Gift Giving Roundup

Still looking for ideas of gifts to give neighbors and coworkers?  How about something from your food storage?  Here's a roundup of food storage friendly gift ideas from over the past few years.

Wheat and recipe

Peanut Brittle

Wheat Grass

Granola (bottom of page)

Hot Cocoa Mix

Fudge

Chocolate Cereal Mix

Coal aka charcoal briquettes

Also, never underestimate the power of bread as a holiday gift.  A warm loaf of bread paired with some homemade jam that you made in the summer time can make a thoughtful and delicious gift for your neighbors.  Do a quick search for bread on our site and you'll come up with dozens of recipes for bread, in the mixer, by hand, in the bread machine and so on.

Do you have any gifts from food storage that you share with your neighbors and friends during the holidays?

Holiday Gift Giving from Food Storage

 

It's time for  neighbor and friend gift giving, and what is better than giving what you already have (and rotating your food storage to boot)?  Here's a quick idea you can use with your wheat.

 

 I picked up this glass/jar from Goodwill for 99 cents, but you could easily use jam jars or whatever you had on hand. I simply filled it with wheat (about 1 cup and a half), printed the recipe on some festive paper and tied it around the jar using some fabric scraps.

The recipe I used is the blender whole wheat pancake recipe, and I like it because you don't need a wheat grinder in order to make the pancakes, all you need is a working  blender. It's a great introduction to whole wheat.  But you could use any wheat based recipe that you love and would like to share the recipe with your friends.

Check out our past holiday gift giving ideas (from food storage) for more ideas.

Food Storage Holiday Gift: Peanut Brittle

Here's another idea for a gift you can make for your neighbors and friends using food storage items.


Ingredients: oil, vanilla, dry roasted peanuts, corn syrup, baking soda and sugar


Start by spraying your baking sheet with cooking spray. And please tell me that everyone's pans look like this?


Mix the peanuts, sugar and corn syrup in a microwave safe bowl.


Stir to combine. It won't mix completely and that's okay. Pop it in the microwave for 6-7 minutes. I did 6 minutes.


Be SUPER careful when you pull it out of the microwave. The bowl will be very hot.


Stir it up and add the oil.


And the vanilla. Pop it back in the microwave for another two minutes.


When you pull it out this time, add the baking powder.


It will foam and bubble as you mix it up.


Pour it quickly onto the tray and let it cool.


When it's all cool


Break it into buttery pieces with your fingers.


Delicious peanut brittle all from food storage!


It would be cute wrapped in a cellophane bag or in these cute holiday Tupperware you can find in the stores right now.

More holiday gift ideas from food storage here.


Microwave Oven Peanut Brittle
adapted from the Allrecipes.com recipe here

1.5 cups dry roasted peanuts
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 pinch of salt
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda

Grease a baking sheet and set aside. In a glass bowl, combine the peanuts, sugar, corn syrup and salt. Cook in microwave for 6-7 minutes on high (700w); mixture should be bubbly and peanuts browned. Stir in oil and vanilla; cook 2-3 minutes longer.

Quickly stir in baking soda, just until mixture is foamy. Pour immediately onto greased baking sheet. Let cool 15 minutes or until set. Break into pieces and store in an airtight container.

Gifts from Food Storage

It's December!  Many of you may already be finished with your Christmas presents, but for the rest of us slackers, here's a list of some of our holiday gift ideas that we've posted in the past.  All of these gifts can be made from food storage items, and are perfect gifts for neighbors, friends, teachers, or even your favorite food storage bloggers.... let us know if you need our mailing addresses....  Also, stay tuned tomorrow for a new gift post!


 Wheat grass

 Granola

 Hot cocoa mix

 Fudge

 Chocolate cereal snack mix

Give them coal in their stockings! (No picture... but check out the article here!)

Still need more gift-giving ideas?  Check out our Food Storage/Emergency Preparedness gift guide that we put together for this Christmas season.

Also, never hesitate to give actual food storage to people for Christmas, especially if you know they are working on that sort of thing.  My mom once gave a newly married couple a bunch of food storage.  I'll admit, it's definitely not the most exciting gift that you could give, but think about what you are really giving them - peace of mind.  Doesn't get much better than that.

Holiday Food Storage Gift Ideas *2009*

It's that time of year when we start to think about family and friends and showing them that we appreciate them. What better way to rotate your food storage than with Christmas gifts?

One of the gifts I'm giving this year are little pots of wheatgrass (tutorial here). Wheatgrass is grown from regular wheat kernels (i.e. cheap!). This picture is taken exactly one week after I put the wheat in water.

Look at the root system that's developed after only a week!

This is two weeks from starting. You can pick up darling holiday mugs at a dollar store--or tie a festive ribbon around a terra cotta pot. Quick and easy!


Here's another idea: make up big batches of granola and package them up in bags with festive ribbons. There are two food storage friendly granola recipes we love here and here.

Here are some holiday gift ideas from last year:

Hot Cocoa Mix

Fudge

Chocolate Cereal Snack Mix

"Coal" aka Charcoal briquettes

Holiday Gift Series: Hot Cocoa Mix

This year I have pared down my Christmas baking but wanted to make something I could prepare without eating it all myself first. I also had a large opened box of powdered milk that I needed to use quickly, so I decided to whip out my mother's fabulous hot cocoa mix recipe. What better way to use that powdered milk you have stored up and give a Christmas gift at the same time?!!


Ingredients: instant nonfat dry milk, non-dairy coffee creamer, powdered sugar, instant chocolate drink mix (Quik or other brand).

For those who have never purchased it before--like me--coffee creamer comes in many different varieties. I'd be interested in hearing how the mint flavor would turn out in the hot cocoa mix . . . Mmm.




Take one 25.6 oz box of powdered milk (which, after considerable mental effort, I determined translates into approximately 10 2/3 cups) and pour into a large bowl. Add 1 3/4 cups coffee creamer, 2 cups powdered sugar, and 2 1/2 c. chocolate drink mix. Combine well.




Add 1/3 cup of mix to 8 oz. hot water. The result is rich, milky, and scrumptious hot cocoa.




If you can part with the mix and give it away, be sure to include preparation instructions. Merry Christmas!




Hot Cocoa Mix

1 (25.6 oz) box instant nonfat dry milk
1 3/4 c. non-dairy coffee creamer
2 c. powdered sugar
2 1/2 c. instant chocolate drink mix

Combine all ingredients. Store in airtight container. 1/3 c. mix to 1 c. hot water per serving.


Brittany is a stay-at-home mom and wife to her best friend. She is an avid reader and lover of music. She enjoys cooking tasty and uncomplicated dishes (often with food storage items!) and is pleased to announce she has finally stored a two-week supply of water. The fact that she has yet to have a positive experience cooking dry beans, well, that's why she reads this blog.

Holiday Gift Series: Fudge

My mother-in-law has a secret fudge recipe that is simply amazing. I’m drooling over the keyboard just thinking about it. It contains about a pound of butter and could quite possibly kill you if consumed in mass quantities.


This is not that fudge. But, for food storage, it's pretty darn good.



Ingredients: Sweetened condensed milk, semi-sweet chocolate chips, vanilla and unsweetened baking chocolate.




Find a pan to hold your fudge and grease the bottom and sides with shortening. I would have used my 8x8 pan if it hadn’t broken last week. I’m a clutz so Pyrex doesn’t last long around here.




No matter what your feelings for shortening, you ought to keep a tub just for greasing purposes. It is certainly less expensive than cooking spray.

When my college roommate, Squirtney (she’ll be thrilled with the nickname), would make fudge and she would line her pan with foil. When the fudge had set up, she just dumped it upside down and peeled off the foil. That works too.




When your pan is greased, or lined, add your sweetened condensed milk to a saucepan over low heat.



Add your chocolate chips.





Add your baking chocolate. The baking chocolate is optional. It makes for more chocolatey fudge—obviously. (You know, those who state the obvious are seldom wrong.) Anyway, if you crave darker chocolate fudge, go ahead and add a square of baking chocolate.




Stir it constantly over low-medium heat so the chocolate can melt.



When you make this, go ahead and chop up your baking chocolate a little before you dump it in. Then, you won’t be waiting for the one square of chocolate to melt, like me.



When it is melted and all smooth, take it off the heat.



Quickly add the vanilla and nuts, if you want, and stir until well combined.




Pour into your prepared dish and refrigerate for a couple of hours until it’s set.






When the fudge has chilled and you’ve sampled it, of course, cut it up.





I like to cut it into large squares and wrap them in saran wrap. I used to cut fudge into small pieces, but I could never get them uniform and it bothered me. I too, have OCD tendencies. Especially when it comes to fudge.



Try using this tutorial to make a paper box out of cardstock and deliver to your neighbors and friends with the fudge inside.




Save some for you!




Fudge
(From Betty Crocker)

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 bag semisweet chocolate chips (2 cups)
1 oz (1 square) unsweetened baking chocolate
1 tsp vanilla
1-1/2 cup chopped nuts, optional

Grease bottom and sides of 8x8 pan (or smaller) with shortening or line with aluminum foil. Heat milk and chocolate in saucepan over low-medium heat, stirring constantly until chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and nuts if using. Refrigerate about 1.5-2 hours until firm.