Brrr it is getting cold here, which means I can't feel my fingers when I am typing ;D - or when I'm hanging out the washing, or doing the gardening, but what do I need fingers for? *moves the heater just a little bit closer*
Wow, we're up to week 20! Exciting stuff!!
$10 challenge
Store 2 kgs sugar and 1 packet of instant potatoes/potato flakes
$20 challenge
Store 4 kgs sugar and 2 packets of instant potatoes/potato flakes
Sugar
We have one more week after this of sugar storage and then we're done with sugar. I consider sugar an absolute necessity for my food storage. Making bread with yeast requires sugar, you need it for sweet baking (cakes, biscuits), even to add to a basic pasta sauce with salt to bring out the flavour of the tomatoes.
I use sugar when making hot chocolate, in rice pudding, in custard, sprinkled on top of peaches and puff pastry then baked (yum!).
Remember you can store different kinds of sugar as well. http://www.sucrose.com/ltypes.html from the Sugar Knowledge International site (SKIL) has some useful information about sugar.
I have learned that brown sugar doesn't store as long as the white sugars because of the higher amount of liquid contained in it. It has been stored successfully for a few years in my own pantry cupboard though, and on occasion has only required a 'thwack' on the kitchen table to loosen it. I haven't had it go 'bad' on me yet, but I do keep rotating it and haven't stored it for more than those few years without using it up.
I use raw sugar in my Thermomix and it converts the raw sugar into icing sugar if I need that. Quite a handy machine!
Potato Flakes/Instant Potato
Okay so I wasn't a fan of instant potato years ago when my parents stored it, but I tried some from Aldi recently and was pleasantly surprised. Even my husband commented that he liked it much to my amazement. He isn't fussy, but does have a high standard when it comes to food.
You may not always be able to get potatoes, or decent ones and because we are trying to vary your food storage here, it can be a useful thing to have on hand.
Use it in Shepherd's pie, with gravy and caramelised onion, with chopped cooked/canned veggies (my kids call this 'rainbow potatoes'), with tuna in tuna cakes, in bubble and squeak/hash browns, in gnocci, with bread crumbs to crumb meat or chicken, make potato bread or everlasting yeast (recipe here: http://denleydiaries.blogspot.com/2011/01/everlasting-yeast.html)
The idea of storing instant potatoes is that it is something that will fill tummies, like pasta and give you some variety in your food storage.
Of course, you don't have to store sugar or instant potatoes if you don't want to. Store something you and your family will eat and remember to "eat what you store and store what you eat".
Yup, this is what I just told my seven year old after she asked me a question. I gave my reponse (obviously not the answer she was after) so she proceeded to ask me a second time, then tried to negate her way around my answer. I refuse to budge. If I say "no" to a lolly, it means no. It doesn't mean you can ask me again in five minutes, it doesn't mean you can tell me what you think I should say. It doesn't mean that you can bring Daddy into the discussion. "No!" means no! Don't ask me again today because my answer will not change. You've had your lolly for the day and that is that! I am not open to negotiations, I am not a democracy.
Wonder if I can use that line on my husband?! (Tee hee hee)
$10 Plan
Store 5kg of wheat or flour
$20 Plan
Store 10 kg of wheat or flour
We stored the same thing in week 14 of this challenge. There are some hints there on storing these items.
Remember to rotate your food storage.
I'm not sure what led me to this site, but it's absolutely fantastic as far as food storage is concerned. We do some things differently here in Australia, but there are lots of gems to be found in the Foodstoragemadeeasy.net site.
Jodie and Julie have compiled a recipe book titled 'Shelf Stable Recipes' that readers have contributed, using ingredients in their pantry/storage cupboard. I have a lot of the tinned ingredients in mine, so I printed up and bound a copy to keep in my kitchen and refer to.
The direct link to the recipe book is here: http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/fsme/docs/SHELF-STABLE-RECIPE-BOOK.pdf
Purchase and store extra toothpaste and toothbrushes.
You might already have these. Very handy for when you have emergency guests or forget to add to your own list but it isn't something I like to be without.
If you already have these, store Mouthwash or dental floss or something else for the bathroom.
$10 Challenge
Store 4 large cans of fruit
$20 Challenge
Store 8 large cans of fruit
You could store your own canned fruit for this challenge, or you could purchase it from Aldi, the IGA, Coles or Woolworths etc.
There are so many ways this challenge can add variety to your diet when you're living on food storage. You could store any one of the following in natural juice, light syrup or heavy syrup:-
- Peaches
- Apricots
- Pineapple
- Lychees
- Morello Cherries or mixed berries
- Apple pie filling or apple puree
- Fruit Salad
- Plums
- Nectarines
- Pears
- Passionfruit pulp
- Blueberries/strawberries
I just don't include tinned tomato in this, as it comes up as an option when we purchase pasta sauce.
You could use up your canned fruit in the following ways:-
- Bake into muffins or cakes (Pineapple upside cake Mmmmm)
- Serve with rice pudding (using your stored rice, sugar and powdered milk)
- Serve with your stored custard powder (if you did the $20 challenge)
- Bake in a pie
- Drain and bake on puff pastry drizzled with brown sugar or squares of chocolate (if canned in natural juice - otherwise don't add brown sugar)
- Bake in a cobbler/crumble
- Blend in a smoothie with some milk powder for added calcium
- Serve over breakfast cereal with the natural juice
- Eat with jelly
- Heat up the juice and add some gelatine to make jelly (not with the pineapple juice though - it won't set).
This fruit makes a nice welcome break from tuna, rice, pasta and soup! ;D
