Food Storage Cooking: Part 1

Wednesday night, I didn't feel well and was in no mood to cook. Or do anything other then lay on my couch and watch sappy romantic comedies under the thickest quilt I could find. Alas, we have to eat. I really was craving French Dip Sandwiches, but that had several roadblocks. The Boy had lost his shoes somewhere so I couldn't really take him to the butcher (I mean, I could have but it was about 45 degrees out and he kept taking his socks off and I refuse to be that mom). I have a roast in the freezer, but it's BIG and there was no way it would de-thaw even part way before the weekend. I had plenty of onions, and I've been dying to try out french onion soup, but as I said before I had no motivation.

So with my first choice out the window I finally decided on making Taco Soup. I usually make this soup with at least a pound of ground beef, but seeing as I had none and the butcher was a no-fly zone I was pretty much SOL on that part. Luckily during Lent I had fooled about with this as veggie recipe so I had a decent idea of what I wanted to do.

I didn't have time to mess around with any of my dried beans, so I wandered out to the food storage and stole a mess of things I had canned. This recipe is great because you can leave out what you don't like/don't want/don't have and it generally doesn't muss things up too much. I grabbed black beans, chili beans, red beans, whole kernel corn, kidney beans, and pinto beans. I grabbed my 5 qt dutch oven and popped open the cans and dumped them (liquid included!) into the pot**. I realized at this point I was out of taco seasoning (wth?) because I've been meaning to make my own dry taco seasoning so I hadn't purchased any pre-made packs (lack of supplies is my best motivator). I did however have a pack of fajita seasoning, so I went ahead and added that. (**If you are adding ground beef to this recipe, cook the meat in the pot and add seasoning as directed before adding beans and simmering)

I let this simmer for about 30 mins, then mixed up some Krustez Honey Corn Bread Mix (my favorite) and put that in the oven according to directions (30 mins at 400). When that had about 5 mins left I checked on the soup and found that it didn't have quite the 'stew' consistency I like. This was easily solved by adding a dab of corn starch to the mix, and I pulled the corn bread out of the oven to cool.

To serve I simply cut a good chunk of the corn bread and placed it in a bowl and topped with the Taco (or I guess Fajita) Soup and a pinch of shredded cheese. This is my personal preference way to serve it, but because it makes it a bit more hearty with the cornbread. The way I originally had this was with crushed up corn chips and a bit of cheese and sour cream. Both ways are excellent, easy and cheap. And the leftovers refrigerate or freeze great, and even taste better then next time around.

Homemade Spice Mixes

When I was going through my preps I realized that if SHTF a lot of my cooking would go to hell in a hand basket. Why? Well I'm lazy (I can't believe I have to say that again) and so in some of my recipes I use those stupid little 4 oz packages of pre-mixed spices. Now, I'm not entirely inept so I'm sure I could work around it. But it wouldn't be the same. But really coughing up a buck and some change for insane amounts of little teeny packages isn't realistic or reasonable.

So I ran and found comfort online. I managed to find recipes for many of the things I already use; Montreal Steak Seasoning, Taco Seasoning, Italian Dressing Mix, and Dry Rub for Barbecue. All of these mixes can be easy stored if kept sealed and dry, for at least 6 months if not longer. Some require refrigeration, but it wouldn't be hard to throw a quart can of it on the condiment rack and call it a day.

I'm sure I can get most, if not all, of these spices in bulk, and I am willing to bet dollars to donuts that it'll be a heap cheaper to do it this way also. I mean for $1.00+ for 4 oz of mixed spices, it's hard to get more expensive.

Prepping the Preps: Part 2

I finally finished up with organizing my cabinets, and separating Shelf Stuff vs Preps. I am honestly amazed at just how much canned food I have, and more then that how much canned food I have that I know I've had since early in my marriage, so almost 6 years. Anything I could identify as over 2 years old I herded together and took into my local food bank. Frankly, the fact that I haven't eaten it in the last 5 years tells me chances are I'm not eating it in the next 5.

I'm not a super picky eater, but well... okay, I'm a picky eater. There I said it. So, it's silly for me to have things in my pantry that I KNOW I wouldn't even feed to the dog. I don't eat sauerkraut. I don't like sauerkraut. I don't need a gallon mason jar of it.

One thing I did do in the cleaning crusade was to make a list of every thing that went into my preps storage. I'm going to edit the list a bit (so it doesn't read Crm chkn Sp lrg) and place one copy on the inside of my cupboard door, and probably another in the storage itself. That way instead of buying more (insert canned veggie here) I can snag some out of the food storage, mark the list, and replenish that every other week. Using what I have stored, and saving myself some in the process as I can stock up a bit more on things I need should they be on sale.