Week 3 - Breakfasts

I had a personal experience that happened to me this morning, which I hope you will not mind me relating here. It went as follows:

By the end of this weekend, Washington, D.C., will have experienced two natural disasters in a week: an unprecidented earthquake and a sizeable hurricane. My sister is living there with her husband and four young children, so I called her this morning panicked about the upcoming storm. Her words were so reassuring as she said, "Diana, we are prepared." She then continued to outline their food and water storage, their backup batteries, the gas she had put in the car last night, and all of the preparations she had undergone to make sure she and her family would be ready for the upcoming disaster, which they are told could leave them without power and water for up to two weeks. I cannot stress enough how important those words are when facing a disaster, not only for me to hear (as her worried sister in Cali), but for my sister, her husband, and their young children to know: "We are prepared."

Now, my question to you is this: Are you prepared? Are you doing what you can to prepare? Could you calm the fears of your extended family when they called, and say to them, "It's okay. We are prepared," like my sister did to me?

If you are and do and could, then THAT'S AWESOME! I'm super excited and would love to hear about your successes so I can cheer with you!

If not, then you are not alone, but do what you can now - today, this weekend, or this week - to begin. After all, it is never too late to start preparing!


In light of these thoughts, I wanted to share this week's food storage purchase idea:

1 box (2 lbs.) of Pancake Mix (add water only mixes are easiest)**
You may also want to consider purchasing maple syrup or other, storeable pancake toppers.

Regarding the pancakes:

One mix = 28 pancakes (give or take, depending on the size).
According to the box (and my husband), one serving = 3 pancakes.
But, for me (and for survival purposes) one serving = 2 pancakes.

If you prefer to eat 3 pancakes for breakfast, one box would last one person for 9.33 days.
If you prefer to eat 2 pancakes for breakfast, one box would last two people for 7 days.

So, if you are a family who likes 3 pancakes each, you will want to purchase 1 box per person in your family. If you are a family who likes 2 pancakes each, you will want to purchase 1 box for every 2 people in the family.

**As a side note, if you are interested in a coupon and you want to buy Krusteaz brand, I discovered this morning that you can register your e-mail information on the Krusteaz website (http://www.krusteaz.com/) to get a coupon for $1.00 any two Krusteaz products.

If you wish to make pancakes from scratch (I admit, I'm a bit of a food snob and prefer the homemade ones), here is my favorite family recipe for homemade pancakes:

Laurel's Pancakes

2 c. flour
5 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
3 TBSP. sugar
2-3 eggs
2/3 c. powdered milk + 2 c. water (or, just 2 c. milk)
1/3 c. shortening, melted until liquid

Blend together in order mentioned above. Cook in a nonstick frying pan on the stove. This recipe makes about 18-24 pancakes (which may be thin, but they are very filling and tasty).

If you do choose to plan for the above recipe, you will want to make sure you have the appropriate ingredients on hand. Personally, I like the recipe not only because it's yummy, but it's a great way to use up powdered milk without your kids or spouse knowing! As an added bonus, the recipe requires shortening and not butter, which makes it easier to keep the ingredients on hand for longer since they do not need to be refrigerated.


Anyhow, I hope the above information is helpful. Please let me know if you have questions, thoughts, or know of any special deals going on right now regarding these (or other) breakfast food storage ideas. You can e-mail them to me at peachwoodpantry@gmail.com.

As always, I will post any coupons/deals I find out about here, on the blog.

I look forward to hearing and cheering about your food storage successes! Happy storing!

-D. Spjute-


Notes:
The opinions expressed in this blog are the sole opinion of the author and are not meant to promote sales for any institution, nor to represent the opinions of any church, business, or institution.

Week 2 - Breakfasts

Following on from last week's message about the weekly food storage reminders, here's this week's suggested purchase item(s):

• 1 box instant oatmeal packets per member of the family. There are 8 packets per box, however, so if you have 7 family members then you really only need to purchase 6 boxes as the remaining family member can use the extra packet per box per day.
• Because these are instant, you can mix them with just water. If you do not have any water storage, it might be a good idea to consider getting some to go along with these. About 1 water bottle per box should be sufficient as it doesn't take much water per packet.

If you wish for a more homemade option because you like to cook from scratch or you have sugar/salt concerns due to health, you may want to consider buying a tube of ROLLED oats - probably about 1 tube for every 2 people in the family because in an 18 oz tube you will have 6 cups of oats (or so).

If you choose to purchase the tube of oats, you may also want to purchase some of the following to help you cook it/to add flavor:

• canned milk
• brown sugar
• cinnamon
• salt

If you've never made homemade oatmeal before, but you want to give it a try, let me suggest two starter recipes:

1. Butterscotch Oatmeal - http://allrecipes.com/recipe/butterscotch-oatmeal/detail.aspx
(I recommend you cut the sugar by half in this recipe or it is too sweet - and it may need more milk. Reading the reviews on this recipe is very helpful.)

Or, if you're someone who doesn't have time to sit down for breakfast in the morning, consider cooking your breakfasts on Sunday night and cutting it out into portions to eat in the car on the way to work. Here's a recipe, then, for such an idea -

2. Baked Oatmeal - http://allrecipes.com/recipe/baked-oatmeal-ii/detail.aspx
(This recipe is particularly good because it works well with dried fruits, so it helps to rotate through any food storage dried fruit you may have in your homes).

As a cooking note: The above recipes both require eggs and butter, which can be difficult to store long term. But, if you really, really want to be able to cook it from scratch instead of buying the instant, you can purchase canned butter and dried eggs from various online sources.

When deciding which option to choose,

please remember that whatever works best for your family's needs will be the better option.

If your family doesn't enjoy oatmeal, but you are a cereal eater, then you may want to consider purchasing more cereal this week. Many of the major grocery stores are having sales on namebrand cereals right now. Just check out their ads in the Wednesday mailer/paper to see a few. For example, SaveMart is having a sale on cereal and granola bars - $1.80 each if you purchase 5 at once. I know it is not the only store to have such a sale, and many stores will price match, so be sure to check the ads before you go out and buy! I will post any additional sale info I become aware of on the blog throughout the weekend, so you can always check that out as well if it is more convenient.

I hope all this information helps you and your family as you work towards the worthy goal of getting a useable 3-month supply of food storage in place.

Happy Storing!

Note: The opinions expressed in this e-mail are the sole opinion of the author and are not meant to promote sales for any institution, nor to represent the opinions of any church, business, or institution.

Fireside Review

Tonight, several people asked me for my whole wheat bread recipe. Originally, I got the recipe from www.allrecipes.com. But, to save you time and effort searching for it, here's a copy for you:

Simple Whole Wheat Bread

Ingredients

·         3 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

·         2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast

·         1/3 cup honey

·         5 cups bread flour

·         3 tablespoons butter, melted

·         1/3 cup honey

·         1 tablespoon salt

·         3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

·         2 tablespoons butter, melted

·        

Directions

1.       In a large bowl, mix warm water, yeast, and 1/3 cup honey. Add 5 cups white bread flour, and stir to combine. Let set for 30 minutes, or until big and bubbly.

2.       Mix in 3 tablespoons melted butter, 1/3 cup honey, and salt. Stir in 2 cups whole wheat flour. Flour a flat surface and knead with whole wheat flour until not real sticky - just pulling away from the counter, but still sticky to touch. This may take an additional 2 to 4 cups of whole wheat flour. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to coat the surface of the dough. Cover with a dishtowel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled.

3.       Punch down, and divide into 3 loaves. Place in greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pans, and allow to rise until dough has topped the pans by one inch.

4.       Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes; do not overbake. Lightly brush the tops of loaves with 2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine when done to prevent crust from getting hard.

Additionally, for those who were interested in reading the articles that I quoted from in tonight's discussion, please check them out here:

"How Beautiful to Live in These Times and Be Prepared!" by Elder F. Enzio Busche, June 1982

"Preparation for the Second Coming," by Dallin H. Oaks, April 2004 General Conference

"Prepare Ye," by President Ezra Taft Benson, January 1974 Ensign

"Prepare for the Days of Tribulation," by President Ezra Taft Benson, November 1980 Ensign