Better than Grandma's Mashed Potatoes

I made these mashed potatoes using a recipe in my pressure cooker cookbook and my kids loved them.  In fact, they said, "These are even better than grandma's!"  That was a first for me, so I wanted to share.  Also, using the pressure cooker makes homemade mashed potatoes a snap.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

2 lbs russet potatoes (peeled or unpeeled), diced
2 cloves garlic
1 1/2 cups chicken broth  (I use 1 1/2 cup water and 1 chicken bouillon cube)
......................
1 TBS margarine
salt and pepper to taste

Place all ingredients except margarine and salt and pepper in pressure cooker.  Close cover securely.  Bring to pressure according to your cooker's instructions.  Cook 5 minutes once the cooker has come to pressure.  Cool cooker at once.  Remove the lid.  Leave all liquid or drain off desired amount (I usually drain off about 1/2 of the liquid for our tastes) .  Add margarine and mash potatoes using a potato masher or hand mixer until desired consistency.  Salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Utah Cooperative Extension

I was searching for info on how to store various items and came across the Utah Cooperative Extension site. I liked how the info on food storage was well organized, easy to navigate and easy to understand.

Take a look....

http://extension.usu.edu/foodstorage/

Also, there is info about food preservation on the site at this link....

http://extension.usu.edu/foodpreservation/


DON'T forget this site--it also has a lot of information on storage

http://www.survival-center.com/foodfaq/ff1-toc.htm

Tracking System for Food Storage

For years I struggled with keeping track of my year’s supply of basic foods. I tried keeping lists of what I had, but the lists changed weekly. I was taking inventory much too often.

Then, while a friend was visiting a bicycle shop, she noticed their system for inventory control. Inspiration struck! We each adapted the idea to our own food storage system with wonderful results. Here’s what we did:

1. On a poster board, tape or glue pockets made of index cards cut in half, one for each kind of food in your basic year’s supply. Each pocket is labeled by the type of food, number of packages or units, amount in each package, and the total amount needed for a year’s supply of that item. For example, one pocket might be labeled “spaghetti—48 boxes x 2 lbs. = 96 lbs.”

2. We make an inventory card for each package or unit. Spaghetti, for example, would need forty-eight cards, each with “spaghetti—2 lbs.” written on it. Those forty-eight cards are placed in the labeled pocket. Do the same with each food item.

3. Whenever someone takes an item from storage, that person also pulls a card from the pocket and brings both items to the kitchen. We place the card in an envelope taped behind a cupboard door in the kitchen.

We color-coded the cards to represent the source for obtaining each food item. Foods obtained from the cannery are kept on red cards, grocery store items on green ones, warehouse items on blue, and home-canned items are on pink cards.

It’s a simple matter before shopping to pull all the green cards from the envelope when planning a trip to the store, or all the red cards when I plan for a trip to the cannery. I know exactly what needs to be replaced. As items are restocked, I replace the cards in the poster board pockets.

We hang our poster board in our storage area. Now we are able to keep our year’s supply of food fully stocked.—Leslie O. Andersen

One Can at a Time

It would take an elephant to feed my family for a year, I thought as I tried to make a plan for our food storage. And how could I afford it or store it all? Just then an old saying about elephants popped into my mind: “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” The question for me was, “How do you store an elephant?” The answer was—one can at a time!

1. Save all the change that comes home. It is amazing how much money five people can contribute in just a week. With only $1 per week per person, we could dry pack one can of potato pearls, or three cans of flour, or one can of delicious apple slices.

2. Use the money from our tax return for quantity purchases. A case of six cans of basic items of milk, flour, sugar, and wheat was affordable and helped us be much more prepared. When we added pasta and beans, we felt that in an emergency we could actually create family meals for a month.

3. Buy one extra item when at the store. Oils, salt, and spices are necessary for a complete storage plan. The cost of one item was seldom noticed in our grocery bill, but our storage room benefited greatly.

An article in the Ensign about debt reduction states, “Your most important savings is food storage” (Jack M. Lyon, “ ‘How Many Loaves Have Ye?’ ” Ensign, Dec. 1989, 41). We have tried to balance this with monetary savings. Each time we purchase an item on sale for food storage, we try to save the extra amount we would normally have spent and add it to our food storage fund.

Our food storage is growing day by day, can by can, case by case. We are better prepared and no longer afraid of being trampled by the enormity of the food-storage elephant.—Mary L. Wilson,

Chicken Tortilla Soup

My sister shared this recipe with our Food Storage group and everyone loved the taste and the simplicity. It has become a favorite for our family!

Easy Chicken Tortilla Soup

1 15 oz can Black Beans, undrained
1 15 oz can whole Kernel Corn, undrained
1 12 oz can undrained Chicken
1 cup Salsa (I use Southwest Black Bean and White Corn)
2 cups Chicken Broth (OR 2 cups water, 2 bouillon cubes)
1/2 tsp. Garlic Powder
2 tsp. Cumin
1 tsp. Chili Powder
1 tsp. Onion Flakes
Tortilla Chips

Combine all ingredients, except for chips, and bring to a boil. Add tortilla chips to each bowl and pour soup over the top.

Can Rack

When I really started getting serious about getting a year's supply I was worried about where I would store it all. We have a walk-in pantry with big, deep shelves, so I tried to envision how I would organize things. I went out and started buying canned food. I stacked them in rows on the shelves (two high) by type of food. This looked nice and I thought it would work. Soon, however, I realized that my children were not as good at keeping cans in the right places as I was. Also, when it came to rotating, I couldn't reach to the back of the rows, so I was just putting the cans in front.

Finally, I decided to spend the money on a can rack from Shelf Reliance. The only place I could think to put it was in a bedroom closet. I measured the closet and was happy to discover a rack that fit the dimensions with just a little tweaking of the closet (had to move the middle bar brace over and take out the moulding along the floor).

The can rack took a few hours to assemble and get just right, but I really liked how you could customize each row's can size to fit your needs. Now that my rack is up and full (about 300 cans!) I love it! There is even an area on the top for a shelf that will hold 40-60 more cans (depending on size).

In addition to the racks at Shelf Reliance, here are some other sites that may be of interest to you if you are needing to revamp your can storing system:

Rack N Roll- Our units are custom made to fit your existing shelves and are geared to your food storage-specific needs. http://www.rnrfoodorganizers.com/

• Use Roller Units for canned items, such as vegetables, fruit, olives, pie filling, tuna, tomato sauce, mandarin oranges, evaporated or condensed milk, green chiles, etc.
• Shelf Sliders hold all kinds and sizes of boxes, packages and containers, such as cake mixes, ketchup, gelatin, pickles, cooking oil, dry soup mixes, spices, peanut butter, etc.
• If you have food items such as soup mixes, popcorn, muffin mixes, macaroni & cheese, etc., Drop Units are what you need – load from the top, pull from the bottom

Build Your Own- From the Food Storage Made Easy website, free plans, photos, and video showing the final product

http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2009/02/16/build-your-own-can-rotating-rack/

Shelf Reliance- Featuring patented front-loading technology that automatically rotates cans on a first in first out basis

http://www.shelfreliance.com/shop/frs

Happy Hunting! Feel free to email me with any questions!

Fire Starters

The issue of having a good method to start fires came up in our meeting about 72 hour kits. Here are a few examples of items you may want to include in your 72-hour kit or camping kits.

(Items are listed for example only. Shop around for best pricing!)

Magnesium Fire Starting Tool with striker (product reviewers said they really liked having the striker included)

http://www.amazon.com/DOAN-MACHINERY-EQUIPMENT-CO-Magnesium/dp/B001R1LXNY/ref=pd_sbs_sg_49

Waterproof Matches
http://www.amazon.com/Waterproof-Matches-2-boxes-50/dp/B001CS7M46/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=sporting-goods&qid=1254776929&sr=1-2


Waterproof Match Container

plastic version http://www.amazon.com/Rothco-Plastic-Matchbox/dp/B000R2GTP6/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=sporting-goods&qid=1255189059&sr=1-3

metal keyring http://www.amazon.com/Keyring-Waterproof-Container-geocaching-survival/dp/B0013JRRXA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=hpc&qid=1255189228&sr=8-1-catcorr


includes signaling mirror http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002AYO7OE