 |
| Chicken broth from my food storage, used in the Rice-A-Roni make a mix listed below in the message. |
“When we really get into hard times, where food is scarce or there is none at all, and so with clothing and shelter, money may be no good for there may be nothing to buy, and you cannot eat money, you cannot get enough of it together to burn to keep warm, and you cannot wear it. You can’t eat money, but you can eat your three-month supply of food – IF YOU HAVE IT AND KNOW HOW TO USE IT." President J. Reuben Clark (Church News, 1953)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGV0Z8mPGgM&feature=youtu.be&hd=1 - worth watching. While watching this I was reminded of the floods of '93.
Here in Iowa we went to church that Sunday knowing it would be bad. We had sacrament meeting and we were all excused to go fill sandbags. Also, when Woodward had the November tornado, we worked with other churches and helped clean up. And the youth would walk in a line in the fields to pick up anything they could find, pictures... anything.
Things happen everywhere. Disaster can happen everywhere. If we are prepared, we are more able to help others, so get cracking on your storage! Often it strikes unexpectedly. It never happens when it is convenient. We must not wait!
If you have been following the blog you know I have been doing make-ahead mixes of some of our recipes that we have already liked. I measure the dry ingredients into pint jars. If you are making one batch for supper and are getting out the ingredients, you might as well measure out more for future meals. It is very little work and helps to have on hand ready to make.
I have been sick for a month with a stomach bug only to get better long enough to do the kitchen face-lift and then to go down again for three weeks with a head cold. Not fun at all. Many times I put my head on the counter while fixing our meals, wishing I had things like this for ready to make meals. I had things ahead but those were way too long and I ran out of my casseroles in the freezer so this is a wonderful solution.
I have other things I want to try before I do this to see if we like them first.
Today I made seven pints of Rice-A-Roni. This I have made many times but I decided to do it in pints.
Rice-A-Roni
In the pint jar I put one cup of rice (regular, uncooked)
Then I put ¼ tsp garlic, dry of course
In a piece of plastic wrap I put ¼ c. vermicelli, wrapped it in the wrap and set it on top. Put on the lids and write the directions on it to fix this.
Brown the vermicelli in a fourth c. butter. Once browned, add rest of jar ingredients with a can of chicken broth and fill that can with water and add it… that is it, simmer for 20-25 minutes and serve, yum!
It is nice to use my empty jars for this good cause.
Much like from a box, but way cheaper and tastes better. I suppose you could use baggies but I had empty jars. They will keep long but if I needed longer I could vacuum seal them. But I have seen baggies used as well, then use a box to keep them organized.
I just think with gardening on its way and kids home for summer, we need all the help we can get. I was able to make these without a trip to the store as they are things we already eat so I store the ingredients.
This has been a frugal thing to do. Think about the store aisles, there are mixes for everything... muffin mixes, cake mixes, snack cake mixes and tons more. But you can have your own family favorites made in a mix ready to make a quick snack, breakfast, etc. You will thank yourself in the future for making these now. And remember if you are getting out to do it anyway, just measure several with the dry ingredients. Also, write on the bags or jars what to add so you don’t even have to stop to look up the recipe.
How are you coming with your storage?? Are you watching your sale flyers? The time of this writing peanut butter is on sale, good time to stock up get a few ahead. Use the coupons also, even if it is a limit of one you saved money and added to your storage.
Have you been trying new recipes? Be mindful of storage when trying those out. For example, what are the ingredients? Are they things you can store? Or are they frozen things? Always be on the look out for food storage recipes, these don’t have to be awful and punishing…
Like my green bean casserole for example, missionaries always want the recipe and since it freezes well I make two and freeze one. It calls for hamburger and we always seem to have leftover taco meat so I make it into this casserole, gives it a great variety…
Green Bean Casserole - my food storage friendly recipe for sure
Brown and drain your hamburger, or use leftover taco meat (how is hamburger food storage? I can meats) so I could be spoiled by using my canned hamburger and skip the browning step as it is cooked from pressure canning already. Our little market in town has pints of canned meats from the Amish - $7 for a pint, ouch! Much cheaper to make your own, each pint holds about a lb.
To the hamburger you add a can of tomato soup and a can of drained green beans and a tbsp. of dried onion, mix this together and top with mashed potatoes, either leftover or I use potato purls or any instant potato that you store, you can put it in plops on top or spread it over all and I will sometimes add cheese. Bake at 350 degrees till golden about half an hour. You would need to double for larger families.
So if you stored to make this and did not can meat yet you need to keep in the freezer, outside of that you store green beans, tomato soup and dehydrated onions and instant potatoes... but you should not forget water as well in storage, but in a pinch you could use the liquid off the beans to make up potatoes.
So let's say you have this once a month for three months you would need to store:
Three lb pkgs of hamburger in freezer or three pints canned
Three cans tomato soup
Three tbsps. of dry onion
Three cans green beans
Instant potatoes, one large box or three little ones
This would be more for larger families
So for a year take all and multiply by twelve.
See? Food storage isn’t so hard.
Easy to store ingredients and tastes soooo good, how could this be punishing?
So I encourage you to go through your recipe files, see what recipes you already use that could be made food storage friendly and start storing those things. This is simple math. There are many wonderful recipes out there so keep the old favorites and build by trying something new.
When you have to rely solely on your storage you don’t want everyone turning up their noses because it is new. No, you want to pull out recipes you have been doing all along plus some homemade bread and cake from scratch…
Build your skills, they build on each other.
www.dealstomealsblog.com/2011/11/fluffy-potato-rolls.html - these would be fun to do with kids.
http://pgward.org/ep/ - this shows on rice a good food storage item, keep scrolling down - a wealth of info.
http://myfoodstoragecookbook.com/recipe-index/ - many good recipes
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=food+storage+recipes&qpvt=food+storage+recipes&FORM=VDRE
Part one -
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=food+storage+recipes&qpvt=food+storage+recipes&view=detail&mid=A4D47BF2B7E4DEC221ACA4D47BF2B7E4DEC221AC&FORM=VRDGAR
Part two -
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=food+storage+recipes&qpvt=food+storage+recipes&view=detail&mid=CE0BE57CA1F00058C50DCE0BE57CA1F00058C50D&FORM=VRDGAR
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=food+storage+recipes&qpvt=food+storage+recipes&view=detail&mid=73DC11518223C0C46ED573DC11518223C0C46ED5&FORM=VRDGAR this isn’t eeeew food storage.
Keep working on your storage and your skills, easy peasy, right?
No comments:
Post a Comment