Showing posts with label food storage recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food storage recipes. Show all posts

Thursday, September 20, 2012

BlogShare: American Preppers, a Year of Supplemental Food

Here is an excellent post via American Preppers on getting your pantry stocked for the family at a reasonable price. I've seen this 'recipe' referred to as scotch broth. Definitely not something to skip in your prepping plans.


A Year of Supplemental Food Storage for $300 for a family of FOUR !!



I have come across an amazing find, thanks to a FB friend; I have learned how to add enough food to my storage to feed us (2 adults and two kids) for a year! This is a combination of legumes, grains, beans etc that provides balanced, nutritious meals daily very cheap. The thing I love about this recipe is that it can be changed in many different ways by adding left over meats, vegetables, dry vegetables, TVP, potatoes, etc.

This recipe has been around the internet for years now, but this is the first time I have seen it. I have researched for hours on ways to get a years’ worth of food storage for a reasonable cost and finally found it, so I thought I would share it with all of our APN readers.

Note: Please feel free to share this with everyone you know. I feel it will greatly benefit anyone that has food storage, struggles with food storage, or is just beginning. I know for me, the thought of trying to get enough food for a year was sooo overwhelming, but with this plan, it created a *baseline* for me to build on so I felt secure knowing I had at least some basics to make a meal for my family. This will last a year if you ration it properly, but you will want/need to add things like meat and other vegetables (canned or dehydrated) to your pot of food. Lets face the facts, no one wants to eat the same thing over and over day in and day out. So you will want to build on this once you have it.

I am going to list the things needed and what you are supposed to do so you have an easy list at hand and instructions to add to your buckets.

What you will need:

Food:
4 x 22 pounds of rice. Any kind of rice will do. (Four 20 pound bags + 8 one pound bags) OR two 50lb bags at Sam’s.
2 x 11 pounds of Kidney Beans. (22 one pound bags)
2 x 11 pounds of barley. (22 one pound bags)
2 x 11 pounds of yellow lentils. (22 one pound bags)
1 x 5.5 pounds of split green peas. (6 one pound bags)
1 x 5.5 chick peas/garbanzo beans. (6 one pound bags)
30 pounds beef or chicken bouillon. (or both) It will be added to each batch as you cook it.

Hardware:
Four/Five 5 gallon buckets for the rice. (rice usually settles if you shake it down so its give or take here)
One 5 gallon bucket for kidney beans.
One five gallon bucket for the barley.
One 5 gallon bucket for the yellow lentils.
One 1 gallon bucket for the split green peas.
One 1 gallon bucket for the chick peas/garbanzo.
Thirty-two oxygen absorbers

Total of six 10 gallon buckets and two 1 gallon buckets.

Approximate Cost Where I Live:
Rice @ Sam’s: 2 x $16.48 = $32.96 (two 50 lb bags)
Kidney Beans /sale: 22 x $0.67 = $14.74
Pearl Barley /sale: 22 x $0.59 = $12.98
Lentils / sale: 22 x $0.45 = $9.90
Green Split Peas / sale: 6 x $0.40 = $2.40
Chick peas (garbanzo) / sale: 6 x $0.58 = $3.48
Beef Bouillon: $65.49

Total Food: $141.95
Ten 5 gallon food grade buckets: $51.10 (free shipping)
Ten Gamma lids: $69.70(pick up in store)
One Gallon Buckets & lids: $15.25 (have to order a min of five, $15.25 is total cost)
Shipping for buckets and lids: $7.90
Oxygen Absorbers: Sixty 300CC = $9.97 (3 packs of 20)

Total Hardware: $153.92

Total combined cost: $295.87

Note: The reason the title says for $300 is to give some room based on cost of living in your area.

Directions:
Put split green peas and the chick peas in a separate 1 gallon bucket, add 1 OA (Ooxygen Absorber) to the bucket, seal.
Put Barley, Kidney beans, and lentils in separate 5 gallon containers adding 5 OA per bucket, seal.
Divide rice up in remaining 5 gallon buckets with 5 OA in each bucket, seal.

How to make your soup:
8 oz of rice
2 oz of red kidney beans
2 oz of pearl barley
2 oz of lintels
1 oz of split green peas
1 oz of chick peas/garbanzo’s
Bouillon to taste

Take the 16 oz dry mixture and add 6-7 quarts of water with a spoon of butter or olive oil (optional) to prevent the water from boiling over. Add 3 tablespoons bouillon or to taste. Then add any other meats, vegetables, potatoes or seasonings you’d like to. I personally love to add garlic and Lima beans. DO NOT add onions. They will spoil the mixture. Bring to a boil and then let simmer for two hours. You should have enough to feed 4 people for two days if rationed correctly.

Note: Onions ferment too quickly and will cut the time you are able to store the already cooked soup mixture. There is always the option of dried onions and you can add it to smaller batches you know will be eaten on the first day.

On the second day you will need to add more water and a tablespoon of bouillon because it will thicken in the refrigerator overnight. Boil for a min of ten minutes to kill off any potential bacteria, especially if you’re not able to store it in the refrigerator because you’re without electricity.

You will be full off of ONE large bowl of this delicious soup. The kids usually eat about a half a bowl with bread. That’s what makes it so great. If able to, bake some bread or corn bread to go with it.

If there is any mixture left on the third day, then just add it to the new mixture you make. (If making a new mixture on the third day) As time goes by you will learn to tell how much of each ingredient you need to fit your family’s needs.

With the exception of dairy and Vitamin B 12, this should take care of your nutritional needs. Maybe not all of your wants, but once you get this out of the way, you can concentrate on adding the stuff you want to your food storage knowing you have enough for a year already if you half to use it.

I hope this helps you all to begin or expand your food storage like it has me!

Keepin It Spicy,

Jalapeno Gal

Friday, March 5, 2010

Being Prepared...links and thoughts

Cooking With Food Storage cookbook, compiled by Preparedness Brings Peace Blog, free online!  Talk about a great resource to get you started on using your food storage for daily purposes :o)

Storing food and other items is essential these days.  Even if you live in a tunnel and don't think there is to be any issues within the world at large, or that the economy will continue to lower itself into levels our generation is not familiar with dealing with...there are still storms, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and more that plague our food delivery systems as well as the food sources.  No one is untouched by the effects of the world around them.  Being prepared is just daily life anymore.

But, some people simply don't understand the concept of food storage and preparedness.  Some merely think it's purpose is to weather a storm.  True enough, it could be just that for your family.  They stock some canned goods, maybe some bottled water and a few candles and they pat themselves on the back with a job well-done.

Still others will go a bit farther and stock up some packaged MRE's from a survival shop.  They have gallons of water stored away, seeds (non-hybrid and heirloom, of course) and other things.  Again, patting themselves on the back for being aware and prepared.

These are all good things, don't get me wrong, but remember those folks who went into prep mode before Y2K?  Remember all the great bargains to be found the following year when they sold all those items?  Or some who probably, even now, have the odd can of tuna or stray box of hamburger helper still sitting in a back closet somewhere...

They've prepared boxes and cases of food, buckets of grains and beans, containers of water and what-not and then simply put them into a closet or garage and never think of them again, waiting for a bump in life to bring them back to mind.  Something happens and they go for some beans and powdered milk, or some wheat to grind and find mold, bugs, sour powdered milk   They didn't gather information about proper storage and it's all been for naught.  All that planning, all that money...it's useless.

Or time comes that the pantry is needed (storm affects, financial issues, etc.), and you pull a bag of dry beans and a box of powdered milk out and...stare blankly at it sitting on your counter top because you have no clue how to cook any of it, or have any ideas for recipes to make. 

You have to USE food storage.  Food is alive -- or at least it should be :o)  You are going to have supplies that simply sit and wait for use, sure, but your food storage needs to be used on a regular basis.  Having 15 boxes of powdered milk tucked into the pantry is a good thing...until 2 years from now when it's starting to turn and sour on you and it's now barely a treat for the chickens and hogs.

Use it, rotate new to the back and old to the front, gather recipes....all these things are what make up a smart food storage and pantry system.  Especially the gathering of recipes.  All that powdered milk is great, but honestly, how much are you really going to drink in a reasonably amount of time?  Gather recipes to baking and other cooking using that powdered milk.  Gather recipes for those beans.  Start making notes in your favorite recipes about subbing in some of those powdered eggs.

So...back to where I started.  Preparedness Brings Peace has the Food Storage Cookbook online.  It's a great start for putting those pantry items to use.


Family Home Storage Basic Recipes from All is Safely Gathered In.

Central Bean Company   Recipes for using beans, tips on cooking beans, storing beans, even a sort of bean primer...useful information to print and keep handy.

And just to help pull your recipes into practical use, here is a Desktop Cookbook