Food Storage 103: Cans, Cans and More Cans

So let's continue talking about food storage.

If in Food Storage 101 you've determined that you are the store it and forget it type, then 102 probably gave you enough info that you are ready for Food Storage 104: What should I store?

For the pantry stocking crowd though, let's talk about canned goods.

There are two types of canned goods - commercially canned and home canned.  

If you are just starting out and don't garden or can food at home now, commercially canned items are probably what you'll be looking for.  The good news is that they are widely available, and nearly everything has a canned version - meats, fruits, veggies - even breads and cheese!  Commercially canned items generally have a very good shelf life provided they are kept dry and at a good temperature, they are relatively inexpensive and widely available.  Canned goods also stack much better than home canned jars making storage simpler.

There are, of course, downsides.  Many canned goods contain some sort of preservative and/or are fairly high in sodium.  The can linings themselves may contain harmful coatings, such as BPA (do your homework on canned food companies BEFORE you buy!)  The biggest downside of course, is that with store bought cans you don't control the quality of the ingredients.

Home canning is broken up into two categories - water bath and pressure.  

Water bath canning is the best starting place for beginners, and includes things such as jams/jellies, relishes, pickles, fruits, salsas, pie fillings and tomatoes (although there is some debate on tomatoes).  The equipment for water batch canning is less expensive to get started than pressure canning, and in my opinion, less stressful in the beginning.

Pressure canning is required for all things that can't be water bathed, such as meat and vegetables.  It requires the use of a pressure canner, a very watchful eye and a willingness to follow directions TO THE LETTER.  

If you are interested in canning and don't do so already, I would advise you to get a copy of the Complete Ball Guide to Canning.  Consider it the holy bible of all things canning and make sure you have a copy of this.  I still reference mine every time I can, just to remind myself of the finer points.

So what types of foods should you can or buy canned?

I think this is a personal preference.  But here's what I keep in my pantry:

• Tuna - commercially canned
• Ham - commercially canned
• Chicken - both
• Turkey - home canned.
• Venison - home canned
• Beef chunks - home canned
• Pork chunks - home canned
• Applesauce - home canned
• Salsa - both.  We like Mexican dishes and use a LOT of salsa.
• Pizza and pasta sauce - both
• Jams & Jellies - home canned
• Relishes - home canned
• Pickles - home canned
• Pie filling - both
• Fruits - both.  I have home canned cherries, apples, pears and peaches.  Mixed fruits, pineapples, oranges and apricots are commercially canned.
• Sweet potatoes - commercially canned.
• Beans - commercially canned
• Vegetables - both
• Soup, Chilis and Stews - both
• Nut butters - commercially canned.

Why are some things both?  Well, in the case of fruits, I buy peaches at the farmers market or fruit stand since my trees are young and not producing well yet.  Even on sale, a jar of canned peaches are going to usually come out more expensive than the store sale price, so I usually can up my peaches in other recipes like BBQ sauce, Summer Salsa or pie fillings, and can in syrup whatever is leftover.  I then round out what I store of peaches for the year with commercially canned ones.  I take this approach with all canned goods.

Commercial cans - are those great big cans really a good deal?

We've all seen the XL can of pork and beans or chili at the store before, whether you were at Sam's, Costco or even just the bulk area of Walmart.  Usually (though not always) they have a lower price per once than that of the smaller cans.  But does that make them a good deal?

Maybe.  I know, I know, what kind of answer is that?  Well, I think it all comes down to what it's a can of and how many are in your family (or how many people you may be feeding at a time).

In our household there are just two of us, so the jumbo XL can of Stagg Chili just isn't a good deal for us, no matter the price point.  However, I do oftentimes buy the XL cans of tomatoes and tomato sauce, as I can use it in recipes that I later can up such as salsas, spaghetti sauces, and chili sauce.  

Food Storage 102: Freeze Dried and Dehydrated

If you've read my other posts, Food Storage 101 and Building a Comprehensive Food Storage, then it's time to move on to Food Storage 102.

Let's talk about Freeze Dried and Dehydrated Foods.

The biggest question is always:  What's the difference?

Freeze dried foods are flash frozen before being dried, which preserves more of the foods natural vitamins and minerals.  Freeze dried foods are lighter, and can be reconstituted where some dehydrated foods cannot.  Traditional dehydration requires blanching and other prep methods before the drying process can begin which can cause a loss of some vitamins and minerals.

There is a difference in cost of course, freeze dried being higher in cost due to the difficulties of the preservation process.  Dehydration is less expensive and with the help of a quality food dehydrator, achievable at home.

So in terms of food storage, what is best?

This will depend entirely on what food you are talking about, and what your end goals are.  If you are going the "store it for SHTF and forget it" route, freeze dried foods are best, simply because under correct storage they seem to have the longest shelf life with the highest retained vitamin content. They also tend to be the lightest, which is desirable if you are "bugging out" with your goods.  Freeze dried foods are also available as MRE's (meals ready to eat), which only require rehydration to create an actual meal, a good choice if you don't think you'll have a way to cook.

For those of you in the "stocked pantry" crowd (myself included), I find that both are good to have on hand, depending on the type of food.  The following is my opinion of course:

Best foods to keep on hand in dried/dehydrated form:

• Onions.  
• Raisins
• Celery
• Herbs
• Small berries and fruits (cranberries, currants, blueberries, cherries, kiwi, bananas)
• Potatoes, sweet and Irish (several ways are best, shreds, small cubes, slices)
• Apples
• Milk
• Beans
• Pasta
• Rice

Best foods to keep on hand in a freeze dried form:

• Peppers
• Mushrooms
• Strawberries (I think these are just yummier in the freeze dried form, though some folks like them dehydrated just fine)
• Bigger berries (raspberries, blackberries)
• Eggs
• Dairy products

Foods that can go either way:

• Meats - dried jerky is great snack food, but cannot be reconstituted for meals.  Freeze dried meats can be rehydrated and turned into actual meals.
• Green beans, carrots, corn, peas - if you intend to use them as a stand alone side item, freeze dried is the best choice.  If using them in soups, stews, casseroles, etc, I like the dehydrated versions.
• Pears, peaches, apricots, pineapple - again, this depends on what you are doing with them.  All make good snacks and are fine additions to baked goods and as cereal toppings, but they simply to not store as long.

Several of these foods are best preserved in other methods, which we'll talk about later.  

How should your dried foods be stored?

There are several good methods, depending on the length of time you are storing them and how much you are storing.

For big batches of things like pastas and beans, food grade buckets with Mylar liners and oxygen absorbers are great.  Of course, those are for long term storage.  I keep smaller batches of these things in 2 1/2 gallon buckets with gamma lids to keep the bugs and moisture out.  This way I can access what's in the bucket very easily and still keep them well stored.  If you like a variety of beans like we do, we keep a quart jar vacuum sealed with each kind that we use the most (pinto, black, red, kidney).  Large or extra bags of them hang out in the 2 1/2 gallon buckets.

For freeze dried foods, most of it will come in  #10 cans or Mylar pouches.  When we open up a #10 can, whatever we aren't using immediately gets redistributed into quart jars and vacuum sealed with our food saver lid attachment.  Unopened cans store easily in the pantry.

Dehydrated foods are going to vary depending on if they are purchased or made at home.  My home dehydrated items get vacuum sealed into jars.  Some items, like onions, I buy in the #10 cans simply because drying onions at home is STINKY business.  I do the same with them as I do with freeze dried foods, redistributing and vacuum sealing in smaller jars after the can has been opened.  I do keep my hashbrown potatoes in a 2 1/2 gallon food grade bucket with gamma lid, since we use them a lot and they can be a bear to get out of a jar, even if it's a wide mouth jar.

In the next part of this series, we'll talk about canned goods. Stay tuned!

Quick and Easy Calzones

I love to make a home cooked meal that's quick and easy to put together.  One thing we love is homemade pizza or homemade calzones.  Unfortunately, with the house remodel, moving plans and all the usual spring farm work, taking the time to make fresh dough is just not on my to do list.

Enter the premade Grands! biscuits.

To make biscuit calzones, all you do is open a can of biscuits and divide into 8 pieces.  Roll each biscuit out until it's flat  and thin - about 5" across.  Top with your favorite meats, cheeses and/or veggies (DO NOT ADD SAUCE), fold over and crimp closed.  (If you have a calzone press, this is even easier.)  Pop them in the oven on a cookie sheet for 17 minutes at 375 degrees and serve with the sauce of your choice.

Next time I make these I'll be sure to add photos.  We made ours with chopped turkey pepperoni, green peppers, onions, tomatoes and diced black olives.  Oh, and a blend of pizza cheese (who ever heard of a calzone with no cheese?!)  I also sprinkle a bit of Parmesan cheese on top of each one, or Italian seasoning.  Whatever suits our fancy at the time.

Food Storage 101: Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

There are a lot of things to decide when you are getting started in food storage.  The biggest question, and one the should already be answered in your mind, is why am I storing food?

For many of us, and us at the homestead especially, there was no single answer.  We've built our food storage to:

1. Have food reserves on hand during a natural disaster.  (We do live in both a hurricane and tornado zone.  Not to mention a fairly close proximity to the New Madrid Fault Zone.)
2. Weather job losses, economic downturn, or rampant inflation.
3. Ensure that we can feed ourselves during agricultural losses.  (Nothing is worse than record heat killing the garden or a fox eating your batch of meat chickens.)
4. Avoid the GMO and  "faux foods" available at the grocery store.  
5. Be prepared for any other long term disaster situation.  (Have you watched the news lately?!)

It's critical that you know what you are aiming for, so that you can move on to the next big question:  How much food do I plan to store?

The answer to this is going to depend entirely on your situation and why you are storing food.  For the natural disaster minded, a month is adequate (please ignore FEMA's three day suggestion.  In a major natural disaster you'll be lucky to even SEE help in the first three days.)  If you are hedging against job losses, a year might be sufficient.  Of course, the end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it crowd is going to be looking for two years of storage plus.

So are you asking yourself, how much food is a week/month/year?  

There are several trains of thought on this, and I tend to fall somewhere in the middle.  For one, you can always google "food storage calculator" and you'll get a ton of sites that have calculators that tell you how much of the basics you should store per person for whatever length of time you choose.  Keep in mind that for most of these they don't include vegetables, fruits or meats - things you and your family probably enjoy now on a daily basis.  

The other train of thought is to keep a journal of everything your family eats for a month, and store those items (or like items) for your determined length of time.  

Once you've determined how much you need, you'll need to figure out the next big question:  is this just food storage, or is this part of my pantry?  

I firmly believe in the idea of my food storage being a part of my pantry.  This can get tricky if you have a smaller house and have food stored all over the place (though it can be done), because the absolute trick to this is rotation.  You have to be diligent and keep an eye on expiration dates too, especially if you are buying canned foods.  For example, a few months ago our local grocery store had canned corn on sale at 3 for $1.  I bought a case of 12 (the limit) and put it on the shelves.  Two weeks ago I bought another case of corn (similar sale), and when I went to put it on the shelves noticed that it expires two months before the previously purchased case!  

If you are going the "just food storage" route, then you are probably going to be investing in freeze dried foods in pouches, cans, cases or buckets.  This is going to require a buy it once and store it attitude, and as long as you store it appropriately most "emergency" foods will store 25 years or longer.  

Now that you've answered some of the big questions, next we'll talk about what kind of foods you can/should be storing and how to get the biggest bang for your buck.

The New Kids Have Arrived!

Jasper

In mid-March we went to visit a local woman with some baby goats for sale.  I'd been looking for a small doe that was less noisy than our Josephine, and had figured if we could find a suitable replacement than I would sell Jo.  I was also looking for a buck (or two) that I could spend a little time with and grow him up myself.

What we settled on was three kids, one doeling and two little bucks.   All were fathered by a 1/2 Pygmy, 1/2 Nigerian buck, and the mothers were 1/2 or full Boer.  This is perfect for what I've wanted.

The little blacked headed buck is Rascal.

On top of it, the woman was willing to trade the doeling for Josephine, so I didn't even have to worry about selling her.

A few days ago we got the call that the little ones were ready, so after a couple of days of fixing fences and such, we brought them all home.

Initially, there was a LOT of hollering.  These guys are just 10 weeks old and have never been away from momma, so this is the double whammy - new home AND weaning all at once.  Enough to make any young goat holler.

My husband and Frankie, the doe.

We've put them straight into the pasture with our other two ladies, so naturally there has bee a lot of head butting and what not as they establish who is in charge.  It's clear that Rascal is used to being the main man in the group, because he spends the most time challenging the older goats.

Because the pasture we put them all in a pasture without a very good shelter, we dragged the old turkey pen in.  It's got a flat, fairly solid top and isn't very tall, so it wasn't long before I saw the goats on hind legs looking at the top to see if they could get up there.  With the door open they have plenty of rain shelter and shade.

I went ahead and grabbed an old wood ramp we had around here from our motorcycling days and put it to where they could walk up it onto the roof.  It wasn't long before the kids were playing on the ramp, and just a few minutes before Miss Frankie was on top, followed by Rascal.  Neither adult ever went all the way up, though they both got on the ramp a time or two.

By dark everyone was all settled down and we are hoping for a fairly non-eventful night.  Here are some pics for you of the little guys playing!

 

Amazing Baked French Toast

The hens around here have been working overtime and my fridge has begun to show it with carton upon carton of eggs.

Never one to throw away perfectly good food, I've been searching for another good egg recipe, since we don't want to eat Farmhouse Casserole every day!

After looking over a few recipes, I tweaked them together and came up with my version of baked french toast.

What you'll need:

• French bread
• A jar or can of your favorite pie filling
• Half dozen eggs
• Milk
• Vanilla
• Cinnamon
• Sugar
• Flour
• Brown sugar
• Butter

Step 1

Here's what you do:

Cube up the french bread into 1" cubes and put into an 11x7 baking dish that has been lightly sprayed with cooking spray.  You'll want to fill the dish about 2/3 of the way full. (Note - I'm using an 8x8 dish in the photo)

Step 2

Dump the pie filling into the dish with the bread and mix it all together.  

Step 3

Beat a half dozen eggs together as you would for french toast.  (I did mine with 1/4 cup milk, two teaspoons of vanilla and a tablespoon of sugar.  Then I sprinkled cinnamon over the mixture as I beat it together until it looked about right to me.)

Step 4

Dump the egg mixture over the bread and pie filling.  Stir to make sure that all of the bread has been coated with the egg.

Step 5

Mix together one stick of melted butter with 2/3 cup of flour and 2/3 cup of brown sugar.  This will come out like a thick paste.  Spread across the top of your bread in the backing dish.

Refrigerate overnight or bake right away at 375 for about 45-60 minutes depending on your oven.  (If you've refrigerated, let it set for 30 minutes before baking.)

It's done with all the eggs are set and a knife inserted in the center comes out free of raw egg.

We've made this now with apple pie filling and blueberry filling.  I liked the blueberry but hubby seemed to prefer the apple.  I'm planning to try strawberry next.

And yes, I realize that there is a lot of sugary sweetness in this recipe.  I certainly wouldn't use it everyday, but for the occasional breakfast or holiday brunch it is fabulous!

ENJOY!

The Story of Snuggles, The Doe That Wasn't

I like to think we all make mistakes.  Or maybe it's just me that makes mistakes.

LOTS of mistakes.

Anyhow, here is the story of how I learned to ALWAYS judge a bunny by it's... errr... well, you'll see.

Last summer I received a call from a friend that had a beautiful little house bunny that needed a good home.  Snuggles was a broken black Holland doe.  Sweet, affectionate, and absolutely adorable, she was purchased from a Holland breeder as a baby to be my friend's grandson's pet.  

And so she began the life of a house bunny.  

But, as kids so often do, my friend's grandson eventually lost interest in the bunny and wasn't caring for her correctly.  My friend would clean out Snuggles' cage when she came over, and was constantly reminding him to care for him little lop eared ball of fur.

At two years old, Snuggles' owners went out of town for the summer, and she went to stay with my friend.  This is when her life of luxury truly began.  Shredded carrots, quartered apples, high end bunny foods.  Toys, chews, and the run of the whole house.

Truly, a life of luxury.  And in some ways I think, a life of loneliness, since my friend didn't have any other pets.

Finally, at three years old, Snuggles' came to live with me.  My friend's grandson had long since quit talking about coming to get his bunny, and my friend's husband was having allergy problems and was told by his doctor that the rabbit had to go.

Of course, we have no room for a house rabbit, and Snuggles was moved to the rabbit house with the other rabbits.  For the first time in a long time she was surrounded by those of her own kind, and she genuinely seemed to enjoy sniffing noses of the other rabbits and laying beside them.

Around Christmas we started to breed the rabbits, and Snuggles went in with Reese.  Of course, she didn't seem to know what she was supposed to do, and spent as much time mounting him as he did mounting her.  We laughed at the silly rabbit, but didn't worry too much.

Weeks went by.  The nest box went in.  30 days.  31 days. 32 days.  On day 33 she decided that the nest box looked more like a litter box, and we declared defeat and removed it.

A month later we gave it another try, with much the same results of him mounting her and her mounting him.  I googled, and found that it wasn't at all unusual.  

So we decided we'd just wait and see what would happen.

Only a week later, while looking at pictures of some rabbits for sale, did it occur to me that all of these does had dewlaps.  All of my girls had dewlaps (that double chin looking skin flap on does) - except for one.  

Snuggles.

Surely "she" wasn't a "he"?  I had never checked.  I had taken my friend at her word, as she had taken the word of her daughter who had bought Snuggles from a breeder for her son.

Hoping I was wrong I headed out to the rabbit barn.  It took just a moment to realize that all this time our Snuggles was a buck!  The poor thing had been treated as a girl for four years with purple bowls and pink toys.  

To say I felt embarrassed is an understatement.  Weeks later and I'm still embarrassed.  I will never again take in or buy a rabbit without sexing it myself.

Snuggles however, is he same old self.  We will be giving him a chance at fatherhood soon.