I've been trying a lot of new things lately. I have a new system. (I LOVE new systems). I created a folder to help me organize new recipes that I want to try. I have divided the recipes into categories:
1. Crockpot2. Dutch Oven
3. Food Storage
4. Pantry Only
5. Regular recipes
Now when I create my menu list each week I choose at least one new recipe from each section to try. The food storage recipes are recipes that use only my long term stored items. The Pantry Only section contains recipes that are for my 3 month supply which contain mostly canned good from the grocery store that can be eaten without adding any fresh, frozen, or dairy items. These are valuable recipes because it's hard to come across good, edible meals that do not need added fresh meat, produce, or dairy. When I find good ones I will post them in my recipe section and tag them "Pantry Recipe" I use these recipes for my 3 month supply, not my year supply since they are mostly made up of canned grocery items which expire after only a year or two.
So far this new system is working great. Plus, it makes the drudgery of deciding what to eat each week much easier since I only have to come up with 1 or 2 dinners outside of my list of new things to try.
I also have 3 older kids (ages 11-15) and they each cook one night a week. It's good experience for them to get a new recipe on their night, especially if it's a food storage one, and gain their own experience.
Tonight we made our dutch oven meal which turned out pretty good. I'm trying to get the hang of dutch oven cooking. I found some dutch oven liners which make it much better because you don't have to clean a big mess out of the pot. Dutch oven cooking is not my favorite yet but I think as I do it I will like it better and it won't seem so scary. The ultimate goal of course, is to be able to cook my food storage meals in it.So, what does all this have to do with you? Well I want to issue a small challenge to all my readers. Pick one night a week and try out food storage only recipes. It's not too big of a commitment but if you do it faithfully, by the end of the year you will have tried out 52 recipes! Begin a collection of your favorites for your own family's food storage recipe book. You will be amazed at how good it will make you feel, and how much less scary food storage will seem. Let me know how it goes!
Hmm. That would involve using recipes. Hehe. I've tried barley and quinoa for the first time this month. I think that counts. I'll try to do some of the hillbilly housewife cornmeal recipes that I've been wanting to try, to use up some of my corn.
ReplyDeleteI tried her chocolate milkshake recipe this week. It was ok. If I didn't have any ice cream to make a real milkshake, I think I would REALLY like her "fake" version.
ReplyDeleteIf you are talking about the recipe that includes dry milk and oil and a spray of PAM, I loved it too!!!
ReplyDeleteYep that is the one. Not sure I "loved" it, but it would be better than nothing if there was no ice cream. I didn't use the Pam though since I have lecithin and she says you can use that instead of the Pam. It definitely had an ice cream like consistency to it.
ReplyDeleteI just ordered a can of the Country Cream milk..shipping wasn't to bad $10.95. I ordered some for a couple of friends too..so we split the shipping cost! I am bit confused though for figuring out how much milk to store. Some sites say 16 lbs per person and some say 60 lbs. Our family goes through about 5 gallons of milk a week..should I go by that?
ReplyDeleteHow did you decide on how much to store?
Natalie,
ReplyDeleteJust to further confuse you, it also depends on whether you are storing instant, or non-instant milk. :)
You have to store more if you are storing instant because you have to add more powdered milk per gallon of water.
Typically you should store 60lbs (non instant) per adult, per year. It's hard to know how much you would really need because you don't know how much your family would actually drink if that is all they had, although I guarantee they wouldn't drink as much as they are now. Plus you need it for cooking.
After living off food storage I found we were not going through 60lbs a person but I'm still keeping it in my storage. Better too much than too little.