Fruits and Vegetables

Canned/Bottled

You can bottle a wide variety of things such as salsa, pie fillings, applesauce, juice, spaghetti sauce, almost any fruit or vegetable, pickles, all sorts of jams and jellies, etc.
If you can get fresh fruits/vegetables for free or at a significant discount, then canning them yourself can save you a LOT of money over cans from the store.
Home-bottled foods have less preservatives, taste better, and you can adjust the amounts of sugar you use to fit your family’s preferences. So we feel like it is worth it to can them on your own even if you have to purchase the produce.
Bottling can be a fun bonding experience with friends/family and also it is a great way to build up your whole year supply of items all at one time.
If you choose to purchase cans of fruits and vegetables, you can either purchase a extra few cans each time you shop until you have built up your year supply or stock up when there are good sales.

Frozen
If you have an extra freezer then frozen fruits and vegetables are another great option. If there is a water shortage then you don’t want to have all your foods be dehydrated.
Freezing produce takes much less time and preparation than home bottling, and can often be done using less sugar or other preservatives.
If you don’t have home-grown foods, you can purchase fresh produce in bulk to freeze, or simply buy bags of frozen fruits and vegetables and try to use sales and coupons.

Growing your own Fruits and vegetabes

We HIGHLY recommend learning to grow your own foods. This can range from just planting a peach tree and growing some tomatoes in a container, to a full-fledged farm-type situation.
Our favorite method to use for growing vegetables is square foot gardening which allows you to grow a LOT of veggies in a small space.
If you have space and don’t mind the mess fruit trees and vines can be a great cost-savings. You can also try to ask neighbors with fruit trees if you can pick their excess fruit.

Dehydrated
Dehydrated fruit makes a great snack with things like banana chips, craisins, dried apples, etc.
Dehydrated vegetables are wonderful additions to soups/stews. Items such as dehydrated onions can save you time and hassle in your everyday cooking.
You can purchase a food dehydrator like this one, or learn to make your own here.
If you don’t want to go through the hassle of dehydrating foods on your own, you can purchase a lot of the items at stores like Emergency Essentials.


Key Points:
Never run out of eggs again! The cans come with an average the equivalent of 226 eggs (18 dozen) in them.
They are cheaper-The average price for powdered eggs is $17.00 which makes a dozen eggs 94 cents!
Very EASY to use. The conversion is 1 T. egg powder + 2 T. water for a medium egg and 2 T. egg powder + 1/4 c. water for an extra large egg. (Remember that there are 16 T. in 1 C. to make multiple egg conversion easier) When baking you do not need to re-hydrate the eggs before adding to your mix, simply add the needed egg powder and needed water to your mix and proceed as your recipe outlines!
My other FAVORITE thing about them is that you can make a 1/2 egg with out the mess. Translation: halfing recipes calling for an odd number of eggs just got a whole lot easier!
Helpful Recipes for using Powdered Eggs:
Blender Crepes: An easy recipe for using your powdered eggs in breakfast foods.

French Toast with Orange Syrup: It’s easy to use powdered eggs even in things like french toast!

Other Resources for Powdered Eggs:

Breakfast Handout-Download my breakfast handout for more great information about eggs. Feel free to use it for yourself or to pass along to others.
Coming Soon! Visit my sister site, The Obsessive Shopper.NET for information on where to purchase powdered eggs.

Baking Ingredients

Fats and Oil

Salad Dressings can be store bought and stored, or you can make your own oil and vinegar-based, or mayonnaise-based dressings with items you have on hand in your food storage. Be aware of expiration dates on store bought salad dressings.
Cooking Oil such as canola, or vegetable oil can be used in most bread recipes. Unless they have been specially treated, *unopened* cooking oils have a shelf life of about a year.
Shortening has a longer shelf life than oils, it is reasonable to expect an unopened metal can of shortening to have a shelf life of eight to ten years if kept reasonably cool, particularly if it has preservatives in it.
Mayonnaise can be used in baked dishes, pasta salads, salad dressings, and much more. Although it isn’t necessary to sustain life, it sure makes things taste better. Mayonnaise has a shelf life of 2-3 months.
Peanut Butter provides protein and monounsaturated fats (the good fat). Peanut butter has a shelf life of 6-9 months.

Sugars

Powdered Fruit Drink comes in many different flavors and can be used in daily use and in times of emergency as stored water can have a funny taste. Powdered drink mixes can be stored for up to 3 years if unopened.
Brown Sugar can be used in many baked goods and even some bread recipes. It can be stored up to 6 months. Be careful to seal it tightly between uses if you have opened your sugar .
Molasses and Corn Syrup are used as sweeteners in many recipes. Store according to your families needs. Molasses may be something you have never used, nor ever will use. If this is the case, don’t feel the need to store it.
Flavored Gelatin is used in molded desserts and salads and to thicken cold soups.
Jams or Preserves is covered in Baby Step 8 (Fruits and Vegetables)
Granulated Sugar is used in almost all food storage recipes and is very important to store. Sugar has a shelf life of 20+years.
Honey is another sweetener found in a lot of food storage recipes. Honey is more expensive then sugar and usually acts as a substitute for sugar in breads. Some people feel it is healthier to use honey than sugar.
Milk:

Milk

Nonfat Dry Milk is much cheaper then regular milk. To make your nonfat milk taste better, try adding 1 tsp of sugar, and 1 tsp of vanilla to a gallon.

This tip is from the author at everydayfoodstorage.net. She let us taste it at her house and it was actually GOOD!
Evaporated Milk can be stored in cans, or made from nonfat dry milk. To make a 12 oz can of evaporated milk from dry milk, mix 1-1/2 C. Water and 1/2 C. + 1 T. Dry Powdered Milk and blend very well. For more tips on using dry milk to make sweetened condensed milk and buttermilk click here.
Helpful Recipes for Using Powdered Milk:
Sweetened Condensed Milk: Yes, you can make sweetened condensed milk from your powdered milk, this recipe also has a how-to video!
Evaporated Milk: Amazing, right? You can also make evaporated milk.

Magic Mix: A Magic Mix that allows you to make white sauces VERY easily. Learn how to make it into a delicious mac ‘n cheese or my FAVORITE pudding!

Condensed Soups from Magic Mix: Learn how to make your own condensed soups from magic mix.
Making DELICIOUS drinkable Powdered Milk: Think powdered milk is gross? Well try these tips! More Resources for Powdered Milk:

Powdered Milk Conversion Chart- Print out my conversion chart for using regular non-instant powdered milk (if you are using instant you’ll just need to double the amount of dry powdered milk on the chart) to use powdered milk in your cooking. There are four to a page so make sure you share them with your friends!

Powdered MIlk Handout-A useful handout to use for yourself, friends, or classes about powdered milk.
Coming Soon! Buying Powdered Milk- For more information on buying powdered milk, visit my sister site The Obsessive Shopper.NET


Miscellaneous

Baking Soda, Salt and Baking Powder are used in most recipes and if unopened have indefinite shelf lives.
Active dry yeast is the form of yeast most commonly available to noncommercial bakers, as well as the yeast of choice for situations where long travel or uncontrolled storage conditions are likely.
Instant yeast appears similar to active dry yeast, but has smaller granules with substantially higher percentages of live cells. It is more perishable than active dry yeast, but also does not require rehydration, and can usually be added directly to all but the driest doughs.

This is my quilting section, if you don't have a
hobby pick one up, quilting is a good one.

Met Carrie Nelson, Owner of Miss Rosie Quilt patterns
Quilt maker and designer
she made front cover of this month April Issue of
American Patchwork and Quilting Magazine, Well her quilt did.
Below are some of the quilts she made.