Outdoor food & storage
The fun of cooking outside and the food you store for emergencies, treated as one subject.
What we cover
- Camp cooking: meals with little gear and little water
- Shelf-stable and emergency food: taste tests, and working stored food into everyday meals
- Cooking for a crowd: planning and hygiene for large batches
- Growing food
Growing some of your own food: containers, community gardens and soil safety
Starting with containers (sun, drainage, potting mix, watering), community gardens and Japan's citizen farms, testing garden soil for lead and EPA's advice by lead level, and not planting toxic look-alikes such as daffodils next to chives.
Read more Growing some of your own food: containers, community gardens and soil safety
Cooking for a crowd: planning and food safety for big batches
USDA's volunteer guide to cooking for groups, the current safe minimum temperatures, the 2-hour and 1-hour rules, cooling, reheating and transport, plus Japanese disaster-cooking numbers for how much rice to cook and what not to serve.
Read more Cooking for a crowd: planning and food safety for big batches
Emergency food supply: what to stock, how much, and balancing nutrition
Ready.gov says to store at least a several-day supply of food your family will actually eat; FoodSafety.gov says at least 3 days; Japan says at least 3 days and preferably a week, with protein, not just rice. What to buy, how to store it, how to heat canned food safely without power, and the foods to avoid.
Read more Emergency food supply: what to stock, how much, and balancing nutrition
Camp stove and fuel canister safety: propane, butane and Japan's cassette stoves
Fuel canisters explode when they overheat or leak. NPS rules for single-use propane cylinders, how propane behaves, a 2025 recall of 201,000 butane camp stoves, and what Japan's fire department and product safety agency teach about butane cassette stoves: no oversized pans, never two stoves side by side, store below 40°C, use canisters within about 7 years.
Read more Camp stove and fuel canister safety: propane, butane and Japan's cassette stoves
Wild game meat: why bear, boar and deer need thorough cooking
Most U.S. trichinellosis now comes from wild game such as bear. CDC says to cook wild game to 165°F, and that freezing may not kill the worms: in a 2022 outbreak, bear meat frozen for 45 days still made six people sick. Plus brucellosis precautions for hog hunters, chronic wasting disease testing, and Japan's 75°C-for-one-minute rule for deer and boar.
Read more Wild game meat: why bear, boar and deer need thorough cooking
Fish you catch: parasites, histamine, and keeping your catch cold
Three risks for anglers who cook their own catch: Anisakis worms (killed by cooking or by specific freezing conditions, not by vinegar or salt), scombroid poisoning from histamine that cooking can't remove, and why the first hours on ice matter most. With CDC, FDA and NOAA guidance and Japan's experience.
Read more Fish you catch: parasites, histamine, and keeping your catch cold
Foraging safely: wild mushrooms and plants
California's 2025-26 death cap outbreak sickened 39 people and killed 4, many of whom had foraged similar mushrooms in another country. Why cooking doesn't help, why symptoms are delayed, what poison centers advise, and Japan's rule for wild plants and mushrooms: don't pick, eat, sell or give away anything you can't identify with certainty.
Making water safe in an emergency: boil, disinfect, store
CDC's guidance on emergency water: store at least 1 gallon per person per day for 3 days (2 weeks if possible), boil for 1 minute (3 above 6,500 ft), bleach drop amounts, and what boiling can't fix. Compared with Japan's 3 liters a day and its advice on storing tap water.
Read more Making water safe in an emergency: boil, disinfect, store
Food safety at camp and in shelters: clean, separate, cook, chill, and what Japan adds
How to avoid food poisoning when you cook without a kitchen, at camp or after a disaster. FoodSafety.gov's four steps, the 2-hour rule, what to do when there's no running water, and Japan's guidance for shelter cooking, including the rice-ball rule.
Read more Food safety at camp and in shelters: clean, separate, cook, chill, and what Japan adds
Bag cooking (pack cooking): Japan's one-pot method for power outages and camp
Japan's agriculture ministry recommends 'pack cooking': seal food in heat-resistant high-density polyethylene bags and simmer them in one pot. Fewer dishes, less water, several dishes at once. The six steps, choosing bags, the safety points, what to cook first, and how it fits camping.
Read more Bag cooking (pack cooking): Japan's one-pot method for power outages and camp
Food safety in a power outage: 4 hours for the fridge, 48 for a full freezer
How long food stays safe when the power goes out, what to throw away, when you can refreeze, and how to prepare beforehand, from FoodSafety.gov and CDC, compared with Japan's agriculture and health ministries, which are more cautious about refreezing.
Read more Food safety in a power outage: 4 hours for the fridge, 48 for a full freezer