52 Week Food Storage - Week #30 (Part 2)

Week # 30: 3 lbs Flavored Gelatin

Nutritional Value:

Calories: Most varieties of regular JELL-O gelatin contain 80 calories per serving, but most flavors of sugar-free JELL-O gelatin contain 10 calories per serving.
Fat: Both regular and sugar-free varieties of JELL-O gelatin are fat-free. Do not confuse JELL-O gelatin with JELL-O pudding, which does contain fat.
Carbohydrates/Sugars: Most varieties of regular JELL-O gelatin contain 19 grams of carbohydrates, all of which come from sugar. Sugar-free JELL-O gelatin, on the other hand, does not contain any carbs.
Sodium: Most varieties of regular JELL-O gelatin contain about 80 milligrams of sodium. Most types of sugar-free JELL-O gelatin contain between 45 and 55 milligrams of sodium.
Protein: Most varieties of regular JELL-O gelatin contain 2 grams of protein, while most varieties of sugar-free JELL-O gelatin contain only 1 gram of protein.
Other Nutrients: JELL-O gelatin does not contain a significant amount of any other nutrients, such as calcium, vitamin A, vitamin C, or iron, when prepared as directed on the package.

Gelatin is something you need in your short/long term food storage. You can make a lot of things with flavored gelatin besides standard Jell O.

You can make:
Jams & Jellies, all kinds of Salads, Popsicles, Candy, Cookies,
and even Bread.

Storage:
Unprepared gelatin has an indefinite shelf-life as long as it is wrapped airtight and stored in a cool, dry place.

Tips:

• To avoid clumping, dry unflavored gelatin should be mixed with a little cold water first for 3 to 5 minutes to moisten and separate before adding hot water.
• To suspend fruits, meats, or vegetables in gelatin, chill until it is the consistency of cold egg whites. Then mix in the additions and chill until completely set.
• Two hours of chilling should be enough for standard clear molds, while it may take up to 4 hours for those with additions. Layered gelatins will take longer, since each layer must be individually chilled and firmed before adding the next layer.
• Do not bring gelatin mixtures to a full boil or you risk losing its thickening properties.

52 Week Food Storage - Week #30 (Part 1)

Week # 30: 50 lbs of Flour

Flour:
Flour is made up of carbohydrates (or starch) & proteins. Of these two nutrients, protein matters most to the baker. A high percentage of protein means a harder (stronger) flour best suited to chewy, crusty breads and other yeast-risen products. Less protein means a softer flour, best for tender and chemically leavened baked goods, like pie crusts, cakes, cookies, and biscuits. Although there are many types of flour, all-purpose (or occident) flour is used most frequently. The type of flour you choose affects the texture, stability, and overall outcome of your breads, cakes, pies, and cookies. It’s also great for thickening sauces, gravies and puddings or deliciously dredging meats and vegetables prior to frying or sautéing.

What kind of flour is best?
Unless you’re an avid bread or cake baker, an all-purpose flour is probably your best choice. A combination of hard and soft wheat is milled to produce all-purpose flour. The resulting medium protein content (between 9% and 12%) offers just the right balance of strength and tenderness for the everyday baker to make chewy breads, delicate tarts and everything in between. In general, you may find that cakes made with all-purpose flour are a bit tougher and less delicate than those made with a softer pastry or cake flour. Likewise, breads made with all-purpose flour may be a bit softer and flatter than those made with bread flour. But overall, these differences should be slight for the casual baker.
So, we suggest storing all-purpose flour and then buy any other flours you like to use on top of the standard 50lbs of all-purpose flour, to make sure you’ll have plenty for your everyday cooking/baking needs. If you enjoy baking and start making breads or cakes regularly, you might want to use specialty flours. Feel free to adjust the 50 lbs accordingly for the types of flours you will be using. After all we do not want you to waste any food, make sure you’re rotating through all of your food, ingredients and supplies.

Bread Flour vs. All-Purpose Flour
read flour is a high-gluten flour that has very small amounts of malted barley flour and vitamin C or potassium bromate added. The barley flour helps the yeast work, and the other additive increases the elasticity of the gluten and its ability to retain gas as the dough rises and bakes. Bread flour is called for in many bread and pizza crust recipes where you want the loftiness or chewiness that the extra gluten provides. It is especially useful as a component in rye, barley and other mixed-grain breads, where the added lift of the bread flour is necessary to boost the other grains.

All-purpose flour is pre-sifted and versatile enough to use in everything from hearty breads to delicate tarts. All-purpose flour is made from a blend of high- and low-gluten wheats, and has a bit less protein than bread flour — 11% or 12% vs. 13% or 14%. You can always substitute all-purpose flour for bread flour, although your results may not be as glorious as you had hoped. There are many recipes, however, where the use of bread flour in place of all-purpose will produce a tough, chewy, disappointing result. Cakes, for instance, are often made with all-purpose flour, but would not be nearly as good made with bread flour.

Do I need Bread Flour?
All purpose flour is fine as long as it is unbleached as bleaching weakens the protein which is needed to give a good texture or crumb to the bread. Bread flour has higher protein and will make a chewier bread.

Buying Flour
To choose the right package size for your needs, keep in mind there are about 3½ cups of flour per pound, so a five-pound bag contains approximately 17½ cups.

Storing Flour Warning
Room temperature: Store in an airtight container for up to a year. White flour never really spoils, but the longer it sits, the more susceptible it is to kitchen pests. Try putting a few bay leaves in the container to keep them away.

According to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, some dry products may not be suitable for longer-term storage because it may go rancid, including: Flour. View this PDF document for the full details.
Refrigerator or Freezer: Can be stored indefinitely packed in airtight containers or freezer bags. The flour will not freeze solid, but plan to take it out a few hours before using to bring it down to room temperature.

Smell
It should smell and taste “wheaty,” not musty or stale.

Measuring

In the picture - from top to bottom: whole wheat pastry flour, unbleached all purpose flour, whole wheat flour and chapati flour.

Unless your recipe calls for it, no sifting is required. Just fluff the flour in the container with a metal spoon and lightly sprinkle into a dry-ingredient measuring cup. Without tapping or shaking the cup, scrape off the excess with a straight-edge spatula or knife. Measuring this way should yield a cup of flour that weighs about four ounces.

Substitution Ideas
If a recipe calls for a certain type of flour and you only have all-purpose on hand:
• Use one tablespoon more per cup when making breads.
• Use one tablespoon less per cup when making cookies and biscuits.
• Recipes calling for self-rising flour: add 1½ teaspoons of baking powder and ½ teaspoon of salt to each cup of all-purpose.

52 Week Food Storage - Week #29 (Part 2)

Week # 29: 8 lbs Peanut Butter

8 lbs Peanut Butter:
Peanut butter is a food paste made from ground roasted peanuts. It is popular throughout the world and used mainly as a sandwich spread.

Health Benefits:
Peanut butter may protect against a high risk of cardiovascular disease due to high levels of monounsaturated fats and resveratrol; butter prepared with the skin of the peanuts has a greater level of resveratrol and other health-aiding agents.[1] Peanut butter (and peanuts) provide protein, vitamins B3 and E, magnesium, folate, dietary fiber, arginine,[2] and high levels of the antioxidant p-coumaric acid.
A peanut butter based food helps children with malnutrition in famine stricken countries, it’s called Plumpy’nut. It can be stored unrefrigerated for 2 years, and requires no cooking or preparation. Plumpy’nut, which comes in a silvery foil package the size of two grasping baby-size hands, is 500 calories of fortified peanut butter, a beige paste about as thick as mashed potatoes and stuffed with milk, vitamins and minerals.

Health Concerns:
For people with a peanut allergy, peanut butter can cause reactions including anaphylactic shock which has led to its banning in some schools. At least one study has found that peanut oil caused relatively heavy clogging of arteries. Peanut butter can also harbor salmonella and cause salmonellosis, as in the salmonella outbreak in the United States in 2007.

Storage:
Homemade peanut butter should be refrigerated in tightly-sealed containers and ideally used within a couple of weeks. Turn the container upside-down occasionally to help redistribute the oils.
Natural peanut butters should be refrigerated after opening and can be kept up to six months.
Commercial varieties require no refrigeration, can be kept up to six months after opening. Unopened jars can be stored up to one year in a cool, dark location.
Peanut butter is not a good candidate for freezing.

Can I store Peanut Butter in Bulk? (By BulkPeanutButter.com) It’s a good idea to break up the bulk container into smaller ones that you can keep them safely in your cupboard. This will ensure that it’s locked away from pests while at the same time, making it easy for you to take out a new jar each time the old one gets over.
Warning: Peanuts are susceptible to mycotoxins out of which aflatoxins are the most well known. The key to good peanut butter storage is to ensure that it’s not kept in a place that is liable to get wet or humid. Peanut butter should always be stored in air tight containers that are made of plastic or or metal to so that rats can’t get a whiff of the juicy stuff!

Other Great Uses:
A common, simple outdoor bird feeder can be made by coating a pine cone once with peanut butter, then again with birdseed.
Peanut butter is an effective bait for mouse traps.

52 Week Food Storage - Week #29 (IPart 1)

Week # 29: 3 quarts Mayonnaise

3 quarts Mayonnaise:
Mayo is a thick condiment. Made primarily from vegetable oil and egg yolks. Whitish-yellow in color, it is a stable emulsion formed from the oil and the yolks. Mayonnaise is a good source of vitamin E, depending upon the type of oil used. The fats in mayo come from eggs, which aren’t that bad for you. And fat is one of the three essential parts to any diet. Just remember to keep things in moderation.

Storage:
Mayo is very sensitive to storage conditions. Mayo turns bad fast in any heat, as a rule. Pay attention to the USE BY dates for mayo. It’s generally ok of it’s a few months past, but not much more than that. The mayo containers will usually be dated 6-12 month’s out from the day you purchased it.
This is definitely a food item you’ll want to rotate through the pantry and also be sure to stock ingredients for homemade mayo, however, homemade only keeps safely in the fridge for 2 or 3 days.
* Store in cool, dry area.
* Storage time shown is for best quality only — after that, the mayonnaise’s texture, color or flavor may change, but in most cases, it will still be safe to consume if it has been stored properly and the package is not damaged. But we make no promises so taste it with caution if you dare after the expiry or use by date.
* If mayonnaise develops an off odor, flavor or appearance, it should be discarded for quality purposes.
* “Best By,” “Best if Used By,” and “Use By” dates on commercially packaged foods sold in the United States represent the manufacturer’s estimate of how long the product will remain at peak quality — in most cases, the unopened mayonnaise will still be safe to consume after that date, as long as it has been stored properly and the package is not damaged.

Little Mayo Packets:

I think the packaging for the single-serve sizes degrades pretty rapidly. So they are NOT a good long term storage solution.

Mayo Ideas:
Some ideas on how we can use mayo.
Tuna salad.
Chicken salad.
Egg salad.
Bread spread for sandwiches (one of my babysitters used to fix white-bread-mayonnaise-cracker sandwiches)
Substitute for butter on garlic bread
Ground with cooked meat and pickled vegetables for sandwiches.
Fruit salad.
Potato salad.
Scalloped potatoes
Pasta salad.
Pasta puttanesca.
Broccoli-rice casserole
That artichoke/spinach/parmesan hot spread.
Slaw if you like it (personally, I don’t)
Chocolate cake.
Coating for fried or oven-fried items (to stick on the spiced crumbs/meal and the parmesan)
Yeah, it’s easy to think of ways to use it up right now. But when you have a load of stress and disaster strikes it’s gonna be pretty difficult for most?

Substitutions: 

• 1/2 cup plain nonfat yogurt + 1/2 cup fat-free mayonnaise = 1 cup low-fat mayonnaise
• 1 cup fat-free or reduced-fat sour cream = 1 cup low-fat mayonnaise

No Egg Real Mayonnaise Recipe
* 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
* 1 cup oil

Directions
1. Using a food processor or
2. good hand blender or mixer, mix:
3. Mustard, salt, pepper, and 2 Tablespoons oil.
4. Keeping the blender on high, add lemon juice and in a very slow stream, the rest of the oil.
5. This should all at once get thick and turn white.
6. Immediately, turn off blender.