(playful light music) - [Jessi] There is a cocktail sauce made from ketchup packets.

- We have smoked razor clams on a round Ritz cracker and my famous pickled beets.

- Today, I have made you a faux peach Napoleon, constructed of canned peaches, marshmallow whip.

(playful light music continues) (light music) - [Narrator] When you live in a tsunami zone, you have to be ready for the apocalypse.

Stored food is essential, but it can be quite uninspiring, even gross.

Does it have to be?

These scrappy chefs don't think so.

(light music continues) This is the first annual Apocalypse Cook-off, and it's a sold-out event on a rainy winter's day on the Oregon coast.

The rules of the contest are simple: shelf-stable ingredients, no heat, and the chefs have 20 minutes each to prepare a main course and a dessert.

- [Announcer] So on your mark, get set, (crowd applauding) cook.

- [Narrator] The contestants each have their own philosophy for how to tackle the challenge.

- Jessi has half the stuff on her table.

(people laughing) Probably because she's reusing and recycling it.

(crowd laughing) - That is right, that is right.

I don't cook.

(crowd laughing) I play in the garbage.

That's always on my mind: What can we not throw away?

What can we use in a different way?

What can we think about differently?

And so I just used those same principles, things like picking up oyster shells, using ketchup packets.

- [Narrator] Philosophy one: buy it off the shelf ready to eat, and then scavenge for ways to improve the flavor.

Camping style.

- [Speaker] Any questions from the judges?

- [Speaker] Do you smoke those oysters yourself?

I'm just kidding.

- Absolutely not.

(crowd laughing) - [Narrator] Philosophy two: homestead style.

Harvest your own foods and then pressure can everything.

- This is a loaf of bread.

- Yeah.

- You bake it in the jar, and then I pressure cook it.

We harvest, we fish, we hunt, and we can as much as we possibly can.

- [Narrator] The magic of pressure canning makes food shelf-stable for months, even years.

Philosophy three: start simple with basic things in your pantry, then spice it up.

- [Speaker] So we're hand mashing the chickpeas.

- Chickpeas, yep.

Bit of a hummus.

(spoon clicking) I was using dehydrated garlic, dehydrated shallots, dehydrated chives.

The topping is a chicken.

(light music continues) (timer ticking) - How we doing on time?

- [Speaker] We have 3 1/2 minutes.

(crowd cheering and applauding) - For tonight, we have prepared oysters Rockaway-feller.

The tapenade is served on a tiny cracker round.

(crowd laughing and applauding) - Go.

- Yay, Jessi.

- We have a smoked sturgeon sandwich.

(crowd cheering) (light music continues) - I have made a chicken fiesta stack.

So the top layer is a chicken salad.

(light music continues) - [Narrator] The judges taste each dish and tally their scores.

(car whooshing) Finally, the contestants tackle dessert.

- It looks like you have a peach half here, and then you've got marshmallow whip, graham crackers.

This looks very exciting.

(metal clanging) - What you have here is a parfait layers of pie filling.

(light music continues) - So this is home-preserved chocolate cake topped with freeze-dried ice cream.

(crowd cheering and applauding) - Today I have made you a faux peach Napoleon.

(light music continues) (crowd applauding) - And Christopher is the winner.

- Go, Christopher.

- Chris is crowned the winner.

When it comes down to it, just because it's end times, doesn't mean you can't eat well.

- [Christopher] Food is a form of creativity for me.

If, indeed, there is an emergency, what do you need to put aside for sustaining your life and having a little bit of pleasure along with it?

(light music continues) (waves crashing)