Just opened a tin of those Christmas cookies made of some sort of shortbread, from a year ago. Still fresh and tasty. Well sealed, and only a few broke, despite being hauled overland from New Mexico to Alaska. Maybe not the most nutritious, but a few of these would be a pleasant addition to any survival diet.

I get a fresh fruit cake for each BoB & my E&E Bag each Christmas Season. Those darn things seem to stay preserved for ever!!

Yep, even moreso if they are "maintained" with regular doses of rum or brandy.

Speaking as an archaeologist, I can attest that corn kernels, beans, squash, and various other plant seeds can survive for hundreds of years if they are kept, dry and in the dark (buried) even without special packaging. Don't know how they would taste, though - we generally had better breakfast options. Sealed in a cookie tin and replenished with brandy, you ought to have something really fine....

Meat products didn't do nearly as well, even if dehydrated.

Nothing Wrong with Shortbread in a either a Survival Situation or a pleasant Holiday Snack...Merry Christmas!

I'm not a fan a shortbread although I s'pose it would go well with coffee... Now Fruitcake is another matter altogether; I love a good fruitcake and I don't understand why folks diss them. I would not necessarily recommend fruitcake with coffee

Someone mentioned rum -- one of the conversations we had here was when we should bake the New Year's Rum Cake. It will be gone before New Years If you are looking for a survival food, do not choose Rum Cake

Is it even legal to use those words in the same sentence?


Common wisdom has it that there have only been 4 fruit cakes ever made. And they just keep getting circulated from family to family every Christmas since 1917. I think I may have one out in the garage buried under the tractor parts. I need to go dig it up and mail to somebody.

"I think I may have one out in the garage buried under the tractor parts. I need to go dig it up and mail to somebody."

Now you've got the archaeologist interested. Perhaps we can do some radiocarbon dating to see how old it really is....