20 Simple Everyday Food Storage Items

20 Simple Everyday Food Storage Items

Biggest rule of food Storage-
“Buy what you eat and eat what you buy”


1. Soups *Soup and Sandwich once a week- helps rotate stock
2. Canned Meats
3. Pasta, Sauces, Tomatoes
4. Packaged Rice and Noodle Mixes
* To keep rice from becoming sticky-
Cook rice like pasta. Cook until tender. Drain and Rinse. Reheat in Microwave
5. Peanut Butter and Jelly
6. Wheat and Wheat Grinder
7. Oils
8. Sugar and Honey
9. Dry Beans
10. Dried Potatoes
11. Dry Milk *Cook with it instead of fresh milk- helps rotate stock
12. Salt
13. Bisquick and Baking Mixes
14. Bouillon
15. Corn Meal or Cornbread Mix
16. Nuts
17. Crackers * Cheese and Crackers for Snacks and/or Appetizer - helps rotate stock
18. Canned Potatoes
19. Jar Gravy
20. Boxed Cereal

My Summer Kitchen

This is what my Kitchen looks like right now......

I am canning and dehydrating.......

Cooling freshly canned jars of Salsa and Pickled Peppers

Dirty Dishes stacked up waiting for the Dishwasher to be unloaded

The tomatoes I didn't use to make the Salsa

Homemade Bread and

What is left.......will make a veggie tray for snacking tomorrow

So far this year:
Canned
Strawberry Jam
Dilly Beans
Dill Pickles
Pickled Peppers
Salsa

Dehydrated:
Grape Tomatoes
Peppers
Peaches
Mangos

Bananas

Frozen:
Onions
Carrots

Canning Classes

Upcoming Canning Classes at Carriage Hill Metro Park. They are free, but you must register.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3980 Canning Club: Vegetables
Sat
08-15-2009 10:00AM - 1:00PM
Daniel Arnold House
Carriage Hill MetroPark

3981 Canning Club: Fruits
Sat
09-19-2009 10:00AM - 1:00PM
Daniel Arnold House
Carriage Hill MetroPark

3982 Canning Club: End of Season Harvest
Sat
10-17-2009 10:00AM - 1:00PM
Daniel Arnold House
Carriage Hill MetroPark

3983 Canning Club: Butters
Sat
11-14-2009 10:00AM - 1:00PM
Daniel Arnold House
Carriage Hill MetroPark

Home Preservation Series- Freeze your Harvest

Home Preservation Series- Freeze your Harvest

Five Rivers Metroparks
Dayton, OH
Date: Sunday, July 26, 2009
Time: 1:00pm - 4:00pm
Location: Possum Creek Metropark
4790 Frytown Rd. Dayton, Ohio

My Husband is a HAM

Matt recently completed the Technician Course for Amateur Radio Operation and passed his test. He is officially a HAM!

He thought it would be a good idea for us to get our license for HAM Operation. In a end of the world as we know it situation this will be a way to communicate and to get information.

I will be starting classes next week so I can be a HAM too!

My new Kitchen Toy

 EasiYo Yogurt Maker

Healthy, delicious, and easy to make at home, yogurt is a nutritious snack for every member of the family. Create your very own nutritious yogurt--high in levels of live and active cultures that help benefit your immune and digestive systems--with this non-electric yogurt maker. It takes less than one minute to mix the ingredients and start creating your very own yogurt.

I am doing my first batch now. I will let you know how it turns out!

Garden Day 79

Come see who visited the Garden this week

http://mcgathagarden.blogspot.com/

Seven Day Challenge

What is the Seven Day Challenge?

The Seven Day Challenge is going to be a mock disaster that lasts 7 Days in which the bloggers at http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net will be initiating an emergency “fire drill”. Participants will have a chance to test their level of preparedness in a simulated emergency environment. Each day during the Seven Day Challenge participants will receive an email informing them which of their utilities and/or food they will have access to. At the conclusion of the Seven Day Challenge participants will have means to share, discuss, and give feedback on how they could have been “better” prepared.

How to sign up?
You can sign-up online at the Seven Day Challenge page on FoodStorageMadeEasy.NET.

What’s in it for me?
· Opportunity to win a WonderMill Hand Mill for joining and by telling friends
· Participant prizes for completing the challenge
· Tons of learning
· Peace of mind from being prepared

How will I be prepared in time?
Follow the blog http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net and through-out the summer as they will be doing a summer crash course helping you get ready. You can also sign up for FREE CHECKLISTS that get emailed to you every 2 weeks with “to do” items, and “to purchase” lists!

P.S. When signing up, make sure you give credit to Carolyn that passed this along to you by entering her name in the referrer field J. Doing so will give you AND them an entry for the Wonder Junior Deluxe Giveaway!

Garden Day 72

This week at the Garden

http://mcgathagarden.blogspot.com/

Chicago- Wrigley Field and Cubs Game

The famed Wrigley Field

Bob and Matt with some Chicago Cops

The Bar were we had some pre game beers

Wrigley Scoreboard

Waiting for the game to start

PLAY BALL!

Chicago- Lake Michigan Cruise

Matt and I on a Chicago Skyline Tour on Lake Michigan

Chicago

Me and Matt

This weekend we went to Chicago with some Friends of ours.

Jeany and Bob

More pictures to come............

7 Ways to Preserve the Harvest

With the Garden about to explode with fresh veggies I am thinking about ways to preserve our harvest.

I this months issue of MaryJanes Farm, they have great information on

7 Ways to Preserve the Harvest

1. Root Cellars
2. Freezing
3. Vacuum Packing
4. Canning
5. Salting
6. Drying
7. Fermenting

Grain Storage

Key Points:
Grains are used to create the foundation, and a wide variety of foods in your long-term food storage.
It is recommended that half your daily grain intake be WHOLE grains due to the high nutritional value and protein levels (examples include: whole wheat, oats, brown rice, etc).

Accumulate recipes that include grains. Using your grains will help you rotate through them, and get your family used to eating them.

Even though we talk about each grain separately, we find that WHEAT GRINDING is the major hang up for most people! Learn why NOT to be intimidated by wheat grinders by checking out our wheat grinder article and how-to video. Don’t use this as an excuse to not start this step!
When you are ready to purchase a wheat grinder, view our WonderMill Grain Mill page to see how we have become authorized dealers in order to get you the best possible price available.

Determine the quantities of each food item you will need to store.


Rolled Oats:
Uses - Breakfasts, granola, cookies, filler in meat loafs or casseroles, thickener for soups/stews.

Types - Quick rolled oats or regular rolled oats. Quick oats cook faster but regular oats retain flavor and nutrition better.

Storage - If unopened, optimum shelf life is up to 8 years. If opened should be used within 1 year. We recommend storing large amounts in an airtight plastic container and pulling out a smaller amount every few months for your actual usage/rotation.

Wheat:
Uses - Wheat grass, appetizers, desserts, breakfast cereals, crackers, brownies, tortillas, breads, pancakes, muffins, cakes, snacks, in salads, to make vegetarian meat/protein, and any other baking item you would use flour for.

Types - Spring or winter, hard or soft, red or white. Hard varieties have higher gluten (protein) and are better for making breads. Soft varieties have lower protein and nutrients but are better for pastries, pastas, and breakfast cereals. Red wheats are typically hard and whites are typically soft. However if you prefer the flavor of one over the other you can find soft red and hard white. Experiment with different varieties in your recipes to find out what works best for you.

Storage - If unopened, optimum shelf life is 12 years or more. If opened will last about 3 years. However, once ground into flour, wheat loses most of its nutrients within a few days so only grind small amounts at a time. You can add oxygen absorbers, bay leaves, or dry ice to help keep critters out of your wheat.

Spaghetti or Macaroni:
Uses - As a main course, in casseroles, in soups.

Types - You can store any type of pasta you like to use, the main ones sold in bulk are macaroni and spaghetti so they are convenient for long-term storage.

Storage - If unopened, optimum shelf life is 8-10 years. If opened will last about 2 years. If you buy it in plastic bags we recommend transferring your pasta to airtight plastic containers for better storage.

Cornmeal:
Uses - Grits, cornbread/muffins, mush, jonnycake, hushpuppies, breading on fried items.

Types - Steel ground or stone ground. Most common is steel ground, it has husk and germ almost all removed. Loses flavor and nutrients but has a long shelf life. This is what you will find at the grocery store. Stone ground retains more of the husk and germ but is more perishable.
Cornmeal can be found in white, yellow, red, and blue varieties. Yellow and white are the most common.

Storage - If unopened, optimum shelf life is 5 years. If opened will last about 1 year.

Enriched White Flour:

Uses - Cakes, biscuits, pie crusts, pastries, gravy, thickener, puddings.

Types - Bleached or unbleached. Both have had their bran and germ portions removed and are “enriched” by adding back some of the lost nutrients. Bleached has been treated with chlorine, while unbleached is aged and bleached naturally by oxygen in the air.

Storage - If unopened, optimum shelf life is 5 years. If opened will last about 6-8 months.

Enriched White Rice:
Uses - Rice pudding, cereal, casseroles, side dishes.

Types - Bleached or unbleached. Both have had their bran and germ portions removed and are “enriched” by adding back some of the lost nutrients. Bleached has been chemically bleached while unbleached goes through a natural bleaching process.

Storage - If unopened, optimum shelf life is 30 years. If opened will last indefinitely.

Pearled Barley:
Uses - Thickener in soups and stews, in sides or casseroles similar to how you would use rice.

Types - You can buy pot barley which retains more of the nutritious germ and brand, but it has a shorter shelf life. Pearled barley is recommended for long-term food storage.

Storage - If unopened, optimum shelf life is 8 years. If opened will last 18 months.


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http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/

Preserving Food at Home: Self Study Course

Announcing a free, self-paced, online course for those wanting to learn more about home canning and preservation.

*Introduction to Food Preservation
*General Canning
*Canning Acid Foods
*Canning Low-Acid Foods

This course is offered in the University of Georgia WebCT system. UGA requires registration for you to receive a login.

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/

Haymaker's Punch

In Laura Ingalls Wilder's book The Long Winter Ma serves Pa a drink called Ginger Water while he is bailing Hay. After some research, I found that this drink is all so called Haymaker's Punch. Basically it is the equivalent of a modern day energy drink.

The basic ingredients are ginger, apple cider vinegar and a sweetener (molasses, honey ,brown sugar or maple syrup.

The recipe goes like this:
Dissolve the sweetener (your choice, to taste) and 1 teaspoon of powdered ginger in 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar

Mix into 2 Quarts of water

"It's an acquired taste......like lemonade with an extra sour bite"

Garden Day 65

Come see pictures from my visit to the Garden today

http://mcgathagarden.blogspot.com/

What's for Dinner- Pork and Bean Goulash

Pork and Bean Goulash

1 (10 oz.) can pork and beans
1/2 lb. bacon
1 (8 oz.) can tomatoes
1 sm. onion, chopped
1 1/2 c. chopped potatoes
1 pod pickled hot pepper
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/4 c. vinegar
1 c. ketchup

Fry bacon in large pan. Remove bacon and lay it in a paper plate.

Lower heat and add onions and potatoes.

Let simmer for 3 minutes, then add beans.

Mix other ingredients into pan.

Cook slowly until potatoes are done.

Chick Pea Recipes- Day 5

Chickpea and Fresh Tomato With Curry Dressing over Couscous

Ingredients
1 fresh tomato, diced
1 (19 ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed
1/4 cup raisins (to taste)
3/4 cup couscous (medium size)
3/4 cup boiling water
1/4 cup virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 medium garlic cloves, diced
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions
To cook couscous, place in a bowl with equal amount boiling water and cover for 5 to 8 minutes.

While couscous cooks, dice tomato and rinse chickpeas.

To prepare sauce, mix olive oil, curry powder, lemon juice, garlic and salt by hand in a small bowl.

Divide cooked couscous between two large plates or pasta bowls.

Pour chickpeas, diced tomato and raisins on top of couscous

Using spoon, drizzle generous amount of sauce over all ingredients. Serve and savour!

Chick Peas Day 4

I like this Hummus Recipe. It has ingredients that I store and no special ingredients.

Simple Hummus

1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans (chick peas)
2 tablespoons lemon juice, more for a thinner consistency
1 garlic clove
paprika (optional)
cilantro (optional)

Directions

Drain and rinse garbanzo beans.

Combine ingredients into food processor or blender.

Add water/lemon juice as needed.

Blend until smooth.

Serve with veggies, chips, pretzels - whatever you would like!

Garden Pictures

This is a Flower Bed at my Mother In Law's House

Chick Pea Recipes- Day 3

Chick Pea Salad Sandwich Spread

Ingredients
1 (15 ounce) can chickpeas, drained and slightly mashed
2 small celery ribs, with their leaves
1/4 cup chopped water chestnut
2 tablespoons finely chopped onions (or to taste)
1 tablespoon pickle relish
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 teaspoon dry ranch dressing mix
1 teaspoon dried parsley
salt and pepper

Directions
Mix all ingredients, and serve on whole grain bread or in pita pockets with lettuce and tomato.

Better when made ahead and chilled.