Store It Foods

A stock pot can be one of the most versatile items you have in your kitchen.　 As the name implies, it is perfect for producing soup stocks, but it can also be used for preparing soups and stews, cooking pasta, boiling corn on the cob, braising meats, making marinara sauces and much more.　 Larger than your customary pots and pans, it is this larger size that lends it its versatility.

Since soup stock is generally prepared for use in future meals, many recipes suggest separating the large batch that results into smaller portions.　 Some of these could be refrigerated for more immediate use, and others frozen for use at more distant meal times.　 One home chef recommends that the freezing take place in ice cube trays with the frozen cubes being taken out and stored in plastic freezer bags for space saving convenience.　 Freezing, however, need not be the only option.　 Canning is also a possibility.

Of course, canning, if chosen, needs to be done properly.　 Water bath and steam canners work, but they may not work safely.　 The best choice, when it comes to the canning of　such non-acidic foods as meats and many vegetables, is pressure canning.　 This effectively destroys those organisms which cannot be totally eliminated when relying solely upon boiling water methods.

 Despite my hectic work schedule, I try to make time to prepare a home-cooked dinner at least three times a week. It’s relaxing and invigorating to indulge in the delicious scents of sizzling meat or sautéing mushrooms. I’ve also found that cooking my own food is much healthier than dining out or buying pre-packaged “instant meals.” Not to mention the obvious taste discrepancies.

My only real downfall in the kitchen is a propensity to cook too much food. It’s actually not much of a problem at all because I can always save the leftovers in some food storage containers. Then, later in the week when I’m too worn out to cook a meal from scratch, I can peruse the storage containers and sample an entrée for the second time around.

When fall comes around, I’m the first to venture into the nearby woods in search of a local delicacy. As the leaves take on a faint hint of yellow and orange hue, I know it’s time for the blackberry harvest. The plants flourish in the unique Pacific Northwest climate, and my friends from out of state are always calling me on the phone asking about receiving their annual batch of blackberry jam.

I prefer to make the jam with a couple of quarts of berries – about a quarter of which are unripe, adding a desirable tartness to the condiment. After I’ve washed, milled and preserved the berries, I add a touch of sugar and cook them for approximately one half-hour. Then it’s as simple as setting aside some of the jam for a pie and placing the rest in frozen food storage. If I ration the jam correctly, I’ll end up with an entire year’s worth of tasty bread spread.

When the flu season arrives, are you going to be ready to handle the flu?

There are some simple precautions that can be taken to at least lessen the chances of your contracting the flu.

1. Wash you hands frequently and well.  A five second wash does not do the job.  Take time to make sure you have done it right, and. believe it or not, doing it right does not include using an anti-bacterial soap. Contracting the flu means you have contracted a viral infection, not a bacterial infection.  Regular soap and warm to hot water is a better bet.
2. Carry an alcohol based hand sanitizer. Use it when necessary and appropriate.
3. Shaking hands is a great way to share the flu virus, but it will not give you the disease.  Once again, washing and sanitizing are great preventatives.
4. When using public washrooms, use a paper towel to turn taps on and off.  That is also a good procedure to use when opening the washroom door to exit.
5. If you need to cough, cough into your sleeve rather than your hand. And remember that not all people are going to wise enough to do that.
6. Try to eliminate the practice of touching your nose or mouth with hands that might be carrying unwanted viruses.  Rubbing your eyes should also be avoided.
7. That hard to clean computer keyboard, especially if it is accessed by numerous users, is a great place for germs to accumulate.  Please keep that in mind.  Light switches, door handles, and other such objects are also likely to receive the touch of many hands, some of which might be carrying the flu virus.
8. A cold is not the flu.  The flu generally strikes suddenly, not with a gradual build-up of symptoms.  If you do get sick, please go home.  Don’t spread your illness to others.
9. Prepare ahead.  If your day care provider takes ill, or you have a youngster coming home because the school is closing, will you have anything in place to provide alternate care?
10. Make sure your food storage contains some easy to cook nutritious foods.  If you take sick, you are unlikely to want to prepare elaborate meals, or visit the store to do a bit of grocery shopping.  In fact, you may not be able to do so.  Yet, you will still need to eat.
11. Wash those raw fruits and vegetables.  This is a good practice at any time, but is especially appropriate when flu season strikes.
12. Pay attention to advice being provided by your doctor and other health care professionals.  Guidance will be there if you need it.

Most people will not get drastically sick with even the H1N1 virus, but why take chances.  It is no fun being sick even when the infection is relatively mild.

What makes up a good food storage container?

The answer to that question varies, depending upon what your specific needs are at that specific point in time.  If you have some leftover peas or carrots that you want to save until the next day so that they might be popped into a pot for reheating, an empty margarine container or something similar would work just fine.  It would also serve the purpose for protecting and storing a few cookies, or some raw veggies for inclusion into tomorrow’s bagged or boxed lunch.

It might not be quite so good for long term storage.  It is probably also not advisable to use that margarine container for reheating in a microwave.  There are also potentially better choices for refrigerated storage.

Did you know that there are some food storage containers that actually incorporate nano technology?  It’s true.

Kinetic, a manufacturer known for its innovative storage products, is able to point out that their “containers are infused with nano-sized particles of silver that reduce the growth of mold, fungus and bacteria allowing foods to stay fresher longer than conventional plastic food storage containers.”

These and other hidden features of food storage containers are worth considering when it comes time to decide what to do with those leftovers.

The worries about a possible Swine Flu Pandemic may be overblown.  On the other hand, maybe they’re not.

How well are you prepared?  If the government  says you must stay home in order to prevent spread of the disease, how capable are you going to be of doing that?  Quarantine was very much a part of the famous influenza pandemic of 1918-1919, and it could be of the next one.

Once again, this fall’s flu season may not be even remotely like the one of 90 years ago, but it might be wise to check out your food storage  If for safety reasons you are either forced or choose to stay indoors away from points of possible contagion, for how long could you do that?  Do you have enough food and water to last a day or two, or perhaps a week or two, or perhaps even longer?

It may be time to consider the possibilities.

When I was very young, my parents would always pester me during dinnertime about finishing all the food on my plate. If I scraped even a few stray peas or wayward lumps of mashed potatoes into the garbage bin, my mother would chide me, saying, “There are people starving in China.” Whether or not that was true, I had difficulty drawing a connection between my negligible waste and others’ misfortune.

As I grew older, I began to appreciate the importance of saving food – both for ethical and economic reasons. These days I prepare enormous meals and end up with plenty of leftovers – prime candidates for frozen food storage. My freezer is stocked with vacuum-sealed bags of practically every entrée known to man. I just hope I’ll get around to eating them some day.

More and more people are discovering the advantages of growing at least some of their own fruits and vegetables.  Back yard gardens are increasing in popularity.

If you are rediscovering the joys in harvesting your own strawberries, potatoes, tomatoes, beans, peas and so forth; then you might also want to pay close attention to the benefits of cleaning that produce.  And sometimes it takes more than just a quick rinse under the kitchen tap.

What was on that land that you are now using for your garden?  Did the previous owner of your house use that particular piece of land for parking his car, changing the oil, or doing some general tinkering?  Was that once the depository for old boards and their flaking lead based paints that were torn off a now long gone porch or shed?  Before your home was built, did some now defunct manufacturer dump his waste materials on that spot? Sometimes you never know.

Even if something like that did happen, that doesn’t mean your soil is unsuitable for gardening purposes.  That lead paint, for instance, may not need to constitute a horrendous worry for you.  Water insoluable lead cannot be used in the cell growth of those garden plants,  Hence, you are not likely to find it within that produce.  However, you might find unseen pollutants clinging to exterior surfaces. So a good wash could prove most beneficial.

It could prove beneficial even if you do not have those kinds of concerns - even if you are a dedicated organic gardener, avoiding the use of chemical pesticides and herbicides.  Are you sure your garden has not been the beneficiary of a visit from some stray cat or dog or some other animal, which, in the process of fertilizing your soil, has also shared the eggs of parasites?  You just might want to make sure that those are washed off as well, especially if that food is going to be consumed raw.

It is unfortunate, but true, that owners of smooth top ranges are, to their dismay, confronted with the possiblity that the home canning that they want to do on that stove top may not be possible. All-American, for instance, is the manufacturer of one of the most popular brands of pressure canners, and they clearly state that “Pressure Cooker/Canners are not suitable for glass/flat top ranges.”

Why is that?

One appliance manufacturer explains: “We would advise that a ‘raised bottom canner’ be used on the smooth surface cooktop… further… it is most important that the canner - or any pot or pan for that matter - not exceed the size of the burner, as this may trap heat and cause serious damage to the appliance.”

It is quite possible that you can use your smooth top range without the least bit of difficulty.  Sadly, it is also possible that on one of those occasions a problem could arise, and then you might hear those dreaded words, “Sorry, that is not covered by your warranty.”

You would probably be safer to look at alternatives.  Presto manufactures pressure canners that they point out is safe to use on that smooth surface cooktop.  Some people use a two burner external grill on which their canner could be placed.  Electric grills means the canning could continue to be used in the kitchen.  Gas grills are more efficient, but they need a well ventilated area in which they can be used, and that means the canning may need to be done outdoors on patio or porch.

Hopefully, someone will come up with an adapter of some kind that will permit the use of all sizes of canners on a ceramic top range.  That seems not to have happened yet, so for the time being at least, these other options need to be examined.

Should your freezer fail, disaster could loom as far as all of that frozen food is concerned. There are, however, some basic steps that could be taken to minimize that loss.

First of all, keep it shut for as long as you can.  Since cold air is heavier than warm air, this is perhaps not as important with a chest freezer as it would be with an upright freezer, but it is important.

If you are able to do so, supplement that lost freezing power with bags of ice.  That will delay thawing for at least a while.  In fact, some people, when the freezer is not full of food storage items, will make it a practice to fill empty space with old milk jugs or similar containers that are first filled with water which and then placed into the freezer and allowed to freeze.  Voila, your bags of ice are there in advance. Consider that a preventative in anticipation of possible power failure.  They, of course, can easily be discarded when that space is again needed for food.

Naturally, a full freezer does last longer than a nearly empty freezer.  The food itself helps to delay thawing.

Having said that, it should also be said that it might be wise to not tie up all of your food storage in frozen food.  Shelves full of canned good, both store purchased and canned at home, are not seriously affected by power failures.  If you wish to do so, and have the proper equipment, you can even can meat.

And don’t forget the food dehydrator.  There is another way to preserve and store food that is not so dependant upon your electrical supply for lasting storage.