Without getting into much detail, I was sitting in a doctor's office recently waiting on my appointment browsing through "Bon Appetit" magazine. There was a recipe that caught my eye, which at the time of this writing; I have not tried. I'll be sure to include the recipe for Tomato Roasted Onions with Paprika on the recipe links page of this blog.
What caught my attention was not only were they using onion as the main dish, but the ease and simplicity of it as well. It also feeds into something that I've been thinking about recently (pun intended). That is the very real threat of food scarcity in the near future due to climate change.
We are only a super storm or a drought away from disaster and a few years ago some food and other items disappeared off the shelves due to COVID. Costs for other foods skyrocketed and came down slowly over time.
This food scarcity issue was mostly a temporary one, but it did serve as a wake up call for most people. Sadly, to many forgot the lessons of COVID all to quickly.
While it was wonderful to see communities pull together in a variety of ways during this event, it also exposed just how ill prepared the majority of people were for such an event. It is my hope that this post helps prepare you and your family for the next disaster; if that be natural, man - made or economic.
Susan and myself do have a fully packed pantry (that takes up most of our basement) and various canned goods, we have a freezer full of meat and a generator that can run on either gas or propane if needed.
We don't have a well but access to fresh spring water in our area as well as two cases of bottled water.
We believe that we can not help others through tough times unless we are prepared ourselves. We also really don't consider ourselves to be "prepper's" as such, but after living in Florida for all those years we have gotten used to the idea of bugging out for a hurricane, or that we might be without power/water/services for a few days. You adapt to the situation. We have become "practical prepper's" due to circumstances.
Due to a variety of reasons, mostly deer eating the majority of my garden, I've decided not to plant a garden this year but instead concentrate on erecting a trellis for grapes, strawberries and blueberries. I'm planting some trees as well. The whole idea behind this is that I want to leave a forageable food forest for future generations.
These plants however will take time to mature before they bear fruit and I could not help but wonder what native plants would due well in the wetter/warmer climate that we expect in the future? What perennial vegetables for example would be quick and easy to grow? What staple dishes could be made that were inexpensive and easy to make?
Which brings me back to the onion dish.
Onions are a nutrient rich perennial food source, low in calories and high in potassium and manganese which are generally easy to grow as well. They are also full of antioxidants which help the immune system.
In other words, it's a good "prepper" food. A little bit of research and I found a wartime recipe which used peanuts and onions to make a protein filled side dish. In fact, there is quite a bit you can use onions for.
They are also a cheap food that can be stored for up to a year in a variety of ways. You can also pickle and can onions for even longer storage life or you don't have access to a freezer.
Much like the pumpkin this is an amazing food that historically been used to get our ancestors through some tough times. It's an ancient food and really should be utilized more. I'm really surprised at how many of these simple dishes have been forgotten and replaced with prepacked crap. There really is nothing better than fresh food.
I'm going to try one or two of these recipes in the next few days, so be sure to check out the Facebook page for my reactions. I'm actually looking forward to trying them.
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