Today we are highlighting two fun boards, the Meal Planning/Organizing board and the Saving on Groceries board. On our Meal Planning/Organizing board we are gathering great ideas for helping you to organize your recipes and plan out your meals. This can be very helpful for day to day cooking as well as for planning your three month supply. The Saving on Groceries board is full of tips on how to reduce your grocery spending so you can have more money left to buy food storage!

   

• PIN 1: This menu board has inspired Jodi to embark on a big new meal planning adventure that she is very excited about!
• PIN 2: Plan and track your 3 month supply inventory by inputting your recipes into this simple spreadsheet.
• PIN 3:See what service is saving us TONS of money on our groceries each month.
• PIN 4: Use this handy guide to know which months certain items tend to go on sale.

Make sure you check out the rest of the items on the Meal Planning/Organizing board and the Saving on Groceries board. We’ll keep adding to these boards as we find great stuff, and we’ll see you tomorrow to highlight another one of our boards!

Don’t forget you can Follow us on Pinterest so you don’t miss any of the great stuff we will be pinning in the future.

Today we are highlighting our Food Storage Gifts board. This board highlights some gifts we’ve found around the web, and some gifts we’ve made ourselves for people that have or use Food Storage. The best gifts, are those that are useful!

To see the whole board, click here.

• PIN 1: One of our favorite gift ideas. #10 can stoves are great for anyone because they can provide people with a way to cook food. Make this with items you already have on hand.
• PIN 2: Wheat grass is a fun decorating item, and healthy food item. Check out this pin to see it grown in Christmas mug, but you could use just about any container and do the same thing!
• PIN 3: When we got married, we got recipe boxes full of family recipes from Jodi’s mom. You could do a spin on that gift for bridal showers, and make Jodi’s cute recipe binders!
• PIN 4: We couldn’t help but share this Valentine’s 72 hour kit for you to make for your loved ones that work at an office.

Make sure you check out the rest of the items on the Food Storage Gifts board. We’ll keep adding to that board as we find great stuff, and we’ll see you tomorrow to highlight another one of our boards!

Don’t forget you can Follow us on Pinterest so you don’t miss any of the great stuff we will be pinning in the future.

Today we are highlighting our Gardening board. This board is a great place to find all kinds of creative ways to get growing your own vegetables! From growing in small spaces, to using your vegetables in cooking, to advanced gardening tips, there is something here for everyone.

To see the whole board, click here.

• PIN 1: This is an awesome idea for having fresh green onions in your home at all times.
• PIN 2: Do you love square foot gardening? You’ll love this tutorial on how to make your own vinyl boxes!
• PIN 3: Try this homemade “recipe” if you are interested in organic bug control.
• PIN 4: Make your own plant pots FOR FREE! Check out the pin to see how.

Make sure you check out the rest of the items on the Gardening board. We’ll keep adding to that board as we find great stuff, and we’ll see you tomorrow to highlight another one of our boards!

Don’t forget you can Follow us on Pinterest so you don’t miss any of the great stuff we will be pinning in the future.

Today we are highlighting our Canning board. This board is a great place to find canning recipes and tips. Canning is one of those things it’s hard to remember all the instructions and directions, so having a place you can go back to reference is very helpful!

To see the whole board, click here.

• PIN 1: This is something we saved because we HAVEN’T tried it yet, and really want to try it. Curious to see what that food is? Go to the pin!
• PIN 2: These are jar “containers” that we are really curious about, and want to test out ourselves! Seems like your jars would stay protected in here.
• PIN 3: One of Jodi’s first things she canned. Since then she has ventured into much more foods.
• PIN 4: The book Jodi has named the Canning Bible. She doesn’t can anything without referring to it.

Make sure you check out the rest of the items on the Canning board. We’ll keep adding to that board as we find great stuff, and we’ll see you tomorrow to highlight another one of our boards!

Don’t forget you can Follow us on Pinterest so you don’t miss any of the great stuff we will be pinning in the future.

Today we are highlighting our Books We Love board. This board is full of books we love and like to keep on hand in case of emergency. While the internet is great, you can’t always count on it being there in case of emergency!

To see the whole board, click here.

• PIN 1: We’ve pinned our ebook to our Books We Love board, since it’s been such a great resource for helping people plan, buy, and use their food storage.
• PIN 2: The book that changed Julie’s outlook on using beans in her everyday cooking. It has so many easy, and healthy recipes.
• PIN 3: This is one of Jodi’s favorite food storage cook books. It’s so fun, and cute, and it has EASY to use recipes.
• PIN 4: A great book to help you learn how to make your own food storage meals in jars. This is a great guide and can help get you started on making your own per-made food storage dinners.

Make sure you check out the rest of the items on the Books We Love board. We’ll keep adding to that board as we find great stuff, and we’ll see you tomorrow to highlight another one of our boards!

Don’t forget you can Follow us on Pinterest so you don’t miss any of the great stuff we will be pinning in the future.

Today we are highlighting our Powerless Cooking board. Powerless cooking is one of those things that can be really intimidating for food storage beginners. This board is full of helpful ideas including things that are CHEAP or FREE to help you cook with your food storage in a powerless emergency.

To see the whole board, click here.

• PIN 1: Build a fire pit! This is a great idea for powerless cooking. You can build this in your backyard and always have it ready for a fun summer activity, or in case of emergency!
• PIN 2:This is a way to share our powerless cooking class with friends. The first video in a series of videos on fuel and various cooking tools. Some you can even make yourself.
• PIN 3:Something often forgotten in planning for powerless cooking is pots and pans. We think this could be an interesting thing to learn more about.
• PIN 4:Who wants to haul out their powerless cooking gear mid winter! This is an awesome option!

Make sure you check out the rest of the items on the Powerless Cooking board. We’ll keep adding to that board as we find great stuff, and we’ll see you tomorrow to highlight another one of our boards!

Don’t forget you can Follow us on Pinterest so you don’t miss any of the great stuff we will be pinning in the future.

Today we are highlighting our Food Storage Shelves and Pantries board. Oh how we love to look at other people’s pantries and Food Storage ideas. When Julie goes to the parade of homes, she spends most of her time in the pantry, and food storage rooms at model homes.

To see the whole board, click here.

• PIN 1: This BEAUTIFUL food storage room. What we love most about it, is that they used the empty space through the middle of the room. So often we’ve seen Food Storage rooms (ours included) that line the walls with shelves, and leave a lot of space in the middle totally wasted.
• PIN 2:This way awesome way of taking advantage of those hard to use corner pantry spaces
• PIN 3:This great tutorial on how to make your own cardboard rotating racks. Thanks to Jodi’s hubby
• PIN 4:Some of our favorite shelves to use in our Food Storage. They sure do make rotation easy!

Make sure you check out the rest of the items on the Food Storage Shelves and Pantries board. We’ll keep adding to that board as we find great stuff, and we’ll see you tomorrow to highlight another one of our boards!

Don’t forget you can Follow us on Pinterest so you don’t miss any of the great stuff we will be pinning in the future.

We’ve been looking into what options are available for cooking indoors and how you would store the fuel for those options. Some of things things we’ve been reading about are wood-burning stoves, fireplaces, alcohol stoves, butane stoves, and also just getting a generator that will allow you to use some regular electric cooking tools.

Today I did a little video showing a Butane Stove that I recently got. I’ve been nervous to use it but it was very easy and now I feel like it is a really great option for me. You can get these at most camping stores or online.

The food packet I used was from Wise Food Storage. It tasted good and had a good consistency. They cook their pasta and then dehydrate it before packaging it. That way you can just add boiling water and let it sit and it will rehydrate. This is great if you are concerned about fuel conservation. Lindon Farms is also another great option for just add water meals. Most of their meals need to be boiled in order to cook them so you would use a little more fuel but the price per serving is fantastic. We store a combination of both those products along with some #10 can entree items as well. It’s great to have some quick and easy meals on hand that use very little fuel if you are just having a short term disaster type situation.

Start now, so you’ll be ready to join the fun in February. (It may take a few days to get in since it’s currently invitation only)

To let you know how it all started – here are actual excerpts of conversations between Jodi and Julie.

Last Fall
JODI: So do you know what this Pinterest thing is that everyone is doing?
JULIE: NO idea. I think you have to be invited or something.
JODI: I’ll start us an account to see if there’s anything food storage on there
JULIE: Go for it.

Just Before Christmas
JULIE: I think there’s something to this Pinterest thing, but I just don’t get it.
JODI: Ya, I started that account, but didn’t know what was going on, so it’s just sitting there.

After Christmas
JULIE: So I actually logged into Pinterest, and messed around a little. I think it might be AMAZING!
JODI: I still don’t get it

Last Week
JULIE: I’m addicted to Pinterest, and keep finding Food Storage stuff all around I want to pin.
JODI: LET’S DO IT!!!

Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests. (Like Food Storage)

I HEART PINTEREST FEBRUARY

PINS WE WILL BE SHARING

• Awesome pantries
• Shelving solutions
• Food Rotation ideas
• Recipes
• Bread tips and recipes
• Tutorials

If you’re already on Pinterest, follow us! If you’re not already on, you can request an invite from Pinterest, but your friends that are already on it can typically get you added much quicker. So, get on facebook and ask your friends to send you an invite and come join the fun. You’ll want to do this soon so you can be ready to save and pin starting February 1ST! We are so excited to show everyone how useful this will be for building their food storage (but forgive us in advance if you get addicted)

February is going to be SO fun!

p.s. If you’re not a member of Pinterest, you’ll still be able to SEE our stuff, you just wont be able to save our pins to your own personal board. So no need to feel left out

Whenever I go to the grocery store I try to grab a tub or two of sour cream, but considering I try to avoid going to the grocery store as much as possible, this never lasts for very many meals. The other day I really wanted to make poppyseed chicken, and I REALLY did not want to go to the store for sour cream, so I broke out my little pantry can of sour cream powder and decided to risk ruining the recipe with it. Well I have to say, it was a completely suitable substitution. Hurray!

Now knowing me, of course my next thought was “could I make this entire MEAL shelf stable”? That was quite the adventure but I’m happy to let you know that it is possible, and delicious. And your families will be thanking you in a powerless emergency that you can make something absolutely normal (and delicious). Please note, I do not pretend that this is a “healthy” meal, proceed with caution.

Here is the scoop on the recipe and the substitutions I made:

Poppyseed Chicken (original recipe)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds chicken, diced and boiled
2 cans cream of chicken soup
12-16 oz sour cream
1/2 cup melted butter

Topping:
1/2 cup melted butter
2 tubes ritz crackers, crushed
2 T. poppyseeds

Directions:
Combine cream of chicken soup, sour cream, and butter. Pour over cooked chicken in a 9×13 pan or a slightly smaller oval casserole dish. Combine topping ingredients in small bowl. Sprinkle over top of chicken mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until heated through. Cover with foil until the last 5 minutes or the topping may get browner than you like. Serve over rotini noodles.

Poppyseed Chicken (shelf stable version)

Ingredients:
1 qt jar home-canned chicken or 3 cups freeze-dried chicken reconstituted
2 cans cream of chicken soup (or 20 ounces bean flour cream of chicken)
1 1/2 cups sour cream powder, rehydrated with 3/4 cup water
1/2 cup butter powder, rehydrated with 1/2 cup water

Topping:
1/2 cup butter powder, rehydrated with 1/2 cup water
2 tubes ritz crackers, crushed
2 T. poppyseeds

Directions:
Combine cream of chicken soup, sour cream, and butter. I happened to be out of cream of chicken soup this day too, so I used the bean flour cream of chicken recipe doubled, and then only used 20 ounces of it. It seemed to work just fine in this recipe but I still like cans of cream of chicken for the ease on some days. Pour over chicken in a 9×13 pan or a slightly smaller oval casserole dish. Combine topping ingredients in small bowl. The rehydrated butter is a lot more runny than regular butter, but it doesn’t mix with the ritz like normal melted butter would. It ended up being more mushy rather than crumbly. Use your hands to sprinkle over top of chicken mixture as best you can. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until heated through. Cover with foil until the last 5 minutes or the topping may get browner than you like. Serve over rotini noodles.

As I am looking at this picture I realized that I think it is a picture of my ritzy potato recipe rather than poppyseed chicken, hehe, but it is quite similar ingredients and you can see the texture of the sauce and the topping made with powdered butter so I will leave it in here. That will teach me for taking a picture in my phone of a yummy recipe and then wait for months to get around to posting it on the blog! I blame my pregnant brain.