There will likely be times in most of our lives when we have some type of financial, natural, or other type of emergency where it will be helpful to have some emergency food on hand. In these times, will we know what to do with cans and cans of wheat, rice, and beans? If the idea of making cheese and sour cream from powdered milk sounds way out of your realm of comfort, you might like to look at a different method for storing food known to some as pantry cooking food storage.
Put loosely, pantry cooking is preparing meals from non-perishable items that can be kept on a shelf. More and more, this method of food storage is being used above only storing some basic ingredients like shortening, flour and sugar. If you have no idea how you would be able to use a can of wheat kernels in case of an emergency, you might try to store ingredients to make easy meals instead.
To begin, you must come up with a few menus of meals made from nonperishable foods. Some people choose to prepare menus for two weeks of pantry meals and multiply this by however many weeks you choose to store food. If you want to store two months of food, you will need about eight or nine weeks of pantry meals.
Here is an example of one simple dinner made from non-perishable ingredients:
SPAGHETTI
Dry pasta
Most dry pasta from the grocery store will last two years or more. Make sure to check the dates on the packages before you buy. Or, if you can purchase the dry pasta drypacked in a large can it will last much longer.
Spaghetti sauce
It is up to you whether you choose to buy pre-made pasta sauce in a can or jar or whether you store canned tomatoes, dried onions, and spices to make your own sauce.
Side
A can of vegetables or fruit makes an easy side.
Bread
Store the ingredients to make whatever type of bread you’d like such as biscuits, rolls, breadsticks, foccacia, etc.
Once you have come up your list of meals for two weeks, begin your shopping. You may choose to purchase a few items for your food storage every time you go to the grocery store. Or, you may save your money until you can purchase a large amount at one time. It is helpful, though, to look for sales and purchase items in bulk when you find a bargain on one item.
Related articles:
The Pantry Principle in Food Storage