You need to plan your food storage in terms of what you can actually DO with the items. Wheat won’t do you any good if you don’t have other baking supplies needed to make edible foods with it. Using information from the book Marlene’s magic with food storage As a general guideline, I have compiled a list of different foods that you can cook based on the items you currently have in your food storage. This should be a starting point for anyone when determining which items to start stockpiling or to see which items to add to really improve their food choices.
I would suggest getting a 3 month supply of all of these items first and then moving on to a full year of food. You don’t want to end up with a year’s supply of wheat and not be able to make even a loaf of bread because you don’t have the other ingredients.
Foods You Can Make Using Common Food Storage Items
If you ONLY have: Water, wheat, salt, butter or oil
Can you do:
- Sprouted wheat
- Cooked broken wheat
- Cooked whole wheat
- Wheatgrass
- Gluten (a strange bread-like food that has a very high protein content)
- Tortillas
Just add: Powdered milk, powdered eggs, honey or sugar, flour
And you can do the above items PLUS:
- Wheat pudding
- German pancakes
- Crepes
- Pasta
Just add: Yeast, baking powder, baking soda
And you can do the above items PLUS:
- Puddings / custard
- Pancakes
- Some varieties of cookies
- waffles
- Muffins / English muffins
- Breads
- Biscuits
- Some varieties of cookies
Just add: Tomatoes, powdered butter and cheese, unflavored gelatin, canned milk, canned fruits
And you can do the above items PLUS:
- Meatless dinners
- Meatless pans
- Creamy sauces
- Jelly salads
- Whipped cream desserts
- Baby formula
Just add: Rice, beans, beef / chicken broth, canned meats, dried potatoes, dehydrated vegetables
And you can do the above items PLUS:
- Many large chunky soups
- chili
- Refried beans
- Rice dinners
- Rice pudding
- Sandwiches
- Many different dinners and stews.
Just add: Extras such as Oats, Raisins, Nuts, Spices, Juices, Peanut Butter, Tarter Cream, etc.
And you can do the above items PLUS:
- A wide variety of almost any type of food you would like to cook
Resume
As you can see, with a little planning (and a fabulous food storage recipe book on hand), you can be sure that you can create healthy, filling, and comforting meals for your family in the event of a true emergency. It will also help to start using and rotating these foods in your daily kitchen so that you can find the recipes your family likes, get them used to eating these foods, and make sure all of your storage stays at its utmost freshness.
