Hey Everyone, I am excited to present to you Prepper Cook-Off Challenge #2.

Test your cooking skills by trying to prepare the most palatable meal out of two random storable food items.

Photo by Teddy Kelley on Unsplash

Many of us in the homesteading community have prepping tendencies so I decided to come up with a challenge that plays off of those habits, and requires both luck and skill. This challenge will be a fun test of your ability to utilize storable items in a SHTF scenario. lf you aren't into prepping, that is OK you might still find this entertaining.

The Prizes

With so many quality entries the first time around I have upped the prize pool significantly for this Cook-Off Challenge.

• 1st Prize - 10 STEEM + 15 SBI
• 2nd Prize - 5 STEEM + 10 SBI
• 3rd Prize - 3 STEEM + 5 SBI
• Most Gag Worthy - 1 STEEM + 3 SBI
• Most Creative - 1 STEEM + 3 SBI
• All other qualified entries - 1 SBI

What is @steembasicincome (SBI)? It is a program where you sponsor people by buying them shares. Both the sponsor and the sponsored get a share which provides continued upvotes to member content.

Learn more about Steem Basic Income.

The Scenario

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In the near future, a massive EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse) from the sun has knocked out the electrical grid and the world has devolved into chaos. After hunkering down for awhile, and running short on food, you managed to scavenge a couple of long-term storable food items from nearby buildings and then returned to your home base to prepare the food for yourself and the other members of your group (Prepper Cook-Off Challenge #1).

Since then, marauding gangs have taken over the area you are in; it is no longer safe where you are located. Their numbers are too great and a confrontation would not turn out well for you and your small group. Under the cover of darkness, you flee bringing only what you can carry. You had planned on going to what you thought was a safe secondary location but the bridge you needed to cross has been destroyed.

A small unmaintained road near this bridge leads into the woods and you decide to take it, not wanting to stay exposed out in the open too long. After walking for many hours, you stumble upon this cabin.

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

You and your group watch from a distance. After awhile, you are satisfied that it has been abandoned and decide to explore it further. The prior occupants are gone and they have taken pretty much all the food with them. Luckily, you manage to find a single item sitting on a shelf in the kitchen (Item 1). You also notice that the majority of shelf stable spices and condiments are still in the cupboard.

Photo by Calum MacAulay on Unsplash

There must be more food somewhere though and you continue to search the cabin, eventually finding a floor hatch with a small staircase under it. (Cue @revisesociology's warnings about The Road's cellar scene)

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It ends up being a root cellar (whew!). It also looks empty but after rummaging around in the darkness for a bit you find a small wooden crate with another food item (Item 2).

You also had a single food item you packed in your bug out bag when you fled your previous location (Bonus Item). With these three items you figure you should be able to cobble up some sort of meal. You and your companions are tired and hungry from your travels and it is time to cook!

How to Enter

Note: The rules have been slightly revised since the last Prepper Cook-Off Challenge. Make sure to read them entirely before entering.

1. In the comments section declare that you are entering and summon the random dice generator by mentioning @rolltwodice in your comment. Match the dice roll to the list below to see which items you found.

 
Dice 1 (Item 1)

1. Dry Rice
2. Dried Black Beans
3. Dried Spaghetti
4. Flour
5. Oatmeal
6. Canned Diced Tomatoes

Dice 2 (Item 2)

1. Potatoes
2. Carrots
3. Onions
4. Apples
5. Winter Squash
6. Sweet Potato

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2. After thinking about what you want to try making with the items you rolled choose your 3rd item (Bonus Item) by declaring it in a reply to your first comment. This item can basically be anything that can be stored without freezing or refrigeration for 6 months or longer. Hopefully this will allow you to make the first two items complimentary.

 
I have tried to keep this challenge as inclusive as possible and realize that some participants may have dietary restrictions or live in parts of the world where these food items are not available or affordable. If you do, I will try and provide a suitable substitute but you have to declare the restriction before you roll.

If, for example, you are gluten intolerant and you let me know before rolling then I would allow a substitution of gluten free spaghetti or noodles and a gluten free flour. However, these substitutions are up to my discretion and I have to be careful not to take them too far in fairness to the other competitors.

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3. Cooking oils, sugar, salt and spices are permitted but they must be used in a reasonable amount. You can't use so much that they become a main item.

 

• Herbs are fine as long as they are dried or in some other shelf stable form. No fresh ingredients. They have to be storable.
• Stock cube is fine.
• Corn starch or other starches used as thickeners or binders are OK if only a tbsp or two.
• Wine, hard liquor, or vinegar is fine but keep the combined liquid condiments to a shot glass worth. The idea is that they don't contribute much to the meal other than some flavor. Once again, they need to be shelf stable so sauces and condiments kept in the refrigerator are not permitted.
• If it isn't obvious, water can be used in any quantity.

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4. If for some reason you really don't want the items you rolled you cannot re-roll but you can trade them if you can find someone to trade with. You must trade both items, you cannot trade one or the other that would make the challenge too easy!

 
Remember that you are allowed to select a third storable item (bonus item) of your choosing and use spices. You may be able to get creative and make poor item combinations work.

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5. Create a post where you cook your meal and describe the ingredients and steps that you used to do it. It could be a single dish or two or more. It is up to you as long as you stick to your ingredients.

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6. One of your tags needs to be #preppercookoff so I can find all the entries.

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7. Mention and link to this post in your entry post.

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8. You have until June 23 at 11:59pm MST (UTC -7) to submit your entry.

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The Judging

I will be picking the winners for this Prepper Cook-Off Challenge. I thought of maybe having people upvote entries but it seemed too easy to abuse and unfair to newer Steemians that aren't well known yet.

I will be judging based on a number of factors as follows:

• Overall quality of post and effort level.
• Was the meal preparation well documented.
• Difficulty of items rolled.
• Creativity of item use and how the meal was prepared. Utilizing off grid cooking and preparation will be scored higher.
• Staying in character and adding to the storyline details.
• Presentation of the meal. Photo quality, plating, etc.

I will score each factor on a scale on 1-10 and the highest total scores will win. There are also prizes for most creative meal and most gag worthy meal. These are more subjective and won't necessarily be scored on the same point system.

Conclusion

Hopefully, that all makes sense. If not, take a look at the first Prepper Cook-Off Challenge Winning Posts.

1. @tacostate - Prepper Party Food - Caraway and Fennel Crackers & Bean Dip

2. @sagescrub - Mushroom Risotto - A Hippy Prepper's Survival Meal

3. @roselyn028 - my very own Rice and peanuts is equal to rise crispies for #preppercookoff

I will also be participating just for fun so you can always watch and see what I end up doing. I am hoping to see a lot of friendly competition and interaction.

I am sure there will be some pretty interesting ingredient combinations. Time to get cooking everyone!

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Thanks for reading everyone! Please upvote, follow, and resteem to support this work. As always, comments are welcome.