One of the first things I like to teach people when it comes to food storage is: learn to make things for yourself. This is one of the key things to using your food storage. Running to the store every time you are out of a food item, gets really pricey, and really time consuming. There is a wonderful, fantastic tool called GOOGLE! I can find a recipe for almost anything I can imagine, by using google. Here are some of the things I have learned how to make on my own:
- all kinds of breads
- all kinds of noodles
- sauces
- desserts
- wheat meat
- tofu
- canning
- freeze drying
- dehydrating
and so much more! In fact I will always look up a recipe or a way to do something, before I go and buy it. I must confess, people are always calling me for ideas, on this or that preparedness or food storage, and if I am not sure of the answer, while I have them on the phone, I will whip open my computer, and search for the answer while I am talking to them, and voila - they have their answer, when in all reality, they could have done the same thing. Now don't get me wrong, I love talking to people and solving problems, but google is a fantastic tool. I also have binders and books full of information that I have printed off, because I don't believe I will always have access to the computer.
So back to user friendly foods. Thanks Jocelyn for bringing it to my attention that most people don't think like I do. I know a few who do, and you know who you are, that's why we work well together. For example, I was asking a friend if she would share something made from beans for the preparedness fair coming up in October. Right there, she whipped out her phone and pinterest, and discovered you can make yummy smoothies using blended up white beans! Guess what we get to try at the preparedness fair?
Beans can be a daunting thing for some people to cook. They take a little preparation and time. Most people don't want to take that time. I love beans - being a vegetarian, I eat them often. I will spend a couple of days canning beans in jars, so they are ready to use at a moments notice. You do need to pressure can them, so not everyone can do this, but they can easily be cooked and slipped into ziploc baggies and frozen for quick use as well. A bottle of beans on my shelf maybe costs .20 cents compared to a can of beans from the store that is $2 or $3. Pretty cost saving.
I have made home made soups, stews, and meats canned in jars for quick meals. Seriously if my family went into my storage room and looked at buckets, bags or bins, they would starve before they figured out what to do with it all. When these things are ready made on the shelf, they beat any canned soups or stews hands down, and the nutritional value is by far better, with less preservatives and additives. Again, a bottle of soup for well under $1 to make will be over $3 again on the shelf. Groceries are not cheap, but home made things sure can be.
I have dried soups, rices, meals, and mixes in jars and large containers, with the recipes taped on the
outsides, for easy use as well. It also helps me at times I need a quick batch of cookies or muffins or whatever. I did the math one time for home made tortillas I made. 30 of them I guessed cost me about maybe 15 cents to make, and at the grocery store, over $2 for a pack of 10. Sure they take a bit of work and time, but save a lot of money.
User friendly foods take a little time to prepare, but save a ton of money, and use up your long term food storage. I can't express enough, how important it is for us to learn to use our food storage and learn to make things for ourselves. I am pretty confident that when the time comes for my family to live off our life sustaining foods, we will be able to do okay. Our meals won't change too much, and in fact it might be fun to see what else we can create.
Keep posted because I am going to do a series on User Friendly Foods, using Long Term Food Storage. I am working on it right now. Any thoughts? I will post recipes to share.
