If you read survivalist blogs, or listen to patriot radio, one of the things that we hear most often is, "Get a store of food". Food storage is an excellent idea:  The Red Cross, the Federal Emergency Management agency, and the Department of Homeland Security all suggest we have food on hand...three days to two weeks depending upon which agency we are speaking of (which means you should probably have at least three months....)  And there are a myriad of companies out there willing to help us out with freeze dried foods and MRE's that will last decades...a (supposed) year's worth of food packaged in insect- and rodent-proof containers. Add to that buckets full of whole wheat, and you just might have a year's worth of food.

For most of us, though, there is a major problem with this...most of us live paycheck to paycheck, particularly during this so-called recession (the rest of us prefer to call it a depression). We can't afford to purchase a year's worth of food, particularly all at once. Those of us who already live frugally look at the difference between the cost of this storable food and what they, in reality, spend at the grocery store see that the food offered actually costs much more, despite some dealer's claim that it costs less.

On top of that, there are other difficulties...food allergies, a dislike for the food, nutritional needs (yes, nutritional problems can arise from eating only freeze dried foods), and others.

So...what do the rest of us do? Thankfully, one of these dealers, on his radio show, use to say, "If you don't purchase your food from us, purchase it from somewhere."

The idea of food that will last 30 years or more would be great. However, most of us will probably break open the food as soon as we get home.

 

 

SUGGESTION #1: Learn to bake quick breads. I'm deadly serious. For those of us who are already excellent cooks (thank you, mom), this would seem so logical that it almost becomes non sequitur. However, I know many people today are simply unable to cook...and yes, I am pointing my finger at some of you ladies as well as you young guys.

So what are quick breads? Pancakes. Waffles. Corn bread. Flavored breads (i.e. banana bread, zucchini bread, pumpkin bread). Flat breads (such as tortillas or Indian Fry bread). Muffins. Cakes. Cookies. Biscuits.

Frightened by the prospect of cooking from scratch? The baking isle is, thankfully for you, stuffed with all kinds of mixes that require only the addition of one to three wet ingredients, such as milk or eggs. You simply read all of the directions first, then follow those directions. Nine times out of ten, it will turn out pefect. Once you have gained confidence in making pancakes, muffins, and cup cakes from mixes, you can make the foray into cooking from scratch.

 

 

SUGGESTION #2: Buy a good cook book. My two favorites are The New Cookbook from Better Homes and Gardens and Cookin' From Home Storage by Peggy Layton.

 

When I first set about putting together my own kitchen, my mother always stressed having "the basics" on hand. At first I didn't get it...as a young couple, the hubby and I tended to make simple boxed dinners, like Mac and Cheese, rice mixes, and the ever popular Ramen Noodles. Years later, add in several children and discovering food allergies, I now know exactly what mom was talking about.

Oils: Oils are those things which provide the basic fats that recipes, and your body, often need. You will need probably two liquid fats...a common corn oil for deep frying, and an olive oil for everything else. Out of all of the oils out on the market, olive oil is the least likely to be from a Genetically Modified Crop. However, when it comes to a high-heat application, such as frying, it is horrible! It smokes and scorches. This is where corn oil comes in.

The second you want is a solid fat, such as lard or vegetable shortening. Lard is, of course, rendered pig fat. It is what our grandmothers and great-grandmothers used in cooking. Unfortunately, you won't find in every grocery store. I myself have only seen it in a store that caters to the immigrant families. For those who cannot use pork products due to dietary restrictions, vegetable shortening is the substitute, and is found most often in United States grocers. It is most commonly sold under the brand name of "Crisco", but there are generics that work just as well. There are butter flavored forms of vegetable shortening; a few of my survivalist-guru ladies have stated often that when a recipe calls for butter (or shortening and butter), they use the butter-flavored shortening, saving the more-expensive butter for spreading on bread.

The third is, of course, butter and margarine. As mentioned above, you might want to save these exclusively for spreading on your bread, your pancakes, or drizzling over popcorn. I prefer real, natural butter to margarine...while more expensive, it tastes better, stores better (it may be canned), and, frankly, margarine doesn't work nearly as well for popcorn as real butter does.

 

Leavening: Leavening is that wonderful stuff that causes your baked goods to be good and fluffy. You can't make corn bread, pancakes, or yeast breads without it!

The most basic leavening for baked goods is a product called "baking powder". However, I caution that you DO NOT PURCHASE THIS. Baking powder is one part baking soda (we know this under the "Arm and Hammer" name) and two parts cream of tartar. These two products react together to make a gas which creates the lift. Unfortunately, they can react together, however slowly, when dry. And by the time you purchase it from the grocer store, it is mostly dead. Thankfully, the two ingredients alone will store indefinitely. You make up several tablespoons full of baking powder at home, put it in a small container, and it will do fine on your shelf for several weeks or months... and will still be better than the crud you purchase from the grocery store.

Now, baking soda can be purchased in large quantities directly from your grocery store. This is because it is used not only for baking, but for cleaning and deodorizing as well. Unfortunately, they tend to sell cream of tartar only in tiny little spice bottles (and often in the same display as the spices). Purchased that way, cream of tartar quickly becomes an unnecessary expense...you are paying primarily for that little bottle. Thankfully, one can find it in bulk. Check out the big-box stores, baking-specialty stores, or the internet. I purchased mine through Amazon.com, and I'm very happy with both the cost and the product.

The more difficult of the leavenings is yeast. For you nubes out there, I wouldn't suggest purchasing yeast until you are ready to start learning to bake yeast breads. Trust me...yeast breads are lot more complicated (and more of a headache) than quick breads. Yeast is a living organism in a dried state. When added to warm water, it begins to reproduce, thus producing the gas that causes the rise in breads. As it is a living organism, it will eventually die if you purchase it and just put it on the shelf for some time. This is one of those items that you sincerely want to keep an eye on the expiration date.

Yeast can be extended, or even grown, in a "sourdough starter"...a starter is simply sugar, flour, water, and the yeast itself...the rest of the ingredients provide a place perfect for the yeast to live and grow.

 

salt: salt is SO necessary to our lives (unless, of course, your doctor told you not use it..). It is a spice. It helps our bodies absorb the water we drink. And best yet, it preserves our food.

Table salt, iodized: Iodine is an essential ingredient for our thyroid. We can gain iodine from foods grown in iodine-rich soil...unfortunately, many of our soils are depleted. Thus the industry created iodized salt, and iodine deficiencies almost disappeared from those countries that used it. Unfortunately, the industries discovered MSG, which is cheaper than salt and addictive...and thus we are facing iodine deficiencies once again. You want to keep iodized salt for seasoning your food.

However, there is one unfortunate side-effect...iodized salt is not good for preserving food. Along with iodized salt, you want to keep some pickling and canning salt and some kosher salt on hand. Kosher salt is great for baked confections, such as pretzels.

 

 

Sugar: If you are avoiding Genetically Modified Foods (GMO's), then make sure that you purchase sugar made from sugar cane.

You could probably get away with simply purchasing plain, white sugar. You should be able to make the other types of sugar out there from plain white sugar alone. Other types of sugar are as follows:

Powdered sugar: Take 1 cup of plain white sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon of corn starch , put in your blender. Blend until powdery.

Corn Syrup: Something which is very suspect (due to GMO corn and the possibility of mercury tainting), but avoidable...add 1 cup of sugar to 1/2 cup of water and stir over low heat until its of a syrupy consistency.

Brown Sugar: An absolute necessity in some cookies! The worst problem is that it often dries out when we attempt to store it, and it becomes a dried brick that is practically useless. Simply add maple syrup or molasses to plain white sugar. The more that you add, the darker the sugar will be. (Thank you, Miss Cordi).

Sugar Tip: Sugar needs to be kept dry. I keep my extra sugar in an air-tight cooler with a moisture absorber. However, humidity can still cause it to clump together. Small clumps are easily broken up by shaking the container. However, if your sugar has become a brick...break the brick apart the easiest and safest way possible (ice pick, hammer, butter knife)...some will automatically regranulate. Small chunks that do not regranulate easily can be put through a food mill. Hard, crystallized chunks (when it has actually gotten wet) are better thrown away, or kept for turning into fake corn syrup.

 

 

Other sugars: We're creatures of habit, and we love our sugary goods. Long before sugar was discovered, mankind had other options (yes, we had sweets long before sugar). Native Americans in the NW had discovered Maple Syrup, and even use to make a candy/sherbet out of it by dropping the Maple syrup into snow...both of these were taught to our European ancestors. The rest of the world got its sugar from honey. Be cautious when purchasing honey...make certain that it actually IS honey. A rather sneaky company out there is selling a honey-flavored substance made from corn syrup.

Pancake syrup use to be exclusively maple syrup. Unfortunately, the trees can only make so much, so the industry sells to us maple-flavored corn syrup as pancake syrup. Real maple syrup is much more expensive. You can take your fake corn syrup and add maple flavoring (found in the same place on the baking isle as other flavorings and spices) until you get that maple flavor. If you are a purist, stock up on maple syrup.

We have some molasses on hand...I just don't care for the taste nearly as much as maple syrup. Now that I have done the research for this article, I think I know why...my taste buds simply just didn't like the byproduct of sugar production (from either cane or beet sugar).

 

 

Flavoring: Variety is the spice of life...and spice is the variety of food. You can eat crap from here to judgment day if you just use the right spices. I wouldn't go nuts in the spice isle, though...I would look first at foods you like (this is where a good cook-book can come in) and then purchase those spices that you will more than likely use.

Some of the spices I find useless are those that end in "salt". Garlic salt, onion salt, etc. This is simply garlic powder, onion powder, et al mixed with salt.

Vanilla is the most common of the liquid seasonings used. If you are a purist, purchase real vanilla...it is more expensive, but you usually don't use that much.

Often overlooked are the bullion flavorings (usually found near the soup section of the grocery store). Chicken and Beef flavor are the most common, but larger grocery stores will also carry pork, vegetable, possibly even a seafood flavored one (although you may need to go to an Asian Market for this one). If you want to avoid MSG, you might look at your local health food store, organic market, or purchase a product called "Better than Bullion".

 

Flour: Flour is also considered a basic. However, for brevities sake, we will discuss flour along with other grains in the next article.