Baby Food
If you have a baby at home, the best way to store long term food for him or her is to make your own baby food for pennies on the dollar. Dried fruits and vegetables make this super easy. Use 1 part dried product and 2 parts warm water. Let sit for at 20-30 minutes. Drain off any excess liquid, puree.
Pumpkin Leather
2 cups fresh-cooked pumpkin purée or canned
½ cup honey or brown sugar
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1⁄8 teaspoon nutmeg
1⁄8 teaspoon powdered cloves
Blend all ingredients well. Spread on a lightly oiled tray.
Dehydrate at 140° until pliable but not tacky or brittle.
Peel from tray in strips, if possible. This can also be dried in the oven.
Store in airtight containers.
*TIP: You can also use a can of “pumpkin pie mix” It already has the seasoning & sugar. Just dump and spread out.
Dutch Apple Pie
1 pie crust, uncooked
FILLING:
In saucepan, place:
2 Cups dried apples, firmly packed
2 Cups boiling water
Pour over apples and let stand for at least 5 minutes.
Mix together:
1/3 Cup sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
½ tsp. cinnamon
Add to the apple mix and continue cooking until thick. Stir constantly to prevent scorching. Pour mixture into pie shell and dot with 1 Tbsp. butter.
TOPPING:
1/3 Cup firmly packed brown sugar
½ Cup flour
1/4 Cup butter or margarine
Cut into each other until crumbly. Sprinkle over the apple mixture, and place in 350' F. oven for 55 minutes.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Preserve Every Needful Thing
Reality Check!
How are you doing with getting an extra two weeks’ worth of food? How about 3 months? 6 months? A year?!?! Now is the time to take advantage of neighbors’ offers of free produce and store it away for the winter or use it now and save the money that you would have spent on produce to get a few bags of wheat this month. Challenge yourself to get at least some extra put aside this month so you can have some progress to report next month. Have you tried any new recipes that contain at least some of your food storage? Remember the goal is to store everyday food that we can eat and learn how to use it, a little bit everyday! Conference Weekend is upon us, be sure to check the food (and clothing) in your 72 hour kit to make sure everything is up to date.
Preserve Every Needful Thing
This month’s great food storage adventure is all about learning how to preserve our food. The first half of the month we are talking about drying foods to store away and to save time and money. How does it save time? You can cut up a whole batch of bell peppers or celery, and dry all at once, then use in soups, casseroles, and sauces. So you save time at first doing a bunch at once, then you also save time by not having to wash and cut veggies up for dinner. How does it save money? How many of us have bought a big bag of peppers at Costco, only to throw 2-3 of them out in a few weeks because they went bad? No more! When you buy they discount bulk packages, cut up what you know you will use. Freeze some for fajitas or whatever and throw the rest on a cookie sheet and dry them!
Drying also saves money because you can buy stuff when it is on sale, or better yet, grow your own. Start thinking about Christmas gifts now and how a jar of soup mix with dehydrated veggies or homemade turkey jerky would be appreciated.
Different Kinds of Dehydrators
The most widely recognized type of dehydrator is probably the inexpensive round electric type found at most major stores, including Wal-Mart. They cost about $30-40 and are virtually fool-proof. Certain models can be noisy but work great if you have clean spot to plug them in, in the garage or basement.
A second option is the big box electric version. While they cost about 4-6 times as much, they have great features and can dry a lot more at a time.
For the beginner, drying on a cookie sheet in the oven is a great option. This is done by setting the oven at the lowest setting 140-145* and following the dehydration recipe for time. The oven door needs to propped open a few inches for the air to circulate. This is not a great option in summer.
NO Dehydrator? No Problem! During the hot summer months when the sun is shining, sun drying is an option for certain foods. The high sugar and acid content of fruits make them safe to dry out-of-doors when conditions are favorable for drying. Vegetables (with the exception of vine dried beans) and meats are not recommended for out-of-doors drying. Vegetables are low in sugar and acid. This increases the risks for food spoilage. Meats are high in protein, making them ideal for microbial growth when heat and humidity cannot be controlled. It is best to dry meats and vegetables indoors using controlled conditions of an oven or food dehydrator. To dry fruits out-of-doors hot, dry, breezy days are best. A minimum temperature of 85ºF is needed with higher temperatures being better. It takes several days to dry foods out-of-doors. Because the weather is uncontrollable, drying fruits out-of-doors can be risky. If it rains in California while the grapes are drying, the entire supply of raisins can be destroyed. Fruits dried out-of-doors must be covered or brought under shelter at night. The cool night air condenses and could add moisture back to the food, thus slowing down the drying process. Racks or screens placed on blocks allow for better air movement around the food. Because the ground may be moist, it is best to place the racks or screens on a concrete driveway or if possible over a sheet of aluminum or tin. The reflection of the sun on the metal increases the drying temperature. Because birds and insects are attracted to dried fruits, two screens are best for drying food. One screen acts as a shelf and the other as a protective cover. Cheesecloth could also be used to cover the food.
Resources
Ball Blue Book
www.dehydrate2store.com
USDA: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/
Utah State Extension Service: http://extension.usu.edu/
How are you doing with getting an extra two weeks’ worth of food? How about 3 months? 6 months? A year?!?! Now is the time to take advantage of neighbors’ offers of free produce and store it away for the winter or use it now and save the money that you would have spent on produce to get a few bags of wheat this month. Challenge yourself to get at least some extra put aside this month so you can have some progress to report next month. Have you tried any new recipes that contain at least some of your food storage? Remember the goal is to store everyday food that we can eat and learn how to use it, a little bit everyday! Conference Weekend is upon us, be sure to check the food (and clothing) in your 72 hour kit to make sure everything is up to date.
Preserve Every Needful Thing
This month’s great food storage adventure is all about learning how to preserve our food. The first half of the month we are talking about drying foods to store away and to save time and money. How does it save time? You can cut up a whole batch of bell peppers or celery, and dry all at once, then use in soups, casseroles, and sauces. So you save time at first doing a bunch at once, then you also save time by not having to wash and cut veggies up for dinner. How does it save money? How many of us have bought a big bag of peppers at Costco, only to throw 2-3 of them out in a few weeks because they went bad? No more! When you buy they discount bulk packages, cut up what you know you will use. Freeze some for fajitas or whatever and throw the rest on a cookie sheet and dry them!
Drying also saves money because you can buy stuff when it is on sale, or better yet, grow your own. Start thinking about Christmas gifts now and how a jar of soup mix with dehydrated veggies or homemade turkey jerky would be appreciated.
Different Kinds of Dehydrators
The most widely recognized type of dehydrator is probably the inexpensive round electric type found at most major stores, including Wal-Mart. They cost about $30-40 and are virtually fool-proof. Certain models can be noisy but work great if you have clean spot to plug them in, in the garage or basement.
A second option is the big box electric version. While they cost about 4-6 times as much, they have great features and can dry a lot more at a time.
For the beginner, drying on a cookie sheet in the oven is a great option. This is done by setting the oven at the lowest setting 140-145* and following the dehydration recipe for time. The oven door needs to propped open a few inches for the air to circulate. This is not a great option in summer.
NO Dehydrator? No Problem! During the hot summer months when the sun is shining, sun drying is an option for certain foods. The high sugar and acid content of fruits make them safe to dry out-of-doors when conditions are favorable for drying. Vegetables (with the exception of vine dried beans) and meats are not recommended for out-of-doors drying. Vegetables are low in sugar and acid. This increases the risks for food spoilage. Meats are high in protein, making them ideal for microbial growth when heat and humidity cannot be controlled. It is best to dry meats and vegetables indoors using controlled conditions of an oven or food dehydrator. To dry fruits out-of-doors hot, dry, breezy days are best. A minimum temperature of 85ºF is needed with higher temperatures being better. It takes several days to dry foods out-of-doors. Because the weather is uncontrollable, drying fruits out-of-doors can be risky. If it rains in California while the grapes are drying, the entire supply of raisins can be destroyed. Fruits dried out-of-doors must be covered or brought under shelter at night. The cool night air condenses and could add moisture back to the food, thus slowing down the drying process. Racks or screens placed on blocks allow for better air movement around the food. Because the ground may be moist, it is best to place the racks or screens on a concrete driveway or if possible over a sheet of aluminum or tin. The reflection of the sun on the metal increases the drying temperature. Because birds and insects are attracted to dried fruits, two screens are best for drying food. One screen acts as a shelf and the other as a protective cover. Cheesecloth could also be used to cover the food.
Resources
Ball Blue Book
www.dehydrate2store.com
USDA: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/
Utah State Extension Service: http://extension.usu.edu/
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