When it comes to children, food storage for Christmas (FSFC) is never a substitution for gifts they would normally be getting. No child is going to want gumballs or Oreos or Snickers in place of Legos. But FSFC is a way to help teach children about preparing in a way they can more easily relate to. They have their candy, cereal, and other treats, and they have complete control over it. They're in charge of making it last. Some children are going to go through it quickly. That's only natural and shouldn't be a reason for disappointment on your part. And some learn to make it last. And you don't necessarily need to give all the children all the exact same items. They can get different things and learn to barter.
Pretty much, I think it works. What's odd though, is sometimes the children forget about it. I think it's happened twice over the past ten years. (We don't do FSFC every year.) And in the process of getting ready to move, I came across one of those boxes.
Ellie had misplaced hers. It's easy to do when food is abundant and food storage is everywhere, including under everybody's beds. And so much is going on at Christmas, with family coming and going, lots of movies and late nights, sledding, extra time with family, etc. Ellie's box was from December 2013. [This post was originally written in 2019.]
She had quart jars of the following items:
- Candy--M&Ms, Snickers, Butterfingers, Three Musketeers, Tootsie Pops
- Trader Joe's Oreo-type cookies
- Mouse turds
- Corn flakes
- Rice Chex
- Rice Krispies
- Pretzels
- French fries
- Dried cranberries
- Dried pineapple
- Homemade beef jerky
First off, two seals failed--one on the Trader Joe's cookies and another on one of the two jars of candy. I will occasionally re-use canning lids that look like they're in good condition for vacuum sealing. These two failed seals were from re-used lids.
Candy. Peanut M&Ms--good. I ate the whole little bag. I couldn't quite call them fresh-tasting, but they were definitely good enough. Queen of the Picky Eaters (QOTPE) said the candy all tasted off. Nobody else had any problems and it all disappeared quickly. The toffee in the Heath bar went kind of soft.
The Trader Joe's cookies were bad. Based on the smell, I wasn't even going to taste them.
Mouse turds. OK, they're not actually mouse turds. Someone said they're what Dairy Queen uses to make some of their Blizzard shakes, or something like that. They're chocolate cookie bits that happen to look a lot like mouse turds. My friend got like fifty pounds of them about eight years ago and gave me half, which I shared with a prepper friend and vacuum-sealed for my family. I came across what I thought was the last jar last year, and it was still every bit as fresh as the day we packed it. After my son's wedding in June, I was finally able to open this jar and test it as well. Perfect. More than perfect. I went looking for a way to buy more online, but couldn't find them. I'll have to visit Dairy Queen and see if I can get some that way.
Corn flakes. They were the same as they were six years ago. They're better with sugar and fresh or freeze-dried strawberries and milk.
Rice Krispies. I made Rice Krispie treats with these. They were gone in an hour.
Rice Chex. QOTPE said there was an off smell to them. She made some Chex Muddy Buddies with them, and they were gone instantly. No one else could detect anything wrong with the Chex.
Pretzels. Just like from a freshly opened bag.
French fries. I pressure can potatoes that have been cut for making French fries. Anyway, no problem with these. These French fries are fabulous.
Dried cranberries. These got a bit hard. And they somehow looked like the sugars had crystallized. They didn't look all that appetizing. They just looked kind of old. I think all of that can be attributed to the fact that these cranberries didn't have any oil added to them. (A lot of dried cranberries do have some oil added to them to keep them looking pretty and chewy. But that oil also can go rancid. Not tasty.) Anyway, these cranberries were ok.
Pineapple. It turned a bit brown but tasted fine.
Homemade beef jerky (only salt and pepper added). This was a bit off. QOTPE couldn't eat it. It wouldn't be my first choice in looking for a snack food, but it wouldn't be the last, either.
Like I said above, we've done FSFC a few times. While there was one other occasion where a child forgot about his box, this is the only time it was totally forgotten about. I wouldn't recommend storing any of these foods for five years; as QOTPE noted, some things didn't taste right. But I thought everything should be tried, because truth be told, there may come a time when we're relegated to eating old food. Well, we're preppers, so maybe not. But other people might be.
If I were doing FSFC for younger children, I'd definitely throw in more treats--more sugar cereal, more gumballs, more candy. I might use pint jars instead of quarts. Tailor it for the recipient. Whatever you do, don't put powdered milk in unless you're the Grinch. It won't go over well.
Links to related posts:
Food Storage for Christmas
Canning Candy
Beef Jerky
Dehydrating Pineapple
French Fries
Vacuum-Sealed Breakfast Cereal
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Old school best practice for dried fruits that are too dry is to rehydrate them and use in baking. Back in the day, in brandy before Temperance & in tea after-- both work fine, but so does just simmering in a bit of plain water.
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