Three Month Food Supply

In this section we are not talking about super pails of rice and wheat, but rather having on hand ingredients that you normally use in everyday cooking and recipes. The easiest way to accomplish this is to create a simple weekly or 10-day meal schedule you would feel comfortable repeating throughout a three month time span and then acquire the necessary ingredients for those meals. These should be meals you enjoy and should not drastically change your normal diet. For example, let’s say you choose spaghetti dinner as one of your meals. For a 10 meal schedule you will need to store 10 boxes of spaghetti, 10 jars of sauce, 10 cans of green beans (or ten portions of frozen broccoli, or whatever vegetable you choose), and the ingredients to make rolls 10 times. I know 10X10 isn’t 90 so we will actually have more than three months of normal meals stored, but who wants to store 9 of everything? If you do a weekly schedule, you will need to store 12 of everything. I just thought 10 and 10 was nicer and easier to remember (and more variety!). I know. I'm a dork.

Below is a sample schedule assuming three normal meals a day. We chose 7 different breakfasts, 10 lunches, and 10 dinners, which we will eat on a cycle throughout the three month-period. If you don't need as much variety in your life, you could choose fewer meals and focus on building up the ingredients for those meals. To rotate the food for these meals, I incorporated 1 or 2 of them a week into my 6 week rotating dinner calendar. (I know. I’m insane. =o] But it takes the stress out of making dinner! The worst part is deciding what to make, so I just have it all planned out so I don’t even have to think about it.)

The sample schedule assumes that there is electricity; in other words, it assumes freezers, stoves, and ovens are readily available. The schedule would need a drastic overhaul if this were not true. The basic operating assumption here is that this three month supply would be used under normal circumstances at home, and not under the extreme conditions assumed for a year supply storage plan. So you can't replenish anything fresh by going to the store, but the food you already have at home isn't in immediate danger of spoiling.

Breakfast:

In this list we have given a suggestion for each day of the week. Or if your family doesn’t need variety like we do, just store one or two of the ideas. The main thing again is to choose meals you enjoy that don't require a lot of ingredients or a big time investment to cook. For example, for the muffins, pancakes and biscuits, consider finding a "just add water" mix. We also assumed all breakfasts to include milk, juice, and dried fruit (although you can certainly tailor this to suit your own meal preferences and dietary needs).

Day	Meal Suggestion
Sunday:	Pop Tarts (or substitute Cream of Wheat or smoothies)
Monday:	Cereal
Tuesday:	Sausage & Biscuits
Wednesday:	Oatmeal
Thursday:	Muffins
Friday:	Granola Bars
Saturday:	Pancakes/Waffles

Lunch:

Below are ten suggestions for easy lunches. As always, choose meals that your family likes. We assumed all lunches to include canned fruit and frozen vegetables.

Meal
1	PB&J Sandwiches
2	Couscous
3	Rice-a-roni
4	Burritos
5	Soup
6	Chicken Salad Sandwiches
7	Chicken Nuggets & Tater Tots
8	Pasta
9	Turkey & Cheese Sandwiches
10	Chips & Salsa

Dinner:

Lastly, here are ten suggestions for dinner. The same recommendations for rotating meals given above apply here as well.

Meal
1	Tuna Fish Casserole and Veggies
2	Chicken and Broccoli Casserole
3	Chili Dinner (Chili, Corn, Corn Bread)
4	Tacos
5	Meat Pie
6	Hawaiian Haystacks
7	Spaghetti Dinner (Spaghetti with Sauce, Green Beans, Rolls)
8	Chicken Divan
9	Shepherd's Pie
10	Fettuccini with Black Bean Sauce

·         We also store ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies on Family Home Evening night. J

The following recipes are the ones our family currently uses for our three month supply meal. In general, try to simplify your recipes so that you do not have to store so many ingredients. Wherever possible, try to find "just add water" mixes. We know some families who only eat the meals planned for in their three month storage except on special occasions, however we enjoy a bit more variety than that! Besides we like to cook and try new recipes, which means this is subject to change if we find a recipe we like more.

Breakfast:

·         Sausage and Biscuits

The cheap pre-cooked frozen sausage actually tastes pretty good, but we recommend cooking on a griddle or frying pan versus the microwave. Of course if you have more gourmet tastes, feel free to go with something of higher quality.

Country Style Biscuits

2 1/4 c. Flour

1/4 c. Corn Starch

1/2 t. Salt

2 T. Sugar

2 T. Baking Powder

1 c. Milk

1/3 c. Vegetable Oil

Preheat oven to 450. Sift together dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Form a well in the center. Combine milk and vegetable oil and add all at once to dry ingredients. Stir gently with a rubber scrapper, incorporating dry ingredients and forming a very soft dough. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and pat to 1/2 in thickness. Cut into 2 1/2 in rounds and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven for about 15 minutes until lightly browned.  Serve with butter and honey or jam.

·         Muffins

We buy the Betty Crocker "just add water" mix which is cheap and still good. But you could also do sweet breads instead on this day.

·         Pancakes

We buy a mix and use the ratio of one rounded cup (a little more than) of mix and one scant cup (a little less than) of water.

Lunch:

·         Bread for sandwiches:

Miracle Method Bread

1. Miracle Riser:

Soften 3 pgs active dry yeast in large mixing bowl (there are 2 1/4 t of yeast in each packet) in 2 c. warm water. Let stand 5 min.

Add 4 T. Sugar, 2 t. Salt, 1 c. Flour

Mix until smooth

Cover and let stand in warm place for 12-15 min. Mixture will bump up and become foamy.

2. Mix the Dough - To the Starter Add:

2 1/3 c. Warm Water

1/2 c. Dry Milk

4 T Sugar

4 t Salt

4 c. Flour

4 T Shortening

Beat for 2 min.

Work in additional flour, about 8 c., or until dough is moderately stiff. Turn out dough onto floured board, shape into round balls. Cover and let rest 10 min.

3. Fold 'n Roll

Roll dough to 1/2" thickness, fold over, roll and fold a total of 5 times. Divide dough with knife, form into 4 balls. Cover and let rest 10 min.

4. Shape Loaves

On lightly floured board, roll each ball into a rectangle, turn dough over twice during rolling. Place long edge in front of you. Fold 1/3 of dough toward you; seal. Flatten to remove large gas bubbles, take hold of both ends; lengthen by slapping gently against board.

Fold each end over to the center so that ends overlap then seal with heel of your hand. Roll dough toward you, jelly-roll fashion. Seal edge with heel of your hand; seal ends with sides of your hand. Place seam down in greased pan, against one side of pan. Grease top lightly.

5. Rise and Bake

Cover shaped loaves and let rise in warm place for 40-45 minutes or until double in size. Bake at 375 for 35-40 min or until loaves sound hollow when tapped.

Remove loaves from pan immediately and place on a wire rack to cool. For a shiny crust, brush with softened butter while loaves are still hot.

·         Burritos

We make burritos out of Costco tortillas, or you can make your own if you have a recipe you like. To the tortilla, we add refried beans, corn, cheese and salsa. You could also buy the frozen kind.

·         Pasta

Add butter or olive oil and herbs to any pasta. Our favorites are sage, oregano, or the "Italian herbs" mix we have. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.   

Dinner:

·         Tuna Fish Casserole

Tuna Fish Casserole

2 1/2 c. Rotini Noodles

1 Can Tuna Fish

1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup

1 c. Crushed Saltine Crackers (Any other cracker or bread crumb product may be substituted)

2 c. Cheddar Cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile in a bowl mix tuna and cream of chicken soup. When pasta is ready, drain off water and put into an 8" x 8" glass baking pan. Mix in soup mixture. Top with shredded cheese and then crumbs. Bake until topping browns. Serves 4.

·         Shepherd's Pie           

Shepherd's Pie

1 lb Ground Beef

1 Can Tomato Sauce

1 Can Green Beans

2-3 c. Mashed Potatoes

1 c. Cheddar Cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix beef and tomato sauce; pour into 8"x8" glass baking pan. Then pour on a layer of green beans. Cover with mashed potatoes. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake until cheese browns. Serves 4.

·         Chicken and Broccoli Casserole

Chicken and Broccoli Casserole

2 1/2 c. Penne Noodles

1-2 Chicken Breasts (cooked and cubed)

1 Jar Alfredo Sauce (we use sun-dried tomato Alfredo)

2 c. Broccoli (any style blanched and drained)

1 c. Bread Crumbs

2 c. Mozzarella  Cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile in a bowl mix chicken and sauce. When pasta is ready, drain off water and put into an 8" x 8" glass baking pan. Place broccoli on top, then pour over the sauce mixture. Top with shredded cheese and then crumbs. Bake until the sauce is bubbling and the topping browns. Serves 4.

·          Chili Dinner

            We use canned chili and corn for this meal. We use a corn bread mix. Left over corn bread isn't good, so we only make one small loaf using one cup of mix and half a cup of water. Serve with margarine or butter and honey.

·         Fettuccini with Black Bean Sauce

           

Fettuccini with Black Bean Sauce

8 oz Fettuccini

1 Small Green Pepper, Chopped (obviously you can't store this, so omit unless it's harvest time

1 T Olive Oil

2 C. Garden-Style Pasta Sauce or 1 can of stewed tomatoes

1 Can Black Beans, Rinsed and Drained

2 T Minced Fresh Basil or 2 t Dried Basil

1 t Dried Oregano

1/2 t Fennel Seed

1/4 t Garlic Salt (I use garlic powder)

Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Cook fettuccini according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, sauté green pepper and onion in oil until tender. Stir in the pasta sauce (or stewed tomatoes), black beans, and seasonings. (Sometimes I add a little milk at this point.) Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered for 5 minutes. Drain fettuccini. Top with sauce and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.

·         Chicken Divan

There are many ways to make chicken divan ('divan' just means 'with broccoli') but here's the recipe we use:

           

Chicken Divan

3-4 Chicken Breasts, Cooked and Quartered

3 c. Broccoli, Blanched (steam for 5-7 minutes to "blanch")

Sauce:

2 Cans Cream of Chicken Soup

2 t. Curry Powder (or more to taste)

1/2 c. Mayonnaise (optional)

1 t. Lemon Juice

Topping:

1 c. Cheddar Cheese, Grated

Bread Crumbs

Arrange broccoli on bottom of a glass baking dish. Cover with chunks of chicken. Combine sauce ingredients and pour over the chicken and broccoli. Sprinkle on the cheese and crumbs. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Serve over white rice.

·         Meat Pie

This classic recipe of beef stew in a pie crust is possible for three month storage because we use canned stew. If it is harvest time you can make a vegetarian version from your garden. Here is our favorite pie crust recipe (you will need to double it for the bottom and top layers):

Pie Crust

1/3 c. Plus 1 T Shortening

1 c. Flour

1/2 t. Salt

2-3 T Ice Water

Cut shortening into flour mixture until particles are pea sized. Sprinkle in water, incorporating it with your hands until sides of the bowl are clean. Gather pastry into a ball; shape into a flattened round on a lightly floured surface. Roll with a floured pin until 2 inches wider than your pie plate. Roll onto pin and ease into pie plate.

Fill with stew. Place second pie crust on top. Pinch layers shut and cut vents in the top. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes. Serve with milk to drink.

           

·         Hawaiian Haystacks

There are so many ways to do this, here is ours:

           

Hawaiian Haystacks

Rice

Chicken, Cooked and Cubed

Cream of Chicken Soup

Paprika

Cheese

Frozen Mixed Veggies

Any Salad Toppings we Have (Cucumbers, Tomato, Green Pepper, etc.)

Pineapple

Chow Mein Noodles

Slivered Almonds

Raisins and/or Crasins

Coconut

Ham

Mandarin Oranges

Just about anything else you like!

Cook rice. Make sauce by heating up the cream of chicken soup with cubed chicken and 1 tsp (or more to taste) of paprika (I also add a little milk). Prepare toppings and set everything up buffet style. Then make a 'haystack' with rice on the bottom, sauce next and then adding whatever toppings suit you!

Also, we make rice in a pot on the stove. Here is the method:

Ratio of rice : water is 1:2, with a pinch of salt and pat of butter. Boil water with salt and butter. Add rice and bring just to a boil again. Cover and reduce heat to low. Cook about 20 min until steam holes appear in the surface of the rice. Turn off heat and let stand about 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and serve.

·         Spaghetti Dinner

Make spaghetti the way you like. Here is our favorite roll recipe to go with pasta:

Sixty Minute Rolls

1/2 c. Cold Water

1 c. Scalded Milk (heat milk just to boiling to "scald" it)

2 T. yeast

1/4 c. Margarine or Butter

3 T. Sugar

1 t. Salt

3 1/2- 4 c. Bread Flour

Combine water and milk in a large bowl. Add yeast, butter, sugar, salt, and 2 c. flour and beat well with a mixer. Stir in additional flour by hand to make a soft dough. Knead well. Let rest for 10 minutes then shape as desired. Let rise until double (about 30 minutes). Bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Yield: 3 dozen rolls. (I always make these into braids. Divide the dough in two, and then divide each half into three parts. Make 'snakes' and then braid them together, tucking the ends under so they don't burn. Just before baking gently brush each braid with a mixture of butter, garlic and herbs.)

·         Tacos

Again, use the tortillas of your choice.

Tacos

1 lb Ground Hamburger

1/2 c. Rice

1/4 c. Taco Seasoning (or one packet)

1 Can Black Beans

1 Can Corn

1 c. Cheddar Cheese

Ketchup or Salsa to taste

And obviously you can't store these fresh items but we also put on avocado, lettuce, and tomato.

Brown hamburger and drain off fat. Add rice, 2 cups of water and seasonings and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to medium, stirring occasionally. Once the rice is done, remove the lid and increase heat to high to get rid of excess moisture. Prepare the other ingredients and serve buffet style.

To prevent tracking our inventory of ingredients from becoming overwhelming, we use a simple spreadsheet to help us keep organized (my idea, but Kent's creation =o]). You can find a template for a great one here: http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2009/03/09/long-term-food-storage-calculator/. Or you can make a master list by hand and tape it to your pantry door; whatever works for you!

So our assignment is, decide what meals you want to store, make lists of ingredients and gather recipes, and then in 2 weeks we’ll talk about inventory, rotation, price checking, and couponing! (I'm going to my parent's house next week- hooray! And besides that it is the week before General Conference so I'm doing a media-fast!) Good luck to us all!  

"year supply" food storage

As much as I hate to admit it, this is a hard one for me. I think it’s because it is like the long term in that you have to have tons of food (possibly literally depending on the size of your family!) but you also have to have a purchase and rotation schedule like in the three month supply plan. I’m going to be upfront and say that I have a mental block about using powdered milk. Kent refuses. =o] I’m going to try and start rotating what I have though and trying recipes because dairy products are a huge part of our lives. Seriously, Kent and Caleb think cheese is a food group. I have heard that butter and cottage cheese can be made quite easily with nonfat dry milk but we shall see. Now that I have that off my chest, on with the post!

I promised a list of ‘best buy places’, but this also includes convenient/popular places:

www.providentliving.org

www.beprepared.com

www.shelfreliance.com

www.yourfoodstorage.com

www.usaemergencysupply.com

http://store.honeyvillegrain.com

www.mountainhouse.com

For actual food storage food we also shop at Costco, WinCo, and sales at super markets in our area. You have to do some price checking but it will be worth it.

How should you go about acquiring your year supply food? Start with the essentials. Remember the year-of-food survival list:

300lbs of grains

60lbs of dried legumes

75lbs of powdered milk

20lbs of fats

60lbs of sugar and/or honey

5lbs of salt

Since all the dry goods are part of your long term supply (and don’t need to be rotated) for this section we will cover the milk and fats. You probably already use cooking oils in your weekly diet, so EVERY time you are at the store, get a container of cooking oil (olive, vegetable, canola- whatever!). There are approximately 2 pounds per liter (depending on which cooking oil you are using). So if you buy a 5 liter bulk container of olive oil at Costco next time you pop in for some milk, you are half way there! For one family member at least. =o] And really, you don’t have to worry about it going rancid unless you store it in like 90*F, and even if it does go bad you could always use it to make an oil lamp for light!

Dry milk (some people say powdered but it is the same thing) is a bit different. To me. Again, I can’t really talk about this because I don’t do it. But what I am going to start doing (THIS WEEK!!) is to price check dry milk at local stores against provident living and the other websites. I know they don’t sell it at my Costco, but other than that, I have only ever randomly purchased 23 lbs total over my entire food storage-ing career and all of it is sitting on the shelf in my storage room. Yikes! I know I’m horrible. That is why I’m committing to do something about it now! =o]

Other year supply items could include baking necessities like (white?)flour, yeast, baking soda and powder, and egg substitutes. Unless of course you have chickens. Once upon a time Natalie was allergic to eggs so I learned this egg substitute for baking:

1t unflavored gelatin, 2T + 2t boiling water, 3T cold water – pour boiling water over gelatin and mix until dissolved as much as possible (much like jell-o) add cold water and stir vigorously until the gelatin is completely dissolved. It smells horribly, but it gets the job done!  Thanks to this little recipe, I have “60 eggs” in my cupboard right now. =o]

For your year supply you also might want to have vitamins, herbs and spices, and garden seeds. If you can, or “jar” as my brother in law calls it, fruit and vegetables become part of your year supply. Otherwise you buy a three month supply and rotate them throughout the year and/or until their expiration date.

you can buy comercially packaged seeds and store them with your food storage, or if you buy them at the store in packets keep them in a sealed package in the fridge.

i have never 'jarred'- gasp! this is from my primary president. don't worry, it's on my to do list for this summer =o]

Which brings me to the next subject that I wanted to cover in this post: expiration dates on food packages.  This tremendous website I stumbled across http://www.stilltasty.com has invaluable information, but again it takes time and effort to sift through it all. I will give you an overview of what I have learned here, but if you ever have any specific questions just look them up there.

The information printed or stamped on food packaging that references a date is a voluntary statement on quality, not safety. “Sell by” refers to when the product will no longer be deemed fresh. “Best by” or “use by” refers to when the product will retain optimal taste, texture, and appearance under normal storage conditions and if unopened. The "shelf life" of a product (an opened product) depends largely on the way it is stored and the taste buds of the consumer. =o] A good rule of thumb is ‘go with your gut’- if it looks, tastes, smells, or feels off to you, chances are it is. Is the box of pasta that expired in 1998 you found in the back of your mom’s pantry going to negatively affect your digestive system? Most likely no. It will just no longer have as much nutritional value or be as appealing to eat. Is the jar of mayo that you found in the back of your mom’s fridge that expired in 2008 going to negatively affect your digestive system? Possibly. Different people have different tolerances to bacterial growth and mold. Like I said, it all depends on you!

From the companies I have called about this, and from the research I have done, it seems like the general consensus is that those labels are to protect manufacturers from lawsuits. Once a product is opened the date becomes invalid anyway, so it is just a guideline not a hard deadline. It is important to rotate your year supply and your three month supply so that you get used to eating those foods and so you don’t waste them. If it was sealed properly and is still sealed properly when you go to eat it, chances are it will not hurt you. It just may only count toward your caloric intake for the day, not for nutrition.

so, to re-cap year supply: just buy in bulk things you use normally rotating as you go, and set small realistic goals for yourself to implement food you wouldn't normally use but that would be invaluable in your diet if you had to live off your food storage (like me with the dry milk ;0]) 

'til next week-- 

long term food storage part 2

here are the follow up videos i made after that first day of storing food in mylar bags and buckets.

when oxygen absorbers didn't work

when oxygen absorbers work

using a hair straightener to seal mylar bags

end of it (ah! i had to post it on youtube again): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43wuQkxyKvY

long term food storage

As I mentioned in my last post, it is estimated that 300lbs of grains, 60lbs of legumes, 75lbs of dry milk, 20lbs of fats, 60lbs of sugars, and 5lbs of salt could sustain the average adult for one year. My family has four people, so we need to store 4x those amounts. We decided because of taste preferences and familiarity to break it down like this:

Grains- 1,200lbs= wheat 400lbs, rice 375lbs, brown rice 25lbs, oats (quick) 200lbs, oats (rolled) 100lbs, corn 100lbs

Legumes- 240lbs= beans- black 100lbs pinto 40lbs white 60lbs, lentils 20lbs, peas 20lbs

Dry milk- 300lbs nonfat dry milk (this is actually a year supply item because it needs to be rotated unless in absolutely ideal conditions in which case it would last as long as rice)

Fats- 80lbs= oils- olive 50lbs vegetable 5lbs canola 5lbs, shortening 20lbs (these are year supply too for rotation reasons)

Sugars- 240lbs= sugar- white 150lbs brown 50lbs, honey 40lbs

Salt- 20lbs table salt

Wow, right? Don’t get overwhelmed. 25lbs of salt is $3.99 at Costco.  Boom! Done with a whole category! =o] Seriously though, just take it one step at a time. Start with the items that you don’t need special equipment to prepare, would only need water to make, and are already familiar to your family- like rice. Building food storage takes time. So make a plan (including a budget!) and stick to it.

Just a little side note about my legumes section: I have never cooked with lentils or dry peas. Once I try out some recipes these percentage divisions may change. They are both valuable to have for sprouting, even if we don’t actually use them to cook with though, so again, I’m just going to have to see how my experiments go…

I feel like I need to do some explaining about oxygen absorbers here. I didn’t know much about them, but after a little research and practice I feel more confident. Here is a site that was especially helpful: http://www.sorbentsystems.com/o2absorbers_1.html

To know how many oxygen absorbers to put into your food storage bag you need to know how much oxygen there is trapped inside. To do that you need to know the volume of your container when empty minus the volume of the food you put inside. Once you have the amount of space left ‘around’ and ‘on top’ of your food you will have the ‘air volume’ and can figure out the grade of oxygen absorber you will need to soak up the oxygen in that air. Confused? Just go to that page and see if you can make sense of their way of explaining it. Here is a useful table:

container type - volume in empty container
#10 can - 3,980 cc
5 gallon plastic pail - 18,942 cc
6 gallon plastic pail - 22, 730.4 cc

And a useful example, both from that site:

We want to know what size oxygen absorber to use for a 5 gallon bucket of rice.

1. We determine from the table above that there are 18,942 cubic centimeters in a 5 gallon plastic bucket.

2. The rice weighs 35 pounds which converts to 15,876 grams.

3. 18,942 (cc) container volume - 15,876 (g) rice = 3,066 cc residual air volume.

4. 3,066 (cc) residual air volume x .205 (oxygen fraction in air) = 628.53 cc oxygen volume

5. Since the size of oxygen absorbers are rated and named according to the amount of oxygen they absorb, we know that a 750 cc oxygen absorber will be sufficient for this bucket of rice

Now, I made some videos to help you (and me! Teachers are the ultimate student, right?) learn how to store your food long term. The first one I did was way too long to load on this blog so I put it on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wf6JsR1zUTI and then here is the second part of that same night: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzTEvzr0kPM

i have made some follow up videos since that first day but i just tried to load them all for like an hour and then when i posted it there was nothing in the post. lame. so i'll try again tomorrow. i'll also post our go-to sites for supplies then (which were also eaten by cyberspace), but now it's like an hour past my bedtime...