Saturday, January 29, 2011

February Newsletter

CHICKEN AND BEANS

Next Meeting

Tuesday, February 1

6:30 pm

Topics:

Save money by cutting up your own meat! Lesson by David Clark

A shelf-stable chicken dish by Janet Hudson.

Take home sample of dehydrated refried beans, freeze-dried strawberries, and peanut butter powder ~ courtesy of Lacey Brown.

Bring your menus and/or shopping list so we can discuss where we may want to trim our budget or learn to make from storage.


How To Cook Dry Beans

Before Cooking: There are several accepted ways of preparing dry beans for cooking. All start with a thorough washing in cold water and inspection for damaged beans and foreign material. If you have time to cook the variety you have chosen until it reaches the desired tenderness, soaking is not essential. However, most cooks prefer some method of soaking to shorten cooking time and to improve either flavor, texture, appearance or digestibility. In either of the soaking methods below, it is recommended that the soaking water be discarded and the beans rinsed and cooked in fresh water.

Soaking Tips: Traditional Method: Wash one pound dry beans. Add to 10 cups boiling water; boil 2 minutes. Remove from heat; cover and soak 12 hours or overnight. Drain, rinse and cook.

Quick Method: Wash one pound dry beans. Add to 10 cups boiling water; boil 2 to 1 minutes. Cover and soak 1 to 4 hours. Drain, rinse and cook. Beans will expand 2 ½ times.

Cooking/Storage Tips Cooking Method: Drain and rinse soaked beans; put into large kettle. Add 6 cups hot water, 1 to 2 tablespoons shortening or oil and 2 teaspoons salt. Boil gently with lid tilted until tender. Cooking time will range from 30 to 60 minutes, depending on variety of bean. Simmer beans slowly. Cooking too fast can break skins.

McGrath method: rinse beans, take out bad ones and cover in a big pot water. Bring to boil, turn stove to simmer. Season with garlic and black pepper and cover. When soft, season with salt. I put it on in the morning and let it cook slowly all day.

Go HERE for more methods of cooking dry beans.


Looking Ahead......

February 15

Make artisan bread with NO mixer, NO special ingredients, and in NO time at all. This is easy, fun, and will give you NO reason not to have hot bread out of the oven anytime you want!

March 1

Learn to make your own laundry detergent at a fraction of the cost of store detergent.

This lesson will be held at the Church building because it will include a dinner. Don’t miss this fun night out!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Weekly Deals

Country Mart good through Tues Feb. 1
Bananas .39 lb
Best Choice 46 oz canned Tomato Juice .79
Best Choice Saltine Crackers .88

Knights good through Wed Feb 2
Best Choice canned Veggies 3 for $1

Don't forget you can take the ads and comp items at Wal-Mart!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Meet Sarah

Sarah will be posting the weekly sale ads. She is a pro.

If you have want to get the most out of Walgreens, ask her. She is a pro at couponing there. (From what I have seen my sister glean for almost nothing, it is with it to learn Walgreen's secrets in and out.)

Picture? Hm, I will sneak one the next time I see her so you will know what she looks like behind the mask.

Thanks, Sarah!

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Consider: The Hamburger Bun

The ingredients in your typical store-bought hamburger bun:

Enriched Wheat Flour (Flour, Barley Malt, Ferrous Sulfate (Iron), "B" Vitamins (Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate (B1), Riboflavin (B2), Folic Acid)), Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup Or Sugar, Yeast, Soybean Oil. Contains 2% Or Less Of: Wheat Gluten, Salt, Calcium Sulfate, Dough Conditioners (May Contain: Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Tricalcium Phosphate, Ethoxylated Mono And Diglycerides, Datem, Dicalcium Phosphate, Mono And Diglycerides, Calcium Dioxide And/Or Sorbic Acid), Vinegar, Soy Flour, Yeast Nutrients (May Contain: Ammonium Chloride, Ammonium Phosphate, Diammonium Phosphate, Ammonium Sulfate, Monocalcium Phosphate And/Or Calcium Carbonate), Cornstarch, Wheat Starch, Enzymes, Calcium Propionate (To Retain Freshness), Whey, Soy Lecithin.

Your homemade "white" hamburger buns:
Enriched all-purpose flour (bleached wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid); water, egg, sugar, yeast, butter, salt.

Your homemade "wheat" hamburger buns:

whole wheat flour, water, egg, sugar, yeast, butter, salt.

Grocery Ads - Good until 1-25-11



Libby vegetables are still on sale at Mayflower for 39 cents/can. Don't be afraid to buy another case. That is called food storage!

If you use boneless chicken breasts for special dinners now is the time to buy it - it is on sale at Knight's for only $1.49/lb. You can print the ad here, and comp it at Walmart. Or, you can get the bone-in chicken breast for 88 cents/lb. You can figure the edible portion of the bone-in chicken breast is 65%, so use that for comparison when looking at prices. In this example, the edible portion is $1.46/lb, so it is worth buying it already deboned. However, chicken isn't always that cheap. We will have a class on de-boning chicken soon with David Clark.

If you like fryer leg quarters, they are on sale this week and the lowest price is 39 cents/lb at Mayflower. Don't forget you can comp it at Walmart.

Starkist Tuna is on sale for only 50 cents/can at Kroger (or comp).

Milk!! It has been around $3.88 at Walmart. Yikes. When I had all the kids at home we could easily go through 5 gallons a week. Kroger has the half gallon on sale 4 for $5. That is only $1.25 a quart or $2.50 a gallon! You can comp with Walmart brand milk, but you have to buy the quart size. I say, "Who cares?" I would rather have a bunch of 1/2 gallon sizes in the fridge at $2.50/gallon then not. You can stock up on milk, if you have freezer space.

Countrymart has their Green Giant baby carrots on sale for 99 cents. I don't think Walmart sells the Green Giant brand. Someone correct me if I am wrong.

Potatoes are only $2.88 for a 10 pound sack. You can buy them at Countrymart or comp the ad at Walmart.

I know it is Saturday and late! I will try to do better next week and post of the best ads early.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Convenience Food

I have been giving some thought to our discussion on "convenience foods." I believe a bit of clarification would be helpful.

Some convenience can/box foods are necessary in our storage. It makes sense to have them for short term emergencies (like no electricity). If you are out of power for two days, it will be better to open a can of ravioli then make your own from scratch. Same with macaroni and cheese.

What we don't want to do, in terms of long term storage, is have 1,000 boxes of mac and cheese, or 500 cans of ravioli in our storage.

Another example: dry onion soup mix. I use it a lot. I was storing about 12 envelopes at a time, but I really had to keep track because I would run out without realizing it. Now, I have things in my long term storage that I can very quickly throw together to make my dry soup mix. I don't have to worry about running out of it ever. Why? Because the ingredients I use for it are ingredients I use for many other things as well, and I can store larger quantities without it going bad.

Over the next few months we will be making mixes that can replace some of your convenience items - some you will like and some you may not, but at least you will have choices open to you besides just buying the box at the store.

Are you keeping up with your grocery/menu list?

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

The All Purpose Cleaner


There was some discussion last night about the many wonderful uses of vinegar, specifically white distilled vinegar.

This is the perfect cleaner - it is effective and safe for you and the environment. Best of all, it is very inexpensive.

Personally, I use vinegar as a cleaner to wipe down kitchen and bathroom counters. You can use it to clean windows. I put it in the rinse agent section of the dishwasher, and in the fabric softener section of the washer. It will remove odors from the clothes.

Some of you are worried about the smell. Dilute the vinegar in a 50/50 solution, it is still most effective and the smell will quickly dissipate. In fact, it will remove other strange odors at the same time.

Dilute some vinegar and put it in a spray bottle for a quick, convenient and cheap cleaner. Let us know how it goes for you.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Thank you!

Thanks to everyone who showed up for tonight's kick off! I thought it went wonderfully, didn't you?

Many thanks for all of the suggestions for the blog and for workshops. Next time, bring a friend or neighbor. I know it was a little crowded, but we can work on that problem, so bring them anyway!

Thank you, Janet, for those great black beans burgers; and to Megan for the yummy rolls. The recipes follow:

Hamburger Buns II

1 cup (8 oz) water

2 tablespoons (1 oz) butter

1 large egg

3 1/4 cups (13 3/4 oz) unbleached all purpose flour

1/4 cup (1 3/4 oz) sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon instant yeast

1 teaspoon onion powder (optional)

Combine all ingredients and mix and knead them together- by hand or mixer- until you've made a soft, smooth dough. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover it, and let it rise for 1 hour.

Divide the dough into 8 pieces and shape each piece into a flattened ball. Place the buns on greased baking sheets, cover, and let rise 30-40 minutes, until they're quite puffy.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Bake the buns for 12 to 15 minutes, until they're golden brown. Remove them from the oven and cool them on a rack. Split and use for burgers or sandwiches.



Black Bean Burgers

1 (16 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 green bell pepper, cut into 2 inch pieces

1/2 onion, cut into wedges

3 cloves garlic, peeled

1 egg

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 tablespoon cumin

1 teaspoon Thai chili sauce or hot sauce

1/2 cup bread crumbs

Directions:

1. If grilling, preheat an outdoor grill for high heat, and lightly oil a sheet of aluminum foil. If baking, preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C), and lightly oil a baking sheet.

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2. In a medium bowl, mash black beans with a fork until thick and pasty.

3. In a food processor, finely chop bell pepper, onion, and garlic. Then stir into mashed beans.

4. In a small bowl, stir together egg, chili powder, cumin, and chili sauce.

5. Stir the egg mixture into the mashed beans. Mix in bread crumbs until the mixture is sticky and holds together. Divide mixture into four patties.

6. If grilling, place patties on foil, and grill about 8 minutes on each side. If baking, place patties on baking sheet, and bake about 10 minutes on each side.


Don't forget to keep track of your purchases for the next two weeks. Sort them by fresh, staple, and convenience. Also - keep a list of your meals for two weeks so it will be easier to determine what kinds of food you need to store.



Monday, January 17, 2011

First Meeting

Just a reminder about tomorrow night's meeting.

6:30

Bring a roll of Bounty paper towel and an old empty diaper wipe container.

Janet has a black bean burger recipe we are going to try out.

There is more! Don't miss it.

See you all tomorrow :-)

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Shelf Stable Food

Food Storage Made Easy is a website that is having a "Shelf Stable" recipe marathon - each Saturday they will post a new recipe made completely with self stable products. This is a great way to try out new recipes for your food storage!

Today they posted a recipe for shelf stable tortellini soup that I can't wait to try.

Click HERE to get the recipe.

Keep in mind, even though we suggest a blog or website to look at, we never suggest you purchase anything they may be selling. There is enough free information out there that we should never have to purchase any of it!

Thursday, January 13, 2011

It's Really That Simple


Do you eat canned vegetables?

Then you have an opportunity to begin today stocking up. Mayflower Grocery has Libby brand vegetables on sale for only 39 cents.

For less than $5 you can begin your food storage, buy a case. If you can spare the extra, buy two.

It really is that simple!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

In the News

Lower Corn and Soybean output sends prices soaring. (Click to link to the article)

The January Group Special

The group order from Emergency Essentials has arrived. If you have not reserved an item, then it will be available to anyone while supplies last.

We are not making any profit on these items, we are selling them for what was paid. The group orders allow us to order large quantities at a deep discount. If you are thinking of trying something new to add to your food storage, this is a good opportunity.

Not sure if you will like/use them? Go in with a friend or two to purchase a can. Then you will know for sure if you want to buy them the next time a sale rolls around.

This month:

Dehydrated Green Bell Pepper Slices $9.00/can
Freeze-Dried Whole Raspberries - $20.00/canFreeze-Dried Celery Pieces $12.00/canWhat are the differences between Freeze dried foods & Dehydrated foods?

Freeze dried foods are flash frozen and then dried.

Freeze drying removes the water, not the flavor. So freeze dried foods retain virtually all their fresh food taste, vitamins and nutritional content. Weighs less than fresh. Freeze dried foods have 98% of their water removed. This significantly reduces the food's weight, making it easier to handle and less costly to transport. For example, 3kg of chicken weighs only 1kg after freeze drying, and rapidly rehydrates back to its original weight. Freeze drying is generally more expensive then dehydrating.

Dehydrated Foods are top-quality foods, that have been picked at their ripeness, cleansed and trimmed to leave only the best parts.

These choice foods are then dehydrated, where 98% of their moisture is removed. This is done by a highly sophisticated drying process. They are then packed in heavy-duty enameled cans, and sealed with a special inert atmosphere to ensure the longest possible storage life.

Because their bulk and weight have been greatly reduced, dehydrated foods are more compact and convenient for storing and require very little space. They offer quick mobility in the event of an evacuation alert. For example, one case of regular canned food weighs approximately 24 pounds. The same item of dehydrated foods would weigh from 36 to 45 ounces, and would be packed in just one #10 can. Dehydrated foods have approximately double the yield of regular canned foods even though their cost is much lower.

(taken from yourfoodstorage.com)

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Next Meeting

Our first meeting will be at the home of Susie McGrath on January 18th. We will begin at 6:30.

If you are interested in learning how to make your own disposable diaper wipes, bring a roll of Bounty paper towel and a container to take your wipes home in. Don't worry - your paper towel will make almost FOUR boxes of wipes!

You will also walk away with a real recipe used with food storage items that is inexpensive, quick, healthy, and delicious!


Welcome!

At the start of this new year we are excited to begin our journey into Provident Living. Nothing presented on this site is original. In fact, we will be learning from those that have already figured it all out. Hopefully we will learn from their mistakes and get a good jump start on managing our resources wisely.

Even though this site has been started for the members of the Searcy Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, this is a non-denominational site. We hope that our friends and neighbors in the community will be able to benefit from what we are attempting and learn with us!

Just in case you missed our first newsletter, you can read it here.



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