# Prepping for Meals



## homegrownrose (Mar 24, 2016)

We have been building our food stockpile for a while now, and we have a lot of items that can be "make do" food for a good long while. That said, I want to make it as appealing as possible, and help my family feel contented and happy with their meals as well. 

For example, while I am separating out 50 lbs of rice (not all of our rice, but our most recent purchase) and sealing in vacuum bags, I am going to add boullion and herbs so that we get a flavorful rice, and not just something to fill the belly. I am going to be doing the same thing with a separate little baggie of spices for each pound of beans. Beans and rice are some of our every day staples here anyway (we have it about every 2-3 weeks), so this won't be a new addition to our diet, and we know how we like to prepare them. This will make sure we have those supplies set aside just for that particular meal. 

I am wanting to make up a list of meals we can choose from with our food stores to make it easy (and also to make it possible for the family to prepare meals if I am unwell or unavailable to cook). I figure this will also give me a better idea of how much food we have stored, what we still need, how many different meals we can have in X # of months/years/etc. 

Does anyone else do it this way? What combinations/meals have you managed to pair up?


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## sideKahr (Oct 15, 2014)

I've got a lot of:

Chilli con carne with potatoes (canned or dehydrated)
Spaghetti with meatless sauce in glass
Corned beef hash
Irish soda bread sandwiches
...PB+J, canned chicken, spam
Mac and cheese with spam
Baked beans and spam
Rice and beans with spam
Spam, spam, spam, spam, lemonaide and spam

Hey, it's not gourmet, but I'll live.


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

Keeping things as normal as possible is especially important if children are in the family. Meals can be slowly trimmed down if rationing is necessary.


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

Bouillon cubes, if that is what you are referring to have a short shelf life, they do rot.
I would not store them in the same packaging as the rice, better to freeze them right away and let the discard clock start after thawing.
I have every sort of dried herb and spice stored except for saffron.
I have 20 large jars of Skippy PB in the freezer also, 
That large freezer also contains, 5 years of our personal meds, factory 500 count containers of four major antibiotics, analgesics, and non GMO seeds. 
The seeds are focused on corn, potatoes, beans, that is what grows best for us in this region.
I do not pair up food items, I will draw from stores what is needed for a given meal.
With our diet, nothing that has been unsealed will go bad before it is consumed, we are not fancy eaters either.
Leftovers will go to the dogs and cats.
Whole dried corn will be cracked and fed to the chickens.
Like SideKhar, plenty of spam, about 200 cans of it, the oldest is rotated out and fed to the dogs once a month.


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## 1skrewsloose (Jun 3, 2013)

Day to day eating, I keep beans and rice separate from the spices. Ask the family what flavor they want and use those spices. I can and do eat rice almost everyday, but not the same flavor all the time.


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## ND_ponyexpress_ (Mar 20, 2016)

stock up ramen seasoning packets.. already sealed and a variety of flavors..


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## Slippy's-Attorney (Sep 23, 2015)

Be careful what you add to rice... by itself rice will last for about 3.2 million years... but if the herbs or other things start getting rancid, or have spoilage...your rice will also get bad... I would recommend stocking the other things but not ADDING them into the rice


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## homegrownrose (Mar 24, 2016)

All good points. So- I guess I'm thinking of it as a DIY rice-a-roni type product. We would go through it in less than 5 years I'm sure, whether there is a SHTF situation or not.... think it would last that long?


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## Illini Warrior (Jan 24, 2015)

SOCOM42 said:


> Bouillon cubes, if that is what you are referring to have a short shelf life, they do rot.
> I would not store them in the same packaging as the rice, better to freeze them right away and let the discard clock start after thawing.
> I have every sort of dried herb and spice stored except for saffron.
> I have 20 large jars of Skippy PB in the freezer also,
> ...


EXACTLY why you don't see the professional food packers offering anything - you actually have enough contamination you probably have a worthless food pack .....


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## Illini Warrior (Jan 24, 2015)

homegrownrose said:


> All good points. So- I guess I'm thinking of it as a DIY rice-a-roni type product. We would go through it in less than 5 years I'm sure, whether there is a SHTF situation or not.... think it would last that long?


5 years and under isn't worth doing that much packing commotion - rice would be OK just sitting on the shelf in the same packaging you bought in the store .... you're talking pantry rotation


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## Tennessee (Feb 1, 2014)

Since it’s the two of us that live here full time we tried the “store what you eat food” plan and it just didn’t work for us. Couldn’t recycle the food fast enough to keep the food from going bad/out of date. So now we only store long term foods like; rice, beans and freeze dried foods/meals in #10 cans. We are storing foods that will last at least 25 years. The freeze dried food will supplement the rice, beans and others. The freeze dried meals will be a treat when rice and beans become the main stay. We also store freeze dried items that can be added to the rice and beans that will make them taste better. We have tried most of the freeze dried meals that we stored and I can guarantee you when the SHTF we will eating a lot better than most.

Just the other day I took one of the freeze dried meals with us on a family camping trip so everyone could try it and all the grandkids said it was really good and even asked for more.

I be the first to admit they don’t taste like home cooking but some of them are not that bad.


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## Auntie (Oct 4, 2014)

I would put the seasoning in packets and put those in a #10 can. Then you can pull out what rice and/or beans you need and a seasoning packet. Less work, less chance of things going bad.


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## baldman (Apr 5, 2016)

I want to plant wild rice around the outside of ponds.I have to learn more first.


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## Moonshinedave (Mar 28, 2013)

Rice and beans is without a doubt the two mainstays of long term food storage,least for me. Both go with about anything, and turns a little something into a lot of something, very important.


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## Annie (Dec 5, 2015)

if possible, store what you like to eat. I like Wendy Dewitt's plan (youtube clip below). I think it makes a lot of sense. So I'm modeling my own one year plan after her's.

Our main meals so far-

Breakfasts:

1. Oatmeal

2. pancakes (2 days per week)

3. Rice pudding

4. Cream of Wheat

5. Granola

6. Tapioca pudding

7. Corned beef hash

Lunch: Homemade Bread w/butter or peanut butter and or jelly

1. Spaghetti with Italian sausage and red sauce

2. Stagg Chili and bottled meat over Mexican rice

3. 16 bean soup with ham and potatoes

4. Tuna Helper and canned tuna

5. Chicken soup and dumplings

6. Sweet and sour pork with rice

7. Stew and mashed potatoes






If we have to go beyond one year it's beans and rice and what comes out of the garden by hook or by crook.


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