Cooking with food storage

So at our "Survivor" night at church, we learned that you can substitute beans for oil in any baking recipe. You use black beans in chocolate recipes, pinto beans in chocolate chip cookies, white beans for white or yellow cake mixes. Just match the color of the beans to the color of the baked goods you are making. If the SHTF, cooking oil is going to be scarce as it doesn't store well. I bought a case of canned butter that has a 15 yr shelf life, but it is kind of expensive to use in baking. We will save that for special occasions where butter will make the difference in a dish. Beans are a staple in any food storage so they would be plentiful. Who says you can't eat yummy things with food storage? You cannot taste the difference in the cakes or cookies AT ALL. These cookies turned out "cake like" ie: puffy. If you like your cookies more like, well, cookies; use half beans and half oil. Same goes for brownies. Experiment and have fun.

Outplan, Outprepare, Outsurvive

So Tuesday at church we ladies had a Survivor night. It was all about how to be prepared in case of emergency. We all sat down at tables and started talking when all of a sudden the lights go out and we hear the emergency broadcast system screaching. A voice came on saying "This is only a test. If this were a real emergency, you would have to rely on the skills you already posess to survive." (Hokey, I know, but we are mormons, thats just part of our DNA.) So everyone immediatly turned on the flashlights that were sitting on the table.

Our first challenge was to find our "tribe", identified by different colored armbands, in the dark. We then had a first aid quiz. Things sure have changed since I took a first aid course. (Did you know that the only scientifically based cure for hiccups was to breathe into a paper bag?) We then had to list as many things as we could to put into a 72 hour kit. Then all three tribes had to race to put up a tent. Ours of course had no poles. The next challenge was a taste test. A member of our tribe had to try and tell the difference between dried eggs and fresh eggs. Everyone got that right but was surprised how difficult it was. They then had to tell the difference between freeze dried lasagne and store bought. That was no one was really able to tell the difference. Then the one that blew us all away. The taster had to tell the difference between baked goods that were baked with oil and the ones that had beans substituted for the oil. SERIOUSLY!? BEANS!? I kid you not, NO ONE could tell the difference. You use the same ratio between oil and beans (ie 1 c or oil = 1 c of beans). Use black beans for chocolate cake or brownies, pinto beans for chocolate chip cookies and white beans for white or yellow cake mix. Just match the color of the beans as closely as possible to the color of the goodies you are baking. You can also substitute applesauce or bananas for oil. Very cool.

We then found out that we can use a canner that the church has. For $1 per can we can use the supply of cans, lids and oxygen pouches. Then all we have to do is buy the stuff we want to put in the cans. It was soooo easy!