Archive by Author

“Soup in a Bag” week: Corn Potato Cheddar Chowder

17 May Corn Potato Cheddar

Last, but certainly not least, we have LeGay who tested out the book “Soup in a Bag” for us.  I’d like to send out a big THANK YOU to all three of our testers this week!!  I know I’ve got some new soup recipes I’m looking forward to trying out.  You guys have been great!!

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My name is LeGay Burrell. I am a stay-at-home Mom to three children ages 17, 10, and 8.  I currently live in Kentucky but I am an Arizona girl, born and raised.  I have this silly obsession with Mason jars.  I love how they look on a shelf, the popping sound they make when they seal… so the idea of meals in a jar is very appealing to me.  Moving to Kentucky, where tornado warnings are not uncommon, has helped me to realize how important it is that I become more organized and prepared to feed my family in an emergency.

I was so excited to receive the Soup in a Bag cookbook! I liked it so much, that I immediately ordered both Bread in a Bag cookbooks to go with it.  I love soups but my three children aren’t big fans.  So, I’ve begun the search for a recipe that will please them.  So far, I’ve managed to try 8 out of the 30 recipes. (My dehydrator has been working overtime.)  Now, instead of the usual, “What’s for dinner?” my kids are asking, “Are we having soup again?” Continue reading →

“Soup in a Bag” week: Split Pea Soup

15 May SplitPa

Today I’m featuring our second tester, Kat’s review of the book “Soup in a Bag” by Pam Emick.  Enjoy!  In other happenings, I thought I’d let you know I was thrilled to be invited to contribute over on Deseret Book’s Time Out for Women’s blog today!!  Fingers crossed that it snags some new readers to get excited about cooking with their food storage!

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Hi, my name is Kat.  I’m the grandma in a three generation household in the Pacific Northwest.  I’ve been putting together our food storage a little bit at a time for quite a while as it’s recommended to do by my church.  It just seems like a great idea, especially with the state of the world today.  I work full time for an accounting firm and have a Stampin’ Up!  business (you’ll find me here), so I actually do very little cooking, but I do try to test a food storage recipe for our family food storage cookbook at least once a week. Continue reading →

“Soup in a Bag” week: Potato Cheese Soup

13 May soup in a jar

It’s “Soup in a Bag” week!!  You’ll remember our search for reviewers of the book “Soup in a Bag” by Pam Emick back in April.  Well, they’ve now tested it out for us, testing a total of 14 recipes!  They did a fabulous job!!  Also, thanks to the book’s author for allowing us to share each tester’s favorite here.

Without further ado, here’s our first reviewer, Julene (you’ll find the other reviews posted on Wed. and Fri).   Julene is also the author of Prepare Today Newsletter.  You can pay her a visit there to find out more of her tips and favorites on the subject of food storage and preparedness!

Continue reading →

Grocery Ingredient Taste Test Winners

11 May

I can’t think of any more important reason than food storage to take time to study out the brands you plan to buy (ahead of buying in bulk), making sure you’re buying the best tasting ingredients you can.  Even if you already have some favorite brands, you might give some of these ones a try to see if you like them even better! In this post I’ve looked at:

Olive Oil

Tomato Soup

Lite Coconut Milk/ Regular Coconut Milk 

Unsweetened Cocoa

Canned Tomatoes (diced and whole)

Canned Crab Meat

Jarred Pasta Sauce

Chicken Stock

Pepperoni Stick

Applesauce

Peanut Butter  Continue reading →

Chicken Barley Soup

9 May Chicken Barley Soup (5)

I’ve got some great “tried and taste tested” content coming up in the next two weeks!  It’s a little different than my “norm” recipe schedule, here there and everywhere (haha!) but I think you’ll like it.

First off, in my second post this week I’ll be posting a compilation of various grocery store ingredient taste tests.  Basically a directory of which brands (of which products) to consider more closely as you’re building your pantry.  This comes as I’ve been collecting this information for a while, trolling various published taste tests and adding up their results. My goal with this post has been to get a better picture of which brand’s products are worth stocking up on versus which ones aren’t.

Secondly, the “Soup in a Bag” reviews are back!!  With the detail in each tester’s trial, I’ve decided to post them each independently M-W-F of next week.  And, best of all, thanks to permission given from the book’s author, each post will include the tester’s favorite recipe for you to try yourself!  Awesome!!  Get ready to enjoy!

Speaking of soup, appropriately enough, swim team just started for my three oldest kids which means the water is freezing and I have kids coming home with blue lips and chattering teeth for the first few weeks.  So you can guess what’s on the menu a lot lately.  This homey soup is the food storage version of this recipe and went over well with everyone, even the five year old.

serves 6 -8 Continue reading →

Truly Impossible Pie

2 May Impossible Pie (13)

A friend of mine who reads the blog and is trying to put together a breakfast plan using her wonder oven, asked me last week about making an impossible pie in a wonder oven.  I thought it was an interesting twist and got to thinking about it.  Well, I’m so glad she asked because now I’m totally in love with this recipe!!  So, what’s an impossible pie, you ask? Children of the 70′s (and their mothers) should remember this Bisquick creation, where Bisquick was poured over top of an egg batter layered with vegetables, meat and cheese and baked.   It’s impossibility was that you got a “crust” without rolling out pie dough.  The result was a quiche that was fast and easy to fix.

Well, if ever there was an impossible pie, I’d give that title instead to this variation!  If you’d asked me even a year ago, I never in a million years would have thought this to be a possibility as a food storage recipe.  Thanks to discovering Honeyville’s OvaEasy Eggs, now it is.  And beyond that, it utilizes the heat retentive cooking of a wonder oven, which makes it a breakfast possibility even if the power is out.  You see, you can’t bake anything — for breakfast— if the power is out.  The sun isn’t out to heat your sun oven so you’re options are limited to cooking over a stovetop of some kind.  Not that hot cereal isn’t great, but it gets old like everything else.

This recipe exemplifies the idea that in using a wonder oven your pot and lid act as a “mini-oven”, just as in making bread, where you can still bake using just a minimal amount of stove top fuel if the power is out. Continue reading →

Simple Sesame Noodles

27 Apr Simple Sesame Noodles (2)

A yummy way to serve up a bowl of noodles!  Don’t let this recipe’s simplicity deceive you — both kids and adults alike love these noodles whether served on their own or as a side. Compliments of Ree Drummond (aka Pioneer Woman).

serves 4-6 

Continue reading →

Easy Pantry Pie Crust

25 Apr Easy Pantry Pie Crust (5)
This recipe, thanks to it’s pantry friendly ingredients, is hands down the easiest pie crust you’re ever going to make!  A food processor isn’t necessary (since there’s no “cutting-in” of butter or shortening) and it works whether your water is ice cold or room temperature.  With a little help even a child can make this pie crust, which (to me) is awesome!! Continue reading →

(Genius!) Gluten Free Seed & Nut Bread

20 Apr Gluten Free Seed & Nut Bread

Like totally wow.  This idea is going to change the way you think about bread.  This idea, my friends, is simply genius.  High fiber- high protein- delicious goodness genius!

May I introduce you to a flour-less bread with quite possibly the highest nutrition per ounce there is to achieve.  It’s also takes just 5 minutes to make, with nature doing nearly all of the work.  No kneading, no forming, just mix and let sit and finally bake (…as you pinch yourself). And while the finished result is good all by itself it’s even better as toast!!  I had to remind myself that with all those nuts and seeds also come calories (but hey, it freezes well), although if I were making this in a time of scarcity the calories would be welcomed.

The amazing ingredients?  Chia seed, flax seed and psyllium seed husks, combining together to do what they do best.  Their natural properties enable them to hold everything together without the need of dairy, eggs or flour.

Continue reading →

Chicken Riggies

18 Apr Chicken Riggies (13)

Forgive me if I’d never heard of “riggies” before, but apparently those of you in Utica, New York have where this dish even has it’s own festival!

This particular recipe is based off a Cook’s Country take on it.  (Btw, I’m guessing the name “riggies” is short for rigatoni?)  Anyway, thanks be to the “riggies”!  It cooperates perfectly as a shelf stable meal and makes a very flavorful dish.

Serves 6-8

Continue reading →

Good recipes, smaller packages

12 Apr

Many of you don’t have an army to feed like I do but would still like good food storage recipes, just in smaller packages.  If that describes you, this post offers some help!  The frequent questions (about recipe downsizing) that people have been asking are: “When does it work?”  ”When does it not work?” and “Which recipes are best to use?”

The majority of this post’s ideas come to you thanks to Jennine Wardle, (check out her blog Off-Grid in Alaska), who, besides being an accomplished cook and living off the grid for the last four years, has done so cooking for two, just she and her husband.  Once again, she comes to our rescue with some great considerations on this topic.

Adjusting food storage recipes to a smaller serving scale is yet another example of why a personalized plan is so important to have before going out and buying a lot of food, especially long term food!  Whether you use these ideas to scale down the recipes here or elsewhere, these 10 tips should help you along the way. Continue reading →

Sopa Seca (Mexican Noodle Casserole)

11 Apr Sopa Seca (12)

I love this dish!  The spices are nicely balanced, not too spicy but a “just right” Mexican flavor that everyone likes.  Together with the noodles (a Mexican vermicelli), the chicken and some cheese; it all combines to make a great meal, food storage or not!

Serves 8-10

Continue reading →

Homemade Yellow Cake Mix

7 Apr Homemade Yellow Cake Mix (8)

Another food storage-tweeked recipe from “Chickens in the Road”.  A moist yellow cake mix that’s great on it’s own or used as a base for a number of other cake variations!

Continue reading →

Homemade Hamburger Helper: 9 varieties

4 Apr Homemade Hamburger Helper (20)

We’re all looking for an easy way to get dinner on the table.  Most nights we’d like it to be without too much thought and without having to worry whether the family is going to eat what we make.  Betty Crocker and other manufacturers have made a killing on the idea of “dinner in a box” albeit with the price of preservatives, colorings and chemicals added in.  Enter Suzanne McMinn.  This gal heads up the site “Chickens in the Road” and she’s figured out a number of the Hamburger Helper boxed dinners for us, allowing us to enjoy the convenience we want minus the additives we don’t.

Now I have to be honest, I’ve never bought Hamburger Helper and only learned about this website and recipe idea from a reader who asked for a food storage version of it.  But I’m so glad she did!  And can we say “pantry meal time”??  I love it when I see people naturally coming up with the same idea.  Ready packed meals make sense whether you’re using them day to day or to have on hand in case of emergency, whether the emergency be immediate –to have ready to grab and go with your 72 hour kit– or longer term.

Thanks to Suzanne doing the hard work,  I’ve done the much easier part of translating them to food storage.  And btw, there are all kinds of additions you can make to these recipes, I’d suggest visiting Suzanne’s original blog post for more ideas on that.  Also, all of the recipes call for 1 lb. ground beef (or about 2 cups cooked), so if you’re using fresh ground beef (or hamburger from the freezer) that’s the amount you’d need.

Each recipe serves 4-6

Continue reading →

“Soup in a Bag” Book Give Away!

1 Apr

You get to hear my reviews on recipes and books all the time…now I want to hear YOURS!

If you’re serious about wanting to cook with your food storage and along the way willing to try a few new recipes on your family, then you could get a FREE copy of the ($28) pantry meal-styled “Soup in a Bag” by Pam Emick!!

Leave me a comment if you’re willing to be a tester!  I’m looking for THREE readers who would each be willing to try at least THREE recipes from this book (you choose what you make) before May 10th.  Your review, combined with the others, will be posted Monday, May 13th.

Remember, we want to hear what you (and your family) really think!  We’ll also want to “see” what you’ve made, so please be willing to submit one picture for each recipe you try. This coming Friday (5pm CT) I’ll announce who the books will be sent off to, so if you comment be sure to check back since I’ll need you to send me your mailing address (US shipping only please).

Happy (free give away time) prepping!  

Soup in a Bag

Pantry Made Scrambled Eggs

30 Mar Ova Easy Eggs (3)

While we’re all busy this weekend dying Easter eggs, I’m excited to tell you about a truly awesome “egg” of a different sort:  a good scrambled egg product for your food storage!

Anyone who’s tried cooking with whole powdered egg before knows it works fine for baking but never (seriously never) would you consider scrambling them to eat.  That would be gross.  That is, until this product became available (thanks to Honeyville farms)…Ova Easy Eggs!

I tried it on my pickiest eater, the five year old.  This kid would eat scrambled eggs every day if I let him.  Calling him to the table for “scrambled eggs” — just the egg crystals mixed with water — he ate the whole plate and never had a clue they weren’t for real.   I’m going to be stocking up on this product for sure.

Thank you Honeyville!! Continue reading →

Easy Hamburger Soup

28 Mar Easy Hamburger Soup (11)

A simple to prepare yet hearty soup that easily adapts with food storage ingredients.  As an everyday meal it’s a great “catch-all” for whatever extra veggies you have in the refrigerator to use up!  I like making this recipe in a large batch because we like the leftovers the next day but if it’s too large a recipe for your group you can easily cut it down by half.  Also, remember, you can replace the soup back into your wonder oven after serving if you’re wanting to keep it hot!

Although it simmers for 45 minutes I’ve categorized it as a pantry meal for how simple the preparation is (plus, it easily “packs” as one).  Ten minutes –fifteen if you’re using freeze dried ingredients– and it’s on it’s way!

Serves 10-12

Continue reading →

Radio Show: Wonder Ovens!

25 Mar Wonder oven

Take a listen tomorrow, March 26th at 1pm CT (or any time afterward, it’ll be archived with the same link) where Joyce Pierce, host of the “All You Need to Know Show” with the Preparedness Radio Network, has invited me over to talk about Wonder Ovens!

We’ll be talking about making them, using them and why having one is so valuable as you’re getting your food storage preps together!

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/doctorprepper/2013/03/26/all-you-need-to-know

A few post-script details from what was talked about…

  • To find a local supplier of the styrene beads, I called a national supplier of foam products, Insulfoam (1-800-228-4412), and asked where in my area they supplied “unexpanded polystyrene bead”.  From there I was given a local supplier, which (in my area) referred to them as “virgin beads”. 
  • Once you have the beads and the pattern ready you can follow the rest of the instructions easily by visiting the step by step instructions on the following two sites. We filled the pillows using 4 gallons of beads to fill the top and 6 gallons to fill the bottom.  This made a set of pillows “floppy” enough to fit in an 18 gallon bucket.  

www.Iwillprepare.com 

www.prepared-housewives.com

  • for those of you wondering what the styrene pellets look like and how big they’re “not”…here’s a picture of the size you’re looking for.

Styrene Pellets

  • Due to the difficulty we had in creating the pattern from the angles given online, if you’d like a paper pattern mailed I’m offering them for free.  (I’ll pull this from this post if it becomes too much to keep up with.)  Just send me an email to request one with your mailing address if interested.  My email address is myfoodstoragecookbook@hotmail.com. 

BBQ Chicken & Pineapple Quesadillas

24 Mar BBQ Chicken & Pineapple Quesadillas (1)

Time to jazz things up with a little something different!  There’s not much to say about the quesadillas themselves outside of “they’re good” (you got that, right?), but as for the new flour tortilla recipe I feel like I need to confess to someone.  I’ve been pulled to the dark side of ingredients… thanks to Pioneer Woman’s tortilla recipe.

These tortillas turned out really good.  They were easy to roll out (a lot easier than my last flour tortillas) and they’re soft, just like the fresh ones found at the grocery store.  Well, okay…maybe not where you live but here in Texas we have this awesome grocery store called HEB, they have the best fresh flour tortillas; miles and miles better than the packaged ones on the shelves. Those are what I’m talking about (which, most likely, are made with the very same ingredients).  So back to my confession.  The tortillas turned out great but the secret is the fat they’re made with.  We’ll call it “the fat that shall not be named”.  What to do, what to do…now that my family has tasted these tortillas I find myself in a “wanna-be-a-healthy-mom” vs. “it really tastes good” quandary.

Continue reading →

Homemade Ritz Crackers

21 Mar Homemade Ritz Crackers (13)

As you can imagine, I’m the type of girl who was pretty excited to discover that someone had gone to the work of testing and coming up with a Ritz cracker recipe.  Ritz crackers are something I’ve wanted to recreate, being a favorite here at our house, though we don’t buy them often.  Making a knock-off at home would be awesome!  I really appreciate  Stef over at Cupcake Project, for her many (many) trial runs in developing the recipe I launched from here.

Still though, the question was, it works with fresh butter…but could it be successfully “food storage-ized”??

I tried out the recipe with my tried and trusty Thrive butter powder and thought the crackers were good.  They tasted like Ritz, although denser, and not flakey.  To determine what people (outside of my family) thought of this version, I decided to try them out on the first 10 adults I found while dropping my kids off to scouts and church youth group.  I needed some feedback if I were going to ask you to trust me on it.  The response I got was that (happily) every person — 10 out of 10 — who tried them said they liked them.  (Woo hoo — success!!)

While the testers noticed the texture is different than Ritz, not flakey, which I knew (some called it “thicker”, others said “heartier”) because the flavor was still good, they didn’t seem to mind.  ”I don’t mind the texture being different because the taste makes up for it” said one taster.  ”I could eat these all the time!” said another.  So the food storage swap worked.  Here’s to another cracker recipe! Continue reading →

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