there were some dregs left in the pot that I had boiled the honey and gelatin in.  So, I added two more tablespoons of water to the pot, swirled it around and then added it to the ingredients, to wet the mix completely.

 

 

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I then mixed and kneaded the dough with my hands, until everything was combined and then I split the dough into two equal pieces and pressed them into the mold.

 

The recipe called for a bar that was two inches wide by five inches tall and one and a half inches thick, which makes a 15 cubic inch bar.  My mold is four inches wide, 5 inches tall and one inch deep, and I packed the dough into the mold until the ration bar was about ¾ inch thick.  By bar when finished it was also a total of 15 cubic inches.  

 

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I dried the bar for two hours, an hour on each side, at 200^o F and when they were done, I had two survival ration bars that weighed one pound each. 

 

Information condensed by the Author

  

I had the bars taste tested by four very through and competent judges, my children, and my youngest son’s 14-year-old friend.  My 14 year old thought that they were “great” and my 19 year old said that they tasted “okay” and that “they were better than hardtack”, which I think means that they are good.  My 23 year old said “these are very good … they have a good texture … they taste kind of like apples” and my youngest son’s friend thought that they were “okay”.  So, that made two polite statements of indifference and two positive reviews.  Personally, I like the way they taste, and I think that they have the flavor of orange blossom honey.  I liked them and I hope that you try them.

 

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Sources:

Civil Defense Joint Council, Desert Survival: Information For Anyone Traveling In The Desert Southwest 1962, (Maricopa County; Phoenix, Arizona [1962]) reprinted in http://docs.azgs.az.gov/SpecColl/1988-01/1988-01-0026.pdf, p. 5-20