One thing that Abbie and I really push for here on the blog is that when it comes to food storage, pantry-stable foods are ideal. This is evident in our food storage recipes: none of the recipes we share weekly contain any refrigerator or freezer ingredients. Obviously, this poses a bit of a challenge when it comes to finding good tasting, healthy meals, but I think we've been pretty successful and we've heard positive things from many of you who have tried out our recipes (thanks, by the way!).
The benefits for a pantry-only food storage are obvious. We've probably all heard many stories of people in emergency situations (hurricane, tornado, etc.) losing power in their homes for an extended period of time, thus losing everything in their freezers. It would be a mistake to base your entire food storage plan (or even half of your plan) around ingredients and meals from your freezer.
That being said, however, don't ignore the freezer! Freezers are wonderful (and I'm hoping to acquire one sometime soon!). Freezers make it possible for us to eat "fresh" and healthier foods throughout the winter, something that canned goods (from the store) do not. They can also store ready-made meals that just need to be thrown into the oven, which makes meal preparation a snap (and wouldn't that be wonderful in an emergency?). Freezers are great assets to food storage, but we just have to be careful that they don't store the primary sources of the meals in our food storage plan.
So, I have a question for you: how do you incorporate your freezer foods into your food storage plan (if you do)? And, what do you have planned in case your power goes out? (generators, etc.)
7 comments:
The freezer is great because you can buy in bulk to save money and then repackage before you freeze in the amount just right for your family (one chicken breast feeds my whole family!)
It is also great for storing some produce from your garden for the winter - especially if you don't like canned vegetables.
I also regularily double recipes when making them for dinner and then put half in the freezer. I square aluminum pan will slide right into a gallon ziploc bag and they stack great in the freezer. You can then cook in that pan, or pop it out and use a square glass pan, which I often do because the pan seems easier to clean up. This is great for those days when I don't have energy to cook, but has the added benefit that I actually know what is inside!
We have a chest freezer that we use. We live in a small town that has no grocery store, so when we shop we stock up.
As needed we move things from the chest freezer to the small freezer above the fridge. We have alot of short-duration power outages, but the chest freezer keeps food cold for a day or two if we don't need to open it very often.
We had one outage that lasted 3 days. Even though the food was still fridge temperature and not spoiled, we couldn't refreeze it, so we composted it.
I love having meals in the freezer for days we are under the weather, Sunday when my husband has specifically requested I keep it easy for myself and a break for me too, days that are crazy, or to give to a family who needs a little help, it is great!
And I agree with the previous two comments too - we do that as well....well, fortunately never the composting thing.
I love our deep freezer. Whenever I make chili or soups I always double the batch and freeze half. Then I have easy meals on hand. Also, we raise our own pigs so all of our meat goes in the freezer after we butcher. And don't forget the great space for icecream. ha, ha When it goes on sale, I stock up. We do have a generator as a back up, but if we were facing days without power, I know people in our area would trade things for the meat we store which could be a great option.
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Its a nice post... with regards to kitchens and fridge stuffs, I agree with you... Love to cook and eat, and spend great time with my family... thanks for sharing your thoughts! I also like to stack free dried food inside my kitchen so, some refrigerator upgrade are needed to avoid some problems and emergency situations in the future!
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