• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Start Here
  • Survival Essentials ↓↓
    • Survival Food
    • Survival Gear
    • Self Defense
  • Survival Situations ↓↓
    • Natural Disasters
    • Man Made Disasters
    • SHTF & Societal Collapse
  • Wilderness Survival
  • Prepping
  • About

Secrets of Survival

When Disaster Strikes, Be Prepared for Anything

You are here: Home / Survival Food / Top 10 Best Fermentation Survival Foods

Top 10 Best Fermentation Survival Foods

Updated on August 12, 2020 - Article by Tom Brennan

Knowing how to use fermentation to preserve foods can help you survive a long term disaster.Here’s a modern look at an ancient method of survival, and a list of the top 10 healthiest fermentation survival foods.

What makes the best survival foods for fermentation and long term storage prior to any emergency?

Here is the situation: you and your group have survived a catastrophic disaster because you were prepared beforehand. You have food and resources for the time being. Now it’s time to develop food sources to refurbish and resupply your needs. You also wisely packed the basic emergency medical supplies and have first aid training. But medical personnel are in short supply and hospitals and clinics are now a thing of the past.

What To Do?

Healthy Foods For Perilous Times

How do you produce nutritious foods and stay healthy in these perilous and uncertain times? An ancient method of preserving food and producing healthy nutrients is coming to the rescue — fermentation.

One of the first things humans did when they moved from hunter-gatherer nomadic societies into settled village life was to learn to preserve the foods they produced. The invention of pottery made storage in a permanent settlement a reality and larger amounts of foods could be kept for times when seasons changed or foods were in short supply. One of the first and healthiest ways to preserve foods was with fermentation. Fermented foods contain absolutely essential bacteria, Lactobacilli that strengthen the intestinal system, the “GI” is where many health problems begin and become worse.

Survival Resources: The Art of Fermentation: An In-Depth Exploration of Essential Concepts and Processes from around the World

Planning for the continued survival after a catastrophe should include planting food items that can be fermented and consumed and stored for health benefits and sustainability after emergency rations are consumed.

stockpiling challenge

The Basic Fermentation Process: An Ancient Method That Is Even More Important Today

Responsible survival planning should include fermenting. Equipment required is quite simple. Sharp knives for processing and slicing the vegetables, tight sealing jars for processing, salt to make the brine and cold storage facilities (a root cellar or cooler).

It Starts With A Brine

A brine is produced with a mixture of salt and water and the vegetables are left to ferment. The Lactobacilli begin to reproduce and the fermenting process begins. The brine is a resource in itself. The foods can be stored and consumed on a long term basis as long as a cool temperature is maintained. Fermented foods have extreme health benefits as well as psychological ones. Relocating for survival will be stressful. Adding a spicy side dish to accent basic fare will keep morale up.

Fermentation produces health benefits that today’s highly processed foods do not. If you read the ingredients on labels of canned goods they read like college chemistry textbook. The survivors’ necessity of preserving foods in safe and healthful ways has many benefits. Healthy digestion is essential to good health and consuming foods that have been produced through fermentation is the key. Nearly all organic plant matter contains a kind of lacto-fermenting bacteria called Lactobacillus acidophilus. When Lactobacilli begin reproducing in the fermentation process, they produce lactic acid. This helps to act as a food preservative. The fermentation process is also beneficial in that it makes the essential nutrients in the food readily digestible.

Today’s supermarkets carry entire departments of natural and organic foods, many are fermented. But this is not rocket science. You can easily produce healthful fermented foods yourself.

Here Are The Top Ten Fermented Foods That Can Be Made At Home

Kefir: a fermented milk product consumed as a liquid. Consider keeping goats which can supply milk and are “easy keepers” as far as what they can eat. Their milk is “super-nutritious.”

Kombucha: a fermented beverage of black tea and honey. It has multiple benefits.

Sauerkraut: fermented cabbage, high fiber and cabbage is a multi-vitamin storehouse.

Pickles: Too many vitamins and minerals to list here!

Miso: made by fermenting soybean, barley or rice with the koji fungus. This has anti-aging benefits and boosts the immune system (very critical in survival situations).

Tempeh: a combination of soybean and tempeh starter, an excellent source of protein.

Natto: a Japanese favorite, made with fermented soybeans. Make sure you can plant or have access to soybean, it’s nutritional value and multifaceted uses can go a long way in sustaining health in a post-Apocalyptic environment.

Kimchi: a legendary Korean dish that uses fermented cabbage and vegetables. South Korea is a leader in longevity and much of the credit goes to the kimchi. Raw cheese: Pasteurization has its benefits and drawbacks. Much of the vitamin and GI value is removed by this process. Pasteurization was a product of mass production and distribution of food. In a survival environment this is not only unnecessary but hinders the health value. Here again, goats to the rescue!

stockpiling challenge

Yogurt. Easy to make, and doubles as a basic food and treat. Add local berries and enjoy and be healthy.

Keeping Healthy In Serious Situations

In a catastrophic environment medical aid will be a matter of self-care. Having basic medicines, knowing which medicinal herbs grow in your new location and maintaining health and strength will figure into your survival plan. Eating right will be a critical part of that plan. Knowing what natural food sources are available, planting seasonal foods and using whatever protein sources are the most available from hunting, fishing or raising small animals and poultry will be a part of your new life. Preserving these foods for winter or times when food supply sources are scarce such as a drought, weather emergency or storm or any other event is equally critical. Being able to ferment foods will enhance their “shelf life” and expand your diet. Fermentation has a quality of enriching the vitamin value as well.

Are You Prepared for a Worst Case Scenario?
secrets of survival newsletter The first 72 hours after a disaster are the most critical for survival. Enter your email below to get a checklist of essential items you need in your 72 hour emergency get home bag…
loader

Surveys in recent years have concluded that the Western diet, especially the average diet in America, has led to a decrease in life expectancy. Processed foods, excessive sugar (fructose syrup) and preservatives dominate the American diet with totally negative outcomes of poor health and health knowledge. Adding to this a decrease in active lifestyles, daily stress from excessive use of personal media and social media (excessive use of social media is considered to be a factor in depression), alcoholism and an opioid epidemic now in full expansion, means that in a post-Apocalyptic world many more would die just because of health issues.

A survival diet would have to eliminate these factors and food choices since health care and medical personnel would be scarce. Proper preparation for self-sufficiency and food production and storage would protect those who wisely plan ahead and ensure a healthy chance at survival.

Combined With Fermentation There Are Several Other Means Of Food Preservation.

Drying (this process depends on the climate of your retreat). This is an excellent way to preserve fish and meats. This can be done on a large scale so as to have foods for barter.

Smoking (in this process there are security and location considerations, as well as type of available wood).It is important to remember fire safety and whether or not this method is safe when unfriendly neighbors are around. Selecting wood that is safe to burn and adds flavor is also essential to the process.

Salting: salt is an essential item in any survival situation. It is a preservative, adds “spice” to otherwise bland foods and also contains iodine for good health.

For example, a survival food like pemmican is a combo of drying and salting (learn how to make pemmican here). Something more well known like hardtack also benefits from drying.

Survival Resources: Easy Fermenter Wide Mouth Lid Kit

Fermentation And Long Term Survival, Post Collapse

Fermentation is a serious element of survival in a catastrophic situation. The lack of medical assistance, the need to maintain health, and the necessity to produce healthy foods after initial stored emergency foods are diminished make the use of preservation techniques a must-do. Knowing which foods are locally available, which will thrive when planted and how to prepare and preserve these are among the responsibilities of survival leaders.

Our Top Posts About Survival Food

survival rule of threes food Best Survival Food to Stockpile… When All Hell Breaks Loose
dry and smoke meat in the wilderness How to Dry and Smoke Meat in The Wild: 4 Primitive Preservation Methods
best survival food kits Best Survival Food Kits: Get a Headstart Your Stockpile in 2020

More Information about Survival Cooking and Food Preservation

The Best Home Freeze Dryer (+ Freeze Drying Explained)

Survival Cooking: Discover Primitive Cooking (With Fire!)

How to Make Pemmican: A Pemmican Recipe & What is Pemmican?

How To Make Hardtack (Hardtack Recipe + What is Hardtack?)

How to Dry and Smoke Meat in The Wild: 4 Primitive Preservation Methods

The Best Emergency Food Methods For Keeping Your Family Alive

How to Build a Root Cellar – EMP and Post Apocalyptic Survival

Primitive Food Storage Methods For Survival Emergencies

Are You Prepared for a Worst Case Scenario?
secrets of survival newsletter The first 72 hours after a disaster are the most critical for survival. Enter your email below to get a checklist of essential items you need in your 72 hour emergency get home bag…
loader

Why You Can Trust Us

Secrets of Survival has been around since 2002 (almost 20 years) and our survival knowledge is the real deal. We were writing and discussing survival and prepping before people even knew what the word “prepping” meant. We also preceded the trendiness of survival media nowadays… for example, we were arround before Bear Grylls filmed his first episode of Man vs Wild.

Our contributors and writers over the years have included survival experts of all stripes – including a Green Beret Special Forces Medic, a former Navy SEAL, a leading survival instructor who’s been featured on National Geographic and PBS. Every article is either written or reviewed by someone who is an expert in either survivalism, prepping, or homesteading (or all three) and our goal is to be as practical and educational as possible.

While some of our writers and contributors use pseudonyms in order to protect their privacy (never a bad idea in these times where out of control surveillance is a growing problem), you can trust that everybody who gets to write for us has been vetted for their knowledge and passion when it comes to survival.

Click here to learn more about Secrets of Survival and our writers and contributors.

Filed Under: Survival Food

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Our Top Posts About Survival Food

survival rule of threes food Best Survival Food to Stockpile… When All Hell Breaks Loose
dry and smoke meat in the wilderness How to Dry and Smoke Meat in The Wild: 4 Primitive Preservation Methods
best survival food kits Best Survival Food Kits: Get a Headstart Your Stockpile in 2020

More Information about Survival Cooking and Food Preservation

The Best Home Freeze Dryer (+ Freeze Drying Explained)

Survival Cooking: Discover Primitive Cooking (With Fire!)

How to Make Pemmican: A Pemmican Recipe & What is Pemmican?

How To Make Hardtack (Hardtack Recipe + What is Hardtack?)

How to Dry and Smoke Meat in The Wild: 4 Primitive Preservation Methods

The Best Emergency Food Methods For Keeping Your Family Alive

How to Build a Root Cellar – EMP and Post Apocalyptic Survival

Primitive Food Storage Methods For Survival Emergencies

lost remedies

Our Top Posts About Survival Food

survival rule of threes food Best Survival Food to Stockpile… When All Hell Breaks Loose
dry and smoke meat in the wilderness How to Dry and Smoke Meat in The Wild: 4 Primitive Preservation Methods
best survival food kits Best Survival Food Kits: Get a Headstart Your Stockpile in 2020

Footer

Amazon Affiliate Disclosure

Secretsofsurvival.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Contact Us

FREE Get Home Bag Checklist

The first 72 hours after a disaster are the most critical for survival. Enter your email below to get a FREE checklist of essential items you need in your 72 hour emergency get home bag… Plus life-saving survival tips and techniques.

loader