Food Storage Granola Bars

I've been working on this post for a while now.  It takes time to search through dozens of recipes for just those that utilize more typical food storage ingredients, and then try them out to see how they taste and share our reviews of them.

Baked Granola Bars with Coconut
4 cups oatmeal
2 cups flour
1 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup coconut oil
3/4 cup honey
1 cup raisins, dried cranberries, chocolate chips, or chopped nuts, optional

Mix first six ingredients together thoroughly.  Add in oil and honey and mix well with your fingers.  Then add in dried fruit, chocolate chips, or chopped nuts, if desired.  Press into 12x15 pan (or pan of similar dimensions).  Using a rolling pin and waxed paper will make this process a little easier.  Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes.  Do not overbake or your granola bars will become quite hard.  They should look soft and puffy when you remove them from the oven.  Cut into squares while still warm.

Reviews:  I used unsweetened shredded coconut, so these bars were not as sweet as most granola bars.  The kids did not like having less sugar.  I liked that they weren't so sweet, but maybe I ate more than I should have because of it.  I thought they had a good texture and flavor. 

Crunchy Baked Granola Bars
2 cups quick cooking oats
1 cup flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup honey
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Mix first seven ingredients together thoroughly.  In another bowl, blend wet ingredients well and then stir into dry ingredients.  Mix very well.  Press evenly into a well-greased 9x13 pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.  Cool slightly and then cut into bars.

Reviews:  These were pretty hard and crunchy.  We like softer bars here.

No-Bake Chewy Granola Bars
2 cups quick cooking rolled oats
2 cups Rice Krispies
3/4 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup shredded coconut
3/4 cup light corn syrup
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Line a 9x13 pan with parchment or waxed paper.  Set aside.  Mix first five ingredients well in a large bowl.  Combine remaining ingredients in a saucepan over low heat.  Pour over dry ingredients and combine very well.   Press into prepared pan.  (This will be easier if you use a sheet of waxed paper on top as well.

Reviews:  This is a really good basic recipe as well.  We realized that we just don't like granola bars with fruit in them.  We want only chocolate chips and nuts.  But fruit is fine in granola, so we just broke these up and ate them as cereal instead.

Granola Bars with Pre-made Granola
3 1/2 cups granola
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Combine granola and chopped nuts in large bowl and set aside.  In a small saucepan, combine brown sugar, corn syrup, and peanut butter and stir until smooth.  Pour over granola and nuts and press into a greased 9x9" pan.  Immediately sprinkle mini chocolate chips over the top and press them in.  Cut into bars.

Review:  It seems like extra work to make granola and then make granola bars, but if you didn't like something about the granola you were starting out with, maybe this would be a solution.  It's a basic recipe, but because there is such a variety in granolas, it's impossible to give a fair evaluation of the recipe.   

For further reading: 
https://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/granola-bars-110421
https://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/no-bake-granola-bars-326900
https://www.scribd.com/doc/61862609/Wooden-Spoon-Oats-Honey-and-Sugar

Does It Really Have To Be Manuka Honey?

Disclaimer.  I am not a licensed health practitioner.  This is just another post on knowledge and understanding you might wish to acquire in advance of a disaster in case no higher care is available.  As long as our society is functioning, you should leave anything more substantial than applying a Band-Aid to the professionals.  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. 

I hate to admit it, but it's true.  I have some pet peeves.

One of them involves people who just agree with what the loudest voices are saying (or writing), without even blinking or thinking about it.  Like most of our society.

Some of those voices in the prepper world shout that you have to have manuka honey for your medical needs.

So what, exactly, is manuka honey?  Manuka honey is made by honey bees foraging on the manuka tree, also called the tea tree.  Those with even a passing familiarity with essential oils know that tea tree oil is used a lot in treating skin issues.  Manuka honey is what has been promoted as the gold standard in medicinal honeys.  And it costs about as much as the yellow precious metal, at least when wound dressings are made with it or it is packaged as "medical grade."

So what do doctors who are teaching others how best to prepare for their own medical issues have to say about manuka honey?

In his book The Survival Medicine Handbook, Dr. Joseph Alton writes that any raw, unprocessed honey will do.  In Armageddon Medicine Dr. Cynthia Koelker has at least a dozen references to using honey.  She indicates that medical grade honey or standard clover honey may be used.  (And when she burned herself at home, what did she use?  A packet of honey from KFC--yeah, Kentucky Fried Chicken.)  Sam Coffman, author of The Herbal Medic, suggests only that manuka may possibly be better.  And Dr. Steve Pehrson said that any raw, unprocessed honey will work.  So then I had to ask him about some of my honey, which is over forty years old and totally crystallized.  And he said it was just fine.  Dr. Stephen Buhner, author of Herbal Antibiotics, suggests that any raw wildflower honey should be just fine, but that it would be best to avoid grocery store clover and alfalfa honeys, as these are more likely to be contaminated with pesticides.

Yes, as a matter of fact, most (but not all!) clinical studies are conducted with manuka honey.  When conducting these studies, scientists have to reduce the number of variables as much as possible.  But remember, manuka honey comes only from New Zealand, and yet people have been using honey medicinally for thousands of years.  They sure as heck weren't traveling all the way to New Zealand to get it.  They used what they had, which was what was being produced locally.  You can, too.  Maybe it is slightly less strong.  Like 99 is slightly less than 100.  That's about the difference, if it's even that great.  If you think it will make a difference, you could even add a drop or two of tea tree oil to your honey. 

In short, don't be suckered by the manuka honey hype. Save yourself a wad of dough and use those funds for other medical preps.

Oh, and one more thing, in case you're wondering if there is any honey that is harmful.  Actually, there is.  Apparently, the honey from some Rhododendron species in Nepal may cause "mad honey poisoning," so when you're in Nepal, make sure your honey is not from rhododendrons. 

Links to related posts:
Alternative Medicine--Honey

For further reading:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/02/20/the-natural-way-to-speed-wound-healing.aspx
https://www.buzzaboutbees.net/manuka-honey-wound.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19559969


© 2019, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com  

2 august 2021

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

Dietary Deficiencies and Consequences--Carbohydrate

Actually, a lack of carbohydrate in the diet is extremely rare, even among the impoverished. This condition should be non-existent among any who call themselves preppers, because carbohydrate sources are the least expensive foods. Grains store for twenty to thirty or more years, even without oxygen absorbers.   Fruit and vegetable carbohydrate sources grow rather easily in gardens.
Carbohydrates are the high octane fuel that the central nervous system wants for optimal performance. Carbohydrates, like protein, have four calories per gram.  However, unlike protein, carbohydrates are needed to digest fat completely. In the absence of carbohydrates, fat breakdown is incomplete, and the waste product is ketones. This causes a condition called ketosis, which can cause nausea among other things. Carbohydrates play a valuable role in sparing protein and preventing ketosis.  Furthermore, a low carbohydrate diet may make people fatigued, irritable, and lethargic.

What carbohydrate does is to protect protein so that it is available for building tissue. When carbohydrate intake is insufficient, protein gets broken down and used in its place, and nowhere near as efficiently. Why is this? Because protein can serve as a source of carbohydrate if carbohydrate intake is too low.

Carbohydrates should comprise 50% of the diet for most people. The best healthy carbohydrate sources are whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.  Whole grains (and enriched white rice) are the staff of life.  They're so cheap right now (though the prices are rising) and so easily produced by farmers, and so very difficult to grow ourselves in the quantities needed by a family to sustain themselves, that we should not skimp on storage space for these items.  Remember, 400 pounds per person per year is the minimum recommended amount for surviving.  Add another 50-100 pounds if you want to be satisfied, and not hungry.

Of course, really good sources of carbohydrate are most fruits and many vegetables.  Vegetables and berries are fairly easy to grow, but trees take time to start producing.  Less healthy sources of carbohydrate are sugars like sugar (granulated, brown, powdered), honey, molasses, corn syrup, maple syrup, Jell-O, drink mix, and hot chocolate mix.  They add variety to the diet and aren't generally too expensive.  They're simple to stockpile now, and with the exception of honey and maple syrup, a whole lot more difficult to produce later.  The minimum amount of sugar to store per person per year is sixty pounds, and again, that's for someone who will be alive, but always hungry.

Related posts:
Dietary Deficiency--Fat 
Dietary Imbalance--Fiber
Dietary Deficiency--Protein 

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5 march 2023