Alfredo Sauce Entirely from Food Storage

A few months ago when I started into researching about other ways to use Magic Mix, I came across a recipe for Alfredo sauce.  I absolutely love a really good Alfredo sauce.   

Here's my recipe for a perfect Alfredo sauce.  You'll notice it's not very conducive to a societal collapse situation, unless you happen to have a dairy cow at your disposal.

Perfect Alfredo Sauce

• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 tablespoons cream cheese
• 1 pint heavy cream
• 1-2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 2/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
• dash nutmeg
• salt and pepper to taste

In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the butter and then whisk in the cream cheese.  Whisk in the heavy cream and garlic powder.  Simmer and stir frequently until the sauce thickens, about 10 minutes.  Stir in the cheese and nutmeg and add salt and pepper to taste, stirring until cheese is completely melted.  Serve over noodles.  

Every other Alfredo sauce recipe gets compared to this one.  

Here's the Magic Mix version of Alfredo sauce:

• 2/3 cup Magic Mix 
• 1 cup water 
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese 
• dash of salt, pepper, and nutmeg

Combine Magic Mix and water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir rapidly until it starts to bubble.  Reduce heat and stir in cheese and seasonings.  Serve over noodles.

For me, this was kind of a fail.  The taste was acceptable, but the texture wasn't so great.  No one's running to the sink to vomit, but no one wants to finish it, either.  It's just too starchy, and not really smooth and creamy like our grid-up and happy days sauce above.

So here's the next attempt at a long-term food storage Alfredo sauce.  It's pretty good, especially for being low-fat.

Long Term Food Storage Alfredo Sauce Using Yogurt

• 2 tablespoons butter (or coconut oil)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 1/4 cups homemade yogurt (using this recipe)
• 1/2-2/3 cup Parmesan cheese
• dash nutmeg
• salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over low heat.  Stir in garlic powder and yogurt, and then add in cheese and seasonings.  Serve over noodles.

Note:  It is very important to keep the heat low.  If the heat is too high (or your noodles are too hot when serving), the sauce will curdle.

This sauce comes together super quickly.  Much more importantly, it actually tastes pretty good.  I could serve this to friends and family without any embarrassment at all.  It's not at all starchy like the Magic Mix sauce above.  Yeah, you know you're missing out on the fat of a perfect Alfredo sauce, but  knowing that it's lower in fat makes up for it (a little bit).  What is super amazing to me is that this is all from what I consider long-term food storage ingredients.  The yogurt is all food storage, Parmesan cheese can be stored at room temperature for at least a year, and coconut oil keeps for at least five years.

Give it a try, and adjust it to your tastes for your own perfect Alfredo sauce.

Links to related posts:
Making Thick, Creamy Yogurt
Magic Mix   

Alternative Medicine--Peppermint-Lavender-Rosemary Headache Balm

Disclaimer.  I am not a licensed health practitioner.  This is just another post on an item you might wish to have available if needed so that a physician can treat you and your family as best as possible.  No medication, including those available over the counter, should be taken without consulting a physician.  Information shared here is for educational and entertainment purposes only.  It is not medical advice nor a substitute for licensed medical care.  A qualified, licensed physician or other medical provider should be consulted before beginning any herbal or conventional treatment.

A lot of what I wish to learn about, and then eventually write about (if it's something that actually works), is what alternative medicine and remedies we will need to have for when there is no more conventional medicine--what can individuals do when there is no more insulin, no more thyroid medication, no surgery for appendicitis, no antibiotics.

But I also look at alternative medicine from a preventative point of view and trying to avoid needing conventional treatments.  I have two children who get ulcers, so they need to avoid taking aspirin whenever possible.  And I have a daughter who gets excruciating headaches, but they don't quite qualify as migraines.  Unfortunately, her supplies of sumatriptan and amitriptylline are limited, and building a TEOTWAWKI-type stockpile hasn't gone well, so those meds need to be conserved as much as possible.  She is fortunate in that if she takes something early, she can nip the headache in the bud and prevent a full-blown monster from ruining her day.  But because two of her siblings are susceptible to ulcers, it's probably a good idea for her to avoid aspirin as well, even though it works beautifully, especially when combined with caffeine and acetaminophen (like in Vanquish or Excedrin Extra Strength).

So it's a situation where we are turning to essential oils to help her.  Some essential oils can be irritating if applied directly to the skin, so they need to be diluted in a carrier oil.  Because Becky is in school all day, she needs something she can carry easily with her and that isn't going to make a mess in her bag if it gets too warm.  Some people like using little metal lip balm tins; I prefer the plastic lip balm tubes.  I think they're a little more leak-proof, just in case the balm gets a little too warm and starts softening.

Peppermint-Lavender-Rosemary Headache Balm

1/4 cup coconut oil
1 teaspoon beeswax
18 drops peppermint essential oil
15 drops lavender essential oil
12 drops rosemary essential oil

Melt coconut oil and beeswax in a double boiler on the stove.  When the beeswax is completely dissolved in the coconut oil, remove from heat.  Stir in peppermint, lavender, and rosemary essential oils.  Carefully pour into lip balm tubes.

Apply to temples, forehead, and back of neck at the first sign of a headache.  

Note.  Beeswax is only used as a firming agent.  If you do not have beeswax, this balm can be made with just coconut oil, but it will have a much lower melting point.

Links to related posts:
Peppermint
Rosemary
Over-the-Counter Pain Relievers
Coconut Oil in Alternative Medicine
Coconut Oil in Cooking  

© 2019, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com 

Making Powdered Milk Taste Like Whole Milk

I've said this before:  One of the great blessings of writing this blog is that I get to learn something new also, sometimes.  In the course of researching a minor detail for something or other, I'll stumble across an idea I'd never even thought about, something that has to be tried and tested and shared, because it is just so fabulous.  Today was one of those days.

So I was researching how I could possibly make cream cheese from food storage items.  I've already made a couple of nasty things that failed to pass as cream cheese.  I was trying to figure out ways to make it work when I happened upon some suggestions for making nonfat powdered milk taste like whole milk.  Oh, yeah, this is something I think a lot of us could get behind.  

I previously presented suggestions for adding vanilla extract and sugar to dry milk powder to improve the taste.  And it really works for a lot of people.  However, the suggestions below take powdered milk to a whole new level.  And we're going to boost the bioavailability of the vitamins at the same time.  Cool, huh?

What's missing from nonfat milk is the fat, right?  Fat and oil are pretty close chemically, and it is oil that we're going to add to the reconstituted powdered milk to increase the fat in the milk, improve the mouth feel, and increase the bioavailability of the vitamins.  However, as everyone is thinking right now, oil and water(y milk) don't mix.  Which is absolutely true.  If we added oil to our milk and shook it up, the oil and milk would separate almost immediately.  

The workaround here is to make an emulsion.  Eggs are a common emulsifying agent, letting us combine ingredients that normally do not mix.  In this case, the emulsifying agent is letting us add some richness back into substantially lacking nonfat milk.

Eggs are usually cooked with whatever they are emulsifying, so there is no concern about salmonella poisoning.  However, we're not cooking the milk and eggs here.  Fortunately, we can use powdered eggs.  (Be sure that your powdered eggs are pasteurized.  Not all powdered eggs are.)

What if you don't have powdered eggs, or your powdered eggs aren't pasteurized?  Never fear.  Soy lecithin substitutes very well for the egg in a 1:1 ratio.  Oh, you don't have that, either?  You're not out of luck yet.  Honey also works, and some say it tastes a little better, too.  The quantities of each ingredient to produce milk with the desired fat content are in the table below.  Remember, you are using only egg powder or honey, not both.  As for the oil, canola and safflower and sunflower are often used.  I used liquid coconut oil this morning, because that's what I had on hand.  Basically, you want as neutral-tasting an oil as possible.  (Regular coconut oil won't work here, unless you are using the milk warmed or cooked.  It solidifies at 76 degrees Fahrenheit, making little oil lumps in the milk.  Not tasty.)  The directions for mixing it up will follow the table.

Fat Content	Milk quantity desired/amount of water to use	Egg Powder	Honey	Dry milk powder	Oil
1%	Cup	1/16 teaspoon	1/4 teaspoon	1/4-1/3 cup	1/2 teaspoon
	Quart	1/4 teaspoon	1 teaspoon	1 – 1 1/3 cups	2 teaspoons
	Gallon	1 teaspoon	4 teaspoons	4 – 5 1/3 cups	2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons
2%	Cup	1/8 teaspoon	1/2 teaspoon	1/4-1/3 cup	1 teaspoon
	Quart	1/2 teaspoon	2 teaspoons	1 – 1 1/3 cups	4 teaspoons
	Gallon	2 teaspoons	2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons	4 – 5 1/3 cups	1/3 cup
Whole (3.5-4%)	Cup	1/4 teaspoon	1 teaspoon	1/4-1/3 cup	2 teaspoons
	Quart	1 teaspoon	4 teaspoons	1 – 1 1/3 cups	2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons
	Gallon	4 teaspoons	1/3 cup	4 – 5 1/3 cups	2/3 cup

In your bottle or shaker or blender, whatever you're using to mix your milk, pour in your reconstituted milk and then add the egg powder OR honey, not both.  Blend or shake until well dissolved.  Then add in the oil and shake/blend vigorously for 3 minutes.  Like cream in unhomogenized milk, the fats in the milk will eventually rise to the top.  Just give your milk a quick shake before you pour.   The more thoroughly mixed, the slower the milk and oil will be to separate. 

I tested six different combinations on the hubby and kids this weekend.

A.  Provident Pantry (Emergency Essentials), instant nonfat milk powder, about 12 years old now

B.  Home Storage Center (HSC), non-instant nonfat milk powder, about 2 years old

(All of the following were made with the same HSC milk powder used in B above.)

C. Eggs and coconut oil

D.  Honey and coconut oil

E.  Extra milk powder (25% more)

F.  Sugar and almond extract (1 teaspoon sugar and 1/2 teaspoon extract per quart) 

 

The clear loser this time was the Provident Pantry milk, which really surprised me.  It placed much higher in previous tests with the family and others, but those were a few years back now, and the milk is apparently getting older.   Anyway, that's my best guess for why it didn't fare so well.

 

The rest of the results showed a wide range of preferences.  Seven people participated in this taste test and the milk samples were ranked from 0 to 4.  The kids all said that whole milk from the store was the gold standard and would rate a 5.  Nothing merited a 5 according to them.  Jared, who drinks at least a gallon of whole milk per week now that he's married (it was at least two gallons at home before marriage--Belle put him on a diet), said nothing merited even a 4.  The rest of the family is less discriminating.  

 

Here are the numbers:

A.  Provident Pantry                     2

B.  Home Storage Center            13    

C.  Eggs and coconut oil             19

D.  Honey and coconut oil          14

E.  Extra milk powder                 22

F.  Sugar and almond extract      17

When the dust all settled and the results were tallied, the winner was adding 25% more milk powder to the milk.  It's definitely the easiest way to go.  

 

However, I really recommend doing a taste test of your own.  Jared, who spent a few years only being able to drink almond milk, preferred the sugar and almond extract option.  I should add that a few people thought there was too much almond extract and that amount could probably be cut in half.  My husband really liked the honey option, which scored pretty low with everyone else.  He has a serious sweet tooth.  My favorite was the egg powder option.  I mean, it really tasted like whole milk to me, and I'm pretty sure that's what I'll be making in the future for me--because I really didn't like Aaron's favorite with honey. 

If your family balks at this milk, and especially if you have young children, I would keep trying, by very gradually increasing the amounts of your chosen oil and emulsifier.  Fat is essential for the body to fully assimilate the vitamins in the milk.  The other foods we are eating at the time normally have some fat in them, so having fat in the milk isn't essential.  But if the other items on the menu are lowfat or nonfat, then adding fat to the milk is a good idea.

Links to related posts:  

Basic Food Storage--Dry Milk 

In Depth Discussion of Dry Milk 

Coconut Oil
Emergency Baby Formula  

For further reading:
https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/76665/combine-skim-milk-and-cream-to-substitute-for-whole
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1611&context=extension_histall
https://www.usaemergencysupply.com/information-center/all-about/all-about-dehydrated-dairy/turning-your-non-fat-powdered-milk-into-whole-reconstituted-milk
https://womensconference.ce.byu.edu/sites/womensconference.ce.byu.edu/files/make_the_most_of_powdered_milk.pdf
https://cookingtipoftheday.blogspot.com/2010/04/milk-and-cream-substitution.html
https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/whole-milk-from-skim-milk-and-cream-52684831

https://www.wikihow.com/Make-Dry-Milk-Taste-Like-Fresh-Milk

Coconut Oil--Health Uses

If I could store only one kind of oil in my food storage, coconut oil would definitely be it.  It's like a prepper's dream.  Add in the medicinal uses, and coconut oil becomes a prepper's fantasy come true.  Factor in some of the health uses, and that just seals the deal.  You really can't have too much coconut oil.  Those readers into cosmetics and beauty and such would do well to research the beauty uses of coconut oil.  There's zillions of articles on them on the 'net.


The first best health use of coconut oil is for toothpaste.  Mix 1 tablespoon baking soda and 1 tablespoon coconut oil, and add in two drops of peppermint essential oil.  Yes, it lacks fluoride.  But some people are a little skeptical about using fluoride.  Those who want fluoride in their toothpaste are going to have to buy it that way.  Coconut oil has antibacterial properties to it, so it's a win in my book.

Gingivitis can be reduced or eliminated with daily coconut oil pulling, which is basically swishing coconut oil around in the mouth for two to three minutes each day.  Most people do it in the shower and then spit it down the drain.

After the shower, use coconut oil as a body and facial moisturizer.  It's cheap and it helps rotate your oil supply well.  Healthy skin is far less susceptible to infection. 

Coconut oil is a weak sunscreen, with an SPF of about 4.

Use coconut oil for a great leave-in conditioner.  Apply about 1/2 teaspoon just after showering and work it into the hair. 

For a fantastic, natural, and inexpensive lip balm, combine 3 tablespoons coconut oil with 2 tablespoons beeswax in a double boiler.  When melted, stir to combine well and then pour into tin lip balm tins or empty lip balm sticks (you can get them on Amazon).  You can tint your lip balm with bits of old lipstick or a small amount of berry Kool-Aid.  (Yeah, the cosmetic uses aren't a big thing with me or my girls, really.  I wear light make-up when I go out, kinda of as a public service more than anything.  Becky, who's in college, wears light make-up once or twice a week; the 15- and 18-year olds--never.  It's just not our thing.  But for some women and girls, a little make-up will go a long ways in maintaining a little bit of normalcy and mental health boost for them.)

Links to related posts:
Basic Food Storage--Coconut Oil
Alternative Medicine--Coconut Oil
Emergency Baby Formulas 

For further reading:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22279374 (sunscreen)
http://www.ijdr.in/article.asp?issn=0970-9290;year=2009;volume=20;issue=1;spage=47;epage=51;aulast=Asokan (oil pulling to reduce gingivitis)
https://www.health.com/sexual-health/coconut-oil-lube (lubricant)
https://fabulousfarmgirl.com/essential-oils/coconut-oil-uses/

© 2019, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com 

9 march 2023