Well last night I was going to be a good girl and try to make a total food storage dinner, but then my hubby's buddy came over with steaks to barbecue, and my plans happily went into the fridge! I was planning a larger portion of the mac and cheese, and a hamburger wheat casserole.
The mac and cheese didn't come out exactly the same as the smaller portion I had made for lunch. I think I had too much nutmeg in it. I'll put the recipe for the smaller portion at the bottom of the post, and when I get the "family sized" one figured out properly, I'll post that as well. It was still good, just had an obvious nutmeg flavor, LOL!
The hamburger wheat casserole recipe came from the Shelf Reliance website (we're dealers for their food storage products - great stuff!). It uses cooked wheat berries which are the whole wheat "seed" before it is ground into flour or anything. There's different ways to cook them, like slow cooker on low all night or you can even boil water and put the water and wheat berries in a thermos overnight and they will be ready in the morning (just make sure to leave enough room for expansion - they really expand!). All the recipes I've seen say to use twice as much water as wheat berries.
Since I hadn't thought far enough ahead to have wheat berries already cooked, I decided to boil them on the stove. And then I wasn't sure if I was supposed to have 2 cups of cooked wheat berries for the recipe, or to cook 2 cups of raw wheat berries (which would yield like 4 cups cooked) so I went for the big amount. Boiled for a long time, but they got soft. Now they're in the fridge waiting for me to finish the casserole tonight.
Messing with the wheat berries reminded me of a cereal we used to eat when Jeff & I were first married. We did the thermos trick with the wheat berries, and they would still be warm in the morning, and we'd put them in a bowl with a little milk and sugar, and eat them just like any other cereal. So this morning, my little girl and I had some of them for breakfast that way, and even though they were cold from the fridge, it was still great. She didn't get much sugar, LOL, but she still asked for seconds! That's a good sign!
I think it's awesome to find ways to use the grains without having to grind them into flour first! I'm also going to try soaking and sprouting the wheat berries and see if that still works for a good-tasting breakfast cereal, since it would be WAY more healthy for you than cooked. Keep you posted on that one!
So tonight I will finish up the casserole. Using freeze-dried hamburger in it (could also have used home-canned hamburger, and I've got a friend who says she home dehydrates hamburger all the time), and everything else I think will be food storage. It uses shredded cheese on top, and I have freeze-dried shredded cheese, but I will probably use fresh cheese and just grate it myself, and save my FD stash for when the crud hits the fan and I have absolutely no other option!
One of the big things going on is that my mom and I are going to check out a canning machine for sealing #10 cans from her church (she is LDS) and do a big canning day at my house. She is 82 and appreciates the economy of buying dry goods in big bulk bags (like 25- and 50-pound bags) but she just can't work with quantities that big, so we will be canning stuff up in the #10 cans for her like rice, flour, sugar, beans, oats, etc. I'm still trying to decide what I will be putting up in them, since it does cost for the cans (I think it's $1 per can), and they are not necessary to keeping foods safe and secure. Gotta weigh the convenience versus the cost, and I am sure I will do some just to have the experience (probably some bulk dehydrated apples at least) but I'm not sure we want to divert our food funds to #10 cans.
We will also be inviting friends and family over to do this with us, as we really believe it's in everyone's best interests for as many people in our area to be prepared as possible. Less people knocking on your door later if they're prepared now. And it is a blessing to be able to use this canner and have this opportunity, so we want to spread that blessing around as much as possible.
In case anyone is interested, it is possible to buy already-canned items from the LDS church either over the internet or from a local cannery and the prices seem to be better than I've seen anywhere else. There's just not much selection - literally only about 15 items. But what they have is VERY good priced. I will try to post links tonight for the online ordering and the list of canneries. If you want to purchase from a cannery, make sure you call first, because each one has different policies, and some won't sell to non-church members at all, some want you to come with a member, and others have days or times that they are open to the public. So just call! And if your cannery is one that requires you to have a member "sponsor" you, look up your local LDS congregation (called a Ward) and call them and just explain that you're interested in food storage, and the cannery, and is there a time when members will be going over there and could you join them. They will probably be SUPER helpful.
So, that is what is happening so far today! I'll post more tonight after dinner and let you know how the casserole went!
Small-Portion Mac and Cheese
2 oz macaroni pasta (uncooked)
1 TBLS butter (you can use butter powder or margarine powder or probably even Crisco in a pinch)
1/2 tsp flour
1/4 c milk (for powdered, use 1 TBLS +1/4 c water)
1 TBLS cheese blend powder
cayenne pepper
nutmeg
Salt the pasta water well and cook the pasta. Drain, but reserve 1/4 c of the water, and set pasta aside.
Melt butter, slowly whisk in the flour, then add the milk to make a basic white sauce. Add the cheese blend powder, and a tiny pinch of each of the spices. If the sauce is too thick, add some of the reserved pasta water to thin it. Using the pasta water will help the sauce to cling to the macaroni, as it has the starch in it.
The first time I did this, I added a little more flour, and a little more milk so there was more quantity of the sauce. It turned out AMAZING!
Tracey
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