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Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Food Storage Tuesday

Every Tuesday, we post specific items you should gather in order to supplement your 72-hour kit, your 3-month supply, and your longer-term storage. If you are new to our blog, don't worry! You won't be left behind. Just start up where we are and follow along. You will eventually have everything completed! Once the 72-hour kit is complete, we'll be putting together emergency car kits again (week by week). Once those are done, we'll gather the 72-hour kits again. So don't worry, just jump on in and join us where we are today!


This week for your 72-hour kits, add a change of clothes (or two) for each person.  Now, you may decide that you want each person's kit to hold only their own things (each person carries their own clothes, food, toiletries, etc), or you may decided to divvy it up a bit differently (one person carries all the food, one person the water, etc).  For some ideas on how Abbie did hers, check out her article about 72-hour kit distribution: who carries what?

How is your three-month supply coming along?  Don't forget to store 2 weeks of water!  Water is more important than food.  To learn more about water storage, click on the link.  We've written a lot of articles about different aspects of water storage.

We are gathering beans this month for our longer-term storage.  I LOVE beans!  And I'm always looking for new ways to use them.

What are your favorite kinds of beans (and recipes), and how do you cook them?

8 comments:

Samantha R said...

We love black beans! I like to cook a pound or two at a time and then freeze what I don't need in sandwich sized ziploc bags (2 cups cooked beans per bag). Then, next time I need beans, I just take them out of the freezer! We love to use them in tacos, on salads and in a noodle dish that our family loves (macaroni, tomato soup, diced tomatoes, beans, ground beef, and spices).

heather said...

I like to use pinto beans, I soak them overnight and them rinse. Put them in the crock pot with some ham hocks (and some chopped up ham if I have it) on low for 6-8 hours. Eat it with corn bread and put maple syrup (or pancake syrup) on top! This is what our family will live on because it is most of our food storage minus the ham!

2Sammi said...

We love most beans, baby limas and blackeyed peas are my current favorites. I pressue can them in qt btls. Cook up a little bacon/ham and onion add the cooked beans....yum

Renee

Michelle said...

Black beans, definitely. They were always what I requested for my birthday dinner from my mom.

I don't really have a recipe for them. I just throw them in the pot and add some garlic and onion and a little sugar and let them go. Towards the end, I add some salt to taste. Ladle them over rice and fry up some plantain on the side!

Heidi said...

My favorite beans are chickpeas, in hummus or falafel.
My favorite and most unorthodox use for beans is as a fat replacer in baked goods. I replace 1/2 of the fat called for in cookie and quick bread recipes with pureed white beans. The beans are cheaper than the fat and have added protein and fiber. Win win. Everything turns out really moist. The cookies get softer and softer rather than harder, which is what usually happens here.
I cook up a huge pot of white beans, puree them and freeze them in ice cube trays for easy measuring.

Stephanie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Stephanie said...

I like to use pinto beans or red beans and cook them up Brazilian style.

For dried beans, I soak them over night, then throw them (along with the soaking liquid) into the pressure cooker with some garlic, onion, bacon, and olive oil. (It's food storage friendly because you can just use bottled minced garlic and reconstituted dried onions.) Once the juice has thickened up a bit, I serve it over rice.

If I'm using the canned beans, I cook some bacon, brown the onions in the remaining bacon grease, add some garlic, then put in the whole can of beans, bacon, and dried parsley. Simmer until the liquid is thickened. Serve over rice with some chicken patties or nuggets. Sometimes I make Brazilian salad to go with (straight onion and tomato). Can you tell my husband served his mission in Brazil? :)

Also, while going through the list of things you have for your 72-hour kits, I noticed the lack of a water filter or purifier. I think that would be something that is very very important to include. It can be small and lightweight. My husband and I have a teeny-tiny bottle of purification tablets that will purify up to 25 qts of water. We just picked them up at Wal-Mart for $5. Silver solution is also a great way to go. Maybe then you could cut out some of the water that you take with you? Maybe then you would have some more room for other important things, or even just get rid of some of the weight.

Hannah said...

Stephanie-
That is a great point - thanks for letting us know. I'll add water purification tablets to our 72-hour kit lists! I can't believe I didn't think of that before! Good call.