Hi Everyone,
NOTES:
* Have you considered buying or making a solar oven? Check out this guy’s 13-minute video about the different kinds of solar cookers. Review of Best Solar Cookers and Ovens – YouTube.
* Kris also did a more detailed review of the All American Sun Oven Solar Cooker
* Speaking of sun ovens, my daughter’s electricity was turned off on THANKSGIVING day and she was left wondering how she was going to cook her turkey. I suggested a slow and low BBQ, but they were out of propane. Luckily they found some and the turkey was a success. The MORAL of this story – BE PREPARED. Don’t be caught. Fill your propane tanks THIS week. If you don’t have a BBQ, think about how you would cook without electricity and make plans to fix this situation.
* I don’t usually include recipes in this section of the blog, but this is not really a recipe from food storage. Mostly it’s a recipe to use my leftover mashed potatoes that I made WAY too much of for Thanksgiving.
5 slices bacon. Cook, set aside, keep the drippings.
Mix: 4 c. cold mashed potatoes, 2 well-beaten eggs, 1/2 tsp onion powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper. Stir in the crumbled bacon and 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese.
Form 8 patties and fry in the bacon drippings until crisp on each side (about 4 min per side)
LONG TERM FOCUS: Powdered Sugar
When my kids were little, I put powdered sugar on their french toast. Now, it’s a little TOO sweet for me. But I use powdered sugar to frost cookies, and for Texas sheet cake, and a few other
things. A professional cook told me once that he adds a small amount of powdered sugar to his Krusteaz pancake mix. Sneaky. But it IS really good! It’s on sale this time of year (only about $.70 a pound at Winco). Just stock up. Four or five 2-pound bags will probably last you at least 6 months if not the whole year.
SHORT TERM FOCUS: Bandaids & Antibiotic Cream
I decided to dehydrate one of those really BIG bags of carrots (20-25 pounds??? for $6) I peeled, then sliced on the mandolin slicer. Mine is pretty basic. But I lost the protective slicer part that protects your fingers. And, of course, I thought I would just be extra careful. But I cut a big slice in my right-hand ring finger. That was 5 days ago, and even though I’ve tried to keep it covered with Neosporin and a bandaid, it still hurts a little and bleeds all over again if I bump it. At least it’s not infected. Which is my point exactly. If we are on our own for any length of time, we will need to be cautious about infections. Just get some antibiotic cream and a box of bandaids next time you go shopping. Then put some of those bandaids in your 72-hour kit (and maybe another tube of cream).
MISCELLANEOUS FOCUS: Scotch Broth
I’ve seen two recipes in the past day or so that are very similar. They are for a “soup” called Scotch Broth. It is a bean and rice stew. The ingredients are easy to buy and store. The LARGE amounts will make enough to feed 4 people for 6 months (one meal a day). The SMALL amount will fill 1-quart jar. It will make one meal for a family. Beans and rice make a full protein, so it is very nutritious. The thing that caught my eye was that I could put them in 1 quart Mylar bags and give them as gifts. For my kids, I can make up several Mylar Bags and know they will have food in an emergency.
LARGE AMOUNTS:
25 lb. barley
25 lb. lentils
25 lb. kidney beans
6 lb. green split peas
6 lb. garbanzo beans
Mix together.
100 lb. rice – Store separately.
To make, boil 6-7 cups water and add the beans. Simmer till ready (about 1 1/2 hours). Then add 1 c. rice and continue to cook another 20 minutes. OR cook rice separately in 2 c. water, and serve the beans over the rice.
SMALL AMOUNTS:
1/3 c. kidney beans
1 c. barley
1/2 c. lentils
3 TB. green split peas
Mix and put in a 1-quart jar.
1 tsp bouillon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 TB onions
1/2 TB dehydrated celery
1/2 tsp tarragon
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
Mix and put in a small snack baggie in the jar.
1- 1 1/2 c. rice – Put in a small sandwich bag and add to the jar.
Vacuum seal the jar or add 1 oxygen absorber.
A 1 quart Mylar bag will work just as well.
The nice thing about this soup is that you can add fresh or dehydrated vegetables, or meat to make it more hearty.
FOOD STORAGE RECIPES
Thank you to Megan Smith for all the wonderful information on her website. My Food Storage Cookbook – Tried and Tested Food Storage Recipes.
* Here is a downloadable collection of Food Storage Recipes
On her homepage, there is a video for a “Wonder Oven”. It’s a thermal “pillow” kind of thing that will allow your food to continue cooking even though it is not using energy. Thermal Cookers are the same idea. Kris demos this cooker in his video 12 Ways to Cook After a Disaster, and there is a link to the WonderBag there if you’re interested.
* Homemade Clam Chowder Quick Pantry Clam Chowder – My Food Storage Cookbook
I can’t wait to explore more recipes, but this one for Clam Chowder looks good. I’ve never made clam chowder from scratch but might try this one.
* Make your own Hamburger Helper using food storage. The advantage to this is you control the ingredients. There is nothing you can’t pronounce. No preservatives or chemicals. Homemade Hamburger Helper: 9 varieties – My Food Storage Cookbook
* Make a fancy dinner, worthy of company.
Chicken Cacciatore with Herbed Polenta – My Food Storage Cookbook
Seriously, scroll down and check out the pictures. It looks delicious!
Look for something to store this week.
Marti
Greetings from New Zealand.
I used to buy those packets of premade soup mixes – split pea, hearty veg, minestrone (those are the only 3 flavours we get).They are handy to have, and you just add water, but can add extra veg, and meat if you want.
Eventually though, I realized that I could easily put that type of thing together myself, and have a much better variety to boot. Since winter is the only time I eat that kind of thing, now every summer I put together enough to see me through winter with a few extra. Everything from 3 bean chili, to lentil curry, to country soup. I have about 10 different recipes, and I make a few of each, and put a list of extras I need in with the mix (e.g. tinned tomatoes, etc.). Not only does it make getting a meal together really easy, but it really helps with storing enough of everything (and not going overboard on other things). I don’t go to the pantry in the dead of winter and find I didn’t get enough of one or more types of beans, but have too much of another and that is all I have to work with, or find I have run out of bouillon. I know exactly how many tins of tomatoes I need to make up the soups and stews, so can make sure I have enough for that plus other things I may want to do. I know to get a couple tins of this or that, stuff I wouldn’t normally have in my storage pantry. I live on my own, am in a flat, and am on a very limited budget, so have to be judicious about what and how much I store. Making my own premade mixes for chilis, soups, risottos, etc. really helps.
I’ve run out of food storage space! Tiny apartment.