11 steps to preparing jungle meals

My mother in all her wisdom said I should share the process of preparing jungle meals.  I didn't think it was that big of a deal until she pointed out that most people don't think they can survive without a drive-thru window - not naming names, Jeremy.

So, this is what I do before I take a trip to the jungle.  This process usually takes about 2 weeks to complete from start to finish.  To some it may sound like too much work, but when every pound and every penny counts - it is very much worth it.  I save weight for the plane trip and I save money by preparing everything myself (not to mention that most of this cannot be found in Cochabamba anyways).

Another thing I am working against is the heat - or lack of a refrigerator.  We are in the tropics and there is nothing cool about it - so all the food you take MUST be able to withstand heat.

This labor of love first started back a few years ago.  I went on a two week trip with Brenda and some others.  I was in charge of the food.  I started trying to get things together but there was just not much variety in the menu of 14 days.  We had pasta with butter, instant potatoes with butter,  rice with Parmesan cheese AND butter, etc.

I tried dehydrating some apples on a bread pan in the window of my car (I read where that works).  Well it worked, but they had a weird taste - like soap.  Despite that, I was so relieved to have some variety to the menu.  It was then that I told Brenda our meals could improve drastically if I had a dehydrator.  Six months later a team brought one down, courtesy of Brenda.  Thanks Brenda. ( Think she wanted some variety too.)

Marcy Brink, Me, Brenda Kowalske - June 2011

Enough of that, let's get started.

The idea is to prepare wholesome, good tasting meals to eat in the jungle.  These meals need to be inexpensive, light weight, withstand the heat and be something pretty much everyone on the team will eat.  Sounds simple, right?

Here it is, step by step:

1.  Prepare a menu and a shopping list.  I use these books to get recipes from - then I tweak them a bit to suit my tastes.

The top book is my favorite.

2.  Buy the supplies at the market or grocery store.

The salsa and tomato paste will shrink down to just a few cups of powder - but when reconstituted will fill back out , almost as much as before - still amazes me!

3.  Clean and disinfect fruit and veggies - we don't want Montezuma's revenge where there are no bathrooms!

4.  Peal and cut fruit and veggies- the thinner the better.

5.  Lay out produce on dehydrator trays - nothing can be overlapping.

6.  Dehydrate for 8 - 12 hours, depending on thickness.

Love this dehydrator!

7.  Continue above process until everything is prepared.  This will take the estimated 2 weeks to get everything bought, washed, cut, spread and dried.  I buy things in small batches so I can dry it when it is freshest.

Some people may not know but you can dry spaghetti sauce, salsa, apple sauce, etc.  I also cook ground beef and then dry it.

8.  Grate cheese for any recipe and then use a food sealer to store.  I have dehydrated grated cheese, which works but then I tried sealing it.  Sealing it works because it is the air that makes it go bad, so if it is in an airless package, it will keep.  The last trip I took, I tried it this way and it worked great.  I purposely left one package of cheese until the 7th day to check it  - still good.  Dehydrated is good, but a bit gummy.  Sealed is better because it is more like freshly grated cheese.  Thanks Granny and Peggy for the sealer.

9.  Check to see that all the meals have all the ingredients.  If you are missing something, make a last minute run to town.

10.  Create meal bags.  The idea is that all the ingredients for a meal are already measured out and divided.  This way, you just pull out a bag and it has everything you need for a meal.

 Here are 5 meals I created for a team of 11 men.  That is 55 meals!!  They have 9 pounds of ground beef, 4 pounds of tomatoes  pasta, rice, and lots of veggies - all dehydrated!

 I did "cheat" on one meal, the chili - I didn't have time to dehydrate the beans - so I am using canned.  Normally, with enough time, I would have cooked dried beans (cheaper) then  dehydrated them too.

11.  Pack it all away in one box!  Those same 55 meals all fit into this one tool box!

55 hearty meals in one box!

12.  In the case of this trip, I also prepared a sheet with step by step instructions on how to prepare each meal.  The instructions may seem insulting to some, but I wrote it with my dad in mind.  What would seem obvious to me for preparing a meal is not so obvious to him.  So, since this trip is made up of 11 guys - the instructions are VERY SPECIFIC.

On the menu for this men's trip:

Chili con Carne

Spinach and Rice Feast - one of my favorites - it has spinach, rice and ground beef

Chicken & cheese quesadillas with rice, chips & salsa - I have the teams bring canned chicken for this one.  Notice the bag on the left is actually salsa - I made it, cooked it, dehydrated it then ground it to flour

Mac n' Cheese - this is another favorite

Spaghetti with ground beef - the sauce and beef is dehydrated 

There you go - food preparation for a jungle trip.  Please understand, I am not complaining at all about doing this work - I actually really enjoy doing it.  The challenge of making good food and also the blessing of helping teams that have come to serve the Lord in the jungle.

If you want to try some of these meals, come on down, we'll go to the jungle together.  And I promise you, the food won't be the only thing you remember. . .

Rio Secure

Pet to Snack - The realities of life

This post is an attempt to help you to better understand the life of the people in the jungle.  To show the hardships and dependency they have on the river and land to provide their daily meals.

The birds in this picture are some pets of one of the families we were working with this past week.  The girls hand fed them plantains everyday.  They cared for them, loved on them and had a special basket where the birds sleep at night  - away from predators and danger.

However, one day, these tiny, tiny birds were out on the ground loose - doing what birds do, whatever that is.  One got stepped on and killed.  The ants came immediately and ate the eyes out before one girl found the body.

Instead of burying the pet and lamenting the loss, she saw a change from a pet to food  - protein - a snack.  So, she very naturally plucked the feathers, skewered it and then grilled it.

This may seem a bit harsh for some, but to her it was as natural as could be.  There was no use in wasting good fresh meat.  The people there, as Tito said daily, "Eat fish for breakfast, fish for lunch and fish for dinner."  He also told us one night that we were lucky to have fish because many were having trouble catching right now.  Chicken and beef are for special occasions.

 So, the idea of a snack that wasn't fish was a great idea for her.

Oromomo

I have just returned from a week in the jungle.  Claudia and I flew in last Saturday, February 9 after being delayed 2 days by rain.  We were in Oromomo the entire time.  The main purpose of the visit was to encourage the new believers there in the village, especially Tito and Dilma.  Dilma just had a baby two months ago.  They also just returned to Oromomo seven weeks ago ( 1 week after having the baby).  She was a little down and needed some encouragement.

Dilma and Jabez (2 months old)

Mariana - 2 1/2 years old - she is just beginning to really talk

Lizbeth - 4 years old - a little parrot - she repeats EVERYTHING you say

Me and Jabez ( it is a boy)

Imagine being one of the few Christians in your village or community.  Everyone knows you have been away for a year studying the Bible and they are expecting you to act and be different.  It is a lot of stress.  

After finding out about Dilma, I knew that God was telling me to go and encourage her, spend time with her and help her.
Also, on the flip side, Tito, is very encouraged.  He is leading church services and having Bible studies.  There are many new believers in the village and many more that are showing interest. It is awesome to see how God is working there after so many years without any real progress.

Tito and Armando (from CIC)

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REVIEW:  Tito and Dilma are the family that was burned a year and half ago.  Dilma and the girls came and lived with me when they got out of the hospital.  Later, when Tito was released, they all lived here at the Word of Life camp and went to the Evangelism and Discipleship Center for a year.

Tito and his family in front of their house - I squat, they squat, I stand, they stand, not a great picture . . . 

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There were also five guys from the Cochabamba International Church (CIC).  They arrived with us on Saturday and then flew out on Wednesday.

The beginning of the service

We had church on Sunday.  It started with just a few people, but as the singing continued, the church continued to fill up.  By the end of the service, the church was full and people were standing in the doorway.

End of the service, standing room only

Later, we divided them up by men, women and children and had a more personal Bible study time.   After the service, Josefina, Dilma’s aunt, accepted Christ!

Claudia sharing with the women under the apple tree

Again on Sunday night we had another service and about 20 people came.

Once the week started, Claudia and I got busy spending time with the women that are always at Dilma’s house; her mother-in-law, aunts, and cousins.  Dilma shared with us that her mother-in-law did not want to accept Christ, that she and Tito had shared and Nasaria had rejected it.  I took a video on my ipad of the life of Christ in Yura-Caré and shared it with them.   We continued to share and on Tuesday Nasaria also accepted Christ.  She even later shared this privately with her son, Tito, which was encouraging to us.

Dilma, Claudia and Nasaria - we took coffee to them and shared from the Bible

We didn’t spend all our time talking about God and reading the Bible.  The majority of the time with the women was spent just doing what they were doing:  cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, making necklaces, weaving mattresses, taking care of the children etc.  It is a different type of discipleship there.  You cannot go with a set schedule or plan, it must be flexible.

Washing clothes in the river - notice Jabez in the bathtub/crib

Everything depends on the weather.  If it is sunny, you work to remove the weeds that have grown up around the house, you clean and wash clothes.  If it is raining, you sit under the hatata roof and make necklaces or weave.  When it rains you wait for it to stop so you can build the fire and feed the kids.  If there is no fish, you eat platanos – fried, boiled or mashed.

Nasaria weaving a reed mattress

The girls before bath-time in the river

I did do a bit of medicine while I was there, worms, headache and cough. . . 

In the lull of work we would grab a few minutes and share with them from the Bible.  Or while they were cooking over the fire, we would read a chapter from Genesis.  - All very impromptu and unscheduled -   I think that frustration would set in if you had too strict of a plan.

All in all, I think it was a great trip.  I think we accomplished much.  I know that God provided and protected us the entire time – of this I have no doubt.


Tomorrow, check back here to see how a pet becomes a snack. . . .

Dilma, Mariainez, Lorenzo the parrot and Claudia