Convenience Food....in your Pantry.!

I glanced at my Facebook page one day and saw a plea from my very pregnant daughter. She was under the weather and posted a plea for homemade Chicken Soup.  She was mostly kidding, but I was in a position to make some for her.

I had everything and didn't have to go to the store....I just love that!!!!!  Having your Food Storage Staples is so very convenient!

I cut the carrots....

Diced the Celery....

I used my "Pantry Gold" (aka Canned Chicken).  I poured the broth into the pan with the vegetables, spices and Bay Leaf.  I also used some of my Chicken Soup base that I use when I need Chicken broth.  This is a shelf stable product.  

I diced the chicken....I personally like to have real chunks of Chicken in my soup.

Instead of Noodles, I put in Barley. I love the texture that Barley gives the soup.

Letting the soup simmer for a few minutes makes the whole house smell wonderful.

Transporting the soup was a challenge.  I remembered that I had these wonderful jars with a rubber seal.  I usually make my yogurt in these jars.  

I used my canning funnel to spoon the delicious soup into the jar....

I placed the freshly made soup into a bag.

Threw in some crackers.....

And, of course I put "someone's missing Dinosaur Train" in the bag.  You see, not only was my daughter not feeling well, but her little 2-year old son was fussing because he could not find his one of his favorite toys. It had accidentally been left behind during one of his visits to our house.  

What is the 'take-home message'?  Having a well-stocked pantry and Food Storage allows you to do things on the spot.  Yes, I did use fresh carrots and celery, but a well stocked refrigerator is also part of being prepared.  I could have used dehydrated vegetables if I wanted to.  I just decided to use the fresh vegetables.

Ultimate convenience comes from having your Food Storage Staples available.  Yes, Food Storage is absolutely 'convenience food' at your fingertips.  

Would you like the recipe?  It comes from an old Cookbook I have had for a very long time.  

Chicken Rice Soup (The New Pillsbury Family Cookbook 1973)

• 3-4 lbs stewing chicken cut into pieces (I used my canned chicken-1 Pint)
• 3 quarts (12 cups) water
• 1 Tablespoon salt
• 6 peppercorns
• 1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning, if desired
• 2 medium stalks celery, chopped
• 1 small onion copped
• 3 carrots, sliced
• 1/2 cup uncooked brown or white rice  (I used Barley instead)

In large saucepan, combine chicken, water, salt, peppercorns and poultry seasoning.  Bring to boil. Cover and simmer 2-2 1/2 hours or until hours or until chicken is tender. Remove chicken and peppercorns.  Skim off fat. Cut meat from the bone and return to soup.  (Isn't the canned Chicken easier?).  Add remaining ingredients. Continue simmering, covered, 30-40 minutes or until rice (Barley in my case) is tender.    For Chicken Noodle Soup, omit rice and 1-2 cups uncooked noodles.  Cover until noodles are tender.  

Try It On A Cold Wintery Day!

Pumpkin Soup, a Cost Effective and Delicious Meal on a Cold Winter Day.

I recently took the plunge and learned how to can Pumpkin.  At first glance, you might think "Why do that?, I can buy a can in the store when I need it".  It is a very valid thought.  However, as I have looked at what I can do with this, and the cost effectiveness of canning pumpkin, I am grateful that I took the time to learn, to try, & to experiment on the word.  Here is the process with my thoughts on how to do this. 

I plan on using my little bottles of orange goodness for many things.  Here is one recipe that I tried....and it was great!

What is it?  Pumpkin soup.  I found the recipe in my my trusty "The New Pillsbury Family Cookbook" that was copyrighted in 1975.   Yes, this cookbook has been around for a while. I looked on Pillsbury website for this particular recipe, but it wasn't really there.  However, I found several that I really would like to try in the future that looked delish!

Pumpkin Soup (Pillsbury) 

(With the Little Red Hen's suggestions in red of course)

4 Cups cubed raw pumpkin

1/2 Cup butter or margarine

1/2 Cup water

3.5 to 4 cups (about 26 oz) chicken stock (see my suggestions below)

2 stalks celery, cut into pieces

1 medium onion, quartered,

3 sprigs parsley or 1 tablespoon parsley flakes

1/2 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon powdered thyme

1/2 cup dry white wine or sherry (I skipped this step)

1 teaspoon salt

Pepper

The directions tell you out cook your pumpkin in butter then simmer with 1/2 cup water for 30 minutes.  I skipped this step and used my canned pumpkin.

The remainder of the ingredients are used to make a broth.  Simmer them for 30 minutes.  I used my Chicken Flavored soup base, but also could have used my powdered bouillon for the chicken stock.  Having food storage staples gives me many options.  I hate to have my choices restricted:). 

The instructions suggest that you strain out all the vegetables and just use the broth. The next step is to add the pumpkin and simmer for 15 minutes.  I refused to throw out all those simmered vegetables.  I removed the bay leaf and kept them all.

The suggestion was to blend the soup contents in the blender.  All I could think of was "what a hot mess".  Instead, I pulled out my stick blender  and went to work.  I found that tilting my stick blender slightly allowed for the larger chunks of the vegetables to be pureed.  

Doesn't it look beautiful as a puree?

I served this delicious soup with salad.  It was a cold day and this was a welcome meal by all.  Rooster Junior even helped himself to seconds.  

Time:  

After chopping the vegetables, which really didn't take long, the time involved was the simmering (about 45 minutes total) and the blending (about 5 minutes). Most of the time this was simmering, I was doing other things, so the hands-on time was very short.

Cost:

I made this soup, I believe for under a dollar.  The Salad (for 4 people) was approximately about $1.58 as the lettuce was $.83 for the head of Romaine, ~ $.75 for grape tomatoes and Onions from my garden. Yes, they are still there and usable in January.    Salad Dressing came from my pantry, (but a couple of tablespoons to me are inconsequential at this point).  Total cost for this meal for 4 people was a whopping $2.58!  

It does pay to can and use these foods as convenience foods when you are cooking.  

Try it!

It's a matter of....Condensed Soup....

Cream of Mushroom or Cream of Chicken soup are such staples in many American Kitchens.  They also can be a little costly.  So, here is a really unique option for you to consider.  I love it!

The cost of a name brand can of Cream of Mushroom soup can be as much as $1.39 a can.  So, if you decided to purchase  9 cans, it would cost you $12.51.

Enter a new star to the show.....Condensed Soup Mix.  Let's take a look at the recipe:

Condensed Soup Mix (www.Budget101.com  )

2 c Nonfat dry milk
3/4 c Cornstarch
2 tb Dried minced onion flakes
1/2 ts Pepper
1/4 c Instant chicken bouillon, or other flavor
1 t Crushed basil – optional
1 t Crushed thyme -- optional

Combine all ingredients, mixing well. Store in airtight container. This makes 3 cups of mix, the equivalent to about 9 cans of soup.

• 
  
  To use: combine 1/3 cup of mix with 1 1/4 cups of water in saucepan. Cook and stir until thickened or add mix and water to browned and drained casserole meat and cook in skillet or saucepan with other casserole ingredients or use instead of canned soup in any casserole. 

• 
  
  This mix has about 1/3 the calories and sodium as purchased condensed soup

Isn't this awesome?  I have used this for some time now and it works very well.  Let's look at the cost of making the mix......

For the Condensed Soup Mix the costs are:


2 c Nonfat dry milk -- $1.32
3/4 c Cornstarch -- $.05
2 tb Dried minced onion flakes -- $.16
1/2 ts Pepper -- $.16
1/4 c Instant chicken bouillon -- $1.09

Total Cost: $2.78 for the equivalent of 9 cans of condensed soup.

Again, isn't that awesome!  So the cost savings between the mix and the actual canned goods is $9.73.  That is a 77% savings! 

You may ask, how well does it works?  I have used it in casseroles, and soups.  My family did not know I used it and there were not any complaints.  I also like the fact that is is Non-Fat, and it uses many food storage staples.

This is something I highly recommend you try, it works very, very well.

It's a matter of....Chicken Soup.

One of my children loves Chicken Noodle Soup.  And, we have purchased plenty of premium soups to satisfy her love of this soup. 

I went to the local big box store and found the following as of 6/5/10.

As you can see from the pricing, an individual serving runs between $1.58 and $1.64 for an individual serving.

So, with the focus this week being upon soups as well, I thought I would find a recipe to can it myself.  One of the first tings that I learned was that I couldn't include one of the main ingredients that I like the best.  See the following:  Caution: Do not add noodles or other pasta, rice, flour, cream, milk or other thickening agents to home canned soups. If dried beans or peas are used, they must be fully rehydrated first.

That made be feel a little indignant!  Why can I buy commercially prepared soups with noodles and rice, but I cannot replicate it at home?  It seems that commercial canners have a specialized process that allows for the expansion of noodles and rice without turning them into a "mushy mess". 

However, I learned that I could can the rest of the soup.  Then, when it was time to serve, I can add my noodles or rice at that time.

I used the following recipe from Freshpreserving.com which is the site for Ball.  This same recipe is in the Ball Blue Book of Preserving. 

The instructions suggest that you simmer chicken and vegetables to make your own chicken broth. for about 2 hours.  The length of time was initially daunting, but as I was working from home, I didn't have to babysit it and this turned out just fine. Another thing the recipe recommends is that you use whole chickens and debone them.  In addition, the recipe states that you need to 'skim' off the fat.  Now, those are 2 things I just wasn't interested in doing.  Problem solved, I purchased chicken tenders which were already skinned and deboned!

Dice your celery

Dice the carrots

And dice the onions.

When the chicken cools, cut it into chunks.

The recipe suggests bouillon cubes.  I used this flavored base that is wonderful in soups and stews.

Place it into your jars and process for 90 minutes at 15 lbs pressure for our altitude here in the Wasatch Front.

Let's discuss time and money:

First, let's start with time.  The actual hands on-time for cutting, stirring, and ladeling into jars was minutes for each step.  The cumulative time was about 4 hours....but I didn't have to stand there and babysit!.  I cleaned, organized, and worked on my computer.

Because I used chicken tenders, I realized that I have a lot more meat in these jars than a standard canned soup.  For the Roosters of the house....that is a great thing as they like this part as much as they like the noodles that will be added later.  Because I used Chicken tenders, the cost for the meat was about $10.00.

Now, let's look at the money aspect.  I calculated that it cost me $1.53 per pint to make this at home.  I probably could have saved money by using whole chickens like it suggested,  but that would involve much more time and the necessity for me to get over my phobia of touching meat.  Not an option for me!  This proves the point that making things from scratch is not always cheaper.

So, where is the value in this?  I have the skill set to make this and preserve it. In times of challenge, that is extremely valuable.  Also, the men in my family like the fact that there is more meat in this soup.  I could reduce the amount of tenders to bring the price down, and may do that in the future.

It's easy....easy.....easy.  It's worth looking into!

It's a matter of ...... Chili!

My son seems to like chili, but only on his terms.  That means, when the moment strikes.  Well, since we are concentrating on chili this week, I wanted to determine whether it was worth the time and resources to can my own chili for him, as he seems to like mine....when the moment strikes. 

Here is a picture of a national brand taken on 6/10/10.  The chili is on sale for $1.79 and supposedly is regularly priced at $1.99,  The LRH did peak under the tag, and it still said $1.79...but was  'regularly $1.99'.....so go figure.

I used a recipe entitled Chili Con Carne from the National Center for Home Food Preservation.  (Please see the link provided for the recipe).

The recipe begins by instructing you to soak your bean overnight.....who has time for that?  Who can remember to do that? The answer is ....certainly not me!  So, I used the quick soak method.  I brought the beans to a boil, and then turned the heat off.  Leave it for an hour.  As it turned out, on my day off, the hospital called and asked me to come in to do a specialized evaluation.  I seem to be the only one in the county who does these these types of evaluations right now.  So, I left my beans, went to the hospital, did the study, and came home.  It was about 1.5 hours in total time.

When doing this, the soaking water will look terrible.  Drain the water and wash your beans.  Here are the beans in question....in the colander.

I choose to use extra, extra lean beef as I hate to pay for something I am going to have to discard.  I also sliced my onions and put them in.  The recipe also calls for chopped peppers, but Rooster Jr. has a severe dislike for peppers, so I omitted them.

Put in all your dry seasonings.

The recipe calls for crushed or whole canned tomatoes.  This is my Tomato concoction that I make every year.  I can make spaghetti, salsa etc from it.  I will be using 2 quarts of them.

Pour the tomatoes into the meat mixture.

Incorporate the tomatoes and beans into the mixture.

After simmering for 30 minutes, place into jars and wipe the rims prior to putting on the lids and rings.

You must process these in a Pressure Canner and not in a Hot Water Bath Canner as the Chili has protein.  For Pints (at our altitude), process 75 minutes at 15 pounds of pressure.

Let the canner cool naturally, because the Chili has protein, you cannot rush this process.  Take the jars out of the canner and listen for the "pop" that let's you know they are sealed.

Now, let's talk money and time:

First, let's talk about time.  I picked  a day when I was going to be around my home most of the time.  I did not babysit this process.  I cut, cooked, bottled a few minutes at a time.  Most of the time was needed to soak (and you now know I didn't even stick around for that to occur), simmer, and process.  This is time I didn't have to spend in the kitchen, even though I would wander through to make sure everything was working as it should.  I cleaned, organized, and did work on my computer.  I even had to take my son to the Insta-care when he returned home from a High Adventure camp-out because of a little mishap he had while he was away.  I let the canner cool during that period.  (If you know my son, please don't mention this to him, he hates it when 'I let everyone know things'....he's so funny).  So, I hope you see that I didn't have to devote a tremendous amount of direct time to the process, however the cumulative process did involve hours.

Now, let's talk money.  I calculated the cost of each pint (without the cost of power, or jars/lids as I already had them) to be just under $1.00/pint.  The pint is roughly equivalent to the 15 ounce can of Chili.  The most important part of this to me was the value of knowing how to do it, knowing how to use my Food Storage Staples, and also to possibly save ~ $.79/jar. The overall savings for 10 pints is $7.90.  This is equivalent to a 55% savings.

Finally, let's discuss convenience.  My children love to open a can of soup after school, or for a quick snack.  It is also nice to have a quick meal on those nights when Dance lessons or Soccer games run really long!  It's ready and all you need to do is heat it up.

So, here is another way to stock up on one of the focus items for this week.   Pull out your Pressure Canner, or ask to borrow one from your friend or neighbor and try it!

It's a matter of....making your own soup mix!

As you hopefully know, we are focusing on Soups, Stews, and Chili's this week.  Today, we are going to talk about making your own soup mixes that are essentially made from dehydrated ingredients. 

This is a nationally known store brand of instant soup.  This pricing was from 6/5/10.  In this brand, you get pouches that contain seasoning, noodles, and bits of meat.  The ingredient list is long, but several of the items listed are:  Nonfat milk, Chicken white meat, enriched Egg Noodles, Onion powder, Garlic Powder, Whey, Carrots, and Parsley.  I'll bet, if you have been keeping up with our list, and just by looking in your cupboard, you have most of these things.  You can also see that it costs 24 cents an ounce.  Please know that you can do this on your own, with things you most likely already have on hand.

Let's look into making this ourselves with the basics we have in our Food storage.  First of all, you need a container.  There are many choices.

Here you see a canning jar, a zip-lock bag, a Food saver bag, and a Plastic bottle.  Make a label with the directions on how to prepare your mix.  By now, you should know that the LRH does things inexpensively.  I just printed the instructions on paper, cut them out, and attached them to the container with....are you ready.....packing tape!  This way you always have the "right sized" lable. 

There is also another choice of container.

This is a Mylar bag that has been cut.  You can see there are 3 different sizes that have been cut out of the same bag.  The question comes, how do you seal it? 

With your Food Saver, or you could even use your iron or flat iron.  Please know that these are re-usable.  If you carefully cut the pouch, you can save it to put the very same mix in and seal it. No new labels are required!.

Here is a suggested way to make your mixes in an organize fashion. Here, I put the Mylar bags into cups.  I used my canning funnel.  Place each ingredient into each bag in an assembly-line fashion.  It make quick, clean, and easy work of the process.

Next, look at the following recipes and see how many of these items you already have!  Try one of these, or any other you find, and see how easy and inexpensive this is to do.  You children or grandchildren will have fun helping you make these.  They will be readily available for a meal on days that you are so freakishly busy and you will be grateful you have them on hand. 

Let's look at time and money:

As noted above, the national brand costs 24 cents an ounce. If you have these items on hand, is the cost a huge consideration?  You will be using your staples in an organized fashion..

In regard to time, once you gather your ingredients, this is a quick process and takes under 5 minutes.

Let's address convenience. We all have those days where there is little breathing-room.  How nice would it be to have a choice of one of these mixes to make?  Also, what if you were ill, your children could easily make dinner using a soup mix. 

Here is are some recipes to try:

Instant Noodle Soup Mix (http://www.ellenskitchen.com/pantry/mixes1.html)


2 tablespoons chicken-flavored instant bouillon

1 tablespoon dried mixed vegetable flakes (salad sprinkle is good in this)

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes

1 tablespoon dried onion flakes

1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning

1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/2 package ramen noodles, broken into 1" pieces If you have time to cook it, for the ramen noodles you can substitute:

4 oz. (one cup)broken vermicelli or tiny soup noodles

In small bowl, combine all seasoning ingredients; mix well. Spoon into small plastic bag or container; add pasta. Shake and seal.

Make it in a four-quart saucepan combine seasoning, pasta, and 6 cups water. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Cook over medium heat 5-7 minutes, or until pasta is of desired doneness, stirring frequently. Yield: 5, one-cup servings. May add one cup cooked cubed chicken, turkey or vegetables to the soup.


Tomato Soup Mix  (http://www.budget101.com/)

4 tb Non-fat dry milk

2 tb Powdered dry tomatoes (or tomato powder)

1/8 ts Basil

Salt , Dash

Pepper, Dash

Measure all into jar or ziploc bag, shake to combine.

Directions:

Add mix to 1 Mug of Hot water, stir, let set 2 minutes, enjoy. Serve with saltines


Potato Soup Mix  (http://www.budget101.com/)


1-3/4 cups instant mashed potatoes

1-1/2 cups dry milk

2 Tb. instant chicken bullion

2 tsp. dried minced onion

1 tsp. dried parsley

1/4 tsp. ground white pepper

1/4 tsp. dried thyme

1/8 tsp. turmeric

1-1/2 tsp. seasoning salt



Measure all ingredients in a canning jar or vacuum seal bag.  To Use: place 1/2 cup mix in soup bowl and add 1 cup boiling water. Stir until smooth.

Variations:

Add 1/4 c. chopped ham & Cheese pieces

Or

1/4 c. chopped broccoli

Or

2 T. Minced Clams for clam chowder

Or

1/4 c corn for corn chowder


Dry Onion Soup Mix   (http://www.ellenskitchen.com/pantry/mixes1.html)


This makes a great rub for roasts or crockpot meats, and of course that traditional California onion dip.

7 oz beef bouillon granules

1/2 teaspoon Pepper

1 1/2 cups dry minced onion

1/4 cup onion powder

1/4 cup parsley flakes

1/8 cup onion salt

2-4 tablespoons Kal or Red Star nutritional yeast

1-2 teaspoons ground celery seed

1-2 tablespoons sugar

Combine in order listed, mix very well but do not use blender. Keep the mixture in an airtight container such as a zippered plastic baggie with the air pressed out. Makes 2 cups (equivalent of 8 envelopes). 1/4 cup mix equals 1 envelope commercial soup mix.

TO USE: Soup-1/4 cup mix to 4 cups boiling water. Stir well until powder is dissolved. Onion dip- 4-5 tablespoon to 1 pint of sour cream or plain yogurt.

Variations These ingredients are optional but tasty:

1-2 tablespoons dried mushroom powder or 1/4 cup chopped dried mushrooms

Chicken: Use chicken bouillon

Vegetable: Use vegetable bouillon

Making your own mixes uses many of your food storage staples.  It gives you a chance to use dehydrated foods you have either purchased or dehydrated on your own.  If you are looking for inexpensive dehydrated vegetables (or mixed vegetables), purchase frozen vegetables and dehydrate them.  The benefit is that they have already been blanched...so it really saves you a step!

There are many more to be found on the Internet. Scope out some today!

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