• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Food
    • Staying Fed
    • Food Production
    • Food Forests
      • Permaculture Food Forest
    • Survival Gardening
      • How To Compost
      • Subsistence Farming
    • Raising Animals
      • Chickens
    • Hunting Fishing Trapping
    • Food Storage
      • Food Preservation
      • Canning
      • Canning Meat
    • Water
      • Rainwater Collection
      • Rainwater Harvesting
      • Purify Water
    • Gardening Tools
      • Tool Reviews
    • Survival Cooking
    • Security
      • Firearms Training
      • Tactical Training
        • Night Vision Training
        • Home Invasions
      • Gear (Missing)
  • Medical
    • Emergency Medical
    • Herbal Medicine
    • Infectious Diseases
    • Medical Kit
  • Gear
    • Survival Gear
    • Book Reviews
  • Scenarios
    • Bugging Out
    • EMP Threats
    • Survival Retreat
    • Survival Skills
    • TEOTWAWKI
    • Frugality
  • Political News
  • Contact Us

theprepperproject

 

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Top Ten Survival Foods You Should Grow

Can you live off your land if there’s an emergency? Can you meet your food needs for even a few weeks?
Planning perennial agriculture systems, such as food forests, along with getting some chickens is a really good plan long-term – but if you had to start gardening like it’s the end of the world – right now – what would you grow?
Here’s my top-ten list.

Potatoes51. Potatoes

Potatoes are probably the ultimate survival crop. They tolerate poor soil, bear abundantly, handle a variety of climates and are packed with calories. Space-wise, they beat the living daylights out of grains, plus they store for a long period. In some climates, you can plant potatoes in spring and fall and get a double harvest. If you pick purple varieties, they’re high in anthocyanins, though the yields I’ve had from them are much lower than their white cousins.

2. Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are healthier than white potatoes and provide an additional benefit: the leaves are a green vegetable. With a decent sized patch of sweet potatoes, you can feed your family plus get plenty of nutrition. Nothing says “all is well with the world” like a big pile of sweet potatoes. Except for maybe a word bubble reading “all is well with the world.”

3. Kale

Kale, though not high in calories, is a nutritional powerhouse. Face it: you need plenty of nutrients to keep moving. People with deficiencies get sick a lot more often. Adding kale to your diet is good preventative medicine, plus it’s easy as heck to grow. A cold-hardy vegetable, you can plant in fall or spring across most of the US and be eating kale for a long time. Add it to smoothies, throw it in salads, mix it into stir-fries, dry it into chips or give it to your chickens as a nutrient boost. Kale is hardcore.

4. Jerusalem artichokes

Jerusalem artichokes are the plant you can rely on when nothing else does well. They also provide calories during the winter. Though it’s not the easiest root to live on, it’s a perennial stand-by that’s going to be there for you when it counts. Bonus: you get tons of biomass from the stalks you can use for compost.

Corn15. Corn

The first of the “three sisters,” people have lived on corn for thousands of years. Of all the grains, it’s the easiest to handle on a small scale. That said: I’m not talking about sweet corn. I’m talking grain corn – the kind of corn you use for making grits and cornbread. Note: If you plan on making corn your main staple, be sure to nixtamalize it or supplement with other foods. Otherwise you can end up with nutritional deficiencies. Overall, however, it’s an easy-to-grow storable source of calories.

6. Squash

The second member of the “three sisters,” squash is good stuff. Some varieties are boring and bland, others are tasty. Personally, I like the giant Hubbard squash as well as the ultra-tough Seminole pumpkin variety. Squash are nutrient rich and will store for months at room temperature, making them a good addition to your survival garden.

7. Beans

The final member of the “three sisters,” beans are reliably productive. Many varieties can be used as green vegetables and for dried beans. My favorite green bean is the “snake bean,” though it’s terrible for dried beans. On the dry bean side of things, you’ve got plenty of choices. Just take a look through the Seedsaver’s Exchange catalog and you’ll have a hard time picking one type to try. Unfortunately, beans don’t produce a very large yield for the amount of space they consume – but I figure they make up for their stinginess by also adding nitrogen to the soil.

8. Cassava

Cassava (also known as yuca, manioc and tapioca) is one of my personal favorite plants. Though finding cuttings isn’t always easy, once you have them, you can grow enough canes to grow cassava for life (provided you live in zone 8 or south). I sell a good variety here. Toxic until boiled, cassava roots are a dense source of calories. The leaves are rich in protein and can be used like collard greens. Since the entire plant has cyanide in it, it’s practically pest free. In colder climates, cassava freezes to the ground in the winter and will come back in the spring.

Cabbage9. Cabbage

Cabbage is healthy, grows with moderate ease, and is storable for a decent amount of time under refrigeration or in a root cellar. If you ferment it, it stores even better. Sauerkraut fueled Germany for untold centuries, and its cousin kimchi is a Korean staple. Live fermented cabbage is incredibly healthy. It can fix stomach complaints, provide you with a lot of bioavailable nutrition, and make your house smell amazing.

10. Garlic

Garlic, though not what one might consider a “major” crop, is healthy, easy to grow, calorie dense, space efficient and makes life better. It stores well, can be pickled, and is hardy enough to withstand quite a bit of freezing. I planted it in the fall in Tennessee and it would sit through most of the winter, and then burst into growth in the spring. We ate a lot of garlic – and it tasted much better than anything you’d get in the store. Garlic also has anti-cancer and anti-bacterial properties. Add it to your garden!
So there – that’s my top-ten list of survival food crops. Think I missed one or ten? Let me know… and I’ll tell you why you’re wrong.
Just kidding.
Mostly.

Reader Interactions

Primary Sidebar

Featured Posts

GAT-TAC Flash Hider System

GAT-TAC, Inc. is announcing the release of a new … [Read More...] about GAT-TAC Flash Hider System

Best Gun For Women – Some Things To Consider

Women consider different things than men when we … [Read More...] about Best Gun For Women – Some Things To Consider

3 Types Of Thieves Preppers Should Be Planning For

The purpose of this article is to discuss the … [Read More...] about 3 Types Of Thieves Preppers Should Be Planning For

How To Choose The Right Ax

I received an e-mail recently from a relative … [Read More...] about How To Choose The Right Ax

Finishing The Wood On An AK-47

Most new AK-47s come from the factory with … [Read More...] about Finishing The Wood On An AK-47

Search

Categories

Recent Posts

  • Six Dirty Little Secrets About Portable Solar Generators
  • April Showers Approach
  • How To Brush Your Teeth With A Stick (SHTF Dental Hygiene)
  • How To Bake Bread with Sunlight
  • Boost Your Immune System With Elderberry Syrup

Copyright © 2019. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy   Terms of Service    Sitemap