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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Cooking with Dehydrated Buttermilk

Today’s kitchen adventure was a risky one for me, I must admit.

I have a favorite salad dressing recipe in my mom’s cookbook that I am in love with.  I have heard some of my mom’s friends say they could drink it with a straw.  The recipe requires a myriad of green-colored ingredients, including tomatillos, cilantro and store-bought buttermilk ranch powdered dressing.  The recipe also calls for a cup of fresh buttermilk.

This dressing accents many meals for my husband and me, so choosing to replace fresh buttermilk with powdered buttermilk was a little scary.  This was true especially considering I did not have directions for how many parts water to buttermilk powder was needed.  But I forged ahead.

I went to the Internet and found the water-to-buttermilk ratio first.  I mixed the water and buttermilk until the buttermilk was almost dissolved.  I wasn’t as careful at dissolving the buttermilk as I would have been if making something else because the dressing is mixed in a blender.  After adding the other ingredients, whipping the dressing up and holding my breath, I tasted it.

I have to say it wasn’t quite the same, but it was close enough that I still enjoyed it.  The dressing was still devoured and the ingredients were not wasted.    My husband would use powdered buttermilk again, but not for this dressing.  Though he ate just as much of this batch of dressing as ones we have made before, he likes it to taste the exact same every time.   In the future, I would probably use the powdered buttermilk again in the dressing because we have a supply of it.  I find it close enough to fresh buttermilk.  But, as is seen in the difference of opinion between me and my husband, it comes down to your personal tastes.  My advice is to try powdered buttermilk out.  You may be surprised.

Until next time,

Patty Prepared

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Cooking with Powdered Milk

Welcome back, friends!  Today’s adventure finds us back in the kitchen cooking a simple pasta package using powdered milk.

This adventure actually happened by accident.  My husband and I were preparing dinner and realized we needed milk in order to cook a store-bought package of alfredo pasta.  We were out of milk and were tired from our day’s work, so going to the store was not looking good.  Then I remembered we had powdered milk, or crystallized non-fat milk to be more specific.

We reconstituted the powdered milk as the can directed and added the mixture to our pasta in place of the milk we would have normally used.  We weren’t sure if this move would ruin our meal, but we decided it was worth a try.

Surprisingly, when we tried the pasta, we could not taste the difference of using powdered milk over fresh milk.  We have eaten that type and brand of pasta many times before, so we thought we would notice some kind of difference.  But we enjoyed the pasta as much as we had in the past.

We realize that we probably didn’t notice the difference between the milks because this recipe required us to boil the powdered milk.  In general, the flavor of powdered milk is not noticeable when cooked or baked.  However, the flavor of powdered milk would not have gone unnoticed if it was a replacement for milk that is poured over breakfast cereal, for example.  A recommendation I would make is to add a little vanilla to powdered milk if you plan on drinking it or pouring it over cereal.  The flavor is less noticeable and more enjoyable.

Until next time,

Patty Prepared

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OvaEasy Eggs

Dried eggs have never been a favorite of mine.  I remember my mom experimenting with food storage and my own curiosity getting the better of me.  I tried to make scrambled eggs using dehydrated whole egg (which are only meant for baking), and they turned out nothing like what I was hoping for or expecting.  Because the standard dehydration process cooks the eggs while dehydrating them, trying to make scrambled eggs out of dehydrated whole eggs produces an unappetizing dish that has more of a burnt taste than anything else.

Because of my unfortunate experiences in the past, I have not been eager to try any other dried egg products.  However, a few weeks ago I was introduced to OvaEasy Egg Crystals, a crystallized form of dried eggs.  Because I was given a complimentary sample, I decided to try my luck.

OvaEasy Egg Crystals are, from a personal standpoint, the best dried eggs on the market when considering taste, quality and ease of reconstitution.  OvaEasy Eggs are crystallized, not dehydrated, meaning that they are not cooked as they are dried, and they taste just like fresh eggs when reconstituted with water.  They are shelf-stable, and the crystallizing technology preserves the proteins, vitamins, minerals and other nutritional content in the eggs.  In addition to being great tasting and requiring only water for reconstitution, OvaEasy Eggs are antibiotics-free, pasteurized, gluten-free and the hens are fed a vegetarian diet.  OvaEasy Eggs come in whole egg and egg white varieties.

Though OvaEasy Eggs are intended to be used as a stand-alone dish, I have also used OvaEasy Egg Crystals in baking.  I wasn’t intending on using them, but they were my only option when I discovered I had run out of eggs and I needed to get some butterscotch bread in the oven.  By following the simple conversion table found on the package, I was able to complete the recipe.  I couldn’t taste any major difference in the bread, despite the ingredient exchange.

OvaEasy Eggs work well as a preparedness item and are very convenient to use on camping trips.  Instead of packing fragile eggs in a cooler to take on a camping trip, all you have to bring is a small bag of lightweight egg crystals.  OvaEasy Eggs are ideal for backpackers as well.

I do need to note that through trial and error, I have discovered dehydrated egg mix produces a pretty good scrambled egg, though it is not as good as OvaEasy Eggs.  Also, I have to restate that dehydrated whole eggs are meant for baking only, not scrambling, which is why my experience in my youth was so negative.  Dehydrated whole eggs do not add an unpleasant flavor to baked items.

Having personally used OvaEasy Eggs and comparing them to dehydrated whole egg and dehydrated egg mix, I give OvaEasy Eggs first place and I highly recommend them to anyone.

Until next time,

Patty Prepared

Information obtained from:

Nutriom.  (2010).  OvaEasy Egg Crystals. <http://www.nutriom.com/>

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Food Storage Chicken Bouillon in Rice

Welcome back, friends!  Today’s adventure was simple, but useful knowledge was gained.

Rice is a diet staple of many cultures in the world.  My particular favorite rice dish is made in a Hispanic style.  It complements a green salad and makes an excellent burrito filling.  Among its ingredients, the recipe calls for eight tablespoons (or ½ cup) of chicken bouillon.  Chicken bouillon in small quantities is usually found in cube form.  However, considering the amount required for this recipe, I was extremely grateful for my big #10 can of chicken bouillon I pulled out from my food storage.  Because of the bigger can, I had to measure out the mixture but didn’t have to unwrap cube after cube and crush the contents into powder so I could make an accurate measurement.  I was also grateful that my can of bouillon from Preparedness Plus Products, LLC had no MSG in it, like so many other brands of bouillon do.

I wondered how taste and shelf life of the #10 can bouillon compared with the wrapped cubes.  As far as taste went, I noticed no difference in the rice than from other times I have made it without the big container.  My husband said the canned bouillon made the rice have a better and more noticeable flavor.  As far as shelf life goes, I researched a little and found that some say a #10 can of bouillon will stay fresh for up to 5 years if unopened  and stored in a cool, dry place (Marlene’s Magic with Food Storage).  It will stay fresh a little shorter if opened, but if stored in a cool, dry place, shelf life can be between 3-5 years.   One website, Food Storage Guide, says store-bought cubed bouillon can stay fresh for around one year.

Chicken bouillon can be used in many dishes, and therefore is worth the investment of obtaining a large can.  It adds flavor to what otherwise might be bland dishes, and without the addition of the harmful additive MSG, you can cook healthily and happily.

Until next time,

Patty Prepared

References:

Food Storage Guide.  (2007).  Answers the Question…

<http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/yf/foods/fn579-1.htm>

Peterson, M. (1996).  Marelene’s Magic with Food Storage.  No publisher listed.

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I have great memories of homemade bread.  When I was growing up, my mom would often make it early in the morning, and the scent of fresh, hot bread would travel through the air vents into my room.  I remember my mom kneading dough with her hands and putting in ingredients without using a recipe.  She clearly knew what she was doing.

When I contemplated making my own bread from food storage ingredients, I didn’t know if I could make a decent-tasting, decent-looking loaf.  The process of making bread ─ everything from the mixing, kneading, rising and baking ─ looked too complex for a kitchen amateur like me.  I also wondered if I would have to compromise taste if I used dry-packed ingredients instead of fresh ones.

After making bread with a friend who knew what she was doing, both the concerns of my ability and of making great-tasting bread were put to rest.  I am confident I could make delicious bread again, and so can you– no matter what your level of experience in the kitchen, or what your knowledge of cooking with food storage.

Here are the simplified steps I followed to make delicious bread with food storage ingredients.
The recipe is found in the Mix-A-Meal Cookbook by Deanna Bean and Lorna Shute.  This is a recipe book dedicated to showing you how to use and rotate your food storage by making inexpensive, homemade mixes.  You can purchase it at www.preparednessplus.net.

The Mix-A-Meal Cookbook provides a “mini-mix” recipe if you want to try out a recipe before making a large amount of a particular food.  I used the mini-mix for this kitchen adventure.  The recipe I used was adapted for a bread making machine, like the Bosch Universal Plus.  The instructions are a little bit different if you are doing it by hand, but it is not too difficult.  The hand-kneading recipe is also found in the book and is included in the “free recipes” section of this website.

First, I assembled the ingredients to make the “Homemade Bread Mix” and mixed them in a bowl.  This included a 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of dehydrated shortening and a tablespoon of salt.

I placed (in this order) 1 1/4 cups of water, 1/4 cup of the Homemade Bread Mix, 3 cups of white bread flour and 2 teaspoons of active dry yeast into the bread machine bowl.
(For whole wheat bread, replace the white flour with 2 1/2 cups of wheat flour and 1/2 cup of gluten.)  Note:  The flour can either be store-bought or can be freshly ground wheat from a home wheat grinder.

I attached the dough hook, turned on the Bosch Universal Plus and the machine kneaded the ingredients for eight minutes on the number two setting.  Each bread-making machine will have varying control settings, but the idea is to knead the bread on a medium setting for 8-10 minutes.

I allowed the dough to rise for 30 minutes in the bread-making machine.

I pre-heated the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Then I greased a bread pan using shortening (you can use cooking spray, butter or margarine as well).  I placed the dough in a pan, placed a dry towel over the top and allowed it to rise for another half hour.

After the dough had risen, I removed the towel and placed the pan in the oven to bake for 30-35 minutes.

The bread cooled on a wire rack for about 10 minutes and then was cut and enjoyed with honey.  It was delicious, and tasted equal to or better than bread made with fresh ingredients.

Don’t be afraid to try making homemade bread.  Even for an amateur like me, it was easy and the reward was great.

Until Next Time,
Patty Prepared

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Sprouting is one of the easiest forms of gardening.  Soil, sun and fertilizer are not required; neither are expensive tools and back-aching labor.  I find sprouting to be the perfect solution to growing fresh vegetables without hassle.  Not to mention sprouts are extremely high in vitamins and minerals (like Vitamin C), are low in calories and fat, and are full of protein, fiber and enzymes (which actually aid the body in digesting the sprouts).

A few months ago I started sprouting seeds in a container in my kitchen.  The container I used was specifically manufactured for sprouting, though making your own homemade container can easily be done by strapping clean nylon to a cup or bowl.  The most important thing to know when selecting a container is that the container needs to have a way of ventilating and draining water from the bottom.  This may mean your cup or bowl has many holes poked in the bottom of it, or it may mean you opt for a commercially manufactured container, like the mini Sprout Master that I used.   The nice thing about the Sprout Master, other than its superiority in producing viable sprouts, is the fact that Sprout Master containers can be stacked on top of each other, thereby taking up less room on your counter top.

Sprouting is simple.  Here are the steps I followed to go from dormant seeds to edible vegetables.

First, I selected the type of seed I wanted to sprout.  I ended up sprouting several types, but the one that turned out the best (because the container had good ventilation) was the broccoli sprouting seeds.

Next, I soaked my broccoli seeds (about ½ cup) in water overnight to bring them out of their inactive, storage state.  The morning after I had soaked them I drained the seeds and spread them thinly over the bottom of the mini Sprout Master.  I placed the container in the window, which I didn’t know was a bad idea.

Lucky for me, the sprouts turned out all right.  However, sprouts are not supposed to be exposed to direct sunlight.  In fact, some people grow their sprouts in the cupboard and avoid sun altogether.

As noted in the article, you are not supposed to place sprouts in direct sunlight. I made this mistake, and I was lucky the sprouts weren’t damaged.

Sprouts need to be watered at least twice daily, but this can vary based on the type of sprout grown.   As previously noted, when sprouts are watered, the water should not be left in the container.  The goal is for the sprouts to be moist, not wet.  If sprouts are left in standing water, they will rot (sometimes growing mold) and smell terrible (as I experienced with the other types of seeds I sprouted).

Different sprouts also have differing growth rates.  The broccoli seeds I had grown were fully sprouted in about five or six days, though they started showing signs of growth after the second day.  It is up to personal preference when you decide to stop watering your sprouts.  You can eat them immediately or place them in the fridge for up to two weeks of storage.

As I said before, sprouting is easy and it gives you a high yield of nutritious vegetables that work well in sandwiches, smoothies, casseroles and many other dishes.  Sprouting is worth a try, even if you don’t become an avid sprouter.

Until next time,

Patty Prepared

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Mix-A-Meal Cookbook is full of mix recipes that save money and time in the kitchen, and my favorite of them all is the Hot Roll Mix and accompanying Basic Roll Dough.  My husband and I make these delicious rolls about once a week.  The best part about them is that they are extremely easy to make and require very little time.

A couple times a month, my husband and I measure out the ingredients for a large batch of Hot Roll Mix, which are placed in a plastic container on our shelf.  The mix is comprised of 10 cups of flour (white all-purpose flour, wheat flour or a combination of both), 1 cup of butter (or margarine) powder, 1/4 cup of powdered milk, 2 tablespoons of salt and 2/3 cup of sugar.  (View the website section “Recipes” for the “mini mix” of the Hot Roll Mix.)

On a day when we want to make rolls, we pull the mix container off the shelf and follow the simple recipe.  (These directions are also found under the “Recipes” section.)

To make a batch of rolls, the recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of yeast to be dissolved into 1 1/2 cups of warm water.  Then four cups of the Hot Roll Mix is added.

There are a few ways to proceed.  I find the rolls turn out the best when adding a little additional flour to the dough and kneading it for about five minutes.

I then let the dough rise for an hour in the mixing bowl.  A warm environment will help the dough rise higher (and thereby will produce more rolls).  I like to put my dough in an oven preheated to 170 degrees Fahrenheit.  If you are in an emergency situation and are using your Global Sun Oven to cook, you can also place a kitchen towel over the dough.  The towel will keep heat inside the bowl and will help the dough to rise.

I check the dough after it has risen for half an hour.  I usually punch down the dough (which also allows it to rise higher).  After the hour, I take out the bowl of dough, turn up the oven to 350 degrees, roll the dough into two-inch balls and place them on a greased cookie sheet.  If you roll them into smaller balls, keep in mind you need to put them in the oven for less time so they don’t turn out crunchy or hard.

After 15 to 20 minutes in the oven, the rolls should be ready to pull out, but use your judgment as to whether they need more time or not.  After they have cooled a little, I like to eat them with butter and honey.

And that is all there is to making hot rolls from Mix-A-Meal Cookbook.    If you keep replenishing your supply of Hot Roll Mix, you can make dough in less than 10 minutes!  After making dough, all you have to do is wait for the it to rise for an hour, form rolls and put them in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes.  Rotating your food storage is not going to get much easier or more delicious than this.

Until next time,

Patty Prepared

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The holidays are a perfect time to bake your favorite treats and try some new ones that may become favorites.  The latter has been my experience this December, as I have tried some new recipes from Chef Tess.  Each of these recipes has different Mix-A-Meal powdered flavorings in it, which enhanced the deliciousness and variety in the treats.    All recipes mentioned in this blog can be found under the “Recipes” section of the website.

The first recipe I tried was “Salted Caramel Christmas Almonds.”  First, I heated my tablespoon of butter and teaspoon of brown sugar until the mixture was liquid.  Then I added my cup of almonds and swirled the pot around to make sure all of the almonds were covered in the mixture.

The first sugar mixture I made was the original, which features Mix-A-Meal butterscotch and vanilla powdered flavorings.  The mixture also contained 2 tablespoons of sugar and ¼ teaspoon of salt.

After whisking this mixture, I poured my buttery almonds into it and moved the bowl around to make sure all of the almonds received a proper coating.

I repeated the process of heating butter and brown sugar so that I could try one of the flavor variations mentioned in the recipe from Chef Tess.  This time, I made a dry sugar mixture that included Mix-A-Meal butterscotch, pineapple and coconut powdered flavorings (the variation is called “Christmas in Paradise;” it usually calls for Macadamia nuts instead of almonds, but I decided to stick with almonds this time through).

Both of these holiday nuts were fantastic!  I especially enjoyed the “Christmas in Paradise” almonds.  I loved that only a small amount of the Mix-A-Meal powdered flavorings needed to be used in each recipe in order to receive a powerful, pleasant flavor.

The other recipe I tried was also from Chef Tess and it, too, included Mix-A-Meal powdered flavorings.  Chef Tess has come up with a variety of “popcorn sprinkles,” which are powdery mixtures that are spread over hot buttered popcorn.  I made the “Chocolate Coconut Bar Sprinkles,” which includes powdered butter, sugar and Mix-A-Meal chocolate cream and coconut powdered flavorings.

After popping a bag of light microwave popcorn, I sprinkled the “Chocolate Coconut Bar Sprinkles” on the popcorn.  To make sure the sprinkles got on all of the popcorn pieces, I placed a lid on the popcorn bowl and shook it well.  Upon tasting the popcorn, I realized that some pieces were entirely without sprinkles.  The sprinkles were having a hard time sticking to the popcorn because I used light, non-buttery popcorn.  If you want the sprinkles to stick, you have to be a butter lover.

Besides that problem, the sprinkles were delicious!  I ended up melting some stick butter and pouring it over my popcorn, then pouring on more sprinkles.  With this extra step, the sprinkles stuck and the popcorn was perfect.

Based on my experiences with these two recipes, I give both a thumbs up.  They were tasty and gave me a better idea of how I could use my Mix-A-Meal Powdered Flavorings.

Until next time,

Patty Prepared

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During this past week, the weather has once again showed us that emergency preparedness is not only important, but essential.  Severe winds whipped across six western states, including California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Wyoming.  In some parts of California, hurricane-force winds of 157 miles per hour were recorded (Washington Post).  Several semi-trucks were overturned on Interstate 15, forcing officials to close the highway to trucks.  Many schools were closed and countless homes were damaged across these six states.  In one Utah neighborhood, trees were uprooted, trampolines were transported from one neighbor’s yard to the next, and garage doors were warped out of shape (Personal Blog).  Amidst all of the chaos outside, hundreds of thousands of people were left without power in their homes, some for days.  According to a “Bloomberg Businessweek” article, “The storm knocked out electricity to more than 350,000 utility customers in Southern California.  By early Friday, 270,000 of them were still without power.”

It’s times like these that make me grateful for my efforts to be prepared.  If I was found in a situation where going outside was a threat to my well being and I had no electricity in my house, I know exactly how I would sustain myself—I would get out my Mountain House freeze-dried food.

To make a Mountain House meal during an emergency situation, I would get out a small, preparedness stove that I keep in store for such a time (see photo).  I would boil 3 cups of water in a lightweight pot (1 ½ cups for my entrée and 1 ½ cups for some vegetables and fruits).  When the water had boiled, I would portion out my dried food from a #10 can or open a pre-portioned pouch and pour half of the boiled water into a bowl or the pouch.

If the food was in a bowl, I would cover the bowl with a kitchen towel to keep the moisture inside the bowl.  If using the pouch, all I would do is seal the bag (it has a re-sealable top).

As previously mentioned, after waiting 10 minutes, the food would be ready and I would be set to eat a delicious, hot meal.  How many people would be able to say they could eat a hot, quality-tasting meal when their power goes out?

My Mountain House pouch meal: Breakfast Skillet

You never know when the power is going to go out or when a natural disaster will strike.  If you have Mountain House food in store, you will be able to survive and maintain your stamina without the hassle of cooking without electricity.  If stored properly, Mountain House #10 cans can last for 25 years or more without the food losing nutrients; the pouches can last up to seven years.  With that kind of track record, purchasing a kit would be a wise investment.

As you can see based on the events of last week, emergency preparedness is not something you can afford to put off.  If you are new at starting your preparedness program, might I suggest ordering some Mountain House food.  Both the #10 cans and mylar pouches are available from Preparedness Plus Products, LLC.  Like I said, you never know when you are going to need it.  If you would like to speak with an expert about your individual preparedness needs, call Preparedness Plus Products, LLC at 1-800-588-5412 for a free consultation.

For more information on survival skills in a power outage, read the article “How to survive a night without power” on the KSL website.

Until next time,

Patty Prepared

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