Desert rat on keto

(Katie) #1

I have an issue I had not really thought thru before.

I spend 5-6 months out in the desert. Usually pretty far out. Typically I go in to a trading post or small town about once every three weeks.

I have some limited refrigeration and no freezer. (Simply not enough power to handle them). One week of fresh meat, and that is done. I have been looking for shelf stable meats…and only finding beef jerky…ick!!

Any ideas for shelf stable keto? I have found some canned salmon…bu that is it. Can’t see me eating 3 weeks of canned salmon. I won’t touch any tuna because of the mercury content… same goes for any farm raised fish.

Any ideas on eating keto without meats or fish? With limited refrigeration, cheese, won’t go the distance because I won’t be able to carry enough.

(Diane) #2

What about sardines? Spam??

(Karen) #3

Water packed sardines are low in mercury Because they are small short-lived fish.
You can also make your own Pemican, or jerky

(Carl Keller) #4

Almonds, macadamians and pecans will hold up in the desert too.

(Susan) #5

Canned oysters, you can also buy canned chicken, and canned ham.

(Katie) #6

Looked at the labels of all those at the grocery store…

Every can of canned ham or corned beef as sugar in the ingredients list.

The oysters and crab meat is farm raised.

The sardines has LESS mercury but are not mercury free…even wild caught albacore tuna has some too…the flesh of those fish retain any mercury in their environments.

Finally, the chicken is too high in protein and very little fat. A good choice if I can figure out another shelf stable source for the fat. Maybe use lard to cook it.

(Full Metal KETO AF) #7

It’s pretty hard to find shelf stable meats that don’t contain trace amount of sugars. Personally I don’t worry about where 1-2g. of carbohydrates come from, I focus on net carbs only and not their sorce because carbs are such an insignificant amount on keto. So I don’t care if 3 carbs are from broccoli or kielbasa. You can buy a Smithfield Country ham which is dry cured and stable without refrigeration for years, they’re a bit more expensive than a brined ham but a little goes a long way. You have to shave off pieces and soak them in water before cooking. A southern classic.

My recommendation also is buying a .22 and learning to look for food in the desert to supplement your diet, if you can learn to skin a rabbit! The native Americans survived for 1000’s of years in the wilds of America. If I lived remote I would definitely work on hunting skills. :cowboy_hat_face:

(Cancer Fighting Ketovore :)) #8

What about cans of coconut cream? Each can should be refrigerated after opening, but if you can eat one meal a day then it would work. Or you could refrigerate the leftovers. Add some MCT powder for flavor and it’s good. I also drink heavy cream as my main source of fat, that can be refrigerated.

(PJ) #9

Alright let’s see…

Canned chicken. SPAM (yes I know it’s meat junk food but it’ll outlive all of us). Protein powders (yes I know it’s not ‘real food’.) Nuts and seeds. Small cheeses molded in wax, so you could open a limited amount at a time.

I’m afraid that’s all I can think of that isn’t carby.

(Full Metal KETO AF) #10

And there’s also tarantulas, scorpions and rattlesnakes. :joy:

#11

Have you considered doing your own canning? You’d need a pressure canner, but then you could make a large amount of something and make it shelf stable yourself.

Salami is pretty shelf stable. Old school Italian delis used to just have the logs hanging up, not refrigerated.

Cheese crackers (Whisps) are shelf-stable and have about 13g of protein per ounce. I think they’re pretty expensive, but you should be able to buy blocks of cheese and make your own. They wouldn’t last forever, but like most dried food, should last a couple of weeks.

But generally, people over-refrigerate cheese. Even soft cheese can be kept at room temp for up to a week, especially new and entirely enclosed in its casing. Hard cheese or aged cheeses like parmesean or aged cheddar will sweat, but not go bad if unrefrigerated. Cheese with a wax outer coating (like whole rounds of gouda or those Baby Bels) will keep a long time until the wax seal is broken and then will stay good for at least a week, probably longer. You should keep cheese like this wrapped in paper or wax paper (not plastic wrap) and in a cool dark place–not on your counter top. This is how specialist cheese mongers keep their cheese. Obviously the temperature where you are will make a difference as to how long it keeps, but if you have a cool place to store it (even a make shift hole in the ground as a cellar), this should do fine.

Also, I’m not sure how “limited” your refrigeration is, but eggs last about 5 weeks in the fridge. Meat would need to be frozen for that long.

(Full Metal KETO AF) #12

I have limited refrigeration space and have been leaving eggs at room temperature for years without ever getting sick from them. I use them up within a couple of weeks, faster now on keto. But even before that I would buy those 60 egg double flat packages without having a problem. I worked in a restaurant where we never refrigerated them and the health department never thought it was a problem when we got an inspection. :cowboy_hat_face:

#13

While this is considered perfectly safe in most parts of the world, you’re not supposed to do it in the U.S. because the producers wash them before they send them to market, and that compromises their natural seal. So, I didn’t want to recommend it to @Katiekate. But depending on her ability to create cool storage (vs. proper refrigeration) and her level of confidence about her eggs (and concerns re: salmonella), it’s another good option.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/09/11/336330502/why-the-u-s-chills-its-eggs-and-most-of-the-world-doesnt

(Full Metal KETO AF) #14

Yes, I read that too but just today! I was under the impression that eggs are processed with an egg buffing machine which preserves the egg bloom, the natural barrier that keeps bacteria from invading the egg. Maybe things are different now, that was in the ‘91.I have them out right now, :wink:.

:cowboy_hat_face: