Tag: Prepper

Pantry Staples: Freeze Dried Honey Butter In A Jar
Prepping · Recipes

Pantry Staples: Freeze Dried Honey Butter In A Jar

Sarah

Combining two freeze-dried ingredients lets you have a delicious spread in minutes. It can be mixed up and stored in a glass mason jar for long-term storage. Honey crystals are worth picking up. They melt quickly into recipes and are handy for tea and such. Now, do know that honey crystals are not normally just honey; they do have to use sugar syrup in them so they freeze-dry properly. It’s worth the space in your prepper/pantry supply, as it lasts a very long time.

You can find the ingredients on Amazon easily: Butter Powder and Honey Crystals.

Honey Butter prepped to serve.

Honey Butter

Ingredients:

Directions:

Add the ingredients to a 12-ounce mason jar. Seal tightly and shake to combine. Store until needed.

To prepare:

Add 2 Tablespoons of cool water slowly, stirring gently (the butter powder will poof if you stir too fast). Keep stirring until the powders become smooth. They will become about half the amount when prepared than when powdered. We transferred ours to a 4-ounce mason jar, which the butter spread filled perfectly.

Chill till hard; this can take a few hours.

If the power is out, chill outside and tightly seal if it is cold. Otherwise, it will be soft serve, if prepped in a warm area.

Makes a 4-ounce jar.

Notes:

If you feel the butter is too soft (and this can depend on the brand of butter powder you use), stir in a bit more butter powder until it’s thicker.

~Sarah

Prepper Pantry Power Outage Soup
Prepping · Recipes

Prepper Pantry Power Outage Soup

Sarah

Whidbey Island got hit by a good windstorm Friday night, and being as we live on the rural end of this long island, and not in a town, power didn’t come on till till Monday morning. But the thing is…I see these storms as practice for prepping. You see what works and what doesn’t. The storm aftermath for trees on our homestead was better than we were expecting, so hopefully it means our aggressive forest thinning the past 4 years+ is paying off.

We still had plenty to keep us occupied though. We lost I think 7 trees, plus had a few break half way down (the owls will like the new snags to sit on).

But none hit buildings or the chicken coops. So there was that.

Though one of the fences took a good one on it. That was a heavy branch, and it took 2 of us to get it off.

After cleaning up the property, and piling it up for the next fire, it was time for a warming meal. You can do a lot with canned goods, and serve many at once, with minimal fuel needed. This recipe while we made it in our kitchen (our stove is propane fueled), it can easily be heated up outside on a camping stove, a grill or even over a fire. Just heat and eat! Soup not only fuels you, but warms you up quickly. It’s a dual purpose meal.

It’s all cans (besides the chicken broth, though you could use a can of it). To watch sodium levels you can buy reduced or no salt added version (tomatoes, soup, corn, beans) and rinse the beans well. It’s not a salty soup by any means made that way. I did this soup as a rift of the Taco Soup, that uses green enchilada sauce and taco seasoning (but which makes it far too salty for me).

The soup was enjoyed by even the kids, so I call this one a successful recipe.

Prepper Pantry Power Outage Soup

Ingredients:

  • 14.5 ounce can tomatoes (used peeled/crushed)
  • 1 can sweet corn, drained
  • 1 can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 12.5 ounce can chicken breast (do not drain, break chicken up into small pieces)
  • 1 can cream of chicken soup, preferably lower sodium
  • 1 can green chiles, diced
  • 2 cups chicken broth, preferably lower sodium

Optional:

  • Fresh avocado, diced
  • Cheese (we used a wheel of queso fresco, crumbled)
  • Tortilla chips, crumbled
  • Sour cream

Directions:

Add everything to a large saucepan, heat till bubbling.

Serve topped with optional toppings, if you have them on hand (it’s a great way to empty the refrigerator of perishable items like cheese and sour cream)

Serves 5 to 6.

~Sarah

Pantry Staples: Making Sour Cream From Powder
Prepping · Preserving · Recipes

Pantry Staples: Making Sour Cream From Powder

Sarah

Sour cream powder is a great ingredient to have on hand. It’s great added to recipes as a dry ingredient (instant mashed potatoes, for example; it makes them creamy and tart), but making it into a fresh bowl of sour cream is just fun to do. It gives you an option if you realize you are out of fresh sour cream or the power is out and you need some (burritos are a great power outage meal).

Sour Cream

Ingredients:

To make:

Slowly add 2 Tablespoons of cold water, stirring until fully mixed. Seal and let sit. It will thicken after a few minutes, especially if put into the refrigerator (if the power is on).

~Sarah

Pantry Staples: Making Butter Out Of Butter Powder
Prepping · Preserving · Recipes

Pantry Staples: Making Butter Out Of Butter Powder

Sarah

One of the best things you can develop is a pantry, of base dry ingredients, so you can pull meals together without worrying about being out of perishable items, or worse they are so pricey you can’t justify buying it (locally butter is now $6 a pound and up).

Butter powder is a great ingredient to up the calorie count in recipes, adds flavor and what many don’t know is you can make actual butter out of it. Easily. With just the powder and cold water. Even when the power is out. No opening up the refrigerator, letting out valuable coldness. (It’s great sprinkled on popcorn I might add…..if you cook it in oil, you get the buttery flavor.)

I typically buy Hoosier Hill Farm Butter Powder to stock in our pantry. It has a good quality and holds up well in storage. However, do not follow the directions on their packaging on how to make butter. You will have a liquid mess if you do.

Instead, I followed the directions on Augason Farms powder.

To make butter, add ½ cup butter powder to a bowl. Add in 1½ Tbsp cold water. Let it sit for a couple minutes (it doesn’t absorb immediately), then stir and stir until the butter starts to come together. Just keep stirring and suddenly it will be a solid (so don’t give up!). At this point it is ready to use. Seal tightly till needed. It can sit on the counter, and doesn’t require refrigeration. If you can chill it, it will be firmer of course.

Once firmed up, you can use this butter even in recipes (for example, making homemade biscuits) or use it on bread/rolls, tossed with veggies, or to saute ingredients in.

~Sarah

Pantry Staples: Making Cream Cheese From Powder
Prepping · Preserving · Recipes

Pantry Staples: Making Cream Cheese From Powder

Sarah

What if you could make fresh cream cheese whenever you wanted it? And have it easy to do? If you love cream cheese, this will make your bagels and tortillas feel so loved. And to have the ability to make dishes that call for it, instead of a drive to town when you realize you are out of fresh.

And more so…it is customizable so you can dream up so many flavors, from savory to sweet.

So what do you need?

To make 3-ounces fresh cream cheese, add 10 Tablespoons dry cream cheese powder in a bowl. Add 3 Tablespoons cold water.

Let rest for a few minutes to rehydrate a bit, then start stirring to mix it up. It will take a minute or two for it to start mixing, then it comes together. Mix until very smooth.

At this point it is ready to use. Seal tightly till needed. It is a smooth soft cream cheese in this state. Which, if you are making beef stroganoff for dinner? This is perfect for that.

Now then, for better taste, if you have a cold stream handily nearby, making sure it is tightly sealed, tether it in the stream (you can do this for so many foods!) and let it get good and chilled. Usually we put the bag we want chilled inside a larger zip top bag, and either use paracord threaded through a hole in the top, or weight it down on the edge with rocks. You can also use a snow bank to chill in, but make sure the bag isn’t visible to birds, who will happily enjoy your treat if they can get into it…..

On to flavors:

To make strawberry cream cheese or other berries, crush up freeze dried berries and stir in. Add in a packet of honey or two to sweeten.

Salmon cream cheese? Take a packet of smoked salmon, mash up, and stir in. Add in a bit of granulated garlic, onion and a packet of True Lemon (or a packet of lemon juice).

Herb? Stir in a pinch of freeze-dried garlic, parsley, chives, and whatever else you like. A packet of True Lemon goes well with it.

~Sarah