Good recipes using ONLY common storage items

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konigking
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Good recipes using ONLY common storage items

Post by konigking »

I hope I'm not being redundant, but wondering if anyone knows of a resource that gives recipes for items you typically store. I don't know what to search for in the forum, so if this has already been discussed, please advise.

Here's the thing. There seems to be dozens of blogs and websites that recommend some tasty ways to use your food storage. Such resources tell you to grab a bag of rice from your storage but then they proceed to add 10 other ingredients that I never intended to store. See, I hope to never have to rely on my food storage. So I want to keep the items I store to a minimum.

But in case I ever do have to use my food storage, I want to be able to actually eat it. And thus the question: any good recipe books or resources that teach recipes using the minimum ingredients? (Minimum ingredients are basically what you find at LDS Home Storage Centers plus necessary baking ingredients like baking powder/soda, oil, salt, etc).

butterfly
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Re: Good recipes using ONLY common storage items

Post by butterfly »

If you store what you eat, then you don't have any problem. I have very few things from the lds food storage centers because I don't like the gmo ingredients they use, all the preservatives, most other places I've found are cheaper, and a lot of the food, imo, isn't very healthy. In a disaster, you've got to have the best nutrition possible. That isn't going to come from white rice and sugar. I've talked to the storehouse quality assurance guys a couple of times asking for a list of ingredients on the website for each of the food items. They did just change the hot cocoa mix to not include gmo ingredients, but I still didn't like everything in it. And they assured me that the powdered milk came from cows not treated with hormones, so that's good, but we're not big milk-drinkers anyway.
My point is- if you don't like it, don't know how to use it, etc, then don't store it.
Have you already purchased all your food or are you in the process?

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brlenox
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Re: Good recipes using ONLY common storage items

Post by brlenox »

http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Recipes-Us ... od+storage" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A good starting point reference.

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konigking
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Re: Good recipes using ONLY common storage items

Post by konigking »

brlenox, thanks for the reference. But it appears there's a ton of ingredients in there that I don't plan to store. Take a look a the ingredients for the Pumpkin Apple Streusel, for example. I like cinnamon and pumpkin but am unlikely to store. And if I did, why not store cumin and sage too? My point is that such food storage planning is way more complicated than I want it to be. But it looks like and AWESOME recipe book. And use of it would definitely get you using stuff you store.

Butterfly, thank you too for your feedback. I don't like GMOs, but think I would be less concerned in an emergency. Interesting stuff on your conversation with the cannery. But do you really stand by this statement:
butterlfy wrote:My point is- if you don't like it, don't know how to use it, etc, then don't store it.
Seems something's better than nothin' when you're starving. Agreed, such a philosophy isn't ideal though.

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Desert Roses
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Re: Good recipes using ONLY common storage items

Post by Desert Roses »

I'm with butterfly. We're doing a "use one, buy two" philosophy for our food items other than fresh fruit and veggies (which we grow mostly and either dry or can). So cinnamon--yep, I store that. Sage--yep, I grow that. Cumin--yep, stored. And so on. If I had to eat out of storage for a couple of years or more, it wouldn't be much different than how we eat now. That way, crisis isn't compounded by having to learn to eat food I didn't really like to begin with and may even cause me digestive or other problems because my system isn't used to it.

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marc
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Re: Good recipes using ONLY common storage items

Post by marc »

Desert Roses wrote:I'm with butterfly. We're doing a "use one, buy two" philosophy for our food items...
What does this mean exactly? :-\

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konigking
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Re: Good recipes using ONLY common storage items

Post by konigking »

Desert Roses wrote:I'm with butterfly. We're doing a "use one, buy two" philosophy for our food items other than fresh fruit and veggies (which we grow mostly and either dry or can). So cinnamon--yep, I store that. Sage--yep, I grow that. Cumin--yep, stored. And so on. If I had to eat out of storage for a couple of years or more, it wouldn't be much different than how we eat now. That way, crisis isn't compounded by having to learn to eat food I didn't really like to begin with and may even cause me digestive or other problems because my system isn't used to it.
Seems to me the Elder Oaks hierarchy for good/better/best would be: good=store a bunch of wheat and rice, better=store some variety from the LDS Home Storage Center, best=only store only stuff you eat now so you don't have to adjust in time of calamity. So you guys say "best or nothin' "? I'm shooting for "better" because it will at least prevent me from dying, albeit in less comfort than you.

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Desert Roses
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Re: Good recipes using ONLY common storage items

Post by Desert Roses »

marc wrote:
Desert Roses wrote:I'm with butterfly. We're doing a "use one, buy two" philosophy for our food items...
What does this mean exactly? :-\
So when I go to the grocery store, if we've just emptied a bottle of vanilla and I need some, I buy two bottles. One goes into storage, the other into the cupboard (or actually they both go in storage and the oldest bottle from storage goes into the cupboard). I do that for spices, for dry goods like wheat, rice, beans, or non-food like TP, toothpaste, etc.
konigking wrote:
Seems to me the Elder Oaks hierarchy for good/better/best would be: good=store a bunch of wheat and rice, better=store some variety from the LDS Home Storage Center, best=only store only stuff you eat now so you don't have to adjust in time of calamity. So you guys say "best or nothin' "? I'm shooting for "better" because it will at least prevent me from dying, albeit in less comfort than you.
We didn't start getting the other stuff till we had our supply of wheat, honey, salt, oil, and beans. You're right--basics first, in case its needed. But eating out of the food we were putting in storage meant that our grocery bill dropped significantly, so we were able to start buying the spices, dry goods, and non-food in our regular grocery bill. We actually only eat from the garden and the storage other than the spices.

butterfly
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Re: Good recipes using ONLY common storage items

Post by butterfly »

konigking wrote: Seems to me the Elder Oaks hierarchy for good/better/best would be: good=store a bunch of wheat and rice, better=store some variety from the LDS Home Storage Center, best=only store only stuff you eat now so you don't have to adjust in time of calamity. So you guys say "best or nothin' "? I'm shooting for "better" because it will at least prevent me from dying, albeit in less comfort than you.
It is absolutely wonderful that you are building up your food storage, I hope my comments are not discouraging in any way. Of course having something is definitely better than nothing! For me, being particular about what I buy isn't for comfort at all. If I were concerned about comfort, then we'd have hot chocolate and candy and disposable toilet paper in our stash. I'm picky about what we store because I look at food as one of 3 things: 1)a medicine 2)neutral or 3) a poison. I really do. For my family, as soon as we go off our regular healthy diet and start eating more items from the neutral category, it's just a short time until my kids get sick. I constantly have to remind myself "Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine thy food."
In an emergency situation, you are going to be more likely to get sick and often will have less time to prepare food. If you right now have the choice to buy food that will keep you healthy and strong and that you know how to prepare and you know you like, then you'd be doing yourself a huge favor to store it.
Support the immune system and it will do it's job to keep you from getting sick. Why buy food that will only deplete yourself of good nutrition. Like Desert Roses, we literally eat from our food storage everyday. When I set out to buy our food storage, I first looked at what vitamins and minerals the body makes and which ones we have to get from food. I made a list of the foods that contain those essential vitamins and minerals. Then I determined which ones our family likes, can be stored, and fit our budget (and believe me, we have a limited budget!) Healthy food doesn't have to mean more expensive food.
So I'd say:
good=store food
better=store food you know how to prepare and that you like to eat
best=store food you know how to prepare, you like to eat, and is chock-full of nutrition!
if that means wheat and beans for you, which yes, are very nutritious, then buy wheat and beans :)

OCDMOM
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Re: Good recipes using ONLY common storage items

Post by OCDMOM »

http://www.budget101.com/frugal/soup-mixes-200/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. I always forget about this site. These are recipes for making soup in a jar. They aren't that hard to make and wala, just add water.

OCDMOM
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Re: Good recipes using ONLY common storage items

Post by OCDMOM »

I also belong to a local preparedness group on facebook. They have a lot of good ideas. Go to the DI and find the old recipe books people don't use anymore. Wheat for Man. Recipes for Self Sufficient living it has recipes to make yogurt, cheese and things from powdered milk. Anyone want a specific recipe let me know.

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konigking
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Re: Good recipes using ONLY common storage items

Post by konigking »

What's the local Facebook group? Unless it's closed to others, which I understand.

OCDMOM
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Re: Good recipes using ONLY common storage items

Post by OCDMOM »

konigking wrote:What's the local Facebook group? Unless it's closed to others, which I understand.
Search your facebook for you area and see if there is one.

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markharr
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Re: Good recipes using ONLY common storage items

Post by markharr »

Sounds like a new reality show idea for the food network to me. Similar to Iron chef but with food storage ingredients. Maybe you could sell it to BYUTV:).

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2ndRateMind
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Re: Good recipes using ONLY common storage items

Post by 2ndRateMind »

Pasta Tomata.

Ingredients: Serves 2

1 400g can chopped tomatoes.
2 medium onions. (You can use dried or pickled if fresh are unavailable)
2 cloves garlic (Again, use garlic powder or pickle some garlic if you need to preserve)
a little sunflower oil.
A good dash of worcestershire sauce
Optional; beef stock cube, chilli powder, dried herbs, etc
500g spaghetti, salt and water to boil it in.

Method:

So, you get the spaghetti underway, in a medium saucepan. Meanwhile, chop the onions as necessary and crush the garlic, and fry both on a medium heat with the oil in a saute pan. When translucent, add the tomatoes and worcester sauce. Bring to the boil, add any or all optional ingredients, and simmer 'til the pasta is done. Then it's ready.

Cheap, but good!

Best wishes, 2RM.

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2ndRateMind
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Re: Good recipes using ONLY common storage items

Post by 2ndRateMind »

Dhal

Ingredients: serves around 4

I cup split orange lentils
1 cup whole green lentils
1 cup yellow split peas
1 400g can coconut milk.
4 medium onions (use dried or pickled if these are all you have)
3 or 4 cloves of garlic (or garlic powder or pickled garlic cloves)
a little sunflower oil
4 tablespoons curry paste
Chilli powder to taste
Some salt to taste
1 cup of rice per person.
Loads of water.

So, this works best cooked slowly. Fry up the onions with the garlic in the oil on a medium heat, til fragrant. And the lentils, peas, coconut milk, curry paste, mix and simmer on a low heat for an hour or so. Stir occasionally and top up with water as needed. Put the rice on to boil, using your preferred method of cooking. Add the chilli powder. When the rice is done, so is your lentil curry.

Great store cupboard standby!

Cheers, 2RM.

JohnnyL
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Re: Good recipes using ONLY common storage items

Post by JohnnyL »

Here's my spaghetti:
1. cook noodles
2. open can
3. pour
if you have, add to taste: olive oil, spices, garlic.

Yummy!

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Original_Intent
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Re: Good recipes using ONLY common storage items

Post by Original_Intent »

Rice is the great extender. You can take a little meat, whatever spices you like for flavoring (I like curry powder, but others for variety)

A few cases of beef, chicken, pork, or turkey chunks, seasonings and a few hundred pounds of rice could go a LONG way and a lot of variety based on what seasonings you store. A handful of dehydrated vegetables (or fresh if you grow them/can get them) and you can do quite well without a lot of investment.

Indy
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Re: Good recipes using ONLY common storage items

Post by Indy »

Peggy Layton has some really good books for cooking with the basics. "Cooking with Beans and Rice" "Cooking with Dried Eggs"
They are small books but you can pick up used copies on Amazon for very little.

There is also a good website-Hillbilly housewife-where you can get quite a few recipes. I have tried many of her recipes and saved them just in case.

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konigking
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Re: Good recipes using ONLY common storage items

Post by konigking »

Thanks, Indy!! That's exactly what I'm looking for and why I started this thread. (Full disclaimer here: I gotta read the beans and rice book first I guess, to really know if this hits the mark). Do you know if Peggy's recipes require a bunch of other stuff for the beans/rice? Like cans of tomatoes, beef chunks, etc? I'm good with a lot of spices or flavorings, but I'm trying to avoid adding 50 other ingredients to my food storage.

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konigking
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Re: Good recipes using ONLY common storage items

Post by konigking »

This is something I've discovered, which brings me more in line with others who have posted on this topic (store food you will eat): "It's in the Bag" by Michelle and Trent Snow. That book offers recipes using only items that you can store for a long period of time. The idea is to put canned goods and other long shelf life items into a single bag for a single meal. You store the recipe and grocery list in the bag too. So when it is empty you know what to buy again to fill the bag. It's a great way to rotate through your food because it is things you would normally eat (not really gourmet, mind you).

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