Store It Foods

They say that necessity is the mother of invention.  It may also be the mother of rediscovery, for these days many families are looking for ways and means of saving money, and one of those ways is in “putting up” your own food — to resurrect an old and now seldom used term.  It refers, of course, to the dehydrating, canning or freezing of food in the home and for the family. 

The value of such traditional skills are, indeed, being rediscoverd by many.

Others, however, might see this as being the result of needless worry.  Why waste money in the purchase of canners and canning equipment when all you need to do is have a little patience?  Recessions, after all, don’t last forever, and the world learned from the Great Depression of the “Dirty Thirties”.  Things will never get that bad again.

Yet, is that an accurate assessment?  They may not be remembered, but the history of America is filled with periods of severe economic downturns, and the country really has suffered through more than one depression.  The story is similar in other nations.  In Great Britain, for instance, the South Seas Bubble saw the collapse of many banks and financial institutions, events that rocked the nation.  The Great Potato Famine produced unimaginable hardships for the Irish.

These things happened so long ago that it is tempting to simply ignore them.  In fact, many have never even heard of them.  Nevertheless, they may have lessons for us. 

Reg Wannamaker, an expert in survival and survial techniques, tells this little tale of his Canadian childhood:

“During the 1930’s we lived in a small Ontario town named Trenton.  At that time the population was about 1500.  We lived beside the railway tracks.

“Times were very tough.  My father, whenever he could find work, worked seven days a week twelve hours a day.  And even then it was barely enough to feed the family.

 ”We lived on a small lot in a two story house, it was not a big house. but we managed (5 children). The lot had a small barn where we kept a pig and sometimes a cow.  We had chicken wire off the back porch of the house and leghorn chickens.  They laid a lot of beautiful eggs but were hard to handle. We had a large garden and grew just about everything we could.  My mother did a lot of canning for winter.  My grandmother who lived on a small farm north of Havelock, Ontario brought us a lot of food items.  My sister and I used to walk the railway tracks with six quart baskets and pick up coal that had fallen from the train.  we would use it when the weather got cold and it would keep the house warm most of the night.

“You may ask why am I telling you this?  Because I believe times like the thirties and early forties could come again, and now is a good time to have some measure of readiness. Don’t be fooled by those who believe hard times could never happen again.  The old adage ’save a little for a rainy day’ is a good thing.”

Many recipes call for the use of fruit syrups in the canning of fruits.  There is nothing wrong with that, but, believe it or not, you do not necessarily need to use syrup.

As an alternative you might like to add a half cup of sugar to your sterilized jar.  Top that with boiling water — enough to dissolve that sugar.  Then add the fruit.  Should you find there is not enough liquid, all that you will need is a little more boiling water.  Once your satisfied with the amount of fruit and the level of your liquid, proceed with the canning process as per usual.

There are two main benefits to this method of producing fruit preserves.

1. It’s quick and easy.
2. You will never worry about having too much or too little syrup.

Like any other canning tip, this is something which you might want to first try on a small scale.  In other words, see how you like it.

There goes another package of freezer burned meat into the garbage.  That’s just like throwing away money.  That’s sad because if you’re like most people, the objective is to save money rather than throw it away.

To help meet that objective you might want to consider a food storage method that is still far too often ignored.  Using it may not entirely eliminate the freezer buring of meat, but it can certainly do a great deal to lessen the likelihood.  Try vacuum packaging.  A vacuum seal can make a world of difference when it comes to the storage of frozen foods. 

That is only one of the advantages of using a vacuum sealer, but it is a big one

If you want to make a lifestyle change in order to live “greener” and healthier, it might help to do a little prelimnary research.

For instance, is that bottled water you want to use to replace the chlorine laden tap water you’ve been drinking up to this point going to have more in it than bottled tap water? Unfortunately, it is a distinct possibility that you might not be getting what you think you are getting.  The picture on the label may depict a mountain glacier, but the water in the bottle itself may not have come from anyplace anywhere near a mountain glacier.

Or how about your pressure canner?  It may be great to do some home canning, and a pressure canner is one of the safest and quickest ways of doing so.  But wouldn’t it be wise to find out before the purchase that this particular pressure canner is too big for the burners on, and not recommended for use on your ceramic top range?

If you’ve decided to try gardening for the first time, have you purchased the right seeds, bought the right tools, or determined whether or not you really do have the time and dedication to do all of the weeding, watering and processing that might be needed?

In other words, as the old saying goes, “look before you leap,” whether it’s a big leap or just a small one.

Do you hate to see the kids running for another bag of salt laden, fat rich,  high calorie potato chips or similar “treat” every time they are looking for a snack of some sort?  Perhaps you hate to see yourself doing it as well. 

Yet, what are the options?  Cookies and cake?  Well, there are nutritional drawbacks there too.  A nice, healthy vegetable platter might provide an answer, but there are difficulties in keeping on hand a selection of fresh, crisp vegetables that are cut, cleaned and ready-to-eat.

You may, however, want to consider garden fresh peas.  They are simply prepared and both tasty and nutritious.  Anyone who has eaten green peas right from the pod can attest to how delicious they are.  Nutritionists have proven their value as far as the pea’s vitamin rich content is concerned.

Here, according to the USDA is the nutritional content of 100 g (3.5 oz) of raw, green peas, (with percentages referring to recommended daily totals):

Looks good doesn’t it?  It’s likely, though, that you have already thought of a drawback. Garden fresh peas are not always all that easy to come by, especially if you do not have a garden.

Fortunately, there is a solution.

Consider frozen peas.  Normally, they are flash frozen two or three hours after picking so little of their nutritional value is lost.  In fact, nutritional levels may be higher than those of fresh peas that may have taken two or three weeks to get from the farmer’s field to the supermarket shelf.  They will also have already been shelled, eliminating that time consuming task.

Some people actually snack on frozen peas themselves.  If that idea, however, does not appeal to you, you can simply take a handful or two of the frozen product, place it in a sieve or strainer of some kind, and run cold water over it for just a few seconds.  You’ll soon have thawed peas that taste amazingly similar to those peas that really do come straight from the garden.  Unlike some vegetables, thawing peas in this fashion does not leave you with a mushy mass of soggy veggies, so even the texture is similar to the fresh product.

Try it.  You may very well like it, and your kids may very well like it as well.

Using a vacuum sealer is a great way of freezing your own peas in season, or you could depend upon those packages of frozen peas that are readily available in just about any grocery store.  If choosing the latter option, the recommendation is to select grade A small peas for the best results.  You might want to try three or four different brands before settling on one that you really like.

Don’t be surprised if this becomes a family favorite.  If it does, you will have found a simple, tasty, nutritious, and inexpensive alternative to those many salted snacks.

A report at the American Dietetic Association’s annual conference held in October of 2008 highlights the fact that a good way of obtaining the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of vegetables is through the use of vegetable juice.  In other words, you can drink your vegetables.

The study was conducted by researchers from the University of California-Davis who recruited 90 volunteers and split them into three groups.  Using V8 Brand Vegetable Juice, one group was asked to consume two 8 oz. glasses of the juice per day, the second was asked to drink one such glass and the third was provided with dietary counseling.  Similar counseling was given the first two groups.

At the conclusion of the study it was found that everyone in the first group had met their RDA of vegetables, more than half of the second group had done so, and approximately one quarter of the third and final group managed to reach the “5 daily servings of vegetables” that represented the recommended daily allowance.

So why the difference when vegetables are so abundant and easy to obtain?  Well, perhaps many people do not find them “abundant and easy to obtain.” 

The study author, Carl Keen, has been quoted as saying, “drinking vegetable juice seemed to address some of the key barriers to vegetable consumption such as convenience, portability and taste, so individuals were more likely to meet their daily recommendations.” Participants actually enjoyed making the vegetable juice a part of their daily routine, and found it easy to do so.

In the study, of course, commercially prepared vegetable juice was used, and that use was restricted to one particular brand, V8 Juice.  No doubt other brands could have been used with similar results having been obtained. What is apparent is that the drinking of vegetable juice is an excellent way to get us closer to that 5 serving RDA goal, a goal that many are now missing. 

This should also be of encouragement to those who juice at home.  Fresh, home made juices right from your kitchen juicer will also have an added bonus. They will be free from the salt and other preservatives that are found in the bottles and cans of juices found on store shelves, making them an exceptionally healthy choice.

Empty margarine tubs, sour cream containers, and other plastic boxes and bowls have been known to end up in refrigerators and freezers as holders of leftovers and food storage items.  There is nothing too wrong with this as long as they are used wisely.

There are, however, a couple of things that should be kept in mind.

1. These containers were not designed for long term storage.  As they age they are more prone to cracking and breaking and otherwise disintegrating.
2. They may not be microwave safe.  It is so tempting to take those leftovers from the refrigerator and then pop them, with the container holding them , into the microwave for heating and serving.  Withstand the temptation.  There is a very real chance that harmful chemicals may be released from the plastic as it is struck by those microwaves.  Manufacturers did not design them for microwave use , and they have probably not been tested for such usage.

That microwave tub may be “free”, but if you need something that is freezer, dishwasher or microwave safe, it may be better to make a modest investment in a food storage container that has been designed to be a food storage container.

Dehydrators are good for drying fruits, vegetables, jerky, herbs and potpourri.  They’re also good at generating heat.  They are not going to generate a lot of heat, at least not to the level of space heater or such like, but there will be some.  Meats, for instance, will call for several hours of drying at temperatures of 150 to 160 degrees.

Consequently, if you have the option, the best time to use your food dehydrator would be at a time when you don’t mind a little extra heat in the home.  When outside temperatures are uncomfortably low, for instance, a jerky making time inside might be most welcome.

This may not always be possible, of course, for timing of dehydrating sessions may be dictated by the availability of the product to be dehydrated.  If, however, there is some choice possible, then why not think green.  In other words, there may be a better time to dehydrate than a hot summer day when the air conditioner is already working overtime.

No kitchen would be complete without a flour sifter.  Or would it?

As the name implies, the flour sifter was designed to sift flour, breaking up clumps and removing foreign matter.  These days, however, the flour that you bring home from the grocery store is unlikely to have clumps or contain foreign matter.  Some cooks, however, insist that the usefulness of the flour sifter has not ended, that it can still be used to aerate flour, giving it more volume and thus making for lighter, fluffier baked goods.  They claim that sifting also makes it easier to incorporate other foods and liquids into sifted products.

Even if that were true (and it might very well be) some feel that a sifter is more trouble than it’s worth, and that an ordinary sieve will work just as well and be much easier to clean up afterwards.

The debate goes on.

The reason for raising the matter here is simply to show that when contemplating the purchase of a food preparation or food storage product, it is wise to look at the pros and cons of that purchase.  In other words, why purchase a flour sifter if you don’t think it is worth using?  On the other hand, wouldn’t it be wise to add one to your inventory of kitchen tools if you think it would be of great benefit?

A flour sifter is not terribly expensive, so buyng one just to try it might be worthwhile, even without giving it a great deal of thought.  For more expensive appliances such as grain mills, bread makers, deluxe food processors and the like that might not be as good a policy to follow.  Maybe you should consider doing a little contemplating beforehand.

After all, if you can’t see yourself ever using it, why are you buying it?  If you don’t think the pros outweigh the cons, why make the purchase?  If you aren’t going to be willing to at least try it, is it really going to be that wise an investment?

Yet, if you envision it being a really useful and important tool, why are you hesitating?

Investing in various sizes of food storage containers is a very wise choice. They are very slick in design and quite practical to have around. Like in my case for instance, I used to have a messy looking fridge with all those left over food products all stacked in bowls and plates, making it easily crowded and not to mention leaving foul odors behind because of the mixture of smell of different foods inside.

But when I started using food storage containers, my fridge always looked organized. No more undesirable smell because these food containers provide air-tight sealing. All the left-over food can be easily identified because I also adopted a color coding scheme with the food storage containers that I use. This way, everything in our fridge is fresh and safe to eat.