I Tried Eating Like a Pioneer for 100 Days and This Is What Happened

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When the pioneers have been transferring out West, they didn’t have any grocery shops, supermarkets, or eating places they might cease by to resupply themselves as they went.

As an alternative, they needed to stockpile on meals that wouldn’t spoil and carry them on their wagons, in addition to reside off of the land to resupply themselves that means.

And even as soon as the pioneers did discover a plot of land that they might construct their properties on, they nonetheless needed to develop their very own meals and forage. Refrigeration, canning, and different methods to protect meals didn’t exist again then both.

Just a few months in the past, I bought the intense concept to organize and eat meals precisely because the pioneers did for 100 days straight.

Right here’s the way it went.

Why Eat Like a Pioneer?

Why did I select to eat like a pioneer for 100 days? Easy: I noticed that within the occasion of a main grid down catastrophe situation, chances are high good that we’ll should eat very equally to how the pioneers did.

Particularly, we must eat meals from meals that we might acquire from foraging and dwelling off the land, and we must place an emphasis on lengthy lasting meals that don’t require preservation.

I’m a agency believer in practising your survival and catastrophe preparedness abilities earlier than you end up in such a survival or catastrophe situation.

For example, you need to apply constructing a fireplace till you get proficient with it so a real survival scenario isn’t the primary time it’s important to construct a fireplace.

All the identical, I consider in practising getting ready and consuming meals like you will have to after a serious grid down catastrophe the place we not have entry to energy to prepare dinner meals or grocery shops to resupply ourselves. That’s why I made a decision to offer the pioneer weight loss plan a shot.

What Did the Pioneers Eat?

You’re most likely questioning: what did the pioneers eat within the first place?

Bread

Most pioneers made their bread utilizing the salt-rising method, the place the dough was blended in a kettle whereas pure micro organism would make the dough rise.

They might then bake the dough over fires at evening. Attempt to make your personal salt-rising bread for the pioneer method.

Cornmeal

Cornmeal was a really versatile ingredient that may very well be used to make a wide range of meals, together with cornbread, corn pudding, and porridge.

It was a available and economical supply of vitamin for early settlers and pioneers, significantly in areas the place corn was a staple crop.

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The pioneers obtained cornmeal by grinding corn, which was a typical and important crop all through North America. After settling someplace, they might domesticate corn of their fields after which harvest the mature cobs.

The corn kernels have been then faraway from the cobs and dried. The dried corn kernels have been then floor into a rough powder or meal utilizing numerous instruments resembling hand mills or grindstones.

Dried Fruits and Greens

Pioneers would retailer and transport their fruit and veggies after drying them. To dry fruit and veggies, pioneers would usually sun-dry or air-dry them.

They’d slice the fruit and veggies thinly and lay them out within the solar to take away moisture. As soon as dried, the fruit and veggies may very well be saved for an extended interval with out spoiling.

This offered the pioneers with a supply of nutritional vitamins and vitamins throughout instances when contemporary produce was extra scarce.

Squash

Squash will be discovered naturally within the wild and doesn’t go unhealthy very simply.

That’s why it was a giant a part of the pilgrims’ weight loss plan once they landed on the japanese coast of North America, and it additionally served the pioneers nicely as they have been transferring out west.

Meat

Meat was a giant a part of the pioneer weight loss plan. Most pioneers would get their meat from attempting to find wild recreation. They’d then protect the meat both with salt curing or smoke curing.

For the pioneer weight loss plan, make sure that to make use of unprocessed meat (both from a retailer or from final fall’s looking season, when you have meat leftover). Widespread prey of the pioneers included elk, deer, antelope, wild boar, bear, rabbits, and squirrels.

It’s additionally price noting that the pioneers would protect the fats from the animals they killed to make use of as lard, which they might then use equally to how we use olive oil at present.

Eggs

Eggs turned a staple a part of the pioneer weight loss plan after they bought chickens and settled down someplace. Whereas some pioneers did carry chickens with them, the chickens couldn’t lay eggs within the bumpy situations.

When the chickens laid eggs, the pioneers used this ingenious technique to protect them and make them final for years.

Beans

The pioneers would develop beans after settling someplace.

Even whereas touring, they might pack dried beans into their wagons to make use of as a further supply of protein with their meat.

The pioneers couldn’t be choosy about what they ate.

Moreover the above, additionally they foraged for a wide range of meals alongside the way in which, together with mushrooms, herbs, berries, and some other fruits, greens, and edibles they might discover. Combining meats and greens collectively into soups and stews was additionally a serious staple.

The Outcomes

Switching solely to the pioneer weight loss plan for 100 days was difficult, and I admit there have been a number of instances right here and there that I ‘cheated.’ After I bought invited to a buddy’s Saturday BBQ, for example, I’m not going to lie that I broke from the weight loss plan to partake in ribs and cheeseburgers.

However general, I caught to the weight loss plan very intently for that hundred day interval. And one of the best factor that got here out of it was my household and I proved to ourselves that we might eat self-sufficiently.

On prime of that, it felt nice realizing that we have been consuming purely pure meals. Whereas I admit processed meals from the grocery shops and eating places style nice, everyone knows it’s not as wholesome for us. I did discover a normal enhance in my power ranges and psychological readability all through the weight loss plan.

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A number of the greatest advantages we skilled have been:

Consuming a healthful weight loss plan on a regular basis was nice for us each bodily and mentally.
Value financial savings; belief me that sticking purely to meals from the listing I offered above saves you some huge cash as an alternative of consuming out.
Mastering the artwork of cooking meals from scratch was a enjoyable problem. We got here up with many alternative sorts of soups and chili’s and that was a blast.
In that very same vein, studying firsthand the right way to protect totally different meals was a badly wanted life ability that I used to be grateful to lastly develop.

Like I discussed above, switching to this weight loss plan was difficult as nicely. Whereas studying the preservation strategies was very useful, it took up a number of time. It wasn’t till we launched into this weight loss plan that my household and I lastly realized simply how a lot effort and time the pioneers spent that revolved completely round their meals preparation.

A number of our meals have been additionally very primary. Meats, beans, eggs, greens, fruits, potatoes, amongst a number of different meals objects have been on the menu on a regular basis with little variation. If you happen to’re used to consuming pastas, pizzas, burgers, noodles, and burritos everytime you need, the pioneer weight loss plan will make your style buds crave your favourite meals.

However belief me that sticking to the pioneer weight loss plan continues to be nicely price it. You’re not going to have entry to a number of your favourite meals after a grid down catastrophe, and switching to the pioneer weight loss plan only for a month or extra will show to you that you may survive with less complicated meals.

Was the problem price it?

General, completely! If for nothing else, the pioneer weight loss plan is definitely quite a bit more healthy than most of what we generally eat at present, and embarking on it’s going to assist show to you that you may put together meals completely self-sufficiently.

If you happen to’re intrigued by the concept of dwelling off the land like a real pioneer, then you definately’ll wish to get your palms on the Wilderness Lengthy-Time period Survival Information. This isn’t your typical survival handbook; it’s a complete information that dives into the forgotten knowledge of our ancestors who didn’t simply survive within the wild – they thrived there.

Very similar to my 100-day pioneer weight loss plan experiment, this e book teaches you the right way to put together for unsure instances and be taught from those that made the wilderness their dwelling.

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