Dinner Is in the Jar, by Kathy Clark, is a great source for soup recipes that include food storage ingredients.  Like the recipes in Mix-A-Meal Cookbook, the majority of the ingredients needed for this soup recipe can be stored together in a jar and left on your shelf until you have a busy night and need an easy-to-prepare meal.  My particular favorite soup, “Vegetable and Beef Soup,” is a great example of the small amount of work needed to make a delicious meal from Dinner Is in the Jar.

To make “Vegetable and Beef Soup,” you will first need a glass jar (or mylar bag, though I don’t describe how to make up a bag in this blog).  The recipe is simple and straight forward.  First, place all of the dried ingredients called for into the jar.

For this recipe you will need a variety of freeze-dried or dehydrated vegetables, including green beans, corn, peas, carrots, bell peppers, mushrooms, onion and celery.  You will also need a variety of spices, including basil, thyme and bay leaves.  Some other additions include rice, beef bouillon and garlic powder.

Once all of the dry ingredients are in a jar, oxygen absorbers can also be added for an extended shelf life (though they are not necessary).   Seal the jar with a vacuum sealer or just place it on your shelf without the vacuum seal.  The jars with vacuum seals will stay fresh longer than the others.

On a busy night (or a night you want an easy meal), pull out your jar of already-measured ingredients.

Pouring the 8 cups of water into a pot, adding ingredients to the boiling pot of water and pulling the soup off the stove after letting it simmer for 30 minutes.

The “Vegetable and Beef Soup” recipe directs the cook to boil eight cups of water, turn off the heat and stir in the jar’s contents.  After covering the soup and letting it sit for five minutes, you will need to add a pint of cooked ground beef (see our signature ground beef products if you want to used pre-prepared meat) and a can of diced tomatoes.  The soup then needs to simmer for 30 minutes, after which salt and pepper are added.

Finished soup in a bowl. It looks a little greasy here because of the meat that I put in it.

And that is “Vegetable and Beef Soup!”  It is so simple and easy.  I love this soup’s flavor, too.  It is healthy for you, but it doesn’t taste like diet food.  When I eat this soup, I usually make a batch of Hot Rolls from Mix-A-Meal Cookbook to enjoy along with it (see website’s “Recipes” section for the instructions on making these delicious rolls).

Until next time,

Patty Prepared

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The Thermal Cooker Conserves Fuel During Power Outages

I have recently discovered Saratoga Jack’s Thermal Cooker.  It is a handy slow cooker that I can use when the power is out.  What I will do is put my food inside the stainless steel inner pots, put the pots on my butane emergency stove, bring the food to a rolling boil, and then put the pots inside the outer insulated container and snap the lid shut.  This will make my emergency fuel last longer, especially when cooking something like beans that take a long time to cook.  I can also use the thermal cooker over other heat sources, such as a campfire or wood burning stove.  I like to think of it as a non-electric crock pot.

Other Handy Tools for When the Power is Out

Besides my thermal cooker, other items I have at my disposal for power outages include my emergency candles and lanterns, my flashlight with batteries, my emergency drinking water, my sun oven and warm blankets.  I still want to get another heat source, such as a kerosene space heater and perhaps a generator for the refrigerator.  I like to keep good books and magazines handy to read to keep my mind occupied.

Easy to Prepare Food

I have found that some of the easiest meals to prepare for power outages are Mountain House freeze-dried foods and freeze-dried fruits and vegetables from Rainy Day.  The most popular Mountain House entrees in this order include the beef stroganoff, scrambled eggs with bacon, chili macaroni with beef, lasagna with meat sauce and beef stew.  The Mountain House foods come in pouches or in #10 cans.  My favorite freeze-dried fruit is the pineapple and my favorite freeze-dried vegetable is the peas.  Freeze-dried food is fast and easy to rehydrate.  To rehydrate the Mountain House all you do is add boiling water and let the food stand for ten minutes.  A slow cooker is an easy cooking solution for a power outage for those who don’t like to cook.

Until Next Time,

Patty Prepared

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Making Ruby’s Red Tomato Sauce

Last Friday I got to use my new stainless steel canner to process my family’s favorite canning recipe:  Ruby’s Red Tomato Sauce.  I use this tomato sauce on tacos or taco salad, in meat loaf, with roast beef and even in spaghetti.  It adds a nice sweet flavor to a dish.  One of the reasons I like canning Ruby’s Red Tomato Sauce so much is that it has a wonderful aroma when cooking up.  In fact, a former next-door-neighbor always came to get his jar each year, because he always knew when we were making it; he could smell the wonderful aroma down the street.

Here is the recipe:

Ruby’s Red Tomato Sauce

8 quarts tomatoes, peeled and cut

2 c onions, ground

½ c long red chili peppers

6 c sugar

½ c salt

1 pint vinegar

3 t cinnamon

2 t cloves

2 t nutmeg

2 t ginger

Boil together until thick.  Stir often to prevent sticking.  Seal in sterile jars.  Process in Victorio Stainless Steel Multi-Use Canner.   Check with your local extension center for the amount of time needed to process foods.  Here is the URL for the Utah State University Extension Center:  www.extension.usu.edu/foodpreservation.

Features of the New Victorio Stainless Steel Canner

I love my new Victorio Stainless Steel Canner.  It has a clad bottom that makes it great for kitchen ranges and induction ranges.  It comes with a tempered glass lid so you can see what is happening inside your pot without removing the lid.  It also comes with a temperature indicator with different elevation zones so you can start timing your canning job correctly.

I have enjoyed sharing my favorite canning recipe with you.

Until Next Time,

Patty Prepared

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I have a neighbor who put a pot of beans on the stove and then got a call that she needed to take something to her daughter at school.  She left the house with the pot of beans still on the stove and completely forgot about them.  After she left the school, she decided to run a few errands.  The end result was $10,000 smoke damage to the home.  What my neighbor needed was a Thermal Cooker.  I recently invested in a Thermal Cooker because, like my friend, I often get distracted while cooking something on the stove and end up burning my meal.

Cooking a Meal with a Thermal Cooker

Today, I am making vegetable beef soup with my 7 liter Thermal Cooker.  My Thermal Cooker consists of one large and one small stainless steel pot and an outer insulated pot.  To make my soup I put my Signature Meats canned beef chunks in the larger stainless steel pot.  (I could have also used the smaller pot that stacks on top of the larger pot to cook another item at the same time.)  Then I added onions, potatoes, carrots, dehydrated celery, beef bouillon, water and seasonings.   I placed the pot on the stove and brought it to a boil for 10-15 minutes.  Finally, I removed it from the stove and put it in the outer insulated container and snapped the lid shut.  Two hours later I checked on my soup and it was completely cooked and piping hot.  It will continue to cook and remain hot for up to eight hours.

Fuel Savings with a Thermal Cooker

Another nice feature of my Thermal Cooker is the savings of fuel, especially in an emergency situation.  I could use my inner stainless steel pots over a campfire, volcano stove, butane stove, wood burning stove or other heat source to get it started.  Then I could finish cooking it in the outer insulated container.  This is a perfect solution to cooking to conserve fuel.

Traveling with a Thermal Cooker

I am going to use my Thermal Cooker on my next road trip.  Then I won’t have to stop at fast food restaurants and will enjoy a nice meal at the end of the day!  The Thermal Cooker will be nice to have at the beach, in the mountains, or on a picnic.

Until Next Time,

Patty Prepared

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My dad was the “breakfast cook” when we went camping.  We always had sausage, bacon, eggs and pancakes.  Sometimes we had a fresh food to add to the menu.  Rather than make pancakes from a mix, my mom always made the batter from scratch.  Since then, I have found that you can make your own easy and convenient pancake mix for camping food that tastes as good as mom’s.

Varieties of Mixes

I like to use whole wheat flour, but you can use white flour or half white/half wheat for your pancake mix.  All the ingredients are from shelf-stable dehydrated foods that can be stored in the RV, cabin, or even at home.  Here is the recipe.  It comes from the Mix-A-Meal  Cookbook, by Deanna Bean and Lorna Shute.

Recipe

Pancake and Waffle Mix
Combine:
8 cups white or whole wheat flour
¾ cup dehydrated shortening
3/4 cup powdered milk
¾ cup brown or white sugar or 1/3 cup fructose
2/3 cup dehydrated whole eggs
1/3 cup baking powder
1 scant Tbsp. salt

Pancakes or Waffles
Combine:
1 scant cup pancake mix (above)
1 cup water
Let stand a minute and cook on a hot, oiled griddle.  Makes six 4” pancakes.

There is nothing like a good pancake mix!  Tasty and delicious!

Until Next Time,

Patty Prepared

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As a child we grew up dehydrating food.  My dad built a large wooden dehydrator and put in a heating coil and fan.  We also did some dehydrating in the sun.  We put our drying trays on long tables and then used mosquito netting secured with wooden clothespins so bugs couldn’t ruin the fruit and so the netting was not touching the fruit.

Less Efficient Dehydrator

Later, we bought a round American Harvest dehydrator.  These worked ok, but all the hot air escaped through a hole in the top and it took awhile for the fruit to dry.  Then I became acquainted with the Excalibur Dehydrator.  My brother bought one and I borrow it every year.  He likes to dry apples and pears.  I like to dry apples, prunes, and apricots. My sister bought one as well and now she wants another one.  My aunt has four.

Modern Day Dehydrator

This year I am going to buy my own Excalibur Dehydrator.  After using other dehydrators, there is no comparison.  You can fit more on the trays, it is so easy to clean, the hot air does not escape and it has an adjustable thermostat.  I am going to get the 9-tray model with the 26-hour timer on it.

Dehydrated Recipes

My favorite book for dehydrating is How to Dry Foods, by Deanna DeLong.   In this book are several dehydrator fruit recipes such as Fruit-Cheese Hors d’Oeuvres, Cinnamon Crumble Coffee Cake (using chopped apples, apricots, dates, prunes or sweet cherries), Pear Fritters and Pineapple Doughnuts.  Other dehydrator fruit recipes including fruit leather may be found in Excalibur’s Preserve it Naturally:  The Complete Guide to Dehydrating Food.

Until Next time,

Patty Prepared

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I grew up doing a lot of camping and fishing as a child.  We usually made all our food from scratch, so it was a big chore to prepare for the trip-especially the camping foods.

Memories of the Food

I remember going backpacking with the whole family a few times.  Although we took a few lightweight things such as soup and pudding, it sure would have been nice to have some Mountain House as as a source of camping food.  Mountain house is a very light freeze dried food that you can pack with you almost anywhere.  It is lightweight, easy to pack, and makes an even tastier meal.

Many Uses

My brother used to go on long backpacking trips in Wyoming.  He always used Mountain House freeze-dried foods as his  camping foods source.  I know of many backpackers, hunters, and hikers alike that use mountain house.  As one hunter says,”It sure beats eating a sandwhich on a trail”.  It doesn’t get any more convenient than mountain house.  Add a little hot water, let stand, and just like that you have a delicious meal.

Different Meals

Mountain House has camping foods in pouches or in #10 cans. My favorite entrée is the beef stroganoff.  Other favorites include: the beef stew, the vegetable stew with beef, and the pilot bread crackers.  My favorite dessert has to be the raspberry crumble.  Imagine, a raspberry sauce over chocolate!  The nice thing about Mountain House camping food is that they have a long shelf life.  The pouches will store for 7 years and the #10 cans will store for 25 years.   Mountain House is also a favorite long-term solution for emergency preparedness.  Until next time.

Patty Prepared

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I have always enjoyed eating food that is cooked in Dutch ovens.   It seems as though food cooked in the hills tastes much better.  Coming up with Dutch ovens recipes can be a lot of fun.  One of my favorite meals while camping is pot roast with potatoes, onions, and carrots.

Making Your Tasty Meal Using Dutch Oven Recipes

The steps to making this delicious meal are as follows.  First, brown and season the meat with the onions in the Dutch oven.   Next, add potatoes, carrots, and a little water and cook the food in hot coals until done.  One must always check to make sure there are enough hot coals on the top and on the bottom of the Dutch oven while the roast is cooking.  Most Dutch oven recipes this.   Other favorite camping foods include Pineapple Upside Down Cake and Caramel Pudding Cake (Lion House Cookbook).

A Tasty Little Treat

To make Pineapple Upside Down Cake all you do is melt butter in the bottom of the Dutch oven, sprinkle brown sugar over the butter and then put pineapple slices in the bottom.  Next, pour the cake batter of a yellow cake mix over the top and bake in the Dutch oven until done.  This makes a greatdutch oven recipe.  I recommend this recipe of all the Dutch oven recipes that I have tried when it comes to Pineapple Upside Down Cake. Yum!

Cooking in a Dutch Oven Can Be a Lot of Fun

While visiting a cousin a few years back I met his next door neighbor.  Her name is Janet Wayman.  I soon learned that Janet was a former world U.S.  and a Utah state Dutch oven champion. She takes Dutch oven recipes to a whole new level.   I thrilled to have met her and asked if I could film (See DVD’s Here) her doing a few Dutch oven demonstrations and she agreed!  Janet made some fun foods for camping such as Buttermilk Baked Chicken, Better Baked Ziti, Sweet Cheese Patooties, Blueberry Wheat Dessert and some recipes from the Mix-A-Meal Cookbook, by Deanna Bean and Lorna Shute.     At the end of the demonstration I got to sample all the foods for camping.  It was absolutely delicious!  Dutch Oven Recipes can be a lot of fun so get to it!

Until Next Time,
Patty Prepared

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The Excalibur Dehydrating Machine

In some versions of the legend of King Arthur, Excalibur was considered to be a powerful sword that signified the right to rule in Britain.  The aptly named Excalibur Dehydrator may not signify the right to rule a country, but it is the most powerful dehydrator on the market, and it will help you master drying foods.

The Excalibur Dehydrator is a simply-understood electric-powered machine.  After placing thinly sliced fruits, vegetables, meats, homemade pastas and the like on each pull-out tray, the machine comes to life at the turn of a single knob.

I acquired the use of an Excalibur Dehydrator a couple weeks ago, and it was so easy to use that I want to have my own.  I decided to dry different types of fruits, including pears, apples, bananas, peaches and nectarines.  Following the advice of a friend, I dipped each thinly sliced piece of fruit into canned pineapple juice.  My friend told me the pineapple juice helps to prevent fruit from browning and it adds to the sweetness of the fruit.  The taste of pineapple is unnoticeable in the fruits after they are dried.  My friend also mentioned that you wouldn’t want to simultaneously dry foods with a strong odor (think fish) and foods without a strong odor (think apples).

As already noted, the Excalibur only has one knob on it.  The knob indicates the temperature foods will be dried at.  Along the side of the knob is a chart that shows what temperature is required for which foods.   The machine keeps that temperature consistent until the machine is turned off.  Fruits are dried at 135 degrees Fahrenheit for varying times.  I dried my fruit for about nine hours.  The matter of how much time is required to properly dry your food can be found by a simple Internet search.  It can also be found in the Excalibur handbook, Preserve It Naturally: The Comprehensive Guide to Food Dehydration, which can be purchased from Preparedness Plus Products, LLC along with the Excalibur Dehydrator.

Despite its size, the Excalibur is lightweight and extremely quiet during the drying process.  When I dried my fruit, I turned it on at bedtime, went to sleep and turned it off when I woke up in the morning.  It was that simple.  My husband and I then made our own trail mix with the fruit, and it has been a delicious snack.

Out of curiosity, I decided to test the reconstitution of a piece of fruit dried in an Excalibur dehydrator.  After pouring boiling water just barely over the top of the fruit (to reduce nutrient loss), I let the cup sit for five minutes.  The apple reconstituted well.  The only difference was that the formerly dehydrated apple slice was floppy, whereas a normal apple slice would have been crisp.

All in all, the Excalibur pleasantly surprised me.  When I saw that big black box coming to invade my kitchen table, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it.  However, now that I have literally tasted the fruits of the Excalibur Dehydrator and experienced its many other pleasant features, I want it to take a permanent place in my home.

Until next time,

Patty Prepared

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Onion Soup Mix

Mix-A-Meal Cookbook provides many useful and delicious recipes, but none is as versatile or as cost-effective as the onion soup mix recipe.  Onion soup mix can be used to flavor vegetables, rice, pot roasts and a variety of other foods.  However, buying commercially distributed onion soup mix is expensive and usually hard to buy in large quantities.  That means every dish you would use onion soup mix with requires a purchase that ranges from around $0.50 to $1.79.  In contrast, a large batch of Mix-A-Meal onion soup mix can be put together for a fraction of the cost and can be put in a Tupperware or canning jar and stored on your shelf for about a year or more while retaining its freshness.  The charts below summarizes a September 2011 research study Preparedness Plus Products, LLC conducted on pricing per ounce for various brands of onion soup mix in several different stores.  The study found that the average price per ounce of commercial mixes is $0.50, while the price per ounce of the Mix-A-Meal onion soup mix is $0.27.

Cost Per Ounce of Store-bought Onion Soup Mixes

Cost of ingredients Included in Mix-A-Meal Onion Soup Mix

(Bean, D. & Shute, L. (1997.)  Mix-A-Meal Cookbook.  Mix-A-Meal Company.  Orem, Utah.)

I have flavored rice and made a dip for chips using the Mix-A-Meal onion soup mix, and I loved the flavor of both items.  The best part about using the onion soup mix in those items is that anytime I want to make them again, or flavor a roast in the crock pot on Sunday morning, I don’t need to run to the store or buy an expensive mix.  I will just pull out my jar of onion soup mix and have a flavorful dish to enjoy.

Rice made with Mix-A-Meal onion soup mix

Dip made with Mix-A-Meal onion soup mix

Until Next Time,

Patty Prepared

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