Food Storage Friday

5 Easy Steps to using your Food Storage

1.Figure out what is in your food storage.

Do you have a lot of powdered milk, wheat, rice, beans?

2.Write down a list of the meals that your Family typically eats.

Be sure to include baked good, breakfast and dinner.

3.Look for the ones that you can make simple adjustments to.

Recipes that call for milk are easy to substitute powdered milk to. Taste the same. I keep a container of reconstituted milk in my fridge for cooking purposes.

Do you bake? Try using some whole wheat flour for SOME of the white flour. Pancakes, waffles and cookies are great places to start.

Add rice to your soups, casseroles, and burritos.

4. Start conservative

You have to start out with small amounts of things like wheat. Converting over whole heartedly WILL cause major stomach problems. Take it slow.

Also look at only changing one or two recipes so you do not get overwhelmed. Next week add another and so on.

5.Look for new recipes that use more food storage items.

When looking for new recipes look for ones that have more food storage friendly ingredient lists.

Here are some GREAT food storage recipe sites:

http://safelygatheredin.blogspot.com/

extension.usu.edu

http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/category/recipes

http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/recipes/

Tasty Tuesday

Spices

This is our final instalment of Bare-Bones Basics, but that does not mean it is not important.

Basic spices that can add life (per Preparedness Principles) to most foods are salt, pepper, vanilla, cinnamon, and chili powder and /or basil. I personally need onion powder, garlic powder, a great grill mix and Johny's.

Look at your super stores (Costco/Sam's) for great prices. Also most super market have baking sales twice a year. Once around the winter holidays (Thanksgiving & Christmas) and again around Easter. These are also the times that your Sunday paper and online coupon sites will have a great number of baking/spice coupons out.

Store your spices in airtight containers. A cool place is also best. Even though they look awesome in a spice rack on your sunny kitchen counter that really is not the best place. A nice cool cupboard is ideal.

Bouillons

"What IS bouillon?", some of you might ask. I know I did at one point.

"Bouillon cubes are compressed, flavor-concentrated cubes of dehydrated meat, poultry, or vegetable stock and spices. Instant bouillon granules are the loose, granular form of the concentrate. Salt is usually listed as the first ingredient; thus , both are very salty." Preparedness Principals pg.72

Ways to use: Add it to any grain you are cooking. I love adding chicken bouillon to rice. No need to add anything else. Add to your soup base, beans, or just to a pot of water for a comforting broth (add a some noodles for a basic soup) for someone who is sick.

As with most foods store in an airtight container is a cool dry cupboard. Generally the life span is 1-2 years but I have used some that has been a few years past that and had no problems.

Food Storage Friday

Legumes

The food guys list the legumes brake down as 30 lbs. dried beans(any variety you want), 5lbs. Lima beans, 10 lbs. soy beans, 5 lbs. split peas, 5 lbs. lentils, and 5 lbs. dried soup mix.

As always if your not going to eat it don't store it. However legumes provide so many essentials to your diet. You need to have some and variety is always nice. So if nothing else have 60 pounds of any combination of beans (legumes).

Mayo clinic has a great little brake down on different legumes and their uses plus cooking tips. Here

Shelf life: According to a BYU site legumes have a shelf life of 8 years.

Food Storage Friday

The Sweet Stuff !!

According to the food guys a year supply for each of these for one person would look like:

Sugars 60 pounds total

3 pounds Honey

40 pounds sugar

3 pounds brown sugar

1 pound molasses

3 pounds Corn syrup

3 pounds Jam

6 pounds Powdered fruit drink

1 pound Flavored gelatin

Remember: Store what you eat, Eat what you store!!

The average American eats over 60 pounds of sugar each year. It is in so many things we love to eat from candy bars and pastry creations to spaghetti sauce and chili. So don't pull the i don't eat sugar bit with me! LOL!! No diets allowed either! :)

Sugar should be stored in dry airtight combiners. If your happens to hardened it is still usable just brake it up with a hammer or warm it in the oven until it is soft enough to use. Indefinite storage life.

Brown Sugar should also be stored in an airtight container. FYI brown sugar is white sugar with molasses add into it. (look for next Tuesday post!!!) You can make you own!!

Honey stored properly honey can keep for decades becoming darker and more flavorful. Airtight and cool temperatures are the key! Hardened honey can be warmed in a water bath to liquidize it again.

Corn syrup and Molasses have a shelf life of about 18 months. As always airtight and cool temps! Corn syrup is a sugar and molasses is a by product of sugar production.

Powdered fruit drink means the cannery fruit drink to me, however I assume that powdered Gatorade or kool-aid is the general idea.(if I am wrong speak up and tell me)

Gelatin to me this is good 'ole JELLO!! Easy to store, cheap to buy, and generally a crowd pleaser. Remember to rotate and check boxes for expiration date.

Food Storage Friday

Cooking Oils and Fats

One adult needs to store a total of 25 lbs. of fats and oil for their year supply. This can be divided in several ways. According to the food guys calculator they split it up as: 4lbs. shortening, 2gals vegetable oil, 2qts mayonnaise, 1qts salad dressing and 4 lbs of peanut butter. This is ONLY a suggestion. Remember: Store what you eat, eat what you store.

Fats are essential for or health as well as much needed ingredients in some of our favorite recipes. So in short YES you do need this as part of your storage!!

Things to take into consideration:

• There are many cooking oil options such as almond, avocado, butter, canola, coconut, corn, grape, lard, nut, olive, peanut, pumpkin, safflower, sesame, shortening, soybean, sunflower, and vegetable blend.
• Shortening has a great shelf life (5 years +) but contains trans fats so use sparingly.
• Lard does not store well as it tends to go rancid. It has no shelf life out side of the fridge.

Places to buy:

• bulk food stores. Costco has great prices on all of these items.
• regular grocery stores. These are stocked. Watch sales and use coupons to get the best deals.

How to store:

• original container
• cool, dark spot
• remember to rotate!

Tasty Tuesday

Cooking Essentials

Continuing on with our bare-bones basics I thought we would go over the basic cooking essentials. According to the food guys calculator a year supply of cooking essentials for one adult would consist of: 1# baking powder, 1# baking soda, 0.5# yeast, 5# salt, o.5 gallons vinegar. These are the basics need for many recipes. Most breads, cakes, cookies, rolls, homemade crackers need these items. Some of these items also have non-food uses as well.

Baking powder (per Preparedness Principles) is a blend of an alkali (usually baking soda) and an acid (often cream of tarter). It is known as a double acting leavener. Baking powder has a limited shelf life of 1-2 years. It keeps best stored in a cool, dry place.

Baking soda is also a leavener. It needs to have an acid product mixed with it in order for it to activate. Some examples of this are sour milk, molasses, lemon juice, vinegar and so on. The great thing about baking soda is that it's uses go well beyond the kitchen. It can be used for household cleaning, toothpaste, bug bites and upset tummies. Again store in a cool dry place and this can last you indefinitely.

recipes found on pg. 71 of Preparedness Principles

For 'toothpaste' simply wet your brush and add baking soda. Brush as normal.

For an antacid mix 1/2 teaspoon baking soda to an eight-once glass of water and drink up. (up to 8 times a day(every two hours) for adults, 4 times a day for those 60 and over and not recommended for those under 5)

For bug bites and other skin irritations mix a paste of 2 parts baking soda and 1 part water smooth over irritated area.

Yeast is what makes your bread rise. Unless you really love flat bread this is a basic you will want to have. yeast is best kept in a cool, dry, dark place. It freezes well and it's shelf life is greatly increased when kept in the freezer. Dry yeast comes in three different forms. The most common is active dry yeast. This is what you generally find on the super market shelves in those handy little packages. You can also buy this is 2# blocks in your bulk food sections or at stores like Costco and Sam's club.

Salt is vital to our life and to our health. It is in every cell in our body. It brings out the flavors of food, it preserves food, and it plays a role in helping our bodies to function properly. Salt has an indefinite self life. Store in a clean dry place.

Vinegar is used for pickling, salad dressings and of course vinaigrette. See my previous post for more of the attributes of vinegar. I have yet to see a shelf life for vinegar and my bottle doesn't have a use by date so....I assume it is about the same as the other items today. Store in a cool dry place.

Survivial Saturday

An alternative to normal powdered milk

Check out this post on Prepared LDS Family. Click here. Both of these product are available on line as well. Mourning Moo here and Gossner milk here. I have heard Mourning Moo is pretty yummy. I have not heard about Gossner milk. Read all the comments on the post at Prepared LDS Family if you want to get some "hands on' advice.

Food Storage Friday

Powdered Milk

A year supply of powdered milk for 1 adult is 60lbs. When stored under ideal conditions powdered milk can be stored up to 20 years. For a great how-to on powdered milk storage go here. The LDS Provident living site also has a great guide on packaging options.

Want to know more about powdered milk? Including nutritional value and more recipe ideas? Go here

Where to purchase? I have bought mine from my local grocery store and most recently from the LDS Church Cannery. The cannery tends to be a cheaper plus if I go one our wards cannery day I can get it canned in #10 cans. You can check out cannery prices here. If you would like to know where your nearest LDS cannery is go here. Please remember you do NOT have to be LDS to access this wonderful resource!!

I know this post is short but the links posted are perfect and well I have no desire to improve on perfection.

Tasty Tuesday

Dry(powdered)Milk

Number 2 on our Bare-Bones Basic tour is dry milk. Don't cringe yet....LOL! I use this a lot in my cooking. It is a great place to start.

tvsinc.org has some great tips and recipes for using you dry milk.

Milk Gravy:

Milk Gravy
1 cup dry milk cups water

1 tablespoon margarine or butter

3 heaping tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt
Mix the water and dry milk together. Add the flour, salt, and pepper. Cook over medium heat until the gravy is thickened. Add the margarine or butter and stir until smooth.

You can then add sausage or hamburger to make a great gravy over rice, biscuits, or pasta!

This site also listed ways to make sweetened-condensed milk, evaporated milk, and buttermilk.

For some of you more adventurous types visit Mormonchic.com. She has everything from making your own sour cream to cheesecake. I am so happy that given dire circumstances I will know how to make sou cream! I will survive!!

Tasty Tuesday

Rice

In keeping with our Bare-Bones Basics theme I went with rice.

I found a recipe site dedicated to rice. Ricerecipes.org. Is that not just AWESOME!!!

One of my favorite childhood meals was rice with raisins. I LOVED it. It wasn't until many many years later I found out that my mom only made it because we had nothing else. To this day I don't care it is comforting and delicious.

Recipe courtesy of HillBillyHousewife.com

Ingredients:
2 cups leftover cooked rice
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon margarine
1/4 cup raisins or dates (optional)
dash salt
dash cinnamon

Directions:
In a medium sized saucepan combine the rice, milk, margarine, raisins or dates and salt. Add the raisins too, if you are using them. Stir the mixture over medium heat until it is heated through, and the margarine is melted. Simmer for a minute or two to thicken. Serve immediately, while it is hot.
This recipe is a great way to reheat leftover rice, especially if you don’t have a microwave. The rice will absorb some of the milk as it heats. If you like, you can pass a pitcher of cold milk or cream at the table to thin it out some. This recipe will serve 4 moderately hungry people, or 2 starving adults. It is easily doubled for more servings.

And in case you need a drink made from rice may I suggest:

Horchata( a Mexican incredibly wonderful beverage)I haven't had this since living in AZ. Oh SO YUMMY!!!!!!!

Thank you Ladies @ Every Day Food Storage

Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked white long-grain rice
5 cups water1/2 cup milk (1 1/2 T. powdered milk + 1/2 Water)
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2/3 cup white sugar

DIRECTIONS: Pour the rice and water into the bowl of a blender; blend until the rice just begins to break up, about 1 minute. Let rice and water stand at room temperature for a minimum of 3 hours. Strain the rice water into a pitcher and discard the rice. Stir the milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and sugar into the rice water. Chill and stir before serving over ice.

Food Storage Friday

Barest of Bare-Bones Basics

(or pantry must haves)

The gist of this post is taken from the book Preparedness Principles by Barbara Salsbury.Chapter 8 is dedicated to Bare-Bones Basics. Here is her list:

• Wheat and other grains
• pasta
• Cornmeal
• Tapioca
• Beans
• Legumes
• Beans
• Lentils
• Dry milk
• Sugar or Honey
• Salt
• Cooking oil/fats
• Chemical leaveners
• Yeast
• Baking powder
• Baking soda
• Spices/seasonings
• Bouillon/soup base
• Attitude

Over the next few weeks Food Storage Friday and Tasty Tuesday will be focusing on one or more of these each week.