Rice-A-Roni

I posted about this recipe awhile ago, but hadn't tried it yet. I have now tried it. Although it's not the most delicious recipe that ever was, I do like it and have learned a lot from it.

Here's the recipe

Rice-A-Roni

1 c long grain rice
1 c broken pieces of vermicelli pasta
2 Tbs. butter or oil
1 Tbs. chicken bouillon granules
1 t. dried parsley, crumbled
1/8 t. white pepper
4 1/2 c. hot water

Brown the vermicelli and rice in a saucepan with the butter or oil. Add all other ingredients and cook for 20 minutes. The rice will be light and fluffy. Serves 4.

I've a confession to make. I haven't yet followed the recipe to this day, and I've made it about half a dozen times. In fact, I made it today.

First off, I half the recipe for my family of two adults, a preschooler and a toddler.

Now, this is how I've been making it...

Having lately discovered the greatness of freezers in storing food, I pulled out some frozen red bell pepper and onions (all pre-chopped of course). I sauteed them with a clove of garlic for about 5 minutes. Then I added the inch-long broken up spaghetti (what I substitute for vermicelli) and rice to the saucepan to brown. After that, I added about 2 1/4 cups of water (remember I'm halving the recipe), a small can of chicken, frozen parsley, a cut up chicken bouillon cube (they're surprisingly easy to cut), and a couple shakes of pepper.

It tasted good. We ate it with mixed veggies. If I was a little more proactive, we would have eaten it with grapes as well.

Food storage items used
rice
pasta
canned chicken
onions (if dried or frozen)
peppers (if dried or frozen)
various herbs or spices you have in your pantry, freezer or garden

Anyway...I hope this recipe can give you ideas on how you can use your food storage items.

Last Sunday's Joint RS and Priesthood Meeting

I thought Bro. Gardner did an awesome job on Sunday talking about being prepared for hurricane season. I liked how he impressed on us through pictures, words, and discussion that hurricanes are a reality that we need to prepare for.

There one thing he mentioned that I want to reiterate.

Days before a projected hurricane hit, whole isles at the grocery stores will clear out.

I remember going to Kroger a couple days before Ike and...

Bread isle...empty
Canned goods (soups, beans, fruit, etc.)...gone
Cereal Isle...empty
Water...gone
Chip and snack isle...empty

I'd never seen a grocery store so depleted of products.

This was no coincidence. When a huge storm is pending in the gulf, the shelves of grocery stores will clear.

This is why having at least a two week supply of food requiring little to no prep time is important for you and your family.

One way to gradually build your food storage is to grab a few extra cans, bags, or boxes of what you're already buying. If your buying canned pineapple or corn or beans, buy one or two extra (how ever many your budget permits).

If you don't usually buy canned, bagged, or boxed products, you might need to make an exception when building a food storage, especially if you can't think of alternatives.

Also, distributors like Emergency Essentials (BePrepared.com) specialize in selling all sorts of food storage items. In addition to longer-term food storage items, they sell items ideal for 72 hour kits and crisis situation food storages (power outage/water outage), i.e. MREs (Meals-Ready-To-Eat) and Freeze-Dried Pouch Foods. Both items store well up to 7 years. Just looking at what's available at Emergency Essentials and other companies like it could also give you ideas on what foods you'd like to have stored for hurricane season.

Just some food for thought.

What do you do (or will you do) to be prepared for hurricanes?

Where to start if you don't have a food storage

I was looking at beprepared.com the other day and read their baby steps in starting a food storage.

First and foremost, they suggest starting with water, building your water storage.

I thought that was interesting, but it does make sense. You can survive something like 2 to 3 weeks without food, but you can't go more than 2 or 3 days without water.

My husband and I use three different ways to store water. Namely...

• Used juice bottles with PETE on the bottom
• 5 gallon jugs/collapsible containers purchased from an outdoors store
• Purchased water bottles, bought in bulk

Other families store those hug, blue water jugs that you see office break rooms or hallways.

If you already store water, what containers do you use? And where do you store it? We have some under the sink, in our sons' closet, and stacked in a corner.

It's recommended by numberless websites to have at least 14 gallons of water per person on hand. That's two weeks worth based on the 1-gallon-per-day rule of thumb.

After hurricane Ike swept through, Nate and I were fortunate not to loose our power, but the mayor had stated that the tab water wasn't safe to use. In that moment I was grateful for the water we had stored. We didn't have to boil water all the time before we used it. We had it already available in the juice bottles, water bottles, and jugs we had in store.

For more information on storing water see the Drinking Water post.

After you get the water taken care of or mostly taken care of, I suggest either building a 72 hour/hurricane kit(s) for your family or building a week or 2 week supply of food that you can prepare without electricity depending on what you feel prompted to do. I think both are important during the hurricane season.

Two summers ago, hurricane Ike left 19 out of 20 homes without power. In our ward, while some families just had a day without power, others went a full week or so without power.

Look here for a basic 72 hour checklist.

To see ideas for an example two week emergency supply of food, go to the Emergencykitchen.com post.

We have our 72 hour kits in backpacks and a travel bag. I've seen some people but theirs in travel carry-on size suitcases that roll.

What do you use for your 72 hour kits? What foods do you stock up on for hurricane season? I'd love to know.

More Freezing Facts (this time from an expert)

At half price books, I was looking threw several books about preserves, and I came across one that went into detail of not only canning jelly, jams and pickles, but also oven-drying, air-drying, crystallizing, and freezing. I bought the book.

It's called Perfect Preserves by Hilaire Walden.

Having recently posted about freezing, I found her section about freezing fascinating, particularly two points.

1. Foods that do not freeze successfully

• Whole strawberries
• Whole tomatoes
• Garlic
• Eggs in the shell
• Hard-boiled eggs
• Creams with a fat content below 40 per cent
• Emulsion sauces such as mayonnaise
• Recipes with sauces thickened with eggs
• Potatoes
• Cooked joints of meat

I am disappointed that the author didn't go into detail about why these foods, particularly whole strawberries, don't freeze well. Grocery stores sell frozen whole strawberries all the time. However, frozen whole strawberries don't thaw very prettily. They don't keep their shape or color.

2. I thought it was fun reading though the shelf life (or freezer life if you will)

Uncooked meats

• Beef: 8 months
• Pork: 6 months
• Sausages: 3 months
• Freshly minced meat: 3 months
• Ham and other smoked meats: 1 to 2 months
• Chicken: 12 months
• Turkey: 6 months

Cooked meat

• Casseroles, stews, etc.: 2 months

Dairy Produce

• Butter, unsalted: 6 months
• Butter, salted: 3 months
• Cream, above 40% fat: 3 months
• Soft cheeses: 6 weeks
• Hard cheeses: 3 months
• Hard cheeses, grated: 6 months
• Milk: 1 month

Baked Good

• Bread and rolls, crisp: 1 month
• Bread, white and brown: 6 months
• Cakes, uncooked: 1 month
• Cakes, cooked and undecorated: 4 months
• Pastry, unbaked: 3 months
• Pastry, baked: 6 months

Vegetables

• Most vegetables: 12 months
• Mushrooms, raw: 1 month
• Mushrooms, cooked: 3 months
• Onions: 3 months
• Herbs: 6 months

The author says that if you're freezing more than 2 lb of food, turn the freezer thermostat to "fast-freeze," until the food is officially frozen. Then, turn the thermostat back to the normal setting. She says that "foods should be frozen quickly to prevent the formation of large ice crystals that damage cell walls" causing the food to loose its liquid and collapse. This obviously makes the most sense when thinking of fruit or food items with a large water content. I doubt any kind of meat ever collapses, but I'm guessing that meat might be drier when cooked if you don't freeze it quickly. Also, I know that bread is usually drier after its been frozen. Maybe it would be less dry if the freezer freezes it quicker than normal. I'm not completely sure. The author doesn't go into detail beyond what I've written concerning why food needs to be frozen quickly (I was surprised freezing was in a book about preserves in the first place), but we'll see!

Anyway...Happy Food Preserving!!!

Building a Kid-Friendly Food Storage; Part 2: Meat and Beans

Meat and Beans (This is all taken from http://www.melindabeth.com/food_storage/)

Meat and beans are also a very important part of your food storage and should be a large portion of your supply. The meat and beans group also includes eggs, dry peas, nuts and seeds. These foods supply many nutrients such as B vitamins, vitamin E, iron, zinc, and magnesium. Meat and eggs contain quality protein. Beans, peas, nuts and seeds when eaten with grains provide a quality protein as well. First, let's get to know some common food storage items that are part of the meat and beans group:

• Meat
  canned chicken, canned tuna, frozen chicken, frozen meat, frozen fish, bacon, hot dogs, pepperoni


• Eggs
  fresh chicken eggs, dehydrated whole eggs, dehydrated egg white, dehydrated egg mix, dehydrated Ova Easy


• Dry Beans and Peas
  black beans, black-eyed peas, chickpeas, kidney beans, lentils, lima beans, navy beans, pinto beans, soy beans, split peas, white beans, tempeh, textured vegetable protein (TVP)


• Nuts and Seeds
  almonds, cashews, flax, mixed nuts, peanuts, peanut butter, pecans, pistachios, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds

If you are just beginning your food storage, it is my recommendation to have an initial goal of storing the minimum USDA daily recommendation. This amount would be sufficient to sustain life and provide a good source of nutrition.

Here is a simplified chart for determining your family's meat and beans storage based on the USDA minimum daily recommendation:

What is an ounce equivalent? In general, an ounce equivalent is equal to 1 ounce of meat, poultry or fish, 1/4 cup dry beans, 1/2 cup cooked beans, 1 egg, 1 tablespoon of peanut butter, or 1/2 ounce of nuts or seeds. Please note that an ounce equivalent is not always equal to the serving size on a food package label. We often eat 2-4 ounce equivalents in one serving.

Why is the meat and beans year supply not converted to pounds? The meat and beans group cannot be converted to pounds because one serving does not always equal one ounce for all foods. For example, 16 oz. (1 lb.) of dry beans generally contains 12 servings, a serving of nuts is 1/2 ounce and one egg weighs more than one ounce. Therefore, the year supply is calculated in ounce equivalents to ensure accuracy. Don't let the large numbers intimidate you! So now that you know how much of the meat and beans group to store, you need to decide on how much of each to store. It is a good idea to store a variety of foods from the meat and beans group that you know your family will eat.

Here are some tips to help you:

• Evaluate how much of the meat and beans group your family consumes on a daily or weekly basis. Try to calculate how much of the meat and beans group your family would consume in a year. Remember to include meals eaten out.
• Supply yourself with foods that you will eat regularly. If your family consumes a large quantity of eggs, you may want to look into other sources of eggs besides fresh eggs such as dehydrated egg products.
• Evaluate the storage life of different foods from the meats and beans group. Beans typically have a longer storage life, if properly stored, than meat and eggs. So you may want to focus on storing beans and gathering a variety of vegetarian recipes to try. Many meat recipes can also be used by omitting the meat or using a meat substitute such as Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP)
• Evaluate the storage conditions of the meat and beans group product you will be storing. Frozen meats can take up a lot of storage space in the freezer. Beans on the other hand can be stored in a cool, dry place pretty much anywhere in the house.

Example

Here is an example of my thought process in figuring my family's meat and beans group storage. With the chart (above) I calculate that my family requires 7665 ounce equivalents of meat and beans. Holy cow! A holy cow is what we are going to need to provide that many ounce equivalents! But we'll make it work with or without the cow.

So let's take a daily and weekly approach to our meat and beans group.

• Meat (624 ounce equivalents = 8% of total)
  20 lbs. of frozen chicken and beef = 1 ounce/person/week63 5oz. cans tuna = 1 ounce/person/week
• Eggs (600 ounce equivalents = 8% of total)
  2 dozen fresh eggs = 2 eggs/person/week for 2 weeks4 #10 cans Eggs Ova Easy = 2 eggs/person/week for 48 weeks
• Dry Beans and Peas (4320 ounce equivalents = 56% of total)
  360 lbs. dry beans = 2 ounce equivalents/person/day
• Nuts and Seeds (2190 ounce equivalents = 28% of total)
  32 40 oz. containers of peanut butter = 1 tablespoon/person/day

This gives my family a total of 7734 ounce equivalents. This is a good basic plan for the meat and beans group to help provide a well-balanced, nutritious diet that is pleasing to every member of the family. Note that the dry beans and peas subgroup contains the highest percentage of total ounce equivalents. Your storage should also contain a high percentage of dry beans and peas. Dry beans and peas store well and are high in nutrition and fiber.

Freeze Craze

I love the fruits and their prices you can get in the summer, and I like to freeze them and save them for smoothies, desserts, snacks, etc. in the winter.

It takes a little more work, but I like to individually freeze the fruit first and then put them into bags.

Example 1:

After I hull and chop strawberries to bit size pieces, I lay them on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. I put the sheet in the freezer for about 45 minutes. Then, I put the newly frozen strawberries in the freezer bag/container I'd like to store them in.

I've done this with mangoes, pineapple, peaches, and blueberries as well.

The risk I run into is if the power goes out this summer for any period of time for hurricanes, but (I might be mad, but...) it's a gamble I'm willing to take. That's why I store dried fruits, too!

Example 2:

I know green and red peppers aren't fruit, but I like freezing them as well. They're not always on sale, but when they are, they're at least half their regular prices. As with strawberries, I chop them up, but I don't need to individually freeze them. I've been able to just pop them all in a freezer bag and pull out what I need when I need peppers.

Example 3:

Sour Cream...

My family isn't filled with big sour cream eaters, but we do eat meals that call for sour cream occasionally. To work around that, after I open a container of sour cream, I divide the rest into little tupperware/ziplock containers that hold about a 1/2 cup each. Then, I freeze them. I usually use all of them in about two to three months.

I hope this gives you more ideas on foods you can have in storage.

Happy Freezing!!!

Building a Kid-Friendly Food Storage, Part 1: Grains

The woman who wrote the following information is a nutritionist and food storage specialist as well as an at home mom. Her website is http://www.melindabeth.com/food_storage/. In her website she talks about how she built her food storage for her and her family of five based on the food pyramid. For posting convenience, I'm going to break up everything she talked about into food groups, so first off...

Grains

Grains are a very important part of your food storage and should be the largest portion of your supply. Grains are important sources of many nutrients, including dietary fiber, several B vitamins (thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, and folate), and minerals (iron, magnesium, and selenium). There are two subgroups of grains, whole grains and refined grains. It is good to store both types of grains.

Here is a list of of grains you may consider storing:



Most refined grains are enriched which means certain B vitamins and iron are added back after they have been milled. However, fiber is not added back which makes it important to include whole grains into your daily diet. It is recommended that at least half of all grains eaten should be whole grains.

Here is a simplified chart for determining your family's grain storage based on the USDA minimum daily recommendation:

According to the gender and age of your family members add your family's total minimum one year supply of dry grains in pounds.

What is an ounce equivalent? An ounce equivalent is equal to 1 oz. (28g) dry grain, 1 slice of bread, 1 cup ready-to-eat cereal, 1/2 cup cooked rice, cooked pasta, or cooked cereal. Please note that an ounce equivalent is not always equal to the serving size on a food package label. We often eat 2-4 ounce equivalents in one serving.

So now that you know how much grain to store for your family, now you need to decide on how much of each grain to store. It is a good idea to store a variety of grains that you know your family will eat. First, Divide your total pounds of grain by 2 to figure the amount of whole grains and refined grains to store.

Here are some tips to help you:

Evaluate what your family eats on a weekly basis. Try to calculate how much of each grain your family typically consumes in a week and multiply that amount by 52 to arrive at an estimated yearly supply. Remember to include meals eaten out and convenience foods such as microwave popcorn.

Supply yourself with foods that you will eat regularly. If your family eats large amounts of rice, you may determine that this grain will serve as a staple item in your supply.

Evaluate the storage life of different grains. Some grains store very well such as hard grains like uncracked wheat, while others have a rather short shelf life such as brown rice.

Evaluate the volume of space the food to be stored requires. For example, if you plan to store pasta products, consider the shape of the pasta. 25 pounds of orzo, alphabet pasta, or couscous will take up considerably less space than 25 pounds of elbow macaroni while providing the same amount of nutrition.

Evaluate your family's dependency on store-bought foods. For example, if your family is dependent upon store-bought sliced sandwich bread, think about what it would require to make a homemade loaf of bread.

Example (by Melinda)

My family = Myself (29 years old), my husband (35 years old), 5 year old, 3 year old, 2 year old, 1 year old.

Here is an example of my thought process in figuring my family's grain storage. With the chart in step two I calculate that we need 686 pounds of dry grains. Wow, that's a lot! At least half of this amount (343 pounds) should be whole grains. Ok, so what whole grains does my family typically eat? Well, I eat oatmeal for breakfast and the kids love popcorn when they watch movies. I need to store some wheat,for making bread. Barley is good in soup.

Moving on to enriched grains... Our family could eat two pounds of pasta per week. We make grits with eggs once a week. I am notorious for my variety of stir frys, so rice is a great choice. Flour comes in handy to make cookies and quick breads. Cornmeal could be useful to make cornbread. With all this information in mind I come up with the following solution: