Follow-up on Cooperative Wheat Purchase
June 15th, 2008 by KimI recently received prices back on our white wheat in 45 lb. buckets. With the increased cost of the wheat and the insane freight charges, I have decided not to make this purchase. At present the savings would not warrant the hassle for all of us because 45 lb. buckets of hard white wheat from Lehi Mill are available at Costco in St. George, Utah for $26.99 each. At last report, Costco had 700 of these buckets available. With prices ranging up to $43 per bucket, this is by far the least expensive price locally at present.
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Spice of Life
June 8th, 2008 by KimIf we’re going to actually eat our food storage items, it’s a good idea to store some seasonings to make them more palatable. Alison’s Pantry offers a large selection of spices and seasoning blends that can spruce up your pantry items. Here are a few that our family has tried and enjoyed:
Tuna Salad Seasoning–This is a blend of spices that transforms a tuna sandwich into tuna salad even if you don’t have celery or onion on hand.
Chili Seasoning Mix–a not-too-spicy blend that will perk up all those dried beans you are storing, and turn them into a meal.
Mom’s Meatloaf Seasoning–this is a seasoning blend that takes the guesswork out of flavoring your meatloaf. If you are storing canned ground beef or dehydrated beef crumbles, this seasoning would be a good one to store. Click on the link and check out the great recipes on the AP site for this one.
Tasty Tomato Herb Dip–don’t wait until an emergency to enjoy this one! This seasoning blend can be combined with sour cream and mayonnaise to make an easy dip for vegetables or crackers. Add in fresh chopped roma tomatoes and crumbled bacon for a real treat.
And my favorites, Alison’s Pantry Fruity Flavored Powdered Flavorings–these come in Sweet Vanilla, Strawberry and Lemon and can be added to anything from whipped cream to cake mixes and frostings. I use the Sweet Vanilla Powder in my baking because it doesn’t include alcohol so all of that great vanilla flavor stays in the recipe rather than baking out. I also like to sprinkle the Vanilla Powder into our all-natural fruit smoothies (just frozen fruit, about 2 c. orange juice, and sometimes a tablespoon of dried milk, ground flax, or oatbran like the smoothie stores add) to create an “orange julius” flavor. It’s great in oatmeal as well. Keeping these powdered flavorings on hand gives you options. I love that I can whip up frosting and it doesn’t have to just be vanilla!
Alison’s Pantry offers the seasoning blends in plastic containers that are large enough to divide and share with a friend. In fact you can split them up into several small shakers and package them for a unique gift for bridal showers or Christmas. The vanilla and fruit-flavored powders are in sizes you’ll want to keep for yourself, but buy them in the multi-packs because it’s not only a little bit cheaper, but you’ll likely start talking about them and your friends and family will want to sample yours. 
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Food storage for those who hate to cook
June 8th, 2008 by KimOne turn-off to food storage for some is the assumed need to possess extensive cooking skills. Although there is some truth to needing to know how to prepare beans and other dry goods from scratch and learning simple recipes to incorporate food storage items into your menus, there are other super simple options for those who feel like fish out of water in the kitchen. I was recently introduced to Daily Bread ready-made meals. These are individually packaged meals that only require water. The representatives who showed me the product, Benson and Shane, left me a sample of Daily Bread’s Chicken Teriyakki with Rice. It was of course very easy to prepare, and was surprisingly good. All of my kids gobbled up their samples and wanted to know when I would be ordering more. The company touts these packaged meals as “efficient, compact and easy to store, ready in 10 minutes, and great tasting.” The representatives also told me that their products have a 25 year shelf life. So, for a person who doesn’t want to store a bunch of #10 cans of products they don’t know how to use, this may be an ideal option for long-term food storage.
We enjoy cooking and we cycle all of our food storage items, so stocking a large amount of these ready-made meals as our main source of food storage isn’t the best option for my family. (Plus, I know my kids will want to eat them for lunch all summer.) However, they are so handy and tasty that I think they will be a great addition to our 72-hour kits. They are very light weight and would be perfect for backpackers as well. And, we thought they would be handy for camping. Daily Bread also sells dry white and chocolate milk packets, as well as 72 hour kits and portable burners for cooking. If you are interested in learning more about products and pricing, you can call Benson at 801-941-1645 or Shane at 801-791-0211. You can click on one of the Daily Bread links above to connect to their site and request a free sample as well.
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Whole Wheat Brownies…YUM!
June 8th, 2008 by KimA friend gave me this recipe and I just made a few alterations to make it lower fat (so I could justify making it more chocolatey with the mini-chips. :)) As a brownie-lover, I was so surprised how delicious these are with no white flour. All of my testers thought the same. Enjoy!
WHOLE WHEAT BROWNIES
2 C. whole wheat flour (best if from white wheat)
2 C. sugar
3/4 C. cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 C. water
1 C. oil (I use 1/2 c. applesauce and 1/2 c. oil)
1 tsp. vanilla
Optional: Add about 1 C. each of chopped walnuts and mini chocolate chips
Mix all ingredients together and pour into greased 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Let set for 10 minutes before cutting.
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