Marti’s Corner – 58

Hi Everyone,

NOTES:

*  I think we are all in shock over the price of gasoline.  If this keeps up, we’ll look like this dropping our kids off at school:  

Have you wondered about storing gasoline?  Here is a pdf  How Long Does Gas Last in a Can.  The article says 3 months, but Craig and I store ours for 6 months and rotate every April and October.

*  I thought I posted this before, but I’ll share again, here are the locations to buy food at Home Storage Centers.  You do NOT have to be a member of the church to shop there.  They have food in #10 cans.  There are various locations all over the United States.  Check times and addresses here: Home Storage Center Locations

LONG TERM FOCUS: Rice

How long will rice last?  Almost indefinitely, if the critters can be kept out.  How To Store Rice.  Brown rice will NOT last as long and will go rancid after 6-12 months, depending on heat and light.  

I read a note from a woman who had mice chew through her plastic buckets AND the mylar bags.  She lived on a farm, and mice were a part of her life.  For most of us, we don’t live in quite that situation, but for her, probably metal cans with tight lids will be the only thing that can guarantee her food.  One reader mentioned that her mother has to deal with raccoons that can lids off metal cans, so she needs to type with “locking” lids.  You can buy food-grade buckets at Winco’s.  I’m pretty sure you can store food in the Lowe’s buckets as well.  Check the code on the bottom of the bucket.  If the recycling code is 1, 2, 4, or 5, it is safe to store food in.  

The nice thing about rice is that you don’t have to throw away the leftovers.  When I was a poor college student, a friend invited me to her house to spend the night.  For breakfast, her mom served cold, leftover rice, with brown sugar and milk.  Needless to say, I had never heard of such a thing, but I had to admit it was pretty good!  I looked online for recipes that use leftover rice and actually found a few good sites:  24 Simple Leftover Rice Recipes – Insanely Good, and 25 Easy Leftover Rice Recipes – The Kitchen Community.

SHORT TERM FOCUS: (WH)(M)eat

As promised, here is a pdf (Making Gluten as a Meat Substitute) about making a meat substitute out of wheat.  Here is the book this information came from.  Her book has many, many recipes for using gluten as a meat substitute and in other recipes.  The Gluten Book.

I’m not saying you need to learn how to do this.  Back in the ’70s, we didn’t have the option of freeze-dried foods or canned chicken.  But it IS an option if canning meat or purchasing meat is not in your budget – AND you just happen to have an overabundance of wheat stored.

72-HOUR FOCUS: Band-Aids & Antibiotic Cream

Band-aids don’t last forever.  They get “unsticky”.  It helps to have 1 box with varying sizes and 1 box of knuckle and fingertip bandaids.  I keep the Neosporin or whatever cream is on sale right in the bandaid box.  I bought a box of little individual packets of antibacterial cream once and put them in our 72-hour kits.  I think it was a box of 100 packets, so I had plenty left over to make first aid kits for Christmas.  (Wouldn’t your kids be excited to get THAT???) LOL.

72-HOUR KIT FOCUS: First Aid Kits

First Aid Kits (FAK).  Consider adding Tylenol, Pepto Bismol (tablets), Benadryl, Tums, or other medicines that

you ALREADY have in your medicine chest to your FAK.  

MISC FOCUS: Sunscreen

Consider adding sunscreen to your car emergency kit.  Sunscreen DOES expire, so a new bottle now and then is a good investment.  You just need something small.  And, depending on where you live, you might want to put in some insect repellant (we ALWAYS had a can in the car when we were in Indiana!!!)

FOOD STORAGE RECIPES

Chicken Tetrazzini over rice

2 1/2 lb. chicken (2-3 cans or 2 pints)
2   4 1/2-oz mars of mushrooms (or dehydrated mushrooms)
1 16-oz jar Alfredo sauce
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp nutmeg
  Simmer 30-40 min to let flavors blend.
Serve over rice.

Top with grated Parmesan cheese if desired.

Beef, Lentil, and Pasta Soup

(I just made this last week.  It’s from Meals In a Jar and was really good.  I bought everything at Winco in very small amounts.  It made a big pot, so I froze the leftovers in two-serving packets.)

1/4 c. uncooked split peas
2 1/2 TB beef bouillon crystals
1/4 c. pearl barley
1/4 c. uncooked lentils
2 TB dehydrated onion flakes
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 c. uncooked long-grain white rice
1 c. freeze-dried beef, sausage, or TVP (I used 1 jar canned ground beef)
1 bay leaf
1/2 c. uncooked alphabet pasta (Look in the Hispanic section and you’ll find these in little 6 oz. packages)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato paste

In a large pot, add beef and all the liquid with it.  Add the diced tomatoes, tomato paste, soup mix (except the pasta), and 6 c. water.  Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer.  Cover and cook for 45 min.  Stir in the pasta, cover, and simmer 15-20 min more until the pasta, peas, lentils, and barley are tender.  Remove the bay leaf and serve.

Rice Pudding
From “The Cannery” cookbook

3 eggs, beaten
6 TB sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 TB honey
1/2 tsp nutmeg

      Mix well.  Add…

1/2 tsp vanilla
1 c. milk (1/3 c. non-fat dry milk and 1 c. water)
3/4 c. evaporated milk (2/3 c. nonfat dry milk and 3/4 c. water)
1 1/2 c. cooked rice
1/2 c. raisins (optional)

Place in a 2-quart casserole dish.  Bake 325˚ for 45 min.  Stir after 25 min.

Please, please get food for your peace of mind.

Marti