Basic Food Storage--English Muffins

I'm always on the lookout for recipes that utilize only food storage items and that can be prepared without electricity.  If they're easy, that's even better.
So when I ran across this recipe for English muffins, I was really intrigued.  Was it possible to make something that actually tasted like an English muffin, that used only food storage, that didn't require electricity, and that was also simple?

I'm happy to report that the answer to all of the above questions is a resounding YES!

English Muffins

3 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 3/4 cups lukewarm water

In a glass or plastic bowl, combine all the ingredients and stir just until moistened.  Do not mix or knead.  Cover with lid or plastic wrap and leave it on the counter to rise 2-18 hours.

Sprinkle work area generously with flour and with floured hands pat dough out to 3/4" thickness.  Using a glass or a cookie cutter, cut out muffins and dip each side in cornmeal.  Let rise 20 minutes.

Set the temperature of an electric pancake griddle to 300°F.  Place the muffins on the ungreased griddle and cook/bake for 15 minutes on each side.  Check muffins frequently to prevent burning. 

One of the great advantages of this recipe is that it can be prepared over a camp stove or a fire.  (However, first try these indoors on an electric griddle.  Then when you are cooking outdoors, you will have an idea of how to adjust your cooking temperatures.) Place muffins on a pancake griddle to rise for 20 minutes.  Then place the griddle on a camp stove set on medium-low or over a low fire and cook/bake for 15 minutes on each side. 

© 2019, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com  

08.06.21

Basic Food Storage: Wheat

Wheat:  It's what's for (breakfast, lunch, and) dinner (and dessert).  (Did that remind you of those "Beef:  It's What's for Dinner" ads from 25-ish years ago?)

We're supposed to eat what we store, and store what we eat, so in the US we store wheat.  It's the main staple of staples in an American diet.  Why is that?  (Besides the fact that it is in almost everything we eat.)  Well, it's got a great shelf-life, like 25-30 years at least, when properly stored.  And wheat and milk combine to provide all the essential amino acids, the building blocks of protein.   (Current research results suggest that wheat and milk only need to be eaten within the same day to make that protein, not in the same meal as was previously believed.)

The four primary types of wheat used in the US are:

Hard Red:  It's what Americans, Europeans, Canadians, etc., have been eating for centuries.  It's all that was available until about twenty years ago.  It's an acid-based grain, which is what causes some people digestive problems.  The flour from hard red wheat is slightly darker and slightly more bitter than flour from hard white wheat.  It is also very slightly more nutritious. 

Hard White:  This was developed by crossing soft white and hard red wheat and selecting for the desirable traits of each.  Because it is an alkaline-based grain, it causes fewer digestive problems in susceptible individuals.  The flour bakes into delightfully light loaves of 100% whole wheat bread, cornbread, and cinnamon rolls.  It makes extremely tasty cookies.  And you can use less sugar or honey than 100% whole wheat recipes normally call for because it lacks the bitterness of hard red wheat.

Soft white wheat has a shorter shelf life due to its higher moisture content. It is prized for pastries, pasta, cakes, and crackers.  Yeah, I have some.  I think it's about eight years old now.  Wonder if it's any good?

Durum wheat is most often used for making pasta.  I've never stored it.  For years I had a pasta maker in the garage because I told myself I'd make homemade noodles (from white flour) when the commercially produced noodles ran out.  A few years ago I decided it was easier just to buy more pasta and ditch the pasta maker.

Wheat is, no question, the most versatile grain. Not only can it be milled into flour, but the berries can be cooked into a cereal, boiled and used to extend hamburger, or sprouted to provide a vitamin C source when there are no other options (or pine needle tea just wouldn't be the proper complement to your dinner).

Whole wheat flour should be used right after milling or stored in the freezer until ready to use. 

Sprouted wheat contains small amounts of vitamins A, B, C, and E not found in whole grain bread.  How to sprout wheat will be the subject of a future post.

White flour (which has had the bran, the oils, and most of the nutrients removed) has a shelf life of 1-2 years. I used to store only 25-50 lbs, just enough to keep my pie-making, blue-ribbon-winning-at-the-state-fair daughter happy.  But my number one son has developed gastroparesis, a condition which makes digesting fiber difficult, so I've started storing more white flour just for him. 

Gluten, which comes from wheat, gives bread a little more protein and provides a better texture.  It also helps dough to rise better.  I usually buy a case or two at a time from Honeyville Grain.

What if you don't have a grain mill?  Should you still consider storing whole wheat berries?  The answer, of course, is a resounding "Yes!"

I've come up with at least eight reasons to store it, even if you don't have a grinder.  Do you have any others?

--It is still very economical (though prices seem to be increasing daily--grrrr)
--It has a heckuva long shelf life
--You may be able to grind your wheat with someone else's grinder
--You can still make food with it, even without a wheat grinder
--You can easily make vinegar with it (future blog post)
--If you don't want it, you have it to trade with someone else
--You can sprout wheat for vitamins and minerals
--You can sprout it to make fodder for your small livestock (rabbits and chickens and maybe goats or sheep in a pinch.  It becomes a little cumbersome to do this for cows.  Just sayin'.)

Crystal and Debbie of StoreThisNotThat.com do a fabulous job of sharing fantastic family-style cooking using food storage.  I like to browse their site every once in a while to get ideas.  One of our family's favorites is their blender wheat pumpkin waffles.  They are out of this world awesome.   I always double this recipe for my family of seven.

Pumpkin Blender Wheat Waffles with Caramel Sauce

1 cup milk (3 tablespoons powdered milk and 1 cup water)
1 cup + 2 tablespoons wheat kernels, whole & uncooked
2 eggs (2 tablespoons powdered eggs and 1/4 cup water)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup oil

1/2 cup pureed, cooked pumpkin

1-1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
2 tablespoons sugar

Put milk and wheat kernels in blender. Blend on highest speed for 4 or 5 minutes or until batter is smooth. Add eggs, oil, baking powder, salt, pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice and sugar to above batter. Blend on low. Pour batter into hot prepared waffle iron and cook.

Caramel Syrup

3/4 cup butter

1-1/2 cups sugar

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

3/4 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 tsp vanilla

Combine ingredients in a large pan (it gets frothy so make sure and use a large enough pan so it doesn’t spill over). Stirring constantly, heat sauce until boiling and then boil for 5 minutes.

Obviously, this recipe calls for far more than the basic staples of food storage, but it shows that you don't have to have a grain mill to be able to use whole wheat to feed your family well.

Links to related posts:
Wheat--Using the Whole Berries
Cracked Wheat
Sprouted Wheat


© 2019, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com  02.26.21  4.02.21

Perfect Prepper Pasta--Couscous

Many, many moons ago, when I lived in the Russian house at BYU, as part of the "curriculum" of living in the house, we ate dinner together each evening, speaking in Russian the whole time with our conversation teacher.  And we also had to take turns preparing those meals.  Making dinner for twelve people each week was a little intimidating, especially since I wanted it to actually taste good and be able to be prepared as quickly as possible.  I was lamenting to a fellow Russian student about my problem, and he suggested that I make couscous, a Moroccan pasta.  I had never even heard of it before that moment, so he had to explain it to me and how I might prepare it.

It's something I've prepared often ever since, and it is perfect prepper food.

What makes it so perfect?  For one, it's pasta; it's got a really long shelf life, like twenty years.  It cooks up just as fast as instant rice--just add to boiling water, cover, turn off the heat, and wait five minutes, then fluff.  However, unlike many other pasta shapes, it is very compact, just like large grains of sand.  It provides a change of pace from rice and other forms of pasta with its unique texture.  And it can be prepared in so many ways with so many flavors.  It can be a salad, side dish, or main course.  It works well for just-add-water instant meals.  What's not to love?

Lots of people are familiar with the little boxes of Near East couscous mixes with the big price tag.  They're pretty close to the Rice-A-Roni and macaroni and cheese boxes in the grocery store, most often on the top shelf.  If you've never tried couscous before, pick up a box and follow the directions to give it a try before buying a twenty-five-pound bag.

Here's the recipe I used with the Russian house students back then and most often with my family now.

Couscous with Sausage and Veggies

• Sausage stew (dehydrated vegetables work very well in this)
• 1 pound bulk pork sausage
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 3 cups water
• 3 beef bouillon cubes
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 1 medium zucchini, cut in half lengthwise and sliced
• 4 large tomatoes, diced (or a 15-ounce can of diced stewed tomatoes
• 2 stalks celery, sliced
• 1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• Couscous
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups couscous
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

In a large pot, brown the sausage, onions, and garlic.  Drain fat.  Add remaining ingredients.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, and cover.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender.  When the vegetables are just about done, in a separate pot with a lid, bring the water to a boil.  Add couscous and salt, cover, and remove from heat.  Let stand five minutes and fluff with fork.

To serve, place a large spoonful of couscous on the plate and top with the sausage and vegetables.


There are numerous recipes on the web for using couscous.  I like the following one BackpackingLight.com because it's a salad and it doesn't require cooking.  It's perfect for an instant meal in a bag.

Herbed Tomato Couscous Salad

• 1⁄2 cup couscous
• 1 tablespoon tomato powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Italian herbs
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon olive oil (1 packet)
• 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese (shelf-stable)
• 1/2 cup cool water

Put the couscous and seasonings into a pint-size freezer bag. Pack the Parmesan cheese and olive oil packet in a separate bag. To prepare, add the oil and water to the couscous and seasoning bag, stir well, and let sit for 10 minutes.  Stir again, and sprinkle on the Parmesan cheese.  This salad may be made in a hot version by using hot water.

There are zillions of ways to use couscous, and many more recipes will be posted here sooner or later.

Links to related posts:
Copycat Rice-a-Roni Mixes
Pasta


© 2019, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com   

7 april 2023

Spanish Rice

One of the best things about the internet is being able to find recipes for everything.  And so it was, about ten years ago, when I'd already spent a few years trying to wing it in the kitchen making my own Spanish rice.  And failing to some degree every time.  I finally set aside my pride and went to the internet.

And there it was.  The perfect recipe.  Easy.  Only five ingredients.  And it could be made entirely from food storage.  What's not to love?

And when you combine this recipe with previously posted recipes for tortillas, refried beans, and salsa, you have the basics of a Mexican dinner.  Throw in a little cheese (freeze-dried, or what you've been able to keep in a root cellar) and perhaps a garden salad, and you're set.  And just in time for Cinco de Mayo, though why that's important to celebrate in this country, I haven't yet quite figured out.

Spanish Rice
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons chopped onions (or 1 heaping teaspoon dehydrated onions reconstituted in 2 tablespoons water)
1 1/2 cups uncooked rice
2 cups chicken broth (or 2 teaspoons chicken bouillon in 2 cups water)
1 cup chunky salsa

Saute the onions in oil.  Add the rice and cook until lightly browned.  Add the broth and salsa and bring to a a boil.  Reduce heat; simmer 20 minutes, until liquid is absorbed.

Links to related posts:
Flour tortillas   
Refried beans   
Salsa   

© 2019, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com   

20 june 2024