Pumpkin Pasta—Good Eats at the TEOTWAWKI Café

It’s that pumpkin-y time of year, when we’re looking through our stored food and spy the big cans of pumpkin.  The ones that looked so adorable, like golden doodle puppies (sorry, I saw a picture of some this morning, and they were so dang cute), piled in the grocery cart at the back of the store, begging to come home with us.  Except these were really cheap and didn’t need to be potty-trained. 

So I came home with a dozen or so after the holidays last year, and I haven’t used any since.  It’s not that I don’t like pumpkin—I surely do.  We all do here.  But using a big can takes planning.  And I thought that I might not be the only one out there who is suckered by big, beautiful, cheap cans of pumpkin.  Those cans I paid a dollar for earlier this year are now almost $5. 

And I might not be the only one who needs recipes for dishes beyond pumpkin muffins and waffles, tasty as those are. 

Pumpkin Pasta comes together quickly—less than 30 minutes—and uses only food storage items, beyond the fresh sage, that is. (Even then, you can sub in the dried form.) However, sage is easily grown in the garden, so it hardly counts.

Pumpkin Pasta

12 ounces rigatoni pasta

2 tablespoons coconut oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage, or 1 teaspoon dried

1 cup water

½ cup Magic Mix

1 cup canned pumpkin purée

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Dash nutmeg

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

 

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Drain, reserving 1 cup of the pasta water. 

Meanwhile, in a large saucepan over medium heat, melt the coconut oil.  Add the garlic and sage and sauté for 1-2 minutes.  Add the water and quickly whisk in the Magic Mix, stirring until there are no lumps.  Stir in the pumpkin puree and cook for 1 minute.  Add the Parmesan and remaining seasonings.  Simmer on low heat for a few minutes, until the sauce thickens slightly.  If it becomes too thick, stir in a little of the reserved pasta water. 

Add in the drained pasta and toss well to coat every noodle.  Add a little more pasta water if necessary.  Garnish with extra Parmesan and dried sage.  Serves 4.

Family reviews: Wow, I really loved this.  It's a little bit different, all food storage, and comes together so quickly.  I could easily make a lot of this and freeze dry it.  On the other hand, because it's so fast, it's a good recipe for making fresh as needed.  Aaron wasn't feeling good, so he only had a taste, but he did say he wanted it for lunch.  And then he loved the lunch leftovers.  And when I had the leftovers for dinner the following night and he had something else (because he almost never wants leftovers too often), he looked like he was going to poach mine if I left the table to get something from the fridge.  I then went out to harvest all the sage from the garden so that I could make this until it returns in the spring.     

And I made this again today for KOTPE and Buttercup.  They each had thirds.  The Crown Princess (their daughter) requested seconds, pretty amazing for her. 

I know I'm not the only one who often has leftover pumpkin puree.  Linked below are more recipes for using with it, or you can dehydrate it to use later.   

Links to related posts:

Pumpkin Waffles 

Pumpkin Muffins 

Pumpkin Noosa Copycat 

Pumpkin Soup 

Magic Pumpkin Custard 

Butternut Squash and Pumpkin  

Pumpkin Powder 

Hamburger-Zucchini Casserole—Good Eats at the TEOTWAWKI Café

I’m grateful every year that zucchini plants produce so prolifically.  I love zoodles, deep-fried zucchini, and zucchini hamburger helper.  I truly love pasta even though it’s not so healthy a choice.  And so I appreciate that zucchini substitutes so well for noodles in so many dishes.  I find recommendations to dehydrate zucchini shreds and powder them to substitute for flour a little … ridiculous.  A lot of time, effort, and garden space to grow and process when the time and garden space could be put to better use preparing in other ways.  But to each their own.

And so I grow as much zucchini as I think I can manage each year for fresh eating as well as dehydrating for use through the rest of the year.  I’m always on the lookout for new recipes.  And the following recipe is a new favorite.

Hamburger-Zucchini Casserole

½ pound ground beef

1 small onion, minced

3 ½ cups shredded zucchini, drained*

1 cup Bisquick (or homemade equivalent)

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

4 large eggs, slightly beaten

¼ cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon parsley

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon basil

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon black pepper

3-4 paste tomatoes, thinly sliced

 

Preheat oven to 350°F. 

In a 10” cast iron skillet, brown the ground beef and diced onion. Remove from heat.

In a medium bowl, combine remaining ingredients except for the tomatoes and pour over the browned hamburger.  Top with tomato slices. 

Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until the center is set and the top is slightly browned. 

*If you don’t have time for the zucchini to drain, hand squeeze about ½ cup at a time.  Or put it all into a clean flour sack towel and twist it closed until most of the liquid is drained out. 

Family reviews:  Definite keeper.  Instant hit.  We all (well, the adults) were a little cautious with our initial servings, but soon went back for seconds.  It’s almost in the territory of comfort food, but probably needs a crust for that. 

Chef’s review:  Simple, quick, food storage, zucchini, yum.   I love that it’s a protein-packed recipe while only calling for one-half pound of (currently very expensive!) ground beef.  I can use fresh, freeze-dried, dehydrated, or canned ground beef with equal success.  It’s a bit reminiscent of quiche, without the crust, though adding a bottom crust would be a nice touch. 

 

I didn’t have any homemade Bisquick on hand.  I don’t make biscuits very often anymore—Aaron and I both need to reduce our white flour intake.  And yes, I could make biscuits with whole wheat flour, but then Aaron wouldn’t eat them.  And I’m not making biscuits just for myself.  So I turned to my biscuit mix recipe.  It makes a big batch with a lot of ingredients.  Most of it would probably go to waste before I could get around to using it.  So I thought I’d be able to find a smaller recipe on the internet, perhaps one that would make just one cup. 

And I did. 

And here you go:

Small batch biscuit mix

1 cup flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon melted coconut oil (or lard, butter, or shortening)

In a small bowl, whisk the dry ingredients together.  Use a fork to stir in the coconut oil until well incorporated. 

 

Links to related posts:

Asian Zoodles

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Zucchini Hamburger Helper

Tomato Powder Is Forever

Well, maybe not quite.  "Diamonds Are Forever" in James Bond's world, and "A Diamond Is Forever" according to the people at DeBeers.  In our pantries, pasta is almost forever.  Unfortunately, the canned tomatoes for making spaghetti sauce to go with the pasta do not last forever.  They don't even come close.  The darn acid in the tomatoes eats through the cans.
The commercially-produced marinara sauce doesn't last that long, either.  Neither does ketchup, unfortunately.  Or barbecue sauce.

And yet, I want to be able to have all these things and more when the trucks stop rolling and the juice stops flowing.  I need to be able to make these tomato-based products from scratch.  And not only that, I need to be able to make them in smaller quantities than we normally purchase for times when we lack reliable refrigeration.

I've made tomato powder in the past, just to be sure I could really do it and that it would work as well as the commercially-prepared stuff.  But this past year was different.  Even though the tomato harvest wasn't as good as usual due to an exceptionally early freeze, I still had about 30 gallons of tomatoes.  And because I started dehydrating more and freezing less, I used the pint and half-pint jars for the dehydrated foods, as well as medicinal herbs and tinctures that I've been making and preserving more of.  We're already short on space here.  I didn't want to buy more canning jars.

The only solution was to turn all those tomatoes into tomato powder.  In the past, I simply dehydrated tomato slices or chunks and then powdered them in the blender.  But this process doesn't produce a very fine powder, at least not in my blender. A fine powder will reconstitute more quickly and thoroughly and much more smoothly.  And that's what I wanted.  An added bonus is that tomato powder takes far less space than canned sauce.

To make your own tomato powder from your garden tomatoes:

• Wash and core the tomatoes.
• Slice tomatoes about 1/4-1/2" thick.
• Place slices in a freezer bag or Tupperware and freeze.
• When you have a big batch of tomatoes ready to run through your juicer, thaw the tomatoes completely.  
• Pour off all the liquid and discard or boil it down for vegetable stock.
• Process the tomatoes in your juicer.
• Bring the resulting sauce to a boil over medium heat for two minutes.
• Cool the sauce and then spread it on dehydrator sheets, about 1/8" thick.
• Dehydrate at 115-125 degrees for about 10 hours, until completely dry.
• Process the dehydrated tomato sauce in a blender or food processor until it is a fine powder.
• If necessary, run it through a fine-mesh strainer to isolate the larger particles.  
• Let cool completely and package for long term storage in canning jars or Mylar bags.

Use your tomato powder to make tomato sauce, tomato paste, or ketchup.  It's perfect for creating your own instant soups or meals.  It can also be used to make Spanish rice or enchilada sauce.  The possibilities are endless. 

And if you don't have a garden or you happen upon a great deal at the store, you can apply this process to commercially canned sauce.  Just open the can, pour the sauce on the tray, and dehydrate as usual.

Links to related posts:
Dehydrating Tomatoes  
Tomato Sauce  
Tomato Paste
Ketchup
Tomato Soup  

DIY Beef Bouillon and Onion Soup Mix

One of my ongoing projects in preparedness is putting together quick and tasty emergency meals.  Some of the new recipes I want to test call for powdered beef bouillon, and I only have the refrigerated paste-type stuff.  Unfortunately, I can't just run to the store and buy some.  The budget is super-tight since my husband lost his job (mining company he worked for got sold to a Canadian company), and while he received a very generous severance package, it's tough to be looking for a job when you're over fifty, and even worse for people in IT.  So, I've got to DIY the beef bouillon.
The DIY chicken bouillon I posted about a few months ago works very well.  I figured I could just substitute chicken bouillon for the beef bouillon, and it would probably taste just fine in most recipes.  But I want to be able to make onion soup mix as well, and in there I think the chicken flavor won't work so well.  So for this, I really have to make my own beef bouillon granules.  And the DIY bouillon needs to use ingredients I already store.

So the first thing to do is dehydrate some cooked hamburger.  I posted instructions for that last year.  After the hamburger is fully dehydrated, run it through the blender.  It becomes a nice powder fairly quickly.  Then use it to make the beef bouillon mix below. 

Beef Bouillon Mix
1/2 cup dehydrated, powdered, cooked hamburger
2 tablespoons dehydrated, powdered mushrooms
1 tablespoon dehydrated, minced onions
1 teaspoon each garlic powder, oregano, thyme, paprika, and salt
1/2 teaspoon celery salt

Combine well.  Store this in a canning jar for up to six months.


After you've got the beef bouillon made, you can then use it to make onion soup mix.  

Onion Soup Mix
1/4 cup dehydrated minced onion
2 tablespoons beef bouillon granules
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon parsley
1/8 teaspoon celery seed
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon paprika

Combine all ingredients well.  Substitutes for one package of onion soup mix.

Links to related posts:
Dehydrating Hamburger  
DIY Chicken Bouillon
Meals in a Jar
Just-Add-Water Soups
Instant Meals  
Preparedness  survival  emergency  bugging out in bug pack survivalist prepper freeze dried dehydrated food storage gamma lid bucket #10 can medicine supplies supply emergencies disaster natural civil war political unrest hyperinflation inflation canning jar Mylar oxygen absorber disease
© 2019, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com
injury pneumothorax family children antibiotics alternative refrigeration solar communications salmonella pneumonia CPR medic mask gloves beans wheat rice oats corn oil coconut water purification filtration iodine pasta sugar salt iodized dry powdered milk mountain house essentials bread education home school vitamins skills chickens goats rabbits homestead redoubt American fuel wood ticks mosquitoes repellent disinfect sterilize ArmageddoPreparedness  survival  emergency  bugging out in bug pack survivalist prepper freeze dried dehydrated food storage gamma lid bucket #10 can medicine supplies supply emergencies disaster natural civil war political unrest hyperinflation inflation canning jar Mylar oxygen absorber disease
injury pneumothorax family children antibiotics alternative refrigeration solar communications salmonella pneumonia CPR medic mask gloves beans wheat rice oats corn oil coconut water purification filtration iodine pasta sugar salt iodized dry powdered milk mountain house essentials bread education home school vitamins skills chickens goats rabbits homestead redoubt American fuel wood ticks mosquitoes repellent disinfect sterilize ArmageddoPreparedness  survival  emergency  bugging out in bug pack survivalist prepper freeze dried dehydrated food storage gamma lid bucket #10 can medicine supplies supply emergencies disaster natural civil war political unrest hyperinflation inflation canning jar Mylar oxygen absorber disease
injury pneumothorax family children antibiotics alternative refrigeration solar communications salmonella pneumonia CPR medic mask gloves beans wheat rice oats corn oil coconut water purification filtration iodine pasta sugar salt iodized dry powdered milk mountain house essentials bread education home school vitamins skills chickens goats rabbits homestead redoubt American fuel wood ticks mosquitoes repellent disinfect sterilize Armageddo

Instant Soups for Emergency Kits

Over the years of building and reworking our emergency kits to serve us better, we've made numerous changes to suit a growing family, reducing waste, and making more room in the kits.  And one of the changes has been getting away from commercial products and their mystery ingredients.  We just feel better when we know what we are eating.

Today we have some recipes for making your own instant soups.  I highly recommend making these up and trying them at home before using them in an emergency.  You might decide one flavor just doesn't work for you, or that you need more or less salt, or something similar.

All of these recipes work really well in zippered bags.  Soups and meals in bags are really popular with backpackers, and you'll find no shortage of recipes all over the web for all kinds of foods.  There's no space wasted in your kit with excess packaging, and the bag serves as your cook container and disposable bowl.

However, what is very often ignored is the fact that freezer bags are not designed to be cooked in.  They shouldn't be used as boiling bags for making eggs while out camping, and they shouldn't have boiling water added to them to cook or heat the contents.  While the bags usually do withstand the heat, they may release chemicals at elevated temperatures, chemicals that we don't necessarily want in our bodies.  Ziploc manufactures a line of bags that may be cooked in; their Zip 'n Steam line comes in medium and large size bags.

However, even these are not supposed to be used for boiling, according to the people at Ziploc.  If they're telling us not to use them for that purpose, and thus losing out on potential sales, there's probably a good reason for it.  So what's the real risk to using regular freezer bags?

I don't know.  The bag manufacturers are going to err on the side of caution, and in a litigious society such as ours, I think they have to.  Here's what we do here, and what we will do in case of a true disaster.

The soups and instant meals all get packaged in regular freezer bags.  They're easy to date, rotate, and re-use.  When we rotate them at home, the soups are just added to mugs or bowls and boiling water is poured on top, so there's no heating the plastic.  Later, the bags get refilled with the same soup mix and re-dated.  If and when there is a need to cook the soups in a disaster, we'll still transfer them to our stainless steel mugs for cooking and heating.  If things are so bad that we have to cook in and eat from the bags, we figure the level of toxic chemical we're being exposed to would be low and not an issue if not done often.  If at all possible, children and those of child-bearing age would not have their food cooked in the bags.  In no case would a pregnant woman have her food cooked in a bag.  But for older people beyond child-bearing age, we wouldn't be so concerned.

Do what works best for your situation.  Yes, heated plastics can be toxic and have long-term effects.  Just as cranky and hungry stressed-out people can have toxic effects on family relationships.

Before making a bunch of these for your family's kits, make just one of each for taste-testing.  The bieggest variable is the chicken bouillon.  Some are heavier on the salt than others, and having too much or too little really affects the flavor.  If you have comments or suggestions for improvement, leave them below so that we can all learn from your experience.

One more time:  Bouillon varies substantially in salt content from one manufacturer to the next.  You may wish to omit any added salt the first time you make these to be sure you don't oversalt.

Cream of Tomato Soup
1/3 cup dry milk
1/4 cup tomato powder
1 tablespoon chicken bouillon
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
Pinch black pepper

Put all ingredients in a Ziploc freezer bag.  Shake to combine.

To prepare:  Boil 1 3/4 cups water.  Add water to soup bag and stir well to combine.  Seal bag, cover to insulate it, and let soak for 10 minutes.

Chicken Noodle Soup
1/2 cup fine noodles, like angel hair, broken in small pieces
1/4 cup chopped freeze dried chicken
2 tablespoons freeze-dried vegetables, or 1 tablespoon dehydrated vegetables (carrots, celery, peas)
1 tablespoon chicken bouillon
1 teaspoon dehydrated onions
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon poultry seasoning
pinch black pepper

Put all ingredients in a Ziploc freezer bag.  Shake to combine.

To prepare:  Boil 1 3/4 cups water.  Add water to the soup bag and stir well to combine.  Seal the bag, cover to insulate it, and let soak for 10 minutes.

Minestrone
1/3 cup dehydrated pasta*
1/3 cup mixed freeze-dried vegetables
1 tablespoon chicken bouillon
2 teaspoons tomato powder
1/4 teaspoon Italian herbs
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon pepper


Put all ingredients in a Ziploc freezer bag.  Shake to combine.

To prepare:  Boil 1 3/4 cups water.  Add water to the soup bag and stir well to combine.  Seal the bag, cover to insulate it, and let soak for 10 minutes.

*To prepare dehydrated pasta, cook pasta according to package directions, rinse, and dehydrate.  This pasta will rehydrate quickly in soups.  Most raw pasta will not cook and soften sufficiently in instant soups.

Bacon-Potato Soup
1/3 cup instant potato flakes
1/4 cup dry milk
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons chicken bouillon
1 tablespoon freeze-dried chives
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
Pinch black pepper

In a separate package:
2 tablespoons bacon bits

Put all ingredients in a Ziploc freezer bag.  Shake to combine.

To prepare:  Boil 1 3/4 cups water.  Add water to the soup bag and stir well to combine.  Seal the bag, cover to insulate it, and let soak for 10 minutes.

Links to related posts:
Emergency Kits
Instant Meals

For further reading:
https://www.tripsavvy.com/ziploc-omlets-in-bag-504142
https://www.theyummylife.com/Instant_Dry_Soup_Mixes

© 2019, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com

Expanded Food Storage--Dehydrated Carrots

One of the less commonly purchased items available at the Home Storage Center, currently selling for $9.00 for 2.1 lbs in a #10 can, is dehydrated carrots.  Which is a pity, because they're pretty versatile--you can use them in breads, cakes, smoothies (well, if you've got the electricity to run your blender), soups, casseroles, and baby food.  I think they're so commonly used that we kind of forget about them.
Recipe equivalents:

Fresh                               Mashed     Shredded     Dehydrated  + Water to reconstitute
1/3 pound or 2 carrots    2/3 cup      1 cup           1/3 cup         + 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon
1/2 pound or 3 carrots    1 cup         1 1/2 cups    1/2 cup         + 7/8 cup
1 pound    or 6 carrots    2 cups        3 cups          1 cup            + 1 3/4 cups


Soups.  Just add the carrots and whatever water you would use for rehydrating to the soup and let them rehydrate as the rest of the soup cooks.

Easy Chicken Noodle Soup

2 tablespoons dehydrated carrots
2 tablespoons dehydrated celery
2 cups water
1 pint canned chicken, undrained
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon
1/4 cup angel hair pasta (or spaghetti), broken in 1 1/2 inch pieces

Reconstitute carrots and celery in boiling water for 10 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.  Add in chicken, bouillon, and pasta and boil 3 more minutes, or until pasta is done.

Cakes and Muffins.  Rehydrate carrots for 15-30 minutes before mixing into batter.

Carrot Cake
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup oil
2 eggs
1/3 cup dehydrated carrots (whirled in blender if possible to make finer pieces), reconstituted in 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon water
1/2 cup crushed pineapple with juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Mix all ingredients until moistened.  Beat two minutes on medium speed.  Pour into two greased and lightly floured 8" pans or one 9x13" pan.  Bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

Frosting
1/2 cup butter
3 ounces cream cheese
3 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Cream butter and cream cheese together, then beat in sugar and vanilla.  Frost cooled cake.  Store in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Carrot Muffins
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup oil
3 eggs (OR 3 tablespoons powdered eggs and 1/3 cup water)
1 cup dehydrated carrots, whirled in blender for a bit to make finer carrots, if possible
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Beat first three ingredients together.  Mix in remaining ingredients, without overmixing.  Bake in muffin tins at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Optional.  Instead of mixing walnuts into batter, sprinkle them on top of the muffin batter.  This will toast the nuts, and you can leave some plain for those who'd rather not have nuts.

Baby food
2 tablespoons dehydrated carrots
1/3 cup boiling water

In a small bowl, reconstitute carrots in boiling water.  Let stand, covered, for thirty minutes.  Mash thoroughly with fork.

Links to related posts:
Home Storage Centers   
Vitamin A deficiency    


For further information:
http://www.abstractsonline.com/viewer/viewAbstract.asp?CKey=%7BE3C1913F-6EF4-42E2-91D7-8585A3F2531B%7D&MKey=%7B50521FFC-4C00-4561-AEBA-632C1175F44C%7D&AKey=%7B8616C01D-DC03-41AD-9244-6706B0A8C9BD%7D&SKey=%7B06F1EA6A-92A3-4343-8975-958C976AE77A%7D (research on storage of dehydrated carrots)
http://ndfs.byu.edu/portals/7/docs/research/long/Lynn%20M%20Arrington%20Park.pdf (thesis on storage and shelf life of dehydrated foods)
http://www.gettystewart.com/how-to-dehydrate-carrots-and-how-to-use-them/ (how to dehydrate carrots)

© 2019, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com 

Lessons Learned from COVID-19 Quarantine and Food Supplies

In visiting with people prior to the shutdown, as the nouveau panic preppers were scrambling to purchase rice and beans or #10 cans of Mountain House, other people and I would mention the importance of eating what they normally eat, avoiding food fatigue by having a good variety in the diet, etc.  The normal stuff.  And we would routinely get dismissed with something along the lines of, "People will eat it if they are hungry enough."  I've decided to summarize some of their quarantine-diet observations below.

"I eat canned tuna regularly, but in February decided to get several dozen cans of X Chili, a favorite in my youth, because it boasted a lot of protein.  It was the first time in decades. It seemed to dehydrate me and left me drained and sluggish, even though I also had regular yogurt and vegetables.

It was basically thick beef tallow, and I didn't see much actual meat. If I had it to do over, I would have gotten actual meat.  This chili will ruin me."

"We used this quarantine as a test run to use up some old ABC and XYZ (major freeze-dried food companies) meals. We tired of it quickly and the salt was too much for my blood pressure. We're baking bread daily and I've been able to buy flour. When the quarantine ends, I'll start storing grains. We're eating a lot of eggs.  I should consider raising chickens. I stashed chocolate bars.  Those were popular and eaten quickly. Plans for this year's garden will focus on nutritionally dense foods."

"Same as the others have said. Too much sodium in the freeze-dried XYZ and ABC. We started adding rice, pasta, potatoes....  Sometimes added no-salt canned or frozen veggies.  We used the freeze-dried meals as starter or seasoning to supplement. Chocolate had to be rationed. We ate half of it in the first week.  Now it’s one piece on weekends. We are baking lots of bread, using natural yeast from our dried fruit stores.  We are eating a lot of eggs, twice as much as normal.  My supplies are lasting, but fresh is getting harder to come by. Local stores are still delivering but only about 25% of my order goes through."

"I think a lot of people are having the same experience. You summed it up nicely with 'Basically we used the freeze-dried meals as a starter or seasoning to supplement.' That is the way to go."

"XYZ tastes better but has too much salt. If we had to rely on them, I would cook rice then put 1/3 of a packet of XYZ on each plate to give it some flavor and add a piece of bread. Eating a whole pouch of either brand gets old fast.  The ABC would be more manageable for me due to the lower salt content. Stock both just to add some variety but look for other food options."

"I buy grain in bulk and then grind it fresh to maximize nutrition. A good electric grinder costs a small fortune but it pays for itself in a couple years. The bread tastes so good and is so filling it barely needs anything to go with it for a meal...a bit of peanut butter, hummus, cinnamon rolls, etc."

"The freeze-dried stuff has its place. When you are working hard you will likely do better with a little more salt. If not, then mix in some supplemental grains and stretch the flavors out a bit. Lack of salt can be a real problem with food, but having it along with other spices can make the difference between fatigue or lack of it."

Now for what people were glad they had stored:
Yeast
Salt pork
Evaporated milk
Pancake mix and maple syrup
Toilet paper
Oatmeal
Beef jerky
Coffee
Canned fruit
Cooking oil
Bacon grease
Pasta

And what they wish they had stored, or stored more of:

Bacon

Powdered eggs

Non-fish canned meats

Cleaning supplies

Hand sanitizer

More variety in ready-to-eat meals.  "I'm tired of Chef Boyardee, I'm running out of canned soup, and everything else needs prep work."

Lactose pills 

Onions

Milk

Cheese

Shelf-stable whipping cream

There is a Chinese curse that goes something like this:  "May you live in interesting times."  I think we've been Chinese-cursed and others are beginning to wake up to the fact.  There are reports from around the country of people starting to stockpile food and supplies again in the event that a second wave, as they are calling it, materializes.   I have no idea what's coming; I can only make guesses just like everyone else.  We can learn from what people panic-purchased and what they were glad to have gotten, and what they wish they had more of and prepare accordingly.

Our times are indeed interesting at present, and I fully anticipate that we have a lot more interesting experiences to pass through.  Now's the time to prep while the prepping is good.

 

Keep Those Jars Full!

Food Storage Made Fabulous, the 2nd volume of articles from the Prep School Daily blog, is now available on Amazon.  With over 100 family-friendly recipes using basic long-term food storage staples, your family will have no idea there's a crisis.

 

It has always bothered me to have empty canning jars at the end of garden season.  It makes me feel like I failed in the garden or failed to buy enough fruit.  And I’ve always told myself it’s a sin to have empty jars.  Because of the move, which occurred just as the tomatoes were starting to ripen, I’m giving myself a pass this year on the guilt trip, but I still want to get those jars filled.  They are taking up space anyway, and if they’re going to occupy valuable real estate, they ought to be full.  If society is going all out crazy, I better get them filled pronto.  

Of course, it’s important to have empty jars when canning season kicks in.  But that won’t be until late May at the earliest, another six months from now.  It’s also a good idea to have jars available in case a freezer full of meat dies.  Those jars are considered “on deck”, at the ready so to speak, for emergencies. 

But what about the rest of those jars?  This year I’ve got easily twelve cases that I’d like to have filled in the next 2-3 weeks.

If you need some ideas on what to fill your empty jars with, read on.

Turkey broth.  As soon as the good meat has been removed from the turkey carcass, the bones and skin and all the veggies cooked with it will go into the stock pot and simmered all day Friday.  Then it will be canned in pint jars for some very nice, all natural broth.

Cat food.  The bones will be crammed into jars as best as possible, water added, and pressure canned as well.  When pressured canned, the bones retain their shape, but interestingly, they are quite easy to mash with a fork.  These make excellent food for our cats and contain the natural taurine that is essential in their diet. 

Water.  While I don’t normally can water, having a few jars of good, clean water for making baby formula in an emergency should be on every family’s list.  Our grandbaby won’t arrive until April/May, but since I’ve got the time and the jars now, I might as well do it.  I trust our well water more than I trust municipal sources. 

Dry beans are an excellent option for filling jars.  Even the hardest beans get cooked to perfect creaminess, they taste great, and they save time and energy.

French fries.  Fall is the ideal time for canning French fries.  Large potatoes are easy to find in grocery stores and usually on sale during the holidays.  And believe me, these home-canned fries are way better than McDonald’s ever dreamed of tasting.

Hamburger.  I canned ten pounds of it last week.  It sure doesn’t look pretty in the jar, but it’s great to have on hand when dinner needs to be on the table in a hurry.  I just dump it in the skillet and can have Hamburger Helper ready to serve in 20 minutes. 

Refrigerator pickles.  I recently discovered how easy it is to make refrigerator pickles using fresh cucumbers.  Every once in a while I get lucky and find bags of cucumbers in the discounted produce cart at my local grocery store.

Discounted produce.  The small grocery store in our rural Missouri town used to sell overripe bananas for 10 cents per pound.  After slicing them very thin and dehydrating them, they got vacuum sealed in canning jars.  That was several years ago, and we’re still eating them.

Dried tortellini and ravioli are found in the dry pasta aisle of grocery stores.  Vacuum-sealed in a canning jar, they’ve got a shelf life of at least a couple of years.

Frozen vegetables are so quick and easy to dehydrate.  Just dump them on the dehydrating trays—no pretreatment required.  And they take far less space when dehydrated.

Candy.  Cheap Candy Day is something the kids all celebrate.  It’s the day after Valentine’s Day, Easter, Halloween, and Christmas, when the stores discount the holiday packaged treats.  We buy it cheap, vac-seal, and stack it deep.

Breakfast cereal.  I’ve said before that I wish my children hadn’t grown up with it, but my husband loves it, and so do they.  We’ve been canning all kinds of it for years.  There’s a link below for which cereals hold up best.

Other snack foods. Pretzels, fishy crackers, Oreos, and nuts will all provide welcome relief.   Of course, they must be vacuum-sealed also.

This year, because I have so many empty jars, I’ll be giving everyone a case of food storage for Christmas.  The kids all love it because it’s all theirs.  They don’t have to share, and they don’t have to ask permission.  Some things they eat right away, but most of the time they ration them out over the next several months.  I’ll customize as best I can for each person, but even if I mess up, they’ll work out trades with each other.  The most important thing is keeping those jars full of comfort foods our family wants to have.

Links to related posts:

French Fries

Canning Candy

Breakfast Cereals

Refrigerator Pickles

Canning Beans

Quick and Dirty Dehydrating

Cat Food

Food Storage for Christmas

 11.30.20

Maximizing the Amount of Calories and Nutrition You Can Store

We've previously covered a number of places in the house to store food, under beds and tables, in closets and attics, under stairs, etc.  Most of us have unused space, places that could be better utilized.  But there are others for whom space truly is an issue.  How do we maximize the amount of food we can store and thus the length of time we can last without going shopping?

It’s a matter of opportunity cost.

The first priority in food storage is to maximize the number of calories.  You want to store calorie-dense foods.  These are whole grains and beans, sugar, and oils.  Unfortunately, there is not a lot you can do to compress their size.  This is the situation for most long-term storage foods.  One notable exception is pasta.  Straight pastas like spaghetti, angel hair, fettuccine, and linguine are denser and store more compactly than shapes like rotini and penne.

Foods packaged in boxes have a lot of wasted space.  Repackage these items with oxygen absorbers in buckets or Mylar bags inside totes, cutting out and attaching the directions if necessary.  Doing so will not only save space in the pantry, but also reduce the risk of weevils and moths which are sometimes brought home in the boxes.

And while calories are king in food storage, good nutrition is queen.  You really have to have both, and this is where we can make up some serious ground when it comes to making the best use of the space available.

In contrast to canned and freeze-dried foods, dehydrated foods take far less space.  Dehydrating is the easiest method of food preservation, especially for beginners, as well as the least expensive.  Some ovens have a dehydrating setting on them, so there wouldn’t even be the expense of a dehydrator.  Dehydrators are also common items at thrift stores and garage sales where they can be picked up for just a couple of dollars. 

A quart canning jar will hold the following equivalent amounts of dehydrated food:

• 5 pounds of frozen mixed vegetables
• 6 pounds of frozen peas or corn
• 4-5 pounds of cubed potatoes
• 3 pounds of mushrooms
• 6 pounds of chopped onions
• 3 pounds of apple slices
• 7 pounds of strawberry or banana slices
• 9 large celery bunches, sliced or diced
• 10 pounds of bell peppers, diced

A pint jar will hold:

• 1 dozen eggs
• 4 pounds of kale or spinach, powdered

Dehydrated vegetables are an excellent choice for soups, stews, and casseroles.  Dehydrated fruits work very well for snacking and making flavored oatmeal.  Dehydrated bananas make delicious banana bread and pancakes.  Peppers and onions add great flavor to fajitas.

Dehydrated and powdered fruits mix quickly into yogurt and smoothies.  Spinach and tomato powders add beautiful color to tortillas.  Tomato powder can also be mixed quickly to make tomato sauce, tomato paste, and even ketchup (with a few added ingredients). Future posts (already written!) will dive deeper into dehydrating. 

Links to related posts:

Where Does It All Go?

DIY Instant Oatmeal

Yogurt Banana Pancakes

Homemade Yogurt

Ketchup

Canning Tomato Sauce

How to Dehydrate Eggs

Tortillas for wraps

DIY Tomato Powder

Pumpkin Powder

Quick and Dirty Dehydrating

Introduction to Dehydrating

 17 december 2020

Sustenance Food and Complementary Food

Another way of looking at food storage is by the types of food that we store.  Sustenance food is what will sustain you, keep you alive.  Complementary food enriches the diet and helps keep you happy.

Sustenance food is generally our long-term storage food.  When most people begin to panic about food shortages, they panic-buy sustenance foods such as rice, pasta, and beans.  Their panic focus is on the bare-bones building blocks of meals that will quickly and cheaply fill a belly.  The next thing the panic buyers turned to was bread-making ingredients--wheat, flour, yeast, and other baking essentials such as sugar, baking powder, and baking soda as well as cooking oils.

Sustenance foods provide most of the carbohydrates and much of the protein, and some of the fat in our diet, as they have for millennia.  Sustenance food is generally more difficult and labor-intensive to grow and requires much more land to do so.  A postage-stamp-sized backyard in suburban America is not going to yield enough sustenance food to feed a family.  Because these foods--grains, beans, oils, sugars, salt, and milk are labor- and land-intensive, they are the foods a family needs to store in abundance.  They form the basis of a healthy diet.  These foods alone can sustain individuals over the long-term.  Some of these sustenance foods are short-term storage foods we can raise easily ourselves, like potatoes. 

Complementary food is what we use to enrich the sustenance diet.  In general, complementary food provides some carbohydrates and protein, but little in the way of fat.  What it's most nutritionally valuable for is the vitamins and minerals, as well as variety in the diet.  It will not sustain individuals for the long-term without a lot of effort and without at least a little acreage.  Complementary food consists of the garden produce, canned, freeze-dried, dehydrated fruits, vegetables, and meats, herbs and spices.  It includes the dairy, eggs, and meat we hope to raise or barter for.  Some of these complementary foods can be long-term storage foods as well, particularly the freeze-dried options.  Garden seeds packaged for long-term storage should also be part of the plan.

Some people get caught up in pursuing only one of these two aspects of food storage.  They focus only on the sustenance foods because they are inexpensive and store well for decades.  Others emphasize the complementary foods because they like eating fruits and vegetables and raising them in the garden.  They're also sustainable and can be raised in the backyard, unlike the sustenance foods which require some serious acreage and labor. 

When planning your food storage, it's important to keep both of these foods in mind.  The goal will generally be to grow as much complementary food as possible each season so that the long-term sustenance stores are used as little as possible.  There are strategies to increase garden yields, sprout grains and beans to yield more food and nutrition, and dehydrate to fit more food in less space.

At the same time, one should also be prepared for disasters, whether personal (like everyone in the family gets sick at once) or regional, like an earthquake just took out the power and water.  In either of these situations,  cooking from scratch is not desirable.  Having some just-add-water or heat-and-eat foods should be part of every family's plans. 

 05.22.20

Introduction to Dehydrating

As perhaps the oldest form of food preservation, people have been dehydrating food for thousands of years.  It is the easiest form of food preservation both in the sense of learning and in doing it. And it is the most compact, which is especially important when storage space is an issue.

It is also the most inexpensive way to preserve food.  While a food dehydrator makes it easier, it’s definitely not essential.  Individuals on a limited budget can even dehydrate food in a car or in the oven.  No special equipment is necessary.  There is no need for canning jars or lids, though they can indeed be quite helpful.  In dry climates, food saver or freezer bags will work for packaging.  If dehydrated foods are being stored in canning jars, canning lids can be re-used. 

Handy individuals can build a dehydrator, but it is often less expensive to acquire used ones at thrift stores or garage sales.  When I first began dehydrating many years ago, I often picked up the Nesco brand dehydrators for $2-3.  They normally come with four trays, but you can stack on additional trays, up to twelve.  There isn’t a thermostat control, and the trays have to be rotated to facilitate even drying.  Excalibur dehydrators are more expensive and harder to find second-hand.  They have the advantages of temperature control and flat trays so that making fruit rolls is easier.  Trays can also be removed so that the dehydrator can be used for raising bread or culturing yogurt. 

So what foods can be dehydrated?  Honestly, just about everything.  Fruits and vegetables are the most popular items, but jerky is also high on the list.  Eggs and milk can also be successfully preserved in this manner.  Cooked rice and pasta can be dehydrated for faster meal preparation in the future.

And finally, why exactly do people dehydrate food?  Some do it to make just-add-water instant meals.  This is especially popular among backpackers and campers, but these meals are also great for emergencies.  Everything is already prepared.  In a crisis, thinking is sometimes difficult.  Having the food ready to go makes a difficult situation easier. 

Another reason is to be able to store a lot of food very compactly.  A bushel of peppers when dehydrated can fit into a quart jar.  The same goes for nine bunches of celery.  That’s a lot of food in a small space. 

A third advantage is that the food is already prepared the way it’s needed.  It just needs a little time to rehydrate.  Zucchini can be sliced thin for soups, thick for making deep-fried zucchini, shredded for cakes and breads, or powdered and substituted for some of the flour in baking to increase nutrition.  Pineapple can be prepared in strips, chunks, or fruit rolls. 

Other fruits can be dried and powdered for adding to yogurt or smoothies.  Tomato powder can be used to thicken soups or make a little bit of ketchup.  Tomato or spinach powder can be added to the flour when making tortillas to color them.  The possibilities are really endless. 

Links to related posts:

Dehydrating pineapple

Pina colada fruit rolls and crackers

Tortillas for wraps

Deep-fried zucchini

Zucchini cupcakes

DIY Minute Rice

Instant Meals

Instant Soups

DIY Tomato Powder

Pumpkin Powder

Quick and Dirty Dehydrating

 27 january 2024