Lu's Food Storage

Froot Smoothie

2009-06-07T13:58:00.004-07:00

Fruit smoothies are one of my favorite foods. They were probably invented by someone who just couldn't face one more day of Arizona summer. Because even the blazing heat of death couldn't keep me from thinking I had something worth living for if I knew there was a fruit smoothie on the menu.

In a wonderfully simple twist, I've managed to turn fruit smoothies into Froot Smoothies--and into a sweet and delicious way to use up canned fruit. Yes, I said canned fruit.

For instance, open a can of apricots and pour the apricots (undrained) into a freezer zip top bag. Freeze the apricots. Once they're frozen dump them in a blender (or food processor) (you might want to break them up into manageable chunks before you kill your blender), add fruit juice to taste (I used grapefruit and orange medly), then blend until smooth.

We tried it with canned pineapple (and blended it with vanilla yogurt). Both smoothies were delicious--and somewhat thick. To stretch the smoothie out, add ice cubes or more juice or yogurt. I couldn't tell that the fruit I used had been canned, either, so that was a bonus.

Let me know what combos you try.

Pan Popped Popcorn

2009-05-31T15:24:00.004-07:00

If you want to taste some amazingly good popcorn, may I HIGHLY recommend this method.

You'll need a bag of popcorn. It should look something like this:

Then you need a pan with a lid. I like to use this:

because you can SEE the popcorn popping!

And you'll need enough oil to lightly cover the bottom of the pan (but, just so you know, the more oil you put in, the more greasy and therefore YUMMY your popcorn will taste. I usually make sure there is plenty to cover the bottom of the pan. That's more than enough. But you can be skimpy if you're being health conscious).

Turn the burner on to medium high and drop two kernels into the oil. I leave the lid off for this part. When both kernals have popped, it's time to add enough kernels to cover the bottom of the pan in one layer. My pan takes about 1/2 cup of kernels.

PUT THE LID ON!

Then let the pan sit for a bit, then shake it above the burner a bit (to keep the kernels moving around so they don't burn). Continue with that procedure. After a few minutes the kernels will start popping. At that point I shake the pan just above the burner fairly constantly to keep things from burning on the bottom. When the popping slows to a crawl, turn off the heat, shake the pan a few more times till the stragglers have popped, then dump the popcorn into a big bowl.

Sprinkle salt, cheese powder, nuts, or whatever toppings you want onto the popcorn. You could add some butter, but usually the oil has left such a nice flavor I don't add any.

This is a cheap, cheap, cheap alternative to the microwave popcorn, and really, it doesn't take THAT much effort. I can get a decent sized bowl of popcorn out of just a 1/2 cup of kernels.

ENJOY!

Guest Post: Grandma Erickson's Bread Recipe

2009-05-17T13:27:00.005-07:00

This post about bread was sent to me by my childhood friend Sarah. I love that it is a family recipe, that it calls for yeast cake (explanation included), and that the loaves can be referred to as bread without distinction.

the bread before the second rise

the bread baked

The recipe is from my Great-grandma Erickson. The nice thing I noticed about this recipe is that the ingredients are all things that we're suppose to have in our food storage. Also, I have a wheat grinder but no wheat, so I just used regular flour.

Grandma Erickson’s Bread

1 yeast cake

2 cups warm water (110-115 degrees)

3tbsp oil

4-5 cups flour

2 tsp salt

3 tbsp sugar

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Mix with oil. Mix salt, sugar and 2 cups of flour and beat in the water/yeast mixture until smooth. Continue to add flour until you get a moderately stiff dough, knead until smooth. Let rise until double in bulk. Punch down and shape into two loaves and place in greased pans. Let rise until double in bulk. Bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

As for the yeast cake. What I understand is it's how they measure/divide fresh active yeast. Anyway, it's equivalent to one packet of dry active yeast, which is what I used. I had to call my mom to figure that one out. My bread baking skills are not much, and usually I kill the yeast when I proof it in warm water. I really have to take the temperature of the water to make sure I'm not going to kill it. Now it's going better. Anyway, it's a decent bread recipe if you just want bread without distinction.

Water Water Everywhere

2009-05-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

The human body can't last very long without water, as explained by my favorite logo of all time:

So water is one of the high priorities on my list for "food storage."

I bought water containers (7 gallon kind) from Walmart, took them home, cleaned them out with a bleach solution and filled them up with water.

But it wasn't meant to be easy. When the water containers were turned on their sides, as they were designed to do (hence the uber useful reversible cap spout) a steady drip drip drip of water leaked out. I tightened the cap. My husband tightened the cap. Still drip drip drip. So the containers went back to Walmart.

I looked a little harder this time--and I noticed that those very same containers are sold on most food storage websites and even at the Tucson army surplus store. Having noted their propensity to drip, I decided to try another brand.

And the brand I chose also happened to cost a pretty penny. But I figured that there was no way these bad boys would leak. (they also happen to be earthquake resistant, which, although earthquakes aren't an issue where I live, maybe they're sturdy enough to be used as extra chairs at Thanksgiving dinner...)

I ordered 4 (so we could last a few days without running water) (and because my apartment was in no state to receive a wall full of blue water containers). They arrived in a big cardboard box, and good news! they didn't leak. Even when turned on their sides.

Here's the link for the Extra Sturdy Water Containers.

Note: the lids are different than the one pictured on the web site. This is what they actually look like:

This is the self venting faucet I bought along with the bung replacement plug (who came up with that name???).

THAT SAID: my husband's parents have the water containers from walmart. They have a HUGE stack of them, and they hold the water fine, cost a lot less, and fill the need.

So I'm not saying you have to spend a fortune to buy water containers--the cheaper ones will probably hold up just fine. I wanted to make sure you were aware of their flaw (at least in the ones I've tried) and give you an alternative. And, so you know, I think the one's I have are going to be a tad tricky to drain properly because of how they are constructed.

So...none of the small time water storage systems (I haven't looked into the water barrels yet) are perfect. Although, if Camelbak made 5 gallon containers with their sweet, sweet logo on them...

Guest Post: 3 Month Supply

2009-05-01T10:37:00.003-07:00

Today's guest post is brought to you by Amanda from Usandthings. She submitted a list (with commentary) for a three month supply. It's a great starting place for if you have trouble conceptualizing and/or planning a three month supply--and a good way to double check your own list if you're already on the ball in this area.
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So, a the provident living specialist in our ward came up with this list for a suggested 3-month supply. [Her name is Liz Dinkelman.] She doesn't suggest that this is foolproof or will feed you for exactly 3-months, no more, no less, it's just to get an idea.

The following is PER PERSON:

36 cans of vegetables (corn, peas, green beans, asparagus, beets, etc)

36 cans of fruit (peaches, pears, oranges, pineapple, applesauce, etc)

36 cans of tomato products (diced, paste, sauce, etc)

36 cans of soups (chicken noodle, cream of chicken, cream of mushroom, tomato, etc)

36 cans of protein (chicken, beef, tuna, assorted beans)

18 cans of evaporated milk (18-month shelf life - rotate the cans every month) [I don't know what evaporated milk is for, maybe if I had some sort of food storage cook book, I could figure it out]

6 jars of spaghetti sauce

6 pounds of spaghetti

6 pounds of assorted noodles

2.5 pounds of dried potatoes (potato pearls available from cannery)

3 lbs pancake mix

5 boxes of breakfast cereal

2 boxes of crackers (I'd probably store more... I like crackers. I'd probably store about 5)

2 boxes of stuffing mix

2 boxes of cornbread mix

6 boxes of brownie mix (I like this suggestion a lot)

10 lbs of flour not packaged for long-term storage

5 lbs of rice not packaged for long-term storage

5 lbs of dried beans, peas, lentils not packaged for long-term storage

5 lgs of sugar (white, brown, and powdered probably not each)

3 gallons of juice (probably more if you have small kids. I think we drink 3 gallons of juice per week)

She also suggests to store oil, mayonnaise (does not need to be refrigerated until opened), peanut butter, jam, spices, bouillon, condiments, yeast, baking powder, baking soda, salt cocoa, chocolate chips (essential) parmesan cheese, dried eggs, raisins, chocolate syrup, pancake syrup, jello, and salad dressing.

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Thanks, Amanda for sharing this with us. If anyone else has a different list, or a formula for creating a list, email it to me. It would be great to have a few versions to get ideas from.

Powdered Milk REVOLUTION!

2009-04-15T15:18:00.004-07:00

My latest find is NIDO powdered milk. If you've lived in the Netherlands or in Central or South America, you may already be familiar with NIDO. It's powdered whole milk. Yum. It tastes just as fatty as whole milk should.

I found it at a Mexican specialty store in Orem, UT and then, I found it at Walmart in Mesa, AZ. Between specialty stores, amazon, and Walmart, I'm confident you can get your hands on some. Beware, though, there are several types of NIDO--and several of the types are nothing more than formula (for babies). Since we're not babies here, I buy the NIDO that is just straight up powdered milk. It's easy to spot because it doesn't have a picture of a baby on the front. [NOTE: If the package is entirely in spanish (or dutch or german or whatever) then the proportions are 3Tablespoons to 1 cup water.]

Powdered milk is almost always skim because fat spoils quickly. That's where NIDO comes in--mix a little NIDO with a little skim milk and you end up with something more like 1 or 2 percent. And, if you need cream...NIDO tastes about as rich as cream does (even though it's not as thick as cream).

Unless you are a whole milk afficionado, you probably won't want to drink NIDO straight--it's VERY fatty (which means, I LOVE it.) I keep my open can of NIDO in the fridge to keep it from spoiling, and the unopened cans are sitting in my pantry. They have an expiration date of 2010, so as long as I use them consistently, it shouldn't be any trouble to rotate through them.

Matthias' Bean History and Recipes

2009-03-29T21:38:00.006-07:00

It's time for our first guest author: Matthias from mmwhitney.blogspot.com. Matthias is an optical engineer, and he has a great wife (who I owe my PhotoShopEditor skills to, THANKS MEGAN!). In this post, Matthias delves into the wonderful world of Beans. His bean experience follows, along with his recipes for some Yummy Beans. I've compiled his recipes at the end of the post. Enjoy.

I bought a big five pound bag of beans once at Costco, and it was great fun. However, I soon learned that five pounds of beans is ALOT. I did the initial boiling in our big pot (about 2 gallons) but then I soon realized that I would have to split the beans between the 2 gal pot and the crock pot, our only large cooking pot type thing. I also added a little bit of oil with the initial boil.

I'm not sure if that was from a recipe I found or if it was ingenious thinking on my part, but it led to a boil over with my super full two gallon pot which subsequently led to my stove catching on fire! Yikes! But still fun! I ended up making a pork and beans type thing by adding ketchup, BBQ sauce, brown sugar, onions, hot sauce, and other things (I don't often follow recipes to the T). Also, I used leftover boneless country style pork ribs as the "pork" in my pork and beans.

My most recent bean experiments have been a little bit more controlled, with only cooking about a pound of beans at a time. I roughly followed a recipe from Cook's Country magazine for Smokey BBQ Beans, only I didn't follow the smokey instructions. The recipe strictly calls for:

4 slices of bacon
1 onion
4 garlic cloves
(put these ingredients in pot together to simmer flavors, then add:)

1 pound of pintos, soaked overnight
6 cups of water
(simmer until soft, then add:)

1 cup of bbq sauce
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoon mustard
1 teaspoon hot sauce

The final step is to put them in an aluminum pan with foil over the top and set them on open coals with a grill full of meat over the top (see crude drawing 1), but I didn't do this step.

Crude Drawing 1

Also, instead of bacon, I used leftovers from a Christmas ham which was a delicious use of our resources. Also we cook with dehydrated onions and garlic for ease, so really, I just boiled the first stuff with the beans for three+ hours until they were tender (I didn't soak overnight) and then added the other good stuff and simmered them until they were the desired consistency. The outcome was a success and even the wife liked them!

My second experiment with beans was refried beans (total misnomer, not only not doubly fried, but not even fried in the first place!). I boiled the beans for several hours until soft (with some onions and garlic for fun), then put them in the blender to "refry" aka smoosh them. I'm told a potato masher works well too, but I don't own one. I had to blender the beans in shifts so that I didn't overfill my blender and make unnecessary mess, but this required clever coordination of more than one pot. Care should taken to add enough water with the beans in the blender and to not over blenderize, unless you want a refried bean smoothie.

From here, I put the bean goo back in the pot with grated cheese, hot sauce, and salt (I added everything to taste) and simmered it until they were the right consistency. Super easy! And we had bean and cheese burritos for the next few weeks as quick meals and snacks. With just the wife and I, we can't eat a whole pound of beans at once, so we freeze them in cool whip containers and they thaw just fine.

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RECAP:

Smokey BBQ Beans, Matthias Style
[Editor's Note: The flavor of these beans is AMAZINGLY GOOD! If you like your beans mushy (as opposed to somewhat firm), then boil just the beans and water, then let the beans soak for an hour. Then cook them for 3+ hours in a slow cooker, adding the seasonings to the slow cooker.]
In a large pot add:
Meat (ham or bacon, equivalentish to 4 slices of bacon)
Dehydrated onion and garlic (equivalentish to 1 onion and 4 garlic cloves)
1 lb.pinto beans
6 c. water

Boil those ingredients for 3ish hours.

Add 1c bbq sauce, 1/3 c. brown sugar, 2 T mustard, 1 t. hot sauce
Simmer until beans are desired consistency.

Refried Beans, Misnomer Style
Boil 1lb of beans, onions and garlic (in water) for several hours (until beans are soft)
Put the beans in a blender to "refry" them. NOTE: add water as needed AND don't over blend.

Mix the now blended, I mean, Refried, beans with cheese, hot sauce and salt in a pot and simmer until they are the right consistency.

BEAN STORAGE TIP:
store extra (cooked) beans in the freezer until needed.

Wheat "Bread"

2009-03-14T10:14:00.007-07:00

Let's get one thing settled before you launch into this post: I am a bread-making novice. Bread has many non-simple things about it. Yeast. Kneading. Waiting. Rising. Kneading....anything that takes that much work just isn't worth it to me. Hence my unrequited love for cinnamon rolls.

So. I ventured into the world of homemade wheat bread with some trepidation and a lot less of the This-is-a-Fun-Experiment attitude I had with beans. Because I know bread. I have a history with bread. Not a good one. Hence my very limited attempts to make it. (sort of counter intuitive isn't it? I didn't stop playing the violin because I really stunk the first year I played it, now did I?) Also, the Fun-Experiment attitude goes awry when I'm making food that's built into my menu for the day because if the food doesn't turn out, then What Will We Eat???? e.g. when I went against common sense and added a WHOLE tablespoon of paprika to a "Hawaiian pork sauce" this week. As attorneys tell juries ad nauseum, "Don't leave your common sense at the courtroom door.")

Bread.
This is attempt No. 1:

Har har. I know. So. The way you will know this is what your bread will look like is that after 5 hours of "rising" it will look like this:

which is exactly what it looked like when you first mixed the dough.

How I salvaged it:

Add some tomato sauce, cheese, meat, and still more cheese. The pizzas tasted pretty good.

Attempt No. 2:

Yum. Made with molasses. And this time, the lack of height is partly my own fault--I started the bread late in the day and wanted it cooked before I went to bed--and partly how the bread should look (I think).

The recipe I used is from the Fannie Farmer Cookbook 13th Ed.
called Entire Wheat Bread. It made a moist, tasty bread, and my husband (who doesn't approve of wheat bread usually) voted it was a keeper. I froze what we couldn't eat (two loaves of hearty bread is more than we can handle in a week). I loved how healthy the bread is. I think my body was thanking me for eating something nutritious for once.

So, the challenge for this week it to get out there and try a bread recipe--and send me pictures of your results and any recipes that were particularly successful (and if you are into copyrights, let me know if I can legitimately post the recipe I used).

Next post will be about wheat grinders (which are a must if you plan on using the wheat you are storing). AND THEN! We have a guest author about beans. I want the post to look good, so it's taking a little more time than I hoped, but it's coming. Hold your breath. So much goodness coming up!

Beans! Demystified

2009-02-24T11:38:00.012-07:00

I avoid dry beans. Cooking them filled me with dread.

Last week, though, I buckled down and did an experiment. I'm finding that cooking is easier...or less threatening...if I call it "experimenting." In experiments the result is important--but not for the same reasons the result is important in regular cooking.

(got to love those upside down hands!)

It turns out beans are easy. They take some time to cook. But the cooking part isn't difficult. Mostly you set a timer and when it beeps you change the temperature or location of the beans. And guess what....my beans tasted great. Good great. Great enough for me to want to serve them to you when you come over. Yeah. That good. And it was my first time. Ever. The maiden voyage and I'm already boasting about my skills. This could be you. I'll show you how:

I tried two recipes: the one on the can* and the one from the internet* (see bottom of post).

What I started with: beans, recipes, and an open bag of animal crackers (seriously. the cook needs snacks when cooking something that takes more than an hour).

Rinse your beans (check for stones and whithered beans)

Pull out any undesirables, then put the beans in a pot. Cover with water. Turn on the heat and get the beans boiling for a few minutes. Turn off the heat and let em sit. (Isn't that so easy! Easier than pasta which has to stay cooking and at my house seems to constantly boil over the sides of the pot).

(don't you love the tin foil tag I put on that front pot? I was worried I'd confuse which pot contained which recipe)

When the timer goes off--start cooking the beans again (this is where one pot of beans went into a slow cooker and the other stayed on the stove). Add in some spices and bacon (yum!) and then let them cook (I used 2 slices of bacon, 1tsp. of salt, 1/8 tsp of pepper, 1/4 tsp of garlic powder).

The can recipe asks you to have the beans cook for 2 hours on the stove. The internet recipe put them in a slow cooker on high for 4 hours. I started cooking both at the same time, seasoned them the same--and the slow cooker won hands down. Better flavor. Slightly smooshier beans. The flavor though...wow! It was tasty.

I also liked the slow cooker because I didn't worry about turning it on and leaving the room. The stove method made me nervous.

So...that's it. I'm kind of sad that I haven't been doing this before. All of this time I could have had amazingly good beans for so little effort.

Give it a shot and tell me what you think. Or if you have a good recipe for mexican food style beans--I want it.

Recpies:

Can Recipe (from LDS food storage can) (I halved the recipe):
1 1/4 c beans
boil for 2 mins in 4c. of water
cover and set aside to soak for 1 hour
drain water, rinse beans
Add 3 c. water and seasoning and simmer for 2 hours.

Internet Recipe (I'm writing it out below in case the link goes bad)
1 1/4 c beans
water to cover
boil
sit for 1 hour
DON'T DRAIN; put in a crock pot
add water to cover
add seasonings
Cook on high for 4-5 hours

Seasoning: 2 slices of bacon, 1tsp. of salt, 1/8 tsp of pepper, 1/4 tsp of garlic powder

FOOD IS FUN!

2009-01-15T10:57:00.008-07:00

I love eating. I do it pretty much all day long. (those of you who know me know that I'm not exaggerating on this point).

So, thinking about food storage food gave me more than a little sadness. Food storage food tastes nasty and takes a lot of work to prepare. (are you with me on this one?)

My biggest issue with food storage: I wasn't looking forward to eating it. Once I realized that (and it took me more than a few nights of headaches and stress to admit that was my real problem with food storage) I decided, "Heck! I'm planning the thing. I'm in charge here Food. I don't have to store anything I don't want to." With that, I started looking at what food is out there in number 10 cans.

There's the standard fare--rice, beans, wheat, sugar. But the internet revealed more food in number 10 cans than I knew was possible. Shredded cheese? Yes please. Raspberries? Peaches? Broccoli and Sweet Corn? Thank you, I would like that on my shelf.

Even in my state of joy (and I was dancing little dances, and singing little songs, and saying things in an excited voice like "CHEESE!! WE WILL HAVE CHEESE!")
I knew, deep down, that the bulk of my storage foods would be staples, like wheat, beans, rice...fine. All of that is manageable when I know I can have a few "normal" food items as well.

So, want to give yourself the equivalent of a food storage pep talk? Raspberries. Shredded cheese. Meat. Milk. Butter. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. And yes. All of those and more can be in your pantry (or shelving unit) in a number 10 can. Done and done. My most recent purchases:

So, with our food storage forecast looking distinctly more sunny, here is one of my favorite web sites: USA Emergency Supply.
I like USAEmergency because they sell just about everything for either the same or lower price than other places, they have a small can option on many products, they ship when they say they will, and they have helpful explanation/information pages for just about every kind of food they sell. (see the information tab at the top of the web site or try this link to the dairy page).

Another place I've ordered from is: Emergency Essentials. They have a GREAT selection of freeze dried foods and they guarantee their freeze dried foods for 25 years (under proper storage conditions). Their freeze dried cheese and the sweet corn are my favorite so far.

In coming posts I'll put up taste test reviews, a practical example of a 3 month supply, how I've dealt with water storage, cooking beans tutorial and recipe comparisons, and my attempt at cooking wheat bread (that's a winner, so look forward to it.)

Excuses Beware

2009-01-15T10:44:00.007-07:00

The beginning:...no. Wait. Maybe I shouldn't start there. Perhaps you've been there. That place where you dread food storage, and you can't wrap your head around a staring place. Not with your budget, not with your space, not with your sloppy shopping habits. That's an adequate description to take you through the last four and a half years of my food storage career (and a dismal, unemployed sort of career it was).

So that's where I started. Somehow, though, about eight months ago, I reached a different sort of place. One that has some hope, one that sees possibilities. One that actually has a closet with water and cans of food in it. That kind of place. I suppose the next step is to have another closet stocked with desserts, but...we'll get to that.

The real, true blue starting place: I decided that I would have food storage. It was as simple as that. I kicked the complaints, the excuses, the fear, the "I don't know how to do it" comments out the door and sat down at my computer and started looking for solutions. (and by kicked them out the door, I mean we had a long, brawl in the parking lot of my apartment complex. Yeah. One of those.)

I remembered my friend Marge. She lived in a one bedroom apartment. In her bedroom was a bed, a sweet walk-in closet, and...what was that?! along the wall opposite her bed? A tall shelving unit full of...food storage.

With that mental picture in mind (and with her awesome attitude of: The prophet said to have food storage, so I have it, also in mind), I decided that I could do it too.

As for doubts, excuses, frustration...all of those things didn't go away. But instead of focusing on all the reasons not to, and all the scary things that could lead to me needing food storage, where to put it all, how much to get...you know the list by heart too... I kept my mental picture of Marge's food storage shelf in mind and started planning. [Aside to Marge: Hi Marge!]

Starting Point

2009-01-15T10:33:00.004-07:00

I started my food storage while living in a one bedroom apartment that was full of the furniture that comes with a furnished apartment (70's plaid), a bunch of mountain bikes and all the other things that go along with regular living (clothes, food, monkey carved from a coconut).

My husband was a full time student and I worked full time.

We didn't have a lot of money.
We didn't have a lot of space.
We didn't have a lot of time.

We did want some food storage.
And thus begins the chronicles of Lu's food storage.