During any type of confined situation (blizzard, pandemic flu, etc.), having a stash of recipes for stored foods is essential. Have you started a binder, and printed out recipes from here? Have you noted in that binder what foods you need to store and how close you are to that goal? Remember to note the location of these foods too (bin under bed, box behind laundry machine, etc).
I've been thinking a lot about these recipes for stored foods that I've been posting. Basically I take an interesting recipe, and modify it to suit my pantry, my family's diets and taste buds. But I'm thinking I've neglected to explain something.
In 2004, I was homeless. My son and I "lived" in a small popup camper. Son had his bedding, suitcase of clothing, a small box of books and a couple of toys on his side. I had my stuff on my side. We had a fold-up table that we did his schoolwork at, where we ate, where he colored, etc. We had a little room underneath for towels and toiletries, etc. We hooked up some extension cords to the family who generously allowed our camper to park in their front yard for about 2 months. With that electricity, I ran a small refrigerator/cooler that we found at Wal-Mart for about $100 (another friend gave us this cash to do this). The fridge could hold a couple of yogurts, a small mayo, a quart of soymilk, and a few lunchables. Except for those few things, we had no room to store food. We often went to the food bank for whatever they had: usually lots of bread, some rotten fruit, and sometimes milk or yogurt that was on the edge of expired.
I vowed to never be hungry again, and as soon as I could get into a better situation, I did. I bought 4 cans instead of 2. Or an extra measure of powdered milk. I stockpiled, but not for the reasons I do today.
Now, in this last year or so, my new hubby and I and Son have been through some major financial and medical situations recently. Instead of increasing our stores, we've had to dip into them. Severely.
I tell you this to help you understand where we are coming from. Where I'm coming from!
Now... on to using our stored foods to feed our families:
Even if you are on a limited budget, and can't afford anything extra but one food item a week... we hope you're stocking up on lots of whole grains, cans of veggies and fruits, legumes (beans, peas, lentils, peanuts), cooking and baking supplies, and, of course, meat.
As legumes are very cheap and extremely easy to store, you'll grow to depend on beans to be on your plate at least once a day. Your canned meat may be a special treat to have only a couple of times a week. Your staples will be grains and legumes, so I'm working to provide more grain and legume/bean recipes. They will be cheap, have only a few ingredients, filling, and easy to prepare.
Hey - it will help my family too! We have beans and grains stacked around our ears but we've used every tissue in the house in the past five days! (We're all sick.)
Stay tuned - we're working on those new grain and bean recipes!
p.s. if you could help spread the word about our blog, we'd appreciate it.
No comments:
Post a Comment