Five Things That Changed The Way I Do Food Storage

*This is a repost from 2011
There are so many topics to cover when it comes to Food Storage and Emergency Preparedness.  So when I attended a great class Tuesday at Honeyville Grain called "Five Things That Will Change Your Mind About Food Storage", taught by the store manager Lisa Barker, it got me thinking about how to narrow down the list of all the topics of preparedness to just 5.  Lisa's 5 things are very similar to the 5 things that changed the way I do food storage and also how it has simplified my food storage. (I'll list her ideas at the end of the post) My food storage journey really began on September 11, 2001.  I remember the panicked feeling after watching the Twin Towers fall and then watching the other planes crashing into the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania, and thinking this is it!  The world is ending!  The reason I felt so panicked was I had a 6 month old, 22 month old and a 4 year old and I didn't have more than a week's worth of anything.  My baby was strictly on formula and I only had the one can of formula we were using. I grabbed the kids and went to the grocery store and bought food, paper goods, formula, you name it and I probably bought it.  

As time went by and life looked like it was going to continue I really felt the need to start and continue a food storage program.  I started with basics and had things like flour, but I really didn't know how to store it and rotate it.  I went through several ways of storing my long-term items like a Rubbermaid container, buckets etc.  What I didn't realize was I needed to have a meal plan to create my 3-month supply and at that time I was still cooking whatever sounded good that day for dinner.  I wasted so much food and was really frustrated.  Contemplating what I should do; I know that I was inspired by the Spirit when an idea came to me one Sunday afternoon, and that was to create a menu plan with an ingredient list.  I wrote down every meal that my family ate and then I made an ingredient list of all the items from those meals.  That ingredient list became a built in shopping list. I could buy my ingredients when they went on sale and have a pantry full of food that I used on a daily basis.  This is all kept in a binder with sheet protectors and there’s one for each meal.  This plan has worked for my family for several years now.  What’s great is I can tweak it as I go and add or subtract recipes when we need a change.

My ingredient list that goes with my dinner meal plan.

The ingredient list helps me to see exactly what I need to have in my storage room for a 3-month supply.  I just multiply the item by 3 (which is more than a 3-month supply, but more is better, right?)  and I purchase that quantity.  The CASE LOT sales that are a PERFECT time to purchase items for your pantry!!!  (Because if your food storage plan is to come to my house in an emergency you will probably be disappointed to find that I make you work for free food)  hahaha :)  All kidding aside you really do need a plan for your family!!


Here is my list of the 5 things that changed my mind about food storage:

1. Making a meal plan, ingredient list and shopping for items when they are on sale!!
2. Using the Food Saver to preserve my dehydrated food, spices, chocolate chips, candy, etc. 
3. Gamma Lids!!  These lids have made my life sooooo much easier!  I can open a bucket of wheat just by unscrewing the gamma lid and the resealing it without having to pry open those lids that come with the buckets. 
4. Canning and dehydrating my own food at home!  I never knew how easy it was to can your own meat!  Click HERE to view a previous post on canning meat.  I have also learned to dehydrate almost anything I can get my hands on and then sealing the food in a mason jar with the food saver.  
5. Wheat!  I have loved learning about all the things that wheat can do!  You can grind it into flour, cook it into a cereal, sprout it into a vegetable, crack it and cook it, even ice cream. I am continually amazed at what wheat can do! Making my own bread has been such a fun learning experiment.  Click HERE to see the recipe I use. 

There you have it!  The five things that changed my mind about food storage. These are Lisa's 5 things:

1. Store what you eat...eat what you store!
2. Canning my own foods.
3. Freeze Dried Foods
4. FoodSaver, Meals in a jar
5. I Dare You To Eat It, and It's In the Bag Plans 

EDUCATION IS POWER!!!!

Prepare Today Homemade - Homemade Fruit Snacks

Who has an abundance of zucchini right now?  Are neighbors leaving them on your porch in the middle of the night?  If so, I have a recipe for you!  Enjoy this popular post from a few years ago.  It is still a favorite of mine!!

This recipe is going to sound bizarre, weird, and totally gross, BUT stay with me because they are really yummy!!  I have been trying to find a way to make fruit snacks at home.  My kids really like them, but to get 6 little pouches in a box at the grocery store seems like a waste of money.  So I was really excited to find this recipe for making fruit snacks out of ZUCCHINI?!?!?!   I know exactly what you are thinking because I thought the same thing.  How on earth can you make fruit snacks out of a zucchini??  I'll show you :)

 First you will need those big zucchinis that you found in the garden, after going on vacation, and you don't know what to do with them. 

 Peel, core, and dice into about 1" pieces.  Don't make them too small because we are going to dehydrate them and they will shrink.  

 In the recipe that I found the author used Kool-Aid and 1 1/2 C of sugar to "season" her zucchini but I already had a #10 can of strawberry flavored gelatin and I wanted to see if it would work.  I only used the gelatin for the flavor and color, it didn't thicken or make the fruit snack any different then using koolaid.  In my first batch I didn't add enough of the gelatin and they weren't very sweet, so I added 3 C of the gelatin to about 3 C of water.  I also added about a cup of sugar to the second batch to sweeten it up.  {I never said these were healthy :) Look at the ingredients on a package of fruit snacks}  You could experiment with sweeteners and find one that will make these a little bit healthier, you could use Splenda. Fruit Juice is also another great option when trying these.
 
My friend Lisa loves using koolaid and mixing up all the flavors.  My other friend Linda uses organic fruit juice and no sugar, and it works great for both!!

Bring 3-4 C of water and the gelatin, or kool-aid, to a boil and stir in your chopped zucchini.  

Bring to a boil and then let simmer with the lid on for 30 minutes.  When they are finished boiling drain the liquid into a bowl because you can boil a second batch in the same liquid.  Let the zucchini drain for about 10 minutes so they aren't so saturated when you dehydrate them.

 Spread the zucchini in your dehydrator or oven.  If you are using your oven you will need the lowest temperature, or crack open your oven door to lower the heat.  I dehydrated the zucchini at about 130 degrees for about 8 hours.  This is the cool part....when they are done they have a kind of crisp edge with a chewy center, JUST like a fruit snack.  I really couldn't believe it and my child who hates everything actually ate them and has asked me to make more!!  

I want to experiment with other flavors, but this is definitely a recipe I am making again. I am letting my zucchini grow big on purpose now :)

Homemade Zucchini Fruit Snacks
2-3 medium to large zucchinis about 4 C (mine were about 8-10" long)
3-4 C water (just enough to cover the zucchini in the pan)*
3 C flavored gelatin OR 2 packages any flavor Kool-Aid
1 1/2 C sugar if using Kool-Aid, OR sugar to taste if using gelatin or fruit juice


Wash, peel and core the zucchini.  Chop into 1" pieces.  Boil your water, sugar, gelatin or kool-aide.  Stir in zucchini and bring to a boil.  Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.  Drain, saving the liquid for another batch, and let sit for 10 minutes.  Spread zucchini onto dehydrator trays and dehydrate at 130 degrees for 8-10 hours or until slightly pliable.  They will harden as they cool so don't over dry them or they will be hard as a rock.  If you are using your oven, spread zucchini onto cookie sheets and dry on the lowest setting your oven will go. 

*Juice can be substituted for the water, koolaid, and sugar. Use just enough juice to cover the zucchini and boil.   

Here is how my friend Lisa makes her zucchini snacks :) She's my go-to food storage professional friend :)

 After making the snacks many, many, many times now, I have changed ours to be the following, especially when I use the huge zukes! 12 c. water, 6 packets of KoolAid and 5 cups of sugar. I cut my zucchini in 1 inch by 8 inch strips so that they are more like Twizzlers. We have found that they don't disappear quite so quickly. I bring my liquid to a boil and then put about 12 cups or so of the zucchini in and bring it to a boil again, at which point I put the lid on and turn down the heat to about a 3 and allow it to simmer for about 20-25 minutes and then dehydrate on the racks. I've also found that it works best if I add an extra packet of just the KoolAid for the second batch but not any extra sugar. It keeps the flavor bright when I'm making so much. With my Excalibur I end up making 2 batches of 2 different flavors (so 4 different batches) that it takes to fill my dehydrator. Yum!



Enjoy the Journey!
Enjoy the Blessings!
Feel the PEACE!!

"Soup In A Bag" Review

One of the benefits of having a blog is meeting new friends over the internet in the blogoshpere.  Megan, from My Food Storage Cookbook, is one of my food storage blog friends.  The reason her website caught my eye was her amazing food storage recipe organization.  Her recipes are organized into several catagories, cross referenced, color coded, so at any given time she knows what recipes her family eats and what she needs to shop for. If there was an emergency and she had no power, Megan can look at her recipe book and can see exactly which recipes are for a Wonder Box, or cook top, etc. It really is a great system for rotating and using your food storage!!  Plus, she shows you how to make your own recipe book with instructions and videos!  She is also truly inspired when it comes to finding new ways to prepare and cook every day food by using your food storage and shelf stable ingredients.  I have learned so much from her website. Take a look at My Food Storage Cookbook and you'll see why I was so impressed with her organization and recipes. 

Megan had a giveaway for the book "Soup In A Bag" and I was lucky enough to win a copy in return for reviewing a few recipes from the book. The concept of "Soup In A Bag" is a cookbook collection of soup recipes that use all dehydrated and shelf stable ingredients that can be stored together, in a bag or jar, to have on hand for food storage emergencies, busy nights, etc.  I selected a few recipes, spent one day dehydrating ingredients for the different soups, another afternoon making up the recipes and sealing the soups in mason jars using my Foodsaver. I made four different soups from the book and my family let me know which one was their favorite one.  

Check out my review HERE and watch Megan's website for reviews from the other giveaway winners all week.   

Using My Food Storage: Soup In A Bag (Jar)

Today I ended up with several uninterrupted hours and I found the perfect project to tackle. I recently won a giveaway on Megan's blog, Myfoodstoragecookbook.com, and I received the book Soup In A Bag.  I needed to review a few of the soups and in my few uninterrupted hours I made several jars filled with dehydrated and freeze-dried foods.  When I reconstitute them I will have almost instant soups.  I made them in an assembly line type of process and it really helped that I could get out all of the ingredients, make the jarred meals, seal them, and get them put away, without children interruptions.  I love to look at the jars all finished and ready for a busy night when I can pull out a jar, heat up some water and have dinner ready in minutes. 

 

 One of the recipes called for dehydrated rice and tomatoes and I needed to dehydrate them before I could make jarred soup mix with them, but I had all the other ingredients to make Carrot Yam and Potato Cheese soup mix.  I sealed the jars with my foodsaver and they are good on the shelf for at least a year.  

This is a great book if you want to make your own Soups In A Bag or jar.  The author uses mylar bags and jars to preserve her soups, but you can choose which way works best for you. Find the book HERE

Dehydrate Those Leftovers!

One of the many things that I love about my new home is being able to have my larger kitchen appliances stored right in the kitchen area and not in the basement storage room.  I am more likely to use my dehydrator, canner, wheat grinder, etc. when they are accessible.  After preparing dinner tonight I had a half a bag of spinach leftover, so I pulled out my dehydrator, spread out those extra leaves and saved them for another meal.  It was such a chore before when I had to hike downstairs and carry up the dehydrator.  Now it is stored right in my kitchen for use anytime.  I know not everyone will have the kitchen space to store larger food storage appliances, but it has helped me to use them more often. 

When they are finished dehydrating I will have a small amount of dried spinach leaves that I will store in a mason jar and then make air tight with my foodsaver.  They will stay fresh in the mason jar for years.  (This is my estimation and how long I feel comfortable storing my items.  Check dehydrating books for a more accurate guideline.)  One of my favorite tips is to save the leftover veggies from a weeks worth of meals, dehydrate them, and store for use in soups.  There will be a variety of veggies depending on what you serve for dinner, but it saves money when they are being used again because no one really wants leftover veggies from the fridge.  I also keep my eye out for "manager specials" at my local grocery store.  Produce will be marked down that is closing in on its expiration date and that is when I snatch it up for dehydrating.  Many shoppers see that manager's special sticker and they shy away thinking it is rotting veggies, but it works perfectly for dehydrating.  Also, think twice before throwing away leftovers.  Soups, casseroles, even rice can be dehydrated for use in quick dinners, camping food, and 72-hour kit meals.  There are quite a few books out there and online if you are interested in dehydrating your food.  I love the Dehydrator Bible for dehydrating, it is filled with step by step information on every fruit and veggie that you can think of.  Dehydrating is quite a simple process and the results are very rewarding, so think of those leftovers in a new light and dehydrate them!

Dehydrating Fruit

I was so inspired by the dehydrating class that I took at Honeyville that I brought out my dehydrator and filled it up with colorful fruit.  I found  a great grocery store (Rancho Market) that has unbelievable prices on fruits and veggies, and I bought a cart full just to dehydrate. 

When purchasing food to dehydrate you may want to calculate how much time, money, and effort that it will take to get a finished product.  Tomatoes and potatoes are two foods that I think are easier to purchase already dehydrated.  But there are many other foods that are simple to dehydrate.  And if you can get free fruit from your own yard or a friendly neighbor, even better!!

Today I dehydrated oranges, orange zest, limes, lime zest, kiwi, peaches, and Mexican papaya.

This is a Mexican papaya and it was so sweet and juicy.  My kids were so fascinated by the seeds in this fruit.  I can't wait to taste it when it is done!

 On this tray I have the papaya and kiwi fruit.  It is so colorful and pretty.  These fruits also look so pretty sealed in mason jars and lined up on a shelf.

One of the great tips that I learned at the Honeyville class was to dehydrate your orange, lemon, and lime peels.  Then you will always have zest when you need it.  I used my vegetable peeler and it peels off just the colored part of the fruit and not any of the bitter white parts. 

 I sliced limes and oranges on this tray and I can use them to make limeade or an orange drink later.  Just reconstitute them in a pitcher of cold water, add sugar if you want and stir.  We will also eat the oranges and maybe make some into a powder.  We'll see when they are done.  Dehydrated oranges (and pineapple) are so delicious!

 Lastly I cut up some peaches to dehydrate.  My house smells so good right now.  It finally cooled off here in Utah (around 80° instead of 105°) so I felt OK in turning on the dehydrator.  I could have done it outside, but I like to keep my eye on it and I know I would forget about it outside.  

I cut all my fruit about 1/4" thick (well as close as I could with slippery fruit) and they will probably take 6-12 hours to dry.  I will check them after about 4 hours and rotate any trays.  

Here are all my trays ready to go.  I warmed up the dehydrator as I was cutting my fruit. It took me about 35 minutes to have all the fruit cut up and in the dehydrator.  So it wasn't an all day kind of project, like canning, and I felt so productive when it was finished :)

**Just a note about some fruits turning brown while they dry.  Fruits like bananas will need to be sprayed with lemon juice (straight from the bottle, not diluted) before drying. This will keep them from turning black.  Don't worry if you don't do this, the food is still good, just not as appealing. 

Dehydrating is such a great way to have fruits in your long term storage.  If you use oxygen packs or a foodsaver the fruit will last much longer on your shelf.  Fresh produce will be the first food group to disappear in a disaster/emergency.  If you have your shelves lined with dehydrated fruit you will peace of mind. 

Sun Oven Cookies and Cupcakes

It is finally raining here in Utah, an answer to many, many prayers,  but yesterday was another blistering hot day.  My daughter wanted to make cupcakes for the 4th of July and so I had her try them in the sun oven.  

 We used a regular cake mix and I decided to try the rectangular pan versus a muffin tin because we could fit more cupcakes in. They came out kind of square but they tasted the same.  I stacked the pans using the Sun Oven dehydrator racks. (available at the SLC Honeyville retail store, and at sunoven.com) I have tried to stack muffin tins before with canning rings but it was really hard to keep them from falling.  The racks made it so much easier to layer the pans.

 The racks come in a set of three and are made for dehydrating fruits and veggies in the sun oven.  But they also work great for cookies, pizza, and stacking baking pans. If you're wondering how on earth you get cookies to stay put, the racks come with a roll of parchment paper.  This gives you a surface similar to a cookie sheet.  I love this oven!!

 Here are our cookies baking in the sun oven.  I fit all three racks into the oven.  My mom was visiting and she was amazed at all the things we were able to cook using the sun oven.   We made cake mix cookies, click HERE to see that recipe.

The strawberry flavored cookies were perfect for the 4th of July and they were gone right after the picture was taken.  With 5 kids, hungry husband, and grandma those cookies had no chance of hanging around very long.

It is really fun to find new ways to cook and bake using the sun oven.  I am kind sad that it is raining today because I was going to make lasagna and broccoli.  We do need the rain so I am not going to complain.  I am sure we'll have a sunny day soon and I really want to try pizza too.  So many ideas......

Dehydrating Made Easy

Homegrown tomatoes in the dehydrator

Dehydrating your food is simple, cost-efficient, and space-efficient. It is such a simple way to have fruits and veggies in your storage without spoilage.  If we were ever to eat solely from our home stored food we would soon be craving fresh fruits and veggies, and having a variety of dehydrated foods on hand allows you to have that!  

American Harvest Dehydrator

I have been experimenting with dehydrating the past couple of years and it is really fun to see everyday foods shrink down to tiny pieces of themselves.  I also love to dehydrate because I can purchase produce for a great price, and use all my garden produce, dehydrate it, and seal it in a mason jar using my FoodSaver.  It allows me to save money and stock my pantry at the same time.  Storing dehydrated food takes up minimal space in your pantry and is so simple to do!! Just remember that there are 4 key factors that will affect the success you have with food dehydration.  (From "The Dehydrator Bible)

1. Time
2. Temperature
3. Air speed
4. Raw material preparation (use quality produce for a quality finished product)

Check with the instructions that came with your dehydrator, but if you keep all items within 1/4" then everything will dry equally.  "The Dehydrator Bible"  is a amazing resource for dehydrating along with the dehydrate2store.com website.

I have dried tomatoes, zucchini, celery,rice, pureed fruit for fruit leather, frozen veggies, grapes, apples, green onions, strawberries, cabbage, etc!!!  The possibilities are endless!!  I love to buy frozen fruit when it's on sale and then puree it and make fruit leather out of it.  My kids eat it as fast as I can make it! Another great idea is to dehydrate soups (use the plastic dehydrator tray inserts to hold liquids), rice dishes, and other meals to make backpacking dehydrated meals.  All you need is to add water.  

Using a FoodSaver to seal dehydrated zucchini in a mason jar.

 I have dehydrated a chicken and rice dish and I was so excited to see it actually worked!  Dehydrating is all about experimenting.  Zucchini is really easy and abundant, especially right now, just slice or shred and dehydrate.  Now you have zucchini for breads, soups, etc. all year long!!

 

Zucchini and Cherry tomatoes.

Shredded Zucchini

One of my favorite tips is to save your veggies from dinner (I serve a lot of frozen veggies and we don't always finish them)  and when you have enough to fill a tray, dehydrate them all. Now you have veggies for soups or you can even blend them into a powder and toss that into anything!! Waste not want not!! I use dehydrated food in many soups, spaghetti sauces, muffins, banana bread, pizza, enchiladas (onions), sauces, etc. 

Dehydrated veggies from dinner.

If you don't have a dehydrator you can use your oven.  My oven actually has a dehydrator setting, but the very lowest setting that you can get will work. Depending on the water content of the food it can take anywhere from 4-36 hours to be fully dehydrated.  I would look online or get a book from the library for exact times.  Just remember to have fun!!  Don't stress about it, this is really one thing I don't think is intimidating and you get great results!!  So don't let all that garden produce go to waste!!  Dehydrate it!!


 Dehydrating is only one of our goals this month.  Click HERE to see them all!


Enjoy the Journey!
Enjoy the Blessings!
Feel the PEACE!!

Adding Fruit To Your Storage

If many of us had to live off of the food stored in our homes right now, I bet after about 3 days you would be craving fresh fruits and veggies.  Most of us probably have wheat, oats, rice, flour, sugar, maybe some canned veggies (I wonder how hungry my kids will have to be to eat those :),  but after only a little while of eating carbs all the time you will wish you had added some variety to your storage.  Adding fruits in your storage allows you to have color and vitamins in your diet! This time of year the fruit selections at the store become cheaper, and fresher, and being able to extend the life of produce adds so much more to your storage.

To have fruit in your long-term storage you have probably figured out that it will need to be freeze-dried or dehydrated first (or bottled or canned, but we will focus on the dried variety today).  There are a few differences between the two and you can decide what works for you.  I have a little of both in my storage.  I add the freeze-dried only when it's on sale, so it gets added to my storage in smaller amounts.  

Dehydrated foods:  
Pros:
1.Cheaper than freeze-dried  
2.Can be done in your home with food from your garden  
3.Dehydrated foods are smaller and require less storage space

Cons:

1. Dehydrating the food takes a little more of the nutrients than freeze-dried food. ( about 60% of the nutrients remain)
2. Takes longer to rehydrate than freeze-dried food (up to an hour in cool water, 5-20 minutes in hot water)
3. Most dehydrated food needs to be reconstituted to consume, (fruits are one category that you can eat in dehydrated form)

Freeze-Dried Foods:  
Pros:

1. Retain the original shape of the food (or close to it)
2. Retains many nutrients and vitamins (up to 90%)
3. Takes less time to rehydrate (a few minutes in boiling water)
4. You can eat most freeze-dried food right out of the can (make sure to drink a lot of water if you eat the freeze-dried food)

Cons:

• Freeze-dried food is more expensive
• You can't freeze dry your food at home, it has to be done commercially
• It does take up a little more space than dehydrated food so you will need a few more shelves to store equal amounts of freeze-dried and dehydrated foods.

I suggest a little of both for your storage.  I know that if I open a #10 can of dried apples it is gone in a day in my house.  And if you haven't tried freeze-dried mandarin oranges, you are in for a treat!!  

**Please don't buy products in bulk until you have tried them!!  Especially when it comes to the price of freeze-dried foods.  You always want to know your family will eat what is in your storage!!



 Many food storage stores and grocery stores here in Utah carry both dehydrated and freeze-dried #10 cans of food.  Watch for sales and buy only what your family eats!!  Honeyville & Emergency Essentials both have sales all the time on different products so check them out at the links below.

Honeyville Grain  &

Emergency Essentials


How are you coming along with your goals for June?  Click HERE if you need a reminder of what we are storing this month.

Enjoy the Journey!
Enjoy the Blessings!
Feel the Peace!!

June Goals

It is time for a new set of goals!  June is here and hopefully bringing some warmer weather with it.  Have you all planted a garden yet?  I planted mine, but I am hoping for some sunshine to help it grow.  There is nothing more amazing than planting seeds and watching them grow into food.  It really does amaze me to think of all the things my Heavenly Father has created and how miraculous it is to watch a garden grow! {and I have wasted so many years not growing my own garden!!}  I am hoping to have enough food to dehydrate and store for the winter months.  Fingers crossed :)  

Check out a really great website that has so many ideas on how and what to do with your dehydrated food.  dehydrate2store.com 

June Goals

3-Month Supply Goal:
You are only allowed to buy items for your 3-month supply this month that are on SALE!!  Save some money and build your pantry at the same time.  Buy 3 months worth or the amount your budget allows.

Water Goal:

Warmer months mean you need more water.  Make sure to have water stored in your car and at work.  (Everyone who works away from their home should have a mini 72-hour kit in their desk or taped to the underside of your desk.  If you are in an earthquake at work and you are sitting at your desk, where is the first place you would go?  Under your desk! If the building was damaged and you were under your desk waiting for rescuers you would have some food an water to keep you alive!! Add a whistle to help rescue workers find you.)

Financial Reserve Goal:

Start a change jar today and call it your food storage savings jar!  Use this money to purchase items for anything related to preparedness!!

Long-Term Storage Goal:
This month our goal is to add fruit to our long-term storage.  There are many freeze-dried and dehydrated options out on the market.  Most of them are delicious, but make sure you try them before buying a year supply :)  Dehydrating your own fruit and sealing in mason jars with a food saver is another great way to save money while adding variety to your storage.  This is where your garden comes in handy!  Plant some fruit trees or berry bushes and try something new this year!

Emergency Preparedness Goal:

Goal0 Solar Power Packs

This month's focus is on GENERATORS & SOLAR POWER.  I have to admit that I don't know a whole lot about either subject but that is why I love the internet!! You need to research and find out what works for your family and your budget.  I am really interested in the Goal0 company and their products.  The utahpreppers.com has a great post HERE on the Goal0 products.  And another great post on generators HERE.

 Enjoy the Journey!
Enjoy the Blessings!
Feel the Peace!!


Don't forget to check the blog on Monday's for the new Prepare Today Homemade posts!!