Using Your Food Storage: Pinto Beans

Storing food that you do not know how to use is a waste of time. Storing foods that have only one use can sometimes become frustrating. For awhile now I have been playing around with recipes to create unique foods or different foods from the same old ingredients. Pinto beans are a staple in the southwest and have been in my family since I married Bill. I love refried beans, cooked pinto beans, bean burritos, bean enchiladas, bean tacos, but wondered what else can I make that may not be specifically Mexican flavored?

Here is one recipe:

Pinto Bean Bread

Ingredients:

2 packets yeast(1 packet yeast =2 1/4 tsp.)
1/2 lukewarm water
1/2 cup evap.milk(I often use goat milk or powdered milk)
1 tbsp. salt
6- 7 cups flour
1 1/4 cup water(bean juice:) from making pinto beans
1 cup mashed beans
2 tbsp. shortening
2 tbsp. sugar

Directions:
Soften yeast in lukewarm water. Warm bean juice on low heat take off heat- add milk, oil, salt, sugar, mashed beans and 2-3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Add yeast and more flour until dough is easily handled. Knead until smooth(5-10 minutes). Place in greased bowls and let rise until double in bulk. Punch down and let rise again. Shape and place in 2 greased bread pans. Let rise again.

Bake 40-45 min. at 375 F.

Pinto Bean Bread

I must confess using even the water that the beans were cooked in plays into my conservation as I love using everything and having little waste.

From the website WH Foods I found a wonderful amount of information about pinto beans and if you want to check out how great pinto beans are click here.

Another bread I make from a leftover item is rootbeer bread, as I make homemade rootbeer and always seem to have a few cups leftover. So I make rootbeer bread!

By the way, I love the way cooking affords a person to be unique. One can use round pans and create round loaves of bread, square pans or even the traditional bread pans. Living a simple life is not about less but about you and slowing down. As a prepper this will help you adapt if you do not have all the items you are comfortable with in a crises, as you are already used to baking with non traditional measures!!

Using Your Food Storage: Lentils

Lentils are an amazing food, and because of two important reasons are a superb item to be stored. The first reason they are so wonderful is the time it takes from dry lentil to tasty meal is less than 30 minutes-so speed of cooking(whereas most beans need to be pre-soaked). The second reason for lentils being a great food storage item is the nutritional value they offer.

In times of crises nutrition should not be overlooked as maintaining ones health is much more critical during crises. One cup of lentils provides about 2/3 of your daily fiber needs, about 40% of your daily iron needs, and over 100% of your A, C, and K vitamins needed.

For women menstruating, pregnant, or lactating lentils provide the boost of iron needed, as they do for children and teens need additional iron too.

Oh and lentils are very inexpensive! You need to do a few things in prep to cooking them. First lay them out on a white or light table or counter top so you can remove any rocks or debris from them. Then you need to rinse the lentils in a colander in cold water. Cooking lentils for me then is filling about 3 cups of water over the one cup of lentils. Bring to a boil, then reduce temp for about 30 minutes. That's it!

Simply pour the lentils out to make sure they are free of debris

I love lentils as is with a bit of salt on them and this makes the storage, the prep, the cooking, and the eating as simple as pie!!

Even a simple serving of lentils can be elegant

1 Cup lentils uncooked

Equals this much cooked lentils!

Here are some lentil recipes for you to look over if you have not used lentils before:
Lentil Burgers
Different recipe Lentil Burgers
Curried Lentils
Mediterranean Lentil Salad
Barbeque Lentils
Pomagranate Lentil Soup
Dry Bean ABC Soup mix
and heres a link to many more

Cooking With Food Storage: Powdered Milk

When storing food products one must understand how to use them. One product I had never used until about ten years ago was powdered milk. I never understood why one would use it, let alone need it. In baking milk is a necessity yet in a crises obtaining fresh milk may not be a possibility.

I store my powdered milk in food grade plastic bins and since they had directions on the original packing, I leave the directions inside. I also mark the contents on the outside of the bucket with a permanent marker(and also the expiration date).

To make I use a fruit juice container, and add a bit of water to the bottom before I add the powdered milk~ this makes mixing so much easier!

Finished powdered milk to milk. It does not taste exactly the same and must be chilled to kind of taste good...but to bake with it is perfect! Now to flavor the milk for wee ones(or not so wee ones) have powdered chocolate milk, powdered pink milk or even the liquid flavorings-although they do not have a long shelf life.


I made Chicken Pot Pie off the Bisquick box the other day. I used from my food storage powdered milk, canned peas, canned carrots, cream of chicken soup, and also thanks to living on the farm had farm fresh eggs, and fresh chicken.

I love that even a simple recipe from Bisquick can utilize your food storage.

Lunch on the farm: Chicken Pot Pie!

As I use powdered milk almost daily here are a few things that I have made this past week or so.

Braided Easter Bread(click for recipe)

Instant pudding

Do not be intimidated because you have not used the product...take the time this week to increase your knowledge on using powdered milk! I cannot stress enough that knowledge and skills are as important or more important as having food storage. One needs to know how to prepare food, store food, grow food long before a crises occurs!!

As a side note, once you are comfortable cooking from scratch, utilizing items from storage etc, then it is as easy to make pudding from the box, as it is to make Braided Easter bread. Now is the time to prep for any situation and one way is to master using items that can be stored for a long time.

Using Your Food Storage: Challenge #3

This is a post that I wrote for my farm blog. I am posting it here as it falls under my category of Using Your Food Storage: Challenge. Using canned veggies and fruits are not ideal for the best nutritional and taste value, but they have a good shelf life. Now I live on a tight budget so I shop for sales and end up with the store brand foods, which need a little zip to enhance the flavor. Trust me it is easy to make foods from your storage tasty. Below is a meal I made last week and I tried to detail every expense and I tried to use many items from storage.

Brampton Burger Dinner
List #1
carrots $. 07 ---1/4 lb frozen(I used 1/4 can)
green beans $. 07--- 1/4 lb(I used 1/4 can)
olive oil under $.10---2 tbsp
vinegar $.05 --- 1 tsp
chicken bouillon $.05---2 cubes( I used bulk 2 tsp)
tomato paste $. 10---2 tbsp
pineapple tidbits $ .50---1/2 can(I only used the juice and reserved the tidbits for the dessert)
onion $. 15---1/2 cup(I used 1 cup)
hamburger patties $2.66--- 4(I do not eat hamburgers so we only needed four)
Total= $3.70

Recipe: Brampton Burgers
Broil or fry the hamburgers the way you regularly do, and keep them hot...Heat the oil in a small saucepan and fry the onion without browning for two minutes. Add all of the remaining ingredients except the vinegar, bring to a boil, and cook over low to moderate heat for several minutes until the vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally. Add the vinegar and adjust the seasoning to taste. Serve the burgers topped with the vegetable sauce.




List #2
sea salt--- $.02 season to taste as mixing together
pepper--- $.02
paprika--- $.02
2 potatoes(I realized that 2 were enough)--- $.24 slice in thin slices
onion--- $.15
olive oil(not pictured) 2 tbsp--- $.10
2 cloves garlic mince---$.02
total= $.57

Recipe:Fried Onions and Potatoes
Mix all ingredients together and cook on a medium to low heat until potatoes are done.


List #3
ham slices(with coupon pack was $1.00 and I used 6 slices( 1/3)--- $.33
asparagus 15 oz can---$1.00
cornstarch 1/4 cup---$.12
instant milk 1 cup---$.14
cream of chicken soup---$.33
butter $.10---2 tbsp
homemade breadcrumbs $.02--- 1 cup
total= $2.04

Recipe: Ham and Asparagus Rolls
Roll 4 or 5 pieces of asparagus in each slice of ham and place in ovenproof dish. Heat the soup in a saucepan: blend the cornstarch with the milk and stir in the soup. Stir until boiling, simmer for one minute, and pour over the ham rolls. Melt the butter, mix with the bread crumbs, and sprinkle on the top of the soup sauce. Bake in 350 F oven for 25 minutes.


List #4 No picture until final photo
1 pint of canned applesauce(I canned in early spring)
apples free
sugar---$.15
plum---free
total=$.15

put applesauce in dish and place sliced plum wedges around the edge(great way to use up ripening fruit to garnish another dish)



List #5
condensed milk(bought at Thanksgiving--- $.50)
sugar 1/4 cup---$.10
egg---farm fresh
lemon jello---$.33
pineapple tidbits---factored price in above(juice for List #1)
water 1 cup
total =$.93

Recipe: Pineapple Delight
Beat the egg and sugar together in a mixing bowl and add the evaporated milk and crushed pineapple. Dissolve the jello in the water over low heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and immediately add the beaten egg ad milk in the hot jello. Stir until combined and pour into a serving dish or individual serving dishes. Place in refrigerator to chill.

Grand total= $ 7.39
This is all from food storage minus the ham, which I had a coupon for(coupons.com), and the potatoes, onions, garlic, plum, and egg which are in what I refer to immediate food usage(foods that are perishable)

Why am I sharing this post? Well many people stockpile foods and have no idea how to create something in a pinch that is lovely and tastes amazing. This meal took less than an hour to prepare...cleanup has taken a bit longer as I am typing this post!

Here is the how the meal looks all put together on our well used pine table. I painted each state that a member of our family was born in(or country as the case is for some) and bordered the table with all the places we have lived(we were a military family for several years. I have two scriptures running down the center of the table to remind us of where we should really place our focus-- and the scriptures deal with food...can you guess what they are?
Pictured left to right: Fried Onions and Potatoes, Applesauce and plum, Brampton Burger sauce(one son did not want it on his burger), Ham and Asparagus Rolls, Hamburgers garnished with fresh tomatoes and spinach. I noticed that I do not have the glasses on the table( we had tea as our beverage).

In this challenge I should note that I have not purchased paper products for over two years. The cloth napkins and placemats were the first thing I made even before we moved to the farm. I am in NO WAY supporting the green movement. I made these products to reduce costs in my home. I have around 48 cloth napkins for regular use, and holiday napkins too.

Here is the finished dessert
The totals for this meal were a bit higher than we spend on an average meal. Our monthly grocery budget is usually around $250.00. Some months we spend nothing if we are saving for a need etc. Food storage is a way we can do this, along with our garden and animals. I buy everything I can in bulk and make many things from scratch. Our meat expenses will be reduced dramatically in a week or so when we butcher the cow.

I challenge my readers to put some foods up in storage and to be creative to preparing meals. As you can see I am no Martha Stewart...but I am a wife and mother who desires to create tasty meals for my family regardless of budget.
~~
My challenge of stockpiling foods was for readers of my farm blog, I know readers of the prepper circuit have food storage!
(c) Double Nickel Farm
Jennifer

Food Storage

I have linked a food storage calculator in a previous post, but decided to explain some more about food storage, and what you should have on hand. This post is going to be about tomato sauce. Often times we think that we need to have food storage that last a long time. I am very simple. I do understand the need to have long lasting foods, but the practicality in me believes that your food storage should be able to compliment all meals and meets the daily food requirements.

Tomato sauce is one of those foods that does just that. And let me mention another key that I use when filling my food storage: the most for the least amount of money. Tomato sauce in my hometown costs anywhere from 5 for a dollar to the best of 8 for a dollar. That is a good deal.

But what can you make with this item?
Spaghetti sauce
pizza sauce
spicy sauce- make like salsa, but add the juice of two limes, and cayenne pepper
v-8
tomato juice(see my v- link)
Spanish rice
Albondigas soup
fideo
burrito sauce- add spices and boil down with a bit of water
taco sauce- same as burrito

well that list is not inclusive, but one a list of what I make(I am sure I am forgetting some things)...but you see the versatility. If I had say spaghetti sauce, I have a few options: spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, and I go through the list and show that the base- tomato sauce is the one that has the most options. For me as I began to use a food storage system and cooking more and using meals and food kits less, I discovered how easy it was to have a few items go very far. I will admit I have spaghetti sauce, and I am not against ease foods. I have some in my pantry. I am just sharing for those another way to see the potential in foods that may have not been considered as valuable long term.

The picture is of a portion of my pantry, as Indiana Preppers did such a good job sharing how far they are in their food storage, I realized that we need to be open and share. We are the strength for others! Check out the Canadian circuit of bloggers over the next week or so, and I bet you will be able to have a complete picture of my pantry, as I am going to share my food storage in a like fashion as IP did! Thanks for the good idea.
(c)Double Nickel Farm

~~Don't Forget to Try and visit several preppers today and leave a comment- we are human after all!!
Jennifer

Using Your Food Storage

Do you buy foods and then put them in an emergency pantry, and have no idea how to use them? Filling a pantry and preparing for any emergency is critical. But if you buy something like powdered milk and then have no idea how to use it then you have wasted money, storage space, and quite frankly your time.

I have used powdered milk for many years, as it is easier to use when I make arroz con leche(rice and milk) or oatmeal. As the years passed I slowly began using powdered milk for baking sweets and even bread.

So my pantry has powdered milk. This is a comfort to me to know that I can make the foods my family eats, because I have learned how to use powdered milk on my leisure and if a crisis occurs, I am totally comfortable baking with this.

I think that in the times we live in that one need to learn to cook/bake as many foods as possible from scratch. I challenge you(if you haven't already) to buy some powdered milk and then bake with it.

How much powdered milk should you store for your family? Here is a good link to get you started on calculating your food needs.