Forever Food Storage, Never Rotate, Butter

The next few posts will be things that once you store correctly, you never need to rotate.  They can sit on your shelf until your great-great-grandkids find it and wonder what other crazy things you have on your shelves.

Oil is such an important part of food storage.  It has been told that during WWII those on the run, or those suffering in consentration camps, craved butter.  Fat feeds your brain and regulates hormones. 

Clarified, canned butter, also know as Ghee, is perfect.  A healthy oil that is choleserol free. Once stored correctly it will never go bad.  It will be priceless if, when, we have to rely on our food storage.

Clarified butter is really soft and sort of grainy when cool.  It melts at a lower temperature (70 degrees) but othere than those differences it can be used just like everyday butter/margarine.  It smells delicious, but doesn't have a lot of flavor so I like to add a little salt when I use ghee.

You can buy commurcially prepared butter, but it is expensive and just as easy to do at home.  Set a goal to can 1 lb. of butter a week until you have a couple of gallons.  I'll tell you about other oils to add soon. 

The instructions follow.  Be patient with yourself.  You might mess up a couple of times.  It's okay.

Materials needed:        

ü Heavy bottomed pot with tall sides because the butter splatters some as it boils. 

ü 1lb of butter.  I use unsalted but have been told it doesn’t matter.  The actual instructions say to use “organic butter from pasture fed cows” but I think $1.50 butter works just as well as $5.00 butter.

ü Cheese cloth or a fine, wire strainer

ü Container to store your butter.  Any clean container with a lid will work.  This does NOT need to be sealed like other canned foods.  I use an empty mayo or peanut butter jar that has been cleaned out real well and is completely dry.  I just add the next layer until it is full.

Instructions:        

v Put the butter in the pot and place it on the burner.  Turn the burner on to its lowest possible setting that will still melt the butter.  Mine is the “R” on WARM. 

v Set your timer for 50-60 minutes.  It will take trial and error to know how long it takes.  Too short and it wont set up, too long and it is ruined.

v DO NOT STIR, AT ALL.  White, foamy, yuck will rise to the top and gritty stuff will sink to the bottom.  This is the stuff that you’ll strain off in the end. 

v You know it is done when the white, foamy, yuck turns gold and crispy.  Brown and crispy is a sign of over done.  Everything needs to be a beautiful golden yellow color. 

v Slowly pour contents through several layers of cheese cloth or through your fine wire strainer.  The oil is VERY, VERY, VERY HOT so be sure you strain it into a container that can handle the heat until it has a chance to cool down.  Let it cool down at least 1 hour before pouring it into any plastic container. 

If you have questions or would like a demonstration please call:

Brenda Burrup, brendaburrup@q.com

What to do with a Wheat Berry.

Whole Wheat Pilaf:

• 2 Cups whole wheat, wash several times then
• Add 6 Cups of cold water, let stand in cool place for 24 hours
• Cook in crock-pot for 10-12 hours then
• Melt ¼ lb butter in a skillet and
• Add 1 large onion, chopped fine
• Simmer for 30 minutes, do NOT brown
• Add to wheat and cook for 2 more hours

Makes a lot, very tasty and keeps in freezer well.

You can freeze it in portions and add it to casseroles with, or instead of, meat. 

Seed Sale at IFA

Corene just informed us that IFA is selling seed packs 10 for $1!!!!!!!!! Sale goes through March 15.  I know where I'm headed tomorrow.

Wheat! I Had No Idea!

Kamut and Spelt are the originals

They are the same today as they were 3,000 plus years ago.  Purists only use these two because they have not been genetically altered, that also makes them more expensive.  I have been told that these two are easier to digest.

Red and White Wheat

These are available from the Dry Pack Cannery for about $8.00 per 25 lb bag.  Most common question at the Cannery:  “What is the difference between Red and White wheat?”  You seem to get more flour from the White wheat but when it comes to taste I found that some people were really passionate about their Red (heavy and lots of flavor) and some about the White (lighter, more pastry like).

A Year’s Supply of Food for Under $10.00

One 25lb bag of wheat IF SPROUTED will keep a person alive for 1 year.  That’s eating less than ¼ cup of sprouts a day.  If you haven’t done any long term storage and your goal is to get a year’s supply then start by going to the cannery and buying one bag of wheat for each person in your family and learn how to sprout.  Then you can honestly say you have enough to keep you alive for a year BUT BY ALL MEANS KEEP ADDING TO YOUR STORAGE!

Suggested Reading

The Sprouting Book by Ann Wigmore.  ISBN 0-89529-246-7.  I feel any family that stores whole grains for a time of scarcity should have this book with their supplies even if they don’t read it until that day comes.

Storing your Grains

The Church recommends storing your grain in different ways.  Here are the most common.

Cans:  You can go to the cannery and seal your grains in #10 cans with oxygen absorbers.  This is great and virtually impervious to any elements but your grain will also be unsproutable.

Buckets:  The only thing I really do is put about a cup of salt in a brown paper bag in the center of the bucket to help absorb any moisture that might be in the air.  If you are worried about bugs (weevils eat the wheat germ also rendering your wheat unsproutable, but they are protein J ) you could add diatomatious (sp?) earth to your bucket or I have heard of people lining the bottom and top of their buckets with bay leaves. 

Amount to Store

The Church recommends:  400 lbs of grain:  wheat, corn, rice, oatmeal, etc. per person.

If you ration this out that might give you enough wheat for a dinner roll every day. 

Survivalists recommend:  400 lbs of wheat per person and then storing different grains in addition.  This, rationed out, will give you enough wheat for a small loaf of bread per person per day and adding different grains gives you more energy.



Time to Prune

‘Tis late winter and that means pruning season.  Whatever you are pruning, fruit trees, berry bushes, roses or any sort of bush, you can get free instructions on the web.  You can also go to the Stake Peach Orchard, they have excellent demonstrations on how to prune their trees and what you learn can be applied to what you have in your yard.  It is also my understanding that we have some amazing gardeners in our ward.  I’m too new to know who they are so I’m hoping you will respond and tell us who we might call for some more personal advice.  I am always happy to come and offer my amateur tips.

I love pruning.  It is so helpful for the plant and it is a miracle that cutting away parts of a plant actually make it stronger and more beautiful.  I also love that it’s kind of hard to mess up too bad.  Plants are usually very forgiving and you can ALWAYS learn from your mistakes and try again next year.

Don’t have the time to research?  Tip 1:  Leave space for the fruit, if you have branches too close together to let the fruit grown properly then get rid of one of the branches.  Tip 2:  Can you reach the fruit?  Unless the tree is old or already taller than you, you can cut the little branches within reaching distance.  Tip 3:  Drive the neighborhood and see what they should look like.  I love driving down 700 East between 3100 and 2700 N.  There are fruit trees and berry bushes getting pruned right now close enough to the road for all to see.

March's focus: FOOD STORAGE

"Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing, and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God" (D&C 109:88)

This month we are going to sort of focus on food storage, but we'll talk about anything and everything that YOU want to talk about.  We have a canning date at the Ogden Home Storage Center on Saturday, March 19, at 1pm.  We have 1 station for 1 hour, but things have been so slow there that we can probably stay longer or take another station if we need to.

I worked in the office of that cannery every Saturday for a year during the last "panic".  It was so much fun and easy.  If you've ever wanted to serve a mission close to home on your schedule then the cannery is a great place.

If you go to providentliving.org and follow the links to food storage order form then you can see the offerings at the cannery.  Some of the tasty favorites are the apple slices and hot cocoa.  If you want some products then fill out the order form and give it to me with a signed, blank check.  It needs to be blank because they are sometimes out of some things or their prices change without notice.  I've done this a lot and can tell you that blank checks are by far the easiest and most efficient way to do this.  You get copies of all receipts so you know I've been honest.

For the record, I'm new to blogging, so .  . . be paitent and participate.  Send me any pictures and posts you would like to add.  Or you can just comment under the post.  Also, if you have anything around the house you want to get rid of you can offer it to the ward members here.  We had one of these in our last ward and it was a great success.