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Comfort Foods

So what little occasional treats will make a world of difference to your spouse, your children, and you? This small investment of time, money, and space will yield tremendous dividends.

Beverages

Coffee- I don’t drink it and never have, but I recognize the importance many people attach to it. It’s my understanding that coffee beans store better than ground coffee and both are best preserved by vacuum sealing.

Hot chocolate- the LDS Home Storage Center carries a very good hot chocolate packaged for long-term storage in mylar bags. (It has a two year shelf life.)

Other beverages- Nesquik will be a godsend to children (and some adults). Herbal teas, especially peppermint for calming upset stomachs and raspberry for women’s issues, should be included in every pantry. Kool-Aid should be stored for making flavored electrolyte solutions, especially for inducing dehydrated children to drink.

Candy

I remember watching Little House on the Prairie as a child, and what a treat it was for the children to get a bit of peppermint candy in their stockings at Christmas or to be able to get a piece of candy at the store. We started storing candy pretty early on, and over the years we’ve learned a few do’s and don’ts.

When I began vacuum-sealing candy in jars, I thought it would be nice to have a wide variety of candy in each jar to satisfy everyone in the family. So the first jars had Skittles and Starbursts mixed with Snickers and Milky Ways. We learned, much to our dismay, that chocolates will take on the fruit flavors. So be racists; chocolates must be in their own jars, while fruity, gummy candies must be in another.

How long will candy keep? Well, that depends on the candy, of course. We actually just opened a jar of Christmas candy bought after Christmas 2011 at a deep discount. We also took the additional measure of adding an oxygen absorber to the jar. It may have been overkill, but this was chocolate. Anyway, the jar contained peanut M&Ms, Twix, and the Hershey miniatures mix (milk chocolate, Special Dark, Mr. Goodbar, and Krackle). The caramel in the Twix was too hard to chew after four years, but the kids sucked on it, so it wasn’t a waste. Everything else was perfectly delicious…for about an hour. Then it was gone.

We store hard butterscotch candies for dry throats and peppermints for upset stomachs. Red Vines, which some of us really love, do not store well. They get pretty hard in a vacuum-sealed jar.

Marshmallows do not vacuum seal well at all, even for a very short time.

Gum (we only have sugar free) is still perfectly soft and chewy even several years after being vacuum sealed.

Chocolate chipsget vacuum sealed in quart jars and placed in our basement crawl space. They have a shelf life of at least five years, when stored in cool conditions. Chocolate will develop what’s called a “bloom” if frozen. It is a grayish white discoloration on the surface of the chocolate and has virtually no effect on the taste of the chocolate. The shelf life of butterscotch and peanut butter chips is much shorter.

Breakfast Cereals

The shelf life of vacuum-sealed breakfast cereals varies widely, depending on the ingredients in the individual cereals. Most sugar cereals have a shelf life of two to three years. Golden Puffs have a very short shelf life. Frosted Mini Wheats and Rice Krispies last about three years. Froot Loops seem to last forever.

Nuts

Due to the oils, nuts generally have a pretty short shelf life. However, this can be extended by vacuum sealing in glass jars with oxygen absorbers. (Don’t store nuts in the cardboard packaging. They are not only vulnerable to vermin, but they have a much shorter shelf life if left in the original packaging.) Peanut butter usually has a shelf life of less than two years, but it lasts much longer when stored in (or purchased in) glass jars.

Crackers

Pretzels have a two- to three-year shelf life. Sadly, most crackers even when vacuum-sealed have a shelf life of less than nine months.

Desserts

Jell-O gelatin stores indefinitely. It’s a good idea to have at least a few boxes on hand for those recovering from intestinal illnesses. Instant and cooked pudding mixes have a shorter shelf life. It might be nice to have a few on hand for your favorite recipes, but pudding can easily be made from butter, milk, and flour. We store a few cake mixes for our family’s favorite recipes, including dump cake. They have a 1-2 year shelf life. Cool Whip comes from the freezer section of the grocery store, but a powdered option is available. The powdered option is Dream Whip, and it has a shelf life of two years.

Boxed Macaroni and Cheese

I did not grow up with this stuff, and I so wish my husband hadn’t made it a staple in the lives of our children. However, it is what it is, and unfortunately it is a serious comfort food for them, like it is for many in this country. So, consider having a nice supply of boxed macaroni and cheese for your family.

Cookies

I have tried a few times to duplicate making Oreos at home, very unsuccessfully. So we decided to see how long they would last being vacuum sealed in a mason jar. They have always been good for at least two years, but they have never been good at three years. It is always the creamy filling that has gone bad.

Before concluding, I want to share an experience our family had. In the spring of 2009, I informed my sixteen-year-old son and chief (rototiller) operating officer of the need to expand our garden from its then-current size to nearly ¼ acre. He wasn’t exactly pleased about that prospect, but he recognized what was going on and the need to prepare and learn. His protests were really pretty mild; however, he insisted that if he was doing all this work, we were planting a whole lot more corn and watermelon. Done! It was a great year for gardens, and we had boatloads of corn and watermelon (along with everything else). We had been having corn and watermelon with every single dinner for about three weeks, when Luke voiced a bit of an objection.

I was really surprised. So I asked, “Luke, don’t you remember insisting on planting more corn and watermelon?” Luke got that deer in the headlights look on his face. “What would you have done in my situation? If your hard-working children had insisted on more corn and watermelon—their favorites—would you have planted it?

“Yeah.”

“Would you have been really surprised when they got tired of eating it?”

“Yeah.”

It was a great lesson for everyone in the family. No matter what our favorites are, we absolutely have to have variety. Flavor fatigue is real, and that was at a time with lots of other fresh produce and everything we could possibly want from the store, without any other outside stresses.

Remember as you plan meals, you may be in a grid down situation. Don’t be planning on electric grain grinders, food processors, et cetera, unless you have the backup sources of power. Women need to prepare themselves mentally for this situation. Our modern appliances, large and small, have made our lives very easy and given us a great deal of leisure. That will drastically change with TEOTWAWKI. Before the advent of our modern conveniences, women spent the better part of each day preparing food for their families. There was no instant anything. There was no microwave and no refrigeration. Fortunately for us, for the days when we will need an instant meal, there are many options in freeze-dried meals and canned foods.

Storing Food in General

Food grade buckets are available in several sizes from at least two- to six-gallon options. Make sure you can handle the size of the container and the weight and that you can manipulate the lid. Smaller and older women may struggle with a 45-pound, six-gallon bucket of wheat. Those lids can be difficult to remove. Make sure you have a handy bucket wrench or two. (The “two is one, and one is none” principle applies.)

Consider buying foods in smaller containers with the idea that refrigeration will not always be an option and that it will be important to reduce opportunities for cross contamination.

If your food is stored in a moderate to high humidity area, consider dipping each end of your cans of LTS food in paraffin to protect from rust and/or consider removing the cans from their cardboard boxes. Do not store any foods, whether in jars, cans, or buckets, directly on cement. Make sure all foods are at least one inch above the cement.

Vacuum Sealing

The ability to vacuum seal foods when you live in a moderate to high humidity area is critical to being able to store food for your family. That is a given. Deciding whether to store these foods in jars or in bags becomes a trickier question. Jars prevent foods from being crushed, but they are also more vulnerable in earthquakes. On the other hand, bags are more efficient with space and weight, but they are vulnerable to rodents.

Tailor your storage to your family’s needs and wants, but also strive to accustom your family now to the diet they will have to become accustomed to. Perhaps it’s time to cut back on sodas and so much sugar. Start eating beans once a week or twice a month. Gradually begin working whole grains into your diet as well. Instead of microwave popcorn, try popping it on the stove.

Now, here’s a note of caution. There is a popular series of books currently available; each book focuses on one the basic food storage groups. I bought the one that covers dry milk. I can forgive a poorly-written book that actually offers valuable information. This one did not and is actually very misleading. As an example, a recipe is provided for making parmesan cheese substitute. While reconstituted powdered milk mixed with lemon juice and dehydrated makes something that resembles Parmesan cheese, it does not taste anything like Parmesan. You absolutely must be learning how to make the foods your family wants now. You should not trust everything you read. You need to have the recipes that work for you and your family now. You need to adapt them to your circumstances. For example, making bread—good bread—in a warm, humid area is entirely different from making it in a dry, cool, or cold area. Being able to make artisan bread is great, but when your family wants a nice loaf of bread for making PB&J’s, artisan may not work for that.

Also, once you have gotten the basic foods, start getting your equipment and supplies. Garage sales and older ladies at church can be great sources for getting canning jars. Avoid jars and lids made in China. (Walmart’s Better Homes and Gardens jars and lids are, or were when I last checked, made in China. There have been several reports of the BH&G jars having uneven rims. If the rim is uneven, your jar won’t seal.) Over the years I have purchased hundreds of boxes of canning jar lids at garage sales. So far, I think only three or four boxes of those lids have been bad. Two boxes were Bernardin lids; two were Kerr. In all cases, the sealing compound kind of disintegrated after being softened in hot water, so there was no loss of product in canning.

May we all plan and prepare well, and may God guide and bless our efforts.

Disclaimer: I have no financial interest or gain in any of the websites I have mentioned in this article.

Resources

LDS Home Storage Centers

LDS Home Storage Center locations

Wonderful website for learning to use your food storage now.

Great online store for herbs, spices, teas.

How to make yogurt.  

How to render lard.

Notes on the LDS Home Storage Centers: One or two years ago some changes were made at the home storage centers. Before the changes, all items could be purchased in bulk bags. Now only a few items—wheat, rice, beans, onions, and carrots—can be purchased in bulk. Everything else is only available prepackaged. Also, most centers had empty #10 cans for sale and the option of borrowing a machine to fill and seal cans at home. This is no longer an option, unfortunately. Also, you are no longer asked to provide any information when you make purchases there.

Notes on oxygen absorbers: Oxygen absorbers unopened (in their original packaging from the manufacturer) have a shelf life of six months. Any unused absorbers after opening should immediately be put in a glass mason jar—the smallest size in which they will fit—and vacuum sealed. Once the package of oxygen absorbing packets is opened, they will start working within 20 minutes of being exposed to oxygen. If left exposed to air, the oxygen absorbers will be rendered completely useless in as little as five hours. Plan ahead and use all of the absorbers or vacuum seal the remaining packets.

Juice

We store juices for drinking as well as cooking. Most juices come in plastic bottles and function as part of our water storage. Store what your family likes.

We also store juices for baking and canning as well. Bottled lemon juice is called for in many recipes for jam and other home-canned products. Even if you are lucky enough to have fresh lemons, you should always use bottled lemon juice for your canning. This is because the commercially-canned product has a set level of acidity, while the acid levels of fresh lemons can vary widely, and it is critical to have the correct acidity when canning products at home.

Bottled lime juice is called for in desserts, dressings, and many Mexican recipes. We store a few bottles but not many because when TEOTWAWKI hits, refrigerator space in our tiny solar and propane refrigerators will be at a premium. So we also store packets of powdered juices. True Lemon, True Lime, and True Orange are available in many grocery stores and online. They work very well in all the recipes we have tried them in.

Vegetables

Canning Vegetables

We prefer to have all our vegetables as fresh as possible, so we grow all we can in our garden and extend the season as much as possible in both directions. We eat all we can, and what we can’t we can (or freeze or dry).

As with fruits, I’m not going to cover commercially-canned vegetable products. You know what you like. Plan to store at least one can of vegetables for your family per day. Two cans would be better.

Now onto learning something new.

Potatoes- The absolute hands down favorite, with no contest, in this house is canned potatoes. How can this be? I shall explain. Plain ole cut up canned potatoes are not really exciting, and they are kind of a hassle because they have to be peeled first. Also, for making mashed potatoes they don’t have a perfect texture, but if you buy a French fry cutter from Amazon for about $15 (use the blade for large fries) you will get the “Mom (or Dad) of the Year” award. Here’s how:

After receiving your French fry cutter, buy a bag or box of No. 2 size Russet potatoes. These are large potatoes but not the monster size. Scrub the potatoes well, but you do not need to peel them. (When canning, potatoes that are not intended for French fries must be peeled to remove all traces of dirt. Soil is what harbors the botulism spores. However, the French fries are intended to be fried at very high temperatures—350-400 degrees—for several minutes, plenty hot and long enough to render harmless any botulism that may have developed.) Cut your potatoes and carefully place them in a wide mouth quart jar, stacking them as if they were cord wood. Add salt and boiling water and can them per instructions from your Ball Blue Book (reducing the initial boiling time for the potatoes from ten minutes to three minutes).

When you are ready to eat your fries, open the jar and dump the fries into a strainer. Rinse and drain very well to remove any excess starch. Fry them in peanut oil until they are a golden brown. Salt, eat, and sit back and enjoy the multitudinous praises from your family.

Tomatoes- Diced or stewed tomatoes are some of the more popular items for home canning. However, something that most shy away from is making your own tomato sauce. Most object, understandably, to the long cooking times. Here’s how to make the job go a whole lot quicker:

First, wash your tomatoes, core, and cut into very large chunks. Place the tomatoes in plastic containers and freeze. When you have enough frozen tomatoes to make a batch of sauce, the night before your canning session remove your tomatoes from the freezer and thaw them on the counter. Freezing breaks the cell walls of the tomatoes and lets the water escape. Drain off the water, and send the tomato pulp through your juicer or food mill to remove the seeds and skins. Process tomatoes according to your Ball Blue Book. Keep in mind that home-canned tomato sauce, due to being canned in glass jars, has a longer shelf life than commercially canned tomato sauce.

Zucchini- Yes, most people, who wish to preserve zucchini for later, dry or freeze it. So why can it? For one, dried zucchini does not re-hydrate perfectly for using in baked goods. It’s okay, but it’s just a little tough or chewy. Also, there are those who either don’t wish to rely on their freezers in a TEOTWAWKI situation or simply do not have the freezer space. So, if you have the jars available, canning works. Simply shred the zucchini and pack it into your jars. Add the appropriate amount of salt and boiling water and process according to directions in your Ball Blue Book. When ready to bake, drain the zucchini and use as fresh.

Drying Vegetables

Most of us already know that vegetables can be dried quite successfully and then rehydrated in making various soups.

Potatoes- I prefer buying commercially-dried potatoes; I just haven’t been successful making a visually-appealing product, so my time and effort is better spent elsewhere.

Onions- I prefer commercially-dried onions (also available at the LDS Home Storage Center). I can dry onions easily in my dehydrator, but I really don’t want the smell in my trays.

Zucchini- Dried zucchini chips are popular with some for snacking, but I use most of my dried sliced zucchini in soups. I prefer to use shredded or powdered (shredded, dried, and then pulverized in food processor) zucchini. Powdered zucchini can be used to substitute for some of the flour in baking or used to thicken soups.

Freeze-dried Vegetables

Of course, freeze-dried vegetables are a bit more expensive, so in this house we have to limit those to vegetables that just aren’t successfully preserved in other ways. For us, that is mostly broccoli, which just doesn’t work being canned or dried, and some green beans. We really loathe home-canned green beans and aren’t too fond of commercially-canned either.

Spices

The herbs and spices people choose to store and the amounts are going to vary so widely that recommendations cannot realistically be offered. All herbs and spices should be stored in a cool, dry place. Ideally, because the oils in herbs and spices are volatile, they should be vacuum sealed with oxygen absorber packs. If at all possible, store whole herbs and spices and then use a spice grinder. (Whole herbs and spices will retain their flavor much longer than ground ones.)

We take our spices for granted now; they are so easily and relatively cheaply obtained. Historically, however, spices were highly desired commodities and many a sea voyage was launched in hopes of finding new sources and faster means of satisfying the demand. Today, India is the leading exporter of spices, accounting for approximately 85% of the world’s supply. With as crazy as the world is getting, it might be a good idea to stock up now. Also, you may wish to have extra for barter. Spices can be purchased in bulk from online companies.

Pepper- We use black pepper every single day for seasoning meats, vegetables, soups, and stews. A few pounds would be a good idea.

Dry mustard- Believe it or not, mustard is the world’s second most important spice. It is essential in making mayonnaise and an ingredient in many salad dressings. While it can be raised in this country and Canada leads the world in production and export, it would require a lot of manual labor to produce enough mustard to meet a family’s needs. The French consume 1.5 pounds of mustard per year; storing at least one pound per person would not be unreasonable.

Chili powder- This is one of those spices where a little does not go a long ways. My chili recipes all call for at least a tablespoon of chili powder and maybe two, and we’ll be eating a lot of beans. While chilies can be grown and dried in most parts of the U.S., it would still be a good idea to have at least a couple of pounds on hand.

Cumin- Cumin is used in chili, Mexican, and Indian recipes. India produces 70% of the world supply of cumin. We make a lot of chili and Mexican dishes, so I have at least a pound on hand at all times.

Cinnamon- We use a lot of it in cinnamon rolls, cinnamon toast, muffins and other breakfast items, and cookies. It’s also used in smaller amounts in other foods. A couple of pounds would not be unreasonable, and this is one spice that it is better to purchase in the ground form rather than in stick form. Grinding up cinnamon sticks just takes too much effort in a situation where we don’t have the luxury of time. Virtually all the cinnamon in the world comes from Asia and Africa.

Ginger- It’s an essential ingredient in many Asian recipes. It is also an ingredient in dough conditioner, which is used as an aid in baking bread. Again, almost all the ginger in the world is raised in Asia and Africa.

Nutmeg- It’s mostly used in dessert recipes, at least in this house, but much more common in potato dishes and processed meats in Europe. I probably wouldn’t worry about storing much personally, but my husband thinks he will die without it. I think that’s why he keeps bringing home bottles of the stuff. Anyway, according to an article posted at livescience.com, in medieval Europe a pound of nutmeg cost seven fattened oxen and was a more valuable commodity than gold. Maybe they were small oxen, or maybe it was due to the fact that in Elizabethan times nutmeg was believed to ward off the plague. Indonesia and Grenada produce about 95% of the world’s supply.

Herbs- The most important culinary herbs—basil, oregano, parsley, thyme, sage, marjoram, and Dill—can all be grown rather easily and in sufficient quantities to provide for your family. Harvest the leaves when appropriate, wash, dehydrate thoroughly, and store whole leaves in vacuum-sealed jars or bags. If you choose to buy in bulk from an online company, keep in mind that 16 ounces of any herb is going to be a lot, volume-wise, up to four quart jars.

Condiments

Sometimes in life, it’s the little things that make all the difference. How much you store of each depends on what your family eats. This list is provided to help you consider ideas you may not have entertained in the past.

Ketchup- For some people, ketchup is a food group unto itself. I have not yet made ketchup that my family is happy with, so we continue to purchase upper-end ketchup made without high fructose corn syrup. We go through about 32 ounces of ketchup per month.

Mustard, pickle relish, salad dressings- These may be important to you and depend upon your tastes.

Soy sauce- This is very important for Asian cooking, marinades, and Asian salad dressings. I usually have at least a gallon of soy sauce on hand.

Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, browning sauce– These are used in marinades and gravies and beans dishes.

Salsa- It goes with scrambled eggs in the morning and tortillas and beans in the evening.

Pepper jelly- In addition to the usual reasons you make and store this, it is also a perfect substitute for egg roll dipping sauce. (Yes, we are planning on having egg rolls; we grow the veggies and make the wrappers from scratch.)

Asian condiments- Hoisin sauce, black bean sauce, and some other Asian sauces are really not easily duplicated at home, so consider buying a few bottles.